Robbie de Santos, head of campaigns, Stonewall Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. Changing hearts and minds among
hostile audiences:
The Rainbow Laces campaign
17 November 2016

2. Sport and homophobia
• 2009 research finds widespread homophobia in football -
‘banter’ and chants at all levels
• Gay and bi men 4 times less likely to take part in team
sport compared to straight men
• A lack of ‘out’ male professional sports people gives
impression that there simply aren’t any
• A societal problem, not a problem that exists only in sport
• Similarities with racism in football in the 80s and 90s

3. …and then Paddy Power came along
• Good fit with some aspects of our brand: challenging,
direct, bold
• A brand and a budget that helped us connect with
audiences we wouldn’t usually reach
• Tongue in cheek, innuendo-laden messages that played
into ‘pub culture’ associated with sports

4. Right behind gay footballers

5. Impact and learning
• Three big annual campaign pushes
• A campaign video featuring Arsenal’s top team
• 70+ top players from across football wore laces
• Around a third of population saw the campaign
But:
• Conflicts with other sponsors and limited partnerships with
clubs. Betting was a big barrier to working with schools.
• Exclusive focus on professional footballers missed the
real prize: attitude shift - at all levels, in all sports

6. Re-forming the campaign in 2016
• To change attitudes through sport, to reduce homophobic,
biphobic and transphobic chants and abuse, and make
LGBT people feel welcome playing and watching sport.
• Focus on grassroots and school sports as well
• Mobilise clubs, leagues and players to role model
acceptance
• Extend the campaign to one new sport per burst - rugby,
first, then cricket
• Aim to have an international impact

7. New research and insight
• Hardcore minority are hostile to LGBT people
• Significant majority welcomed accept LGBT people as
fans and players
• But support is soft and uncertain when attitudes are
examined more deeply - through Implicit Attitude Testing
and focus groups
• Abusive terms lose their meaning, especially if not
directed at LGBT people

8. Theory of change
• We make homophobia in sport socially unacceptable by
mobilising the silent majority to show their support
• We rely on clubs, players, leagues and other fans as
messengers to the silent majority
• Our tone is positive and aspirational - because we want
audiences to feel good about supporting LGBT people
first, before getting them to take action
• Relationships, trust and leveraging support from key
individuals and brands key to getting partners on board
• Need to join the dots, help people understand the impact
and understand it as a problem, and see LGBT people as
part of the sport community

9. A revitalised campaign brand

10. 10
A partnership of sponsors

11. 11
Support from key brands

12. 12
Re-establishing the problem

13. 13
Starting with grassroots

14. A campaign video led by insight

15. 15
SPORT
Make it easy for clubs

16. Next steps
• Campaign activation week 22 - 28 November (gotta dash!)
• Snap poll before and after to see what we’ve shifted
• Follow up with clubs to turn good feeling from activation
into sustained activity at grassroots and with fans
• Encourage clubs to identify engaged players to be ‘game
changers’ on the issue among their fans
• Develop, fund and roll out training offer for grassroots
coaches’ and managers’ awareness
• Adapt approach based on lessons to create other big
moments in rugby, cricket and football

17. How will we know we’re succeeding?
This is a long term campaign - we’ve invested for three
years, but:
• When there is a lower incidence of homophobia, biphobia
and transphobia in sport
• When silent majority audiences feel more confident in why
it’s unacceptable and in challenging it
• When we reduce the number of hardcore minority who
think it’s socially acceptable in sport
• When LGBT people (young and adult) increase
participation in team sport

18. Visit the CharityComms website
to view slides from past events,
see what events we have
coming up and to check out
what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk

19. 17 November 2016
Seminar
London
#CCfilterbubble
‘Burst the bubble’–
how do we reach beyond our
established audiences?