Love, joy, friendship, celebration. M+C Saatchi UK's LGBTQIA+ employee group Proud has partnered with Bauer Media Outdoor Europe to explore what Pride means to queer people through their own unique lens. 

Titled ‘Pride is Everything’, the out-of-home campaign is built from images and stories submitted by real people. The campaign hands the creative spotlight to LGBTQ+ communities to explore the infinite number of ways queerness is experienced across Europe. 

Running on out-of-home sites across the UK, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Poland, the campaign shuns the traditional iconography of Pride to embody what Pride really means to people.  Disposable cameras were distributed across Europe to give people the opportunity to document Pride through their own lens. 

The resulting work is a compilation of moments of joy, love, friendship, family, protest, celebration and everyday life. The campaign puts the narrative back in the hands of those who are a part of it. 

“As a proud gay man, this project means a lot to me. Pride isn't one thing – it's different for every person who experiences it. I find pride in the little things, like being able to hold my boyfriend’s hand in public, or have him as my phone lockscreen.” says Tom Lander, Senior Creative at M+C Saatchi Group UK.

At a time when Pride is being used to stoke culture wars and LGBTQ+ people are increasingly being spoken about but not with, this campaign reclaims the narrative around Pride.

"Too often, Pride gets reduced to a single image. A parade. A flag. A moment in June. But Pride exists in thousands of small, personal moments that rarely make it into public view,” added Regan Warner, Executive Creative Director at M+C Saatchi Group UK. 

She continued: “This campaign is a reminder that queer life is vast, ordinary, joyful, complicated and deeply human. Our job wasn't to create a version of Pride. It was to create space for people to show us their own."

A compelling reminder of the power of lived experience when it comes to telling captivating stories.