Earlier this year, Johnnie Walker launched its latest campaign in partnership with Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Leo Burnett Australia, and Herd MSL to celebrate inclusivity and empower individuals to embrace their first Mardi Gras experience.
Building from that creative inspiration, Johnnie Walker hosted the Debutante Ball for first-timers.
Recognizing that there are often diverse and nuanced reasons why some people have yet to attend the annual Mardi Gras, the Dubutante Ball sought to provide a supportive and welcoming environment that celebrated the individuality and diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community. Debutantes, who represented a broad spectrum of identity, age, and geography were selected and brought to Sydney to have their debut celebrated by the community at large.
To learn more about the campaign, Branding in Asia recently caught up with Melissa Barry, Portfolio Marketing Manager at Diageo, and Stacey Karayannis, Associate Creative Director at Leo Burnett Australia.
The campaign took a fresh creative approach to engaging the LGBTQIA+ community for Mardi Gras. Can you tell us more about the inspiration and creative thinking behind the “Debutante Ball for First-Timers” concept?
Mel: As Johnnie Walker embarked on a second year of sponsorship with Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, we wanted to build on the success of last year’s platform that we developed with Leo Burnett: Keep Walking Proudly.
Leos came to us with the insight that each year a lot of people take their first steps into the wider Queer community at Mardi Gras.
Although attending for the first time is extremely exciting, it can also be overwhelming. Understanding that progress starts with a single step, we spearheaded the initiative to continue celebrating the achievements of trailblazers who paved the way while extending a warm invitation to the next generation and creating a meaningful experience championing their first steps.
Stacey: Having gained insight from the community, we found that although Sydney Mardi Gras has been around for 50 years, so many people from the community were yet to attend – for a wide range of reasons. Some of them lived too far away, came out later in life, or came from difficult circumstances like conservative families.
With Johnnie Walker as an advocate for progress, we wanted to give those who hadn’t attended the event before an unforgettable first-time experience with their community.
The campaign subverts the traditional debutante ball concept. What inspired this approach, and how did it contribute to the overall message of inclusivity?
Stacey: A traditional debutante ball is really just a big coming-out party where you’re welcomed by your community. There is a lot of pomp and ceremony innately built into the tradition, so we thought it would be a great twist to do the same thing for Mardi Gras first-timers – giving them a moment to debut to their community in a space where they’d feel loved, supported and welcomed.
Of course, we subverted the traditional ball in every way. There was colour, life, cheering, and dance music, and the outfits and makeup were full of energy, which highlighted all the individual personalities.
Mel: We sought to create an event that not only welcomed but celebrated the next generation in an atmosphere brimming with love and acceptance.
Rather than conforming to the conventional norms of a Debutante Ball characterised by uniformity and rigidity, we challenged the status quo. We envisioned a Debutante Ball that championed diversity and encouraged attendees to embrace their true selves without reservation.
The agency’s relentless commitment to pushing boundaries and fostering an environment of inclusivity and authenticity ensured that the Debutante Ball transcended expectations and left an indelible mark on all who attended.
Bringing together trailblazers like Robyn Kennedy with first-time Mardi Gras attendees is a way to connect the past with the present. Why was it important to create this intergenerational connection within the campaign?
Stacey: It was super important to us that we created a loving, supportive foundation for our debutantes as they took their first steps at Mardi Gras. By connecting them with trailblazers of the community, we were able to give them the support they needed. The Keep Walking Proudly philosophy is about continuing to take strides forward as a community, and connecting the trailblazers to this group of debutantes became a symbolic handing of the baton from one generation to the next, ensuring the love and support stays there for generations to come.
“Through our collective efforts, we aimed to celebrate each individual’s unique journey and amplify voices that too often go unheard. These stories served as a poignant reminder of our progress as a society and the work that still lies ahead…”
Mel: Moreover, our commitment to showcasing diverse narratives from all walks of life emphasised the importance of inclusivity and representation within the campaign. Through our collective efforts, we aimed to celebrate each individual’s unique journey and amplify voices that too often go unheard. These stories served as a poignant reminder of our progress as a society and the work that still lies ahead, reinforcing our resolve to Keep Walking Proudly towards a more inclusive future.
The campaign had multiple touchpoints from PR/influencers to events to digital content. How did you approach creating an integrated experience across all these channels?
Stacey: The biggest single factor in delivering an integrated experience is having a sticky and interesting idea at the heart of the project, from which all tactics and executions can extend. This central idea not only inspired our tactics and executions but also provided a framework for the campaign elements to extend from, ensuring consistency and resonance across the touchpoints.
“The biggest single factor in delivering an integrated experience is having a sticky and interesting idea at the heart of the project, from which all tactics and executions can extend.”
Equally important was the close collaboration among our agency partners—Herd MSL, Alfred, and Foundation. This collaboration meant that we could integrate PR, events, and content together, resulting in a seamless omni-channel campaign that drove engagement and awareness both above and below the line.
How do Diageo and Leo Burnett ensure LGBTQIA+ representation and perspectives are authentically included throughout your creative process?
Stacey: By championing unique and authentic stories and providing a platform for talent to share their own stories, representation was inherent to the campaign. In our commitment to authentic LGBTQIA+ representation and perspective, we engaged with Egalité, Publicis Groupe’s LGBTQIA+ employee resource group, leveraging their invaluable insights to ensure that the community we were representing felt genuinely heard and accurately portrayed in our work.
Mel: We also actively collaborated with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras team, drawing upon their expertise to inform our approach and ensure that our campaign aligned with the ambitions and sentiment of the festival. We were excited to have representatives from Sydney Mardi Gras and Sydney WorldPride join us at the ball to celebrate together.
Where does this campaign fit within the broader diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy and messaging?
Mel: Johnnie Walker is committed to championing collective progress in all forms. At the heart of the brand is a promise to “Keep Walking”, which is fundamentally a story of ongoing progress, momentum and determination. We have created a robust platform that shines a light on stories of progress and truly celebrates the uncelebrated.
This workstream has been years in the making and one we initiated alongside our Global Johnnie Walker team and in close partnership with Leo Burnett in Australia. However, we had to find a new way to ensure that the platform had both local relevance and engaged a new and younger audience.
Leo Burnett came to us with an ongoing program of local acts rather than ads that not only elevated our brand purpose but embodied our values. This campaign marks the third chapter in our journey, following successful partnerships with Mardi Gras for Sydney WorldPride and the AFLW (Aussie Rules football). Together with Leos, we have forged a path forward for Johnnie Walker, leveraging our platform to champion collective progress.
Campaign Credits
Diageo | Johnnie Walker
Melissa Barry Marketing Manager
Emma Ryan Brand Manager
Rebekah Allison Media & Connections Planning Lead
Hayden Abercrombie Marketing & Innovation Director
Leo Burnett Australia | Johnnie Walker
Account Management
James Walker-Smith General Manager
Andrew Thistlethwaite Group Business Director
Gemma Cox Group Business Director
Cameron Dobbelsteyn Business Director
Rosie Dingle Senior Business Manager
Strategy
Dhiv Pillai Senior Strategy Director
Creative
Andy Fergusson National Chief Creative Officer
Tim Woolford Group Creative Director
Tommy Cehak Group Creative Director
Stacey Karayannis Associate Creative Director
Rosie Stone Associate Creative Director
Johnson Diep Conceptual Designer
Production / Studio
Tamara Kennon – Senior Integrated Producer
Francesca D’Orazio – Senior Film Producer
PR – Herd MSL
Rachel Shun Group Account Director
Janete Sampaio Senior Account Director
Savannah Fielder Account Director
Ross Stebbing Account Director
Mirna Elsabie Account Manager
Sarah Findlay Senior Account Executive
Lucy Lincoln Account Coordinator
Experiential Production, Design & Programming – Alfred
Stuart Couzens Founder
Mason Browne Senior Creative Producer
Media – Foundation
Tegan Conn Business Director
Natasha Galasso Account Manager
Maggie Concepcion Account Coordinator
Director: Selina Miles
Executive Producers: Adrian Shapiro & Kate Gooden
Producer: Tessa Simpson
DOP: Scott Heldorf
1st AC: John Young
Sound: Lee Kelly
Gaffer: Pete Sutton
Best Boy: Ting (Adisug) Tubtim
Art Director: Aisha Phillips
Wardrobe Stylist: Kellie Montgomery
Hair and Makeup Artist: Mat Hornby
Food Stylist: Nicola Sinclair
Stills Photographer: Milos Mlynarik
Editor: Selina Miles
Grade & Online: Matt Fezz
Sound Studio: Sonar
PART TWO:
Director: Selina Miles
Executive Producers: Adrian Shapiro & Kate Gooden
Producer: Tessa Simpson
On-Set Production Coord: Eloise Flanagan
Production Assistant: Olivia Sawyer
DOP: Scott Heldorf
1st AC (A CAM): Julian Pertout
1st AC (B CAM): Anna McGirr
Sound: Lee Kelly
Wardrobe Stylist: Leon Krasenstein
Hair and Makeup Artist: Yen Hoang
Hair and Makeup Artist: Anastasia Pappas
Editor: Selina Miles / Chris Ward
Grade & Online: Matt Fezz
Sound Studio: Squeak E Clean
