CASE STUDY
Principle 6
The Challenge
LGBTQ advocacy nonprofits Athlete Ally and All Out launched the Principle 6 Campaign — inspired by the Olympic Charter — as a way for athletes, fans and supporters to celebrate the Olympic principles of non-discrimination and call for an end to Russia’s anti-gay laws at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Our Strategy
The Principle 6 Campaign’s main objective was to pressure the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to follow its own Olympic Charter and ensure that all future cities selected to host the Olympic Games adhered to these principles. TASC was hired to secure prominent coverage for the campaign in the media, drawing attention to the IOC’s failure to support LGBTQ+ athletes and rally the public to support its goals. We leveraged both traditional media and social media to raise awareness for the issues. P6 and Athlete Ally also launched an apparel line to support fundraising efforts.
Results
TASC’s media campaign generated 220+ unique media hits and 219 million media impressions. Media placements appeared in over 50 countries, with targeted messaging calling out the IOC’s hypocrisy. The day the Olympics began, Google launched a Google Doodle that depicted the Winter Games with a gay rights rainbow flag embedded in the image. Fifty-plus Olympic athletes joined the campaign along with dozens of celebrities, influencers and NFL, NHL and NBA athletes who changed their Twitter avatars to the Principle 6 logo in support of the campaign. The client’s branded apparel campaign raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Russian LGBT groups.
The campaign ultimately declared victory when the International Olympic Committee announced that future host cities would be contractually obligated to adhere to the Olympic principles of non-discrimination.
219 MILLION
MEDIA IMPRESSIONS
220+
UNIQUE MEDIA HITS
50+
COUNTRIES
MEDIA COVERAGE
