THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!
From the 16th Annual Shorty Awards

Proud of Us Series

Finalist in Storytelling

Gold Honor in LGBTQ Community Engagement

Entered in Branded Series

Objectives

Illuminate the stories and voices of the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month, transcending the typical brand-centric approach in order to drive meaningful engagements and increase brand love.

Strategy and Execution

Every brand and their mother runs a Pride Month campaign. How can Photoshop Express, a mobile editing app for Gen Z content creators, uplift the wide range of voices and emotions of the LGBTQ+ community during this time, instead of speaking for them or making it about the brand? Pride Month is a major social justice moment where the LGBTQ+ community oftentimes reflects on their own unique journeys of how they got to where they are today, stirring up a wide range of emotions – reflection, empowerment, and even humor. Enter ‘Proud Of Us’ – a series where five creators shared their journey and the things they’re proud of. Instead of sharing standalone photos (like a lot of videos within this social trend of sharing one’s Pride journey), they created photo collages in Photoshop Express to further their storytelling. Each creator was given the creative freedom to share their journey in a way that was most authentic to them. This led to a range of executions. The final videos were uplifting, heartfelt, and even funny. We were gagged by @bittnia’s storytelling approach which resulted in a hilarious video where she shares her Pride Journey via rating every outfit she’s worn to NYC Pride over the years.

Results

Results: Our community loved that we tapped into the full spectrum of emotions to celebrate Pride, with comments like “this is so real i love this” and “Absolutely SLAYED the last one loved it.” According to @sorry.im.robyn, Nia’s video earned the high honor of being the “the one ad y’all got me to fully watch…” Despite the small channel following, the campaign garnered over 2.7M views, 72.9K interactions, and an ER of 2.63% which was 57% above the Instagram Platform Benchmark of 1.67%.

Impact: The campaign positioned Photoshop Express as a brand that understands the importance of sharing authentic stories in an un-cringe way, all while showcasing their photo editing tools as a means to tell a captivating journey beyond representation.

Conclusion: ‘Proud Of Us’ isn’t just a campaign, it’s an unapologetic celebration of LGBTQ+ voices. Our commitment to storytelling, fearless exploration of emotions, and creative use of Photoshop Express set a new benchmark for LGBTQ+ social content. Positive sentiment, high engagement, and audience resonance are kvell’s signature!

 

Media

Video for Proud of Us Series

Entrant Company / Organization Name

kvell collective, Adobe Photoshop Express

Links

Entry Credits