TMW Unlimited and Pride in London Celebrate LGBTQIA+ Allyship for the Trans Community

Pride in London’s annual campaign to coincide with this year’s march is now live. ‘Never March Alone’, devised and created by TMW Unlimited, part of UNLIMITED, celebrates and emphasises LGBTQIA+ support and allyship for the trans community.

The campaign features a series of beautiful and uplifting portraits of trans people alongside their queer allies. The photographs capture trans people being comfortable as their authentic selves, a feeling that is facilitated by the unconditional support of their ally. As well as a physical exhibition of the portraits, the campaign will be rolled out across London at high-profile locations including Piccadilly Lights and the Outernet, as well as social, digital and radio.

‘Never March Alone’ shows transgender people as they authentically are: multifaceted individuals with rich and rounded lives, jobs and relationships, rather than just a marginalised minority who are persistently persecuted in the media, often for political ends.

According to a recent study by Involve, 74% of the public believe that depictions of trans people are either negative or highly negative. Getty Images’ VisualGPS consumer research also suggests a consistent lack of trans visibility in everyday life. Over half of people surveyed said they have rarely or never seen trans people in normal, everyday settings. 49% of people claimed to have rarely or never seen transgender people experiencing joy.

The production choices in the campaign have been deliberately made to learn from and empower the trans community, as well as commissioning and paying them for their work.

TMW Unlimited worked with creative consultant Rico Jacob Chace, to ensure an authentic trans perspective was included throughout campaign conception and development. Chace also features in one of the campaign’s portraits alongside his girlfriend. TMW Unlimited also funded an internship for a trans student to work alongside the team on the campaign's production.

All images have been shot by a trans, non-binary, or queer photographer from Getty Images. The campaign will result in a wider array of imagery of trans people and trans allyship becoming available in Getty Images’ image library, promoting visibility of more authentic representations of everyday trans lives.

My Genderation, a trans video production company shot and produced the hero film, launching soon.

This year’s Pride in London will be held on Saturday July 1st.

Tim Noblett, director of marketing at Pride in London said: “Given the appalling treatment of our trans and non-binary siblings by politicians and the media, it was clear that this year’s campaign had to focus on emphasising the support of the LGBTQIA+ community. The way that TMW Unlimited, Getty Images and all of the production team have brought this life has been a joy to watch. Talented, collaborative, proudly and defiantly queer, the group of people who have created this campaign encapsulate everything that Pride should be about. We hope that it can play a small role in bringing about a change that this country urgently needs.”

Paul Dazeley, head of planning at TMW Unlimited said: “We were immediately inspired by the opportunity to leverage Pride in London's platform to elevate the voices of trans people and their allies. At a time when such authenticity and honesty is badly needed, I'm so grateful for the generosity of everyone involved for sharing their beautiful stories. Throughout the campaign, we've all learnt a lot by collaborating so closely with people from the trans community. Their creativity has inspired us to push for greater diversity within our industry: only by continuing to break down barriers will our industry be able to tell meaningful stories that reflect society today."

Jaqueline Bourke, director of creative insights, EMEA, Getty Images said: “The data is clear: the British public has a lack of visibility of trans people in everyday settings. Too often, they are portrayed as one-dimensional stereotypes, rather than fully realised, multifaceted people. In order to improve the public understanding of and empathy of trans issues, it’s vital that we create space for this to change. We’re enormously proud of this campaign. Not only does every portrait depict its own wonderful story, but it’s allowed us to permanently enrich our library with images of authentic love and allyship, creating opportunities for enormously talented queer photographers in the process.”