Background

• Situation

In many parts of the world, the freedom to love is not a right afforded to all. While societies are beginning to accept unconventional forms of love such as same-sex, interracial, intercaste, and interfaith relationships, words as simple as ‘I do’ are still silenced by politics, traditions and conventions.

Couples are denied the marriages they deserve by the very authorities and beliefs they may not subscribe to.

Only 15% of countries in the world legalise same-sex marriages. In India, some states have passed new laws that criminalised inter-faith marriages. These are just a few instances of restrictions on marriage, but they all deny couples simple human rights and privileges that only officially recognised partners receive.

• Brief

Closeup has championed closeness for over 50 years and has always believed in the freedom to love. We were tasked to help couples of all kinds get closer, untethered from self-doubt, external prejudices, or rules.

• Objectives

Show support to disenfranchised couples by celebrating all forms of love, spark conversations on marriage equality, and inspire couples by providing them with a platform to get married – a privilege not given to all.



Creative idea



If the world we live in has no space for simple ideals such as marriage, we invite lovers to one where we can do better – the Metaverse. To democratise love and give power back to lovers, we built the Closeup City Hall of Love in Decentraland. Where couples can host virtual weddings in the presence of loved ones, seal their love on the blockchain via smart contract, and mint an NFT Certificate of Marriage to forever immortalise their love. The NFT is recognised and validated by over 222,000 nodes on the blockchain – more witnesses than any single earthly authority.

Results



At its launch, the campaign garnered over 3 million impressions in just 3 days and a total of 140,000,000+ in PR reach. Closeup City Hall of Love also became one of the top trending locations featured on Decentraland's home page. The campaign was featured in numerous publications worldwide, attracting over 20,000 visitors from all over the world. Closeup City Hall of Love also welcomed married couples who used the opportunity to renew their vows as a show of support for disenfranchised couples. The campaign also sparked interest among the crypto community, as crypto content creators documented their experiences through vlogs and live streams.