Scotiabank and Rethink Top the Inaugural PrideAM Awards 2024

Pride in Advertising & Marketing (PrideAM), the world’s first 2SLGBTQI+ advocate for the advertising and marketing industry, is excited to unveil the winners of its first-ever PrideAM Awards. Open to global applicants, this prestigious event recognises outstanding achievements in marketing to and with the 2SLGBTQI+ community, emphasising creativity, innovation, and genuine inclusivity in campaigns. 

The PrideAM Awards celebrate exceptional marketing endeavours that transcend traditional norms, seeking more than just rainbows. Judged by esteemed Queer marketing professionals, the event showcases campaigns that have made a significant impact within the 2SLGBTQI+ community. 

The PrideAM 2024 is awarded to Scotiabank and Rethink for Pride Tape for All campaign – Marketers will often speak to a desire to be a part of culture, and this case shows how that's done: through contributing to a community, on the community's terms. Our unfortunate era of rainbow-washing is defined by brands borrowing our flag for performative statements; this work defies that convention, raising our flags to greater heights on our behalf, in forums where community is needed more than ever. Very importantly, the work reflects a long-term commitment for the brand, as an investment in customers and social progress. 

Judges departed from the originally planned categories and awarded two further submissions: 

Everyday Impact Award – Mastercard and McCann for Mastercard True Name - PrideAM assessed this work in terms of bravery, asking: Is it brave for a major marketer to apply a winning idea for inclusion in another market – after it's been met with acclaim in another market first? The answer is a resounding 'Yes,' in this case. The challenges trans people face in modern times demand expanded commitment, manifested as support that helps people live their everyday lives more freely and truly. This work exemplifies creative utility and elevated self-expression, customised for a new market with its own unique voices and perspectives. 

Unapologetically Queer Award – Singing Out and Publicis for Ooooooout of Home (Singing out & Publicis Toronto) – In a world where 2SLGBTQI+ people are objectified and stereotyped to harmful excess, this campaign reassures that we can surpass those tropes. In the context of a clever wink towards powerful pleasure, we see that pleasure in the control of the singers themselves – living the sort of joy we can all find relatable and compelling. This work shatters harmful tropes and invites the world to sing along in an empathetic, supportive way.

The international, Queer judges were:

• Chair: Genie Gurnani – creative strategy & cultural entertainment, The Walt Disney Co.
• Nic Allum – Do the Werq 
• Quinn Anderson – Halifax Chamber of Commerce 
• Sam Archibald – Shortstop 
• Jefferson Darrell – Breakfast Culture 
• Jane Hope - Modo 
• Kaia Kim – Craft 
• Scott Knox – ICA 
• Ryan Murphy – M Booth 
• Graham Nolan – Do the Werq 
• Dan Towers - Dentsu 

“These are the types of campaign that set the bar for 2SLGBTQI+ marketing. Now in Pride month 2024 we are witnessing the dialling back of Queer marketing so thanks to these brands and agencies for showing how it should be done,” said Scott Knox, founder of PrideAM.