The Challenge
When it comes to our client Denver PrideFest, there’s no shortage of exciting news to share and stories to tell. We’ve been thrilled to work with the team at The Center on Colfax (the nonprofit that produces Denver PrideFest) over the past three years to share the stories of what’s new at PrideFest and profile the leaders representing Colorado’s LGBTQ community. The challenge is finding new angles each year that will resonate with the media, while monitoring for potential threats and preparing to manage communications during any crisis that could threaten the success of the festival.
The Solution
In 2019 we wanted to capture the media’s attention more than ever to tell these stories. The first step was working with the Denver PrideFest team to identify the unique stories that we would focus our pitching efforts on this year. One of the stories that immediately caught our eye was that of the nation’s first openly gay governor, Colorado’s own Governor Jared Polis. Governor Polis and First Gentleman Marlon Reis were two of this year’s parade grand marshals. We worked with members of the media and the Governor’s Office to arrange interviews with Governor Polis in advance of the parade.
We also worked with our client to forge a media partnership with the Denver Channel (Denver’s ABC affiliate). This gave us the opportunity to profile members of the LGBTQ community who are accomplishing big things as part of a People of Pride feature. It was great to see the crew from the Denver Channel walk in the parade alongside their weather truck too!
Finally, it was important to our client to showcase the breadth of activities and celebrations that take place as part of PrideFest. With 2019 marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Riots, it was also important to share with the public how Denver PrideFest would commemorate the occasion. We worked with artist Lonnie Hanzon to give interviews about his large-scale installation that traced the history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement. We also placed several stories highlighting the significance of the anniversary.
The Results
In total we placed more than 70 media stories highlighting the entertainment at PrideFest, the Grand Marshals, the Stonewall anniversary and general coverage. We hosted several TV crews and reporters for interviews. The placements resulted in over 813,000 views and more than 50,000 social media shares. take pride in our work with Denver PrideFest and we look forward to many more opportunities to tell the stories behind this important event.