Samuel Adams celebrates Pride with GLAAD partnership, video series

Dive Brief:

Beer brand Samuel Adams teamed up with nonprofit GLAAD for a new platform to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month, the company shared with Marketing Dive via press release.
The Love Conquers All platform centers around a video series titled "Poetry of Pride." The videos star notable members of the LGBTQ+ community including Broadway's Jelani Remy, L Morgan Lee, Thayne Jasperson and veteran Stonewall bartender Fredd E. Tree reciting poetry inside New York's Stonewall Inn, the location of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. A new limited-edition rainbow can for the beer flavor Love Conquers Ale Blackberry Basil Lime Gose is prominently featured in the video and on the site.
The beer maker is also encouraging consumers to donate to GLAAD and is matching donations. Consumers can win a can of Love Conquers Ale signed by an "Ale Poetry of Pride" performer when donating at the microsite GLAAD.org/loveconquersall. Samuel Adams has pledged a $100,000 donation to GLAAD and will match donations up to an additional $25,000 to benefit a GLAAD-identified resource for Black LGBTQ+ folks.

Dive Insight:

Samuel Adams had to be creative with its support for Pride Month, as the pandemic has forced most celebrations to occur online. The new digital initiative aims to connect with consumers to celebrate the milestone by giving a platform to notable voices from the LGBTQ+ community and filming poems and performances at the legendary Stonewall Inn where Pride was born.

While the brand is still aiming to sell its limited-edition rainbow cans, the company is doing more than just paying lip service for Pride. It has pledged donations to GLAAD and has made it easy for consumers to do so on the branded Love Conquers All microsite. The contest to win a free signed can, as well as donation matching, could serve as an incentive to encourage fans to open their wallets.

Brand integrity has been at the center of the current conversations around brand support for minority communities, particularly as Black Lives Matter and other protests have grown across the country. As large brands like Boston Beer Company throw their weight behind the push for social justice reform, some have faced backlash for trying to capitalize on these movements while employees or customers have experienced racist, sexist or anti-gay actions when working for or interacting with these companies.

A group of Samuel Adams coworkers called Labels Out aims to avoid such issues through dedication to supporting and celebrating members and allies of the LGTBQ+ community. The group has been particularly focused on how it relates to this year's Pride Month and the critical racial injustice conversation. By matching donations for a resource for Black LGBTQ+ consumers, the brand is aiming to support this specific group.

Samuel Adams' platform follows other alcohol brands getting creative during Pride this year. Truly Hard Seltzer, owned by the same parent company, is taking over the Times Square billboard and calling on consumers to share photos of their Pride celebrations on social media. Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire created a drag brunch video series to engage homebound consumers online.