The Australian Federal Government recently reformed 85 laws to give equality to same-sex couples. But law is dull and difficult to understand. So using Government funding, our brief was to explain the 85 reforms to same-sex couples and share the celebration across Australia.We had three challenges: 1. Explain 85 complex law reforms to inspire people to get online.

2. Speak to a diverse national target market of 24,000, aged 16–80. 3. Recruit 85 artists, plus 85 ambassadors.All on a $53K budget, enough for a website.So our strategy was to turn each of the 85 complex law reforms into something everyone could wear with pride: A T-shirt.

85 same-sex law reforms.85 T-shirts.WEAR IT WITH PRIDE.Given our tiny budget, the more unique PR angles we could create, the more PR we could achieve. First we inspired leading artists to translate the law reforms into 85 T-shirt designs. Then we asked famous Australians to champion a reform and a T-shirt. Lots of artists plus lots of celebrities gave us lots of PR angles. WEAR IT WITH PRIDE launched with the combined PR power of almost 80 media worthy talent, ready for interviews.

Our objective was to drive a diverse target market online to learn more. Knowing people would rather listen to their peers than a Government campaign, we decided to use a variety of different celebrities and community activists to lead our campaign, to achieve our communication objectives. Our national research groups conducted prior to the launch of the campaign confirmed this PR strategy. In addition, because our spokespeople weren’t bureaucrats, but respected and relevant advocates, our messages was deemed more compelling by our target market. This innovative PR approach helped our campaign exceed all objectives in just four weeks.

The PR campaign ran according to plan but grew exponentially as more ambassadors were brought on. From November 2009 we recruited designers and ambassadors and promoted their involvement. We also invited gay and consumer media to the set of the campaign video clip shoot, to capture community and celebrity involvement. On 28 January 2010, we released the campaign clip and single and promoted the fact that all profits went to the campaign. We then sent segmented releases to numerous consumer lifestyle publications matching ambassadors to outlets according to their profile or the law reform they represent. The official launch of the campaign 2 February 2010 at the Sydney Opera House with designers, ambassadors and community activists attending along with media, and a media release was issued detailing celebrities involved and the spectacular showcase of the campaign t-shirts.

In just 4 weeks WEAR IT WITH PRIDE has exceeded all objectives and redefined what’s possible for a Government-funded campaign:- Seen 37.5 million times in Australia and overseas - ROI 6,126%, $3.247 million- Initial PR value $2.7 million - Number 9 single on iTunes, 3rd favourite daily YouTube video- 25,000 unique site visits, average of 1 every 3 minutes- One T-shirt sold online every hour - All 85 designers and Ambassadors recruited, with more applying- Over 1,200 human billboards already generating millions of reform conversations across Australia.

Once the creative idea was decided, our planning process was simple but intensive. We needed to find 85 artists and 85 ambassadors. We made a list of high-profile international and local artists. We also made a list of famous Australian celebrities and well-known community members. In order of priority, our team approached every person on both lists to recruit artists and ambassadors. Given the nature and execution of the campaign, people were incredibly excited to join us. All talent donated their services free of charge.

The 85 same-sex law reforms are a huge step forward. The problem was people were not using their new rights, because they did not understand them. We needed to make 85 law reforms simple and interesting for our diverse target market. Asking leading artists and designers to translate the 85 law reforms into T-Shirts is interesting. But then having famous Australians champion a law reform and a T-Shirt dramatically boosted the profile of the WEAR IT WITH PRIDE campaign. A diverse range of celebrities and designers guaranteed an abundance of PR angles, and maximised our potential PR.