Worldwide Partners Inc. | From Gay District to Inclusive District

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From Gay District to Inclusive District

Client

Village Montréal

Location

Canada

Agency

LG2

Campaign Elements

Advertising
Brand Strategy & Development
Content Marketing
Production
Visual & Experience Design

Project Overview

Village Montréal, formerly known as the Gay Village, is a dynamic and eclectic neighbourhood known for its diverse communities, activities and businesses. Since the 2SLGBTQ+ communities have moved here and made the neighbourhood evolve, the Village needed to be repositioned to better reflect the acronym and to make itself into an icon of inclusiveness. How do we appeal to the 2SLGBTQ+ populations and encourage them to reclaim a place they have historically owned? And how can we share this message with those who do not identify with these communities and show them that the Village is for everyone? The Société de développement commercial du Village de Montréal (Village Montréal) needed a partner to listen to its vision, to animate its mission and to develop a long-term approach to building and nurturing its relationship with communities.

Details

So many questions, so much to think about. What is the Village? What makes it special? How do we translate an approach based on dialogue and inclusion?

To pinpoint the essence of the Village and the potential levers for a viable economic recovery, we reviewed the issues that had been highlighted in the ethnographic study conducted by the SDC Village Montréal and the nearby commercial development companies.

One thing was clear when we combined these observations with research on representation and the 2SLGBTQ+ communities’ spheres of activity in the Village: we needed to focus on the Village’s plurality — the many different voices, communities, businesses, activities and landmarks. We needed to give people a reason to discover and experience what the Village has always been: a place where everyone, no matter who they are, can belong and find an interest.

Learn more about this campaign: https://lg2.com/en/our-work/village-montreal-from-gay-district-to-inclusive-district

“Raising a brand image, infusing it with a new vision and direction is not a simple thing. Representing the full range of 2SLGBTQ+ populations is a positioning challenge in which inclusion, listening and representation had to constantly flow throughout our process.”

Gabrielle Rondy,
Executive Director, Village Montréal