In November last year, among the 500-plus hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute, the video-sharing platform released one very important three-second sound.

If you’ve fired up YouTube on your TV recently, you have probably heard it. It’s the sound that plays over an animation right before the app starts up.

YouTube created this unique piece of sonic branding with the help of Antfood, one of the top studios working in this space. Antfood’s portfolio includes sonic branding for Netflix, Pepsi, PayPal and even Sesame Street.

What exactly is sonic branding?

Sonic branding is a powerful marketing tool, which is not to be conflated with any old advertising that incorporates audio. 

The term refers to the sounds used to identify a brand. While some marketing channels use music to support short-term messaging – like for sales, events or new products – sonic brand assets are designed to be long-term and brand-building.

Audio logos, UI sounds, brand music, or brand voice are part of a suite of distinct assets given the task of conveying the soul of the brand in sound across an organisation’s audio touchpoints. Some of the greatest hits include McDonald’s ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ or the Intel sound. These audio logos are as recognisable as their logo marques.

How popular is sonic branding in Australia?

IAB Australia recently surveyed 249 decision-makers and influencers in the allocation of marketing spend and found only 27 percent of agencies consistently use sonic branding. This is despite over 70 percent of media agencies now having streaming digital audio and podcast advertising as a regular part of their activity.

Resonance, a sonic branding agency in Sydney, agrees that “some, but not many” brands are using sonic branding to its full potential at this audio-heavy juncture.

“Smart technology is changing the way we navigate our lives,” Resonance tells Marketing.

“Voice, gesture and optical control are replacing manual-visual inputs. Screens, buttons and steering wheels are being replaced by microphones, speakers and sensors.” 

For brands to “win in this new world”, Resonance says they need to build their sonic brands. And that doesn’t just mean creating an audio logo. It’s becoming more relevant to create a full sonic ecosystem that goes beyond advertising channels.

Building the ecosystem

With backgrounds that span marketing, music production, sound design, classical music and DJing, the Resonance team brings a broad range of skills to this relatively new specialist discipline. 

According to the team, the main tools of audio branding are:

1. The Audio Logo
Starting with the obvious one, an audio logo is a shorthand expression of the ‘Sonic Essence’, like the classic examples mentioned above.

2. The Brand Anthem
A brand anthem is a bespoke track that also encapsulates the Sonic Essence of the brand.

3. The Music Bank
The music bank includes a selection of bespoke tracks derived from the Brand Anthem.

4. Licensed Music
Licensed music might be a commercially released track that becomes strongly associated with the brand.

5. The Brand Tone of Voice
This is the vocabulary within the script and performance style of the brand voice.

6. The Brand Voice Over
A brand voice actor can also be used to unite all messaging and reinforce brand personality.

Resonance counts Canva as one client for which it has created a sonic brand identity from scratch. This included a brand anthem and audio logo two years ago, followed by a cast of brand voices, remixes, content series themes and UI sounds for web and mobile apps. 

IRL, the agency made an audio logo for the Australian Open, which was designed as a participatory chant for fans. It also composed the brand anthem to play in the arena and around the park in 2022. 

All in all, it takes the agency between eight to 16 weeks to complete a project. Timing depends on the complexity of the brand and the number of assets required with strategy development taking just as long as creative development.

The four qualities of good sonic branding

Resonance says the best sonic brands have four attributes: they’re unique, and consistent, they build rapport with stakeholders, and they’re repeated enough times over a long enough period to become attributable to the brand.

“Who has a brand voice so distinct that they don’t have to say their brand name? Which UI sounds have become synonymous with the action they represent?” asks the agency.

Nintendo is one.

“[Nintendo] has an instantly recognisable brand sound which has been reinvented throughout the decades and across new products, game franchises and formats. It does well to stay fresh while being steeped in nostalgia,” says Resonance.

Skype is another “great piece of sonic branding”. 

“Its UI sounds represent the visual identity perfectly and were totally unique when they burst onto the scene. Despite the business losing ground to other video conferencing brands recently, the sounds are fondly remembered.”

But you don’t always have to follow the rules. 

“Bunnings uses the same piece of music consistently and has the right amount of ‘wrong’ for it to become entrenched in Australian culture,” Resonance says.

The direction of the genre

As time goes on, we might be seeing fewer Bunnings-like jingles centred around the brand name – although there is still a time and place for them. 

“These can often sound cheesy or forced to today’s audience, but have strategic merit when a brand prioritises brand recall and salience,” says Resonance.

“We’ve seen a change in the types of audio logos being developed. Partly that is led by technological advances, but also musical styles and tastes change over time. Some even come back around!”

Over the past two decades, sung logos have gradually dropped their words to create ownable melodies or rhythms that can support a positioning statement. For example, McDonalds’ (‘I’m Lovin’ It’), Woolworths (‘The Fresh Food People’) and Toyota (‘Oh What A Feeling’) now rarely use lyrics, but those phrases are ingrained in people’s minds whenever they hear the melody alone.

In the entertainment and tech world, many companies have done away with voice and melodies altogether. Instead, they’ve developed sonic brands that use textural sound layers. And YouTube’s new start-up sound fits right into this category.

“In a short space of time, they’ve managed to cram in a lot of elements each with a rationale for their place. And importantly, the end result feels simple, clean and the right aesthetic for YouTube – which is great design,” says Resonance.

“Just like Netflix or Xbox, this is not meant to be a catchy earworm, but rather a priming of the listener that good things are to come. 

“Hence, the real test of YouTube’s audio logo will be whether, in five year’s time, it is considered as a positive precursor to content or just another noise emitting from the user’s device.”

More marketers listen in

Although uptake is currently low in Australia, 43 percent of those surveyed by the IAB want to introduce consistent sonic branding.

Agencies like Resonance agree that marketers should be all ears.

“Those that are investing in the future now will reap the rewards in the coming years,” says Resonance.

“Everyone else risks being left behind.”

Two popular influencers from Western Australia have become ‘unfluencers’ while travelling in Esperance on the state’s south coast. They’re deliberately not posting about the region’s attractions as part of an unusual tourism campaign developed by 303 MullenLowe and Mediahub Perth for regional tourism organisation Australia’s Golden Outback (AGO). 

The integrated campaign showcases Esperance as the perfect antidote to always-on city life, framing its distance from major cities – and patchy internet – as a means for true disconnection. Using the tagline ‘So Far, So Good’, it aims to promote travel to the region in the quieter autumn and spring seasons.

Influencers become ‘unfluencers’

To kick the campaign off, local WA influencers Rahnee Bransby and Zak Hasleby toured Esperance. But in a campaign twist, they pledged not to post or use social media, giving them the chance to ‘truly disconnect’, and instead connect with the location and people they are with.

They did, however, post about their holidays after the fact, sharing images supplied by AGO to their socials.

The campaign hits the airwaves

As part of a campaign partnership with the radio station Nova 937, the influencers checked in with Breakfast host and Esperance local Nat Locke before and after their trips. Nova is also encouraging all of Perth to ‘Pledge to Not Post’ to go into a draw to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Esperance.  Both the campaign and competition will be promoted through the partnership (and ironically on social media).

“Talking about the impact the social media ‘break’ had on our unfluencers has also generated strong conversation among people that might otherwise only see the classic ‘beach shots’ that Esperance is so famous for,” says Mediahub Perth’s general manager Kylie Macey.

“Taking away the ability to post while visiting Esperance also meant we found other ways to reach our audiences, with radio, owned and earned media and fast-to-market content becoming more of a focus. We’re excited to see how far and wide the reach of our unfluencers will be.”  

Promoting different facets of WA

303 MullenLowe and Mediahub Perth previously worked with representatives of AGO as part of the ‘Queens on the Edge’ campaign to promote the South West Edge.  

AGO CEO Marcus Falconer says it’s sometimes hard to differentiate between regions to visit in WA. Esperance is already known across the globe for its beaches, so it became important to promote a broader picture of what the town has to offer.  

“What makes Esperance particularly special is its distance,” explains Falconer. 

“Yes, it’s a long way from Perth. Yes, its internet is sometimes patchy. But it’s also a place where people can go to breathe, and enjoy both an incredible region while connecting with loved ones and nature. And that’s what this campaign communicates so effectively, that it’s so far – it’s good. We can’t wait for people to put their phones away, and see for themselves.” 

Read about Marketing‘s favourite tourism campaigns of 2022.

Modibodi and PUMA have launched a new campaign called ‘You take on the game. We’ll take care of leaks’ featuring members of Brisbane City FC. 

The global absorbent apparel brand (born in Australia), and the sportswear giant first teamed up in March 2022, and the latest campaign celebrates the third drop of their active period underwear range.

Designed to closely align with both PUMA and Modibodi’s positioning, the integrated global campaign includes digital and social roll-outs with ambassadors from Brisbane City FC. Players – including captain Jamilla Riley – will bring to life the benefits of playing on your period. 

“As someone who menstruates and plays soccer in a white uniform, I can attest to the discomfort and anxiety that combination can create, particularly when you are young,” says Riley.

“You spend your time shamed by the fear of leaks, and it can take all your mental strength to refocus on the game at hand.”

Strict all-white dress codes in sports came under fire during the Wimbledon tennis tournament in July last year. ‘Address The Dress Code’ campaigners, wearing white skirts with red undershorts at one of the women’s finals, said these rules did not suit the needs of menstruating players. 

In response to the backlash, Wimbledon announced an update to the dress code in November, which will allow women competitors to wear mid/dark-coloured undershorts if they choose to.

“Requirements for other clothing, accessories and equipment remain unchanged,” the statement says.

It’s a conversation Modibodi was clearly keen to join with its latest campaign.

“We wanted to create a campaign to destigmatise the challenges of menstruating while competing, and show athletes a new world in which they can feel confident and supported to play while they bleed,” says Modibodi CMO Liana Lorenzato.

“We wanted to remove anxiety and the fear of leaking so athletes can focus on their game, not their period.”

For more Modibodi collaborations, read about how the brand tackled period poverty with Plan International Laos.

IKEA UAE has released a sweet and simple campaign that features its BLÅVINGAD soft toy collection narrating unexpected family histories.

Three short videos in the ‘Where Do They Come From’ campaign via Ogilvy introduce the range of soft toys made from ocean-bound plastic on a very personal level. Each slowly zooms in on a still life of a different sea creature from the soft toy collection placed inside an IKEA-furnished room. 

In accents from around the world, the toys’ human voiceovers tell dramatic stories of their oceanic origins.

“It took me a while to ask my parents about their story,” says the dolphin toy with the Cockney accent.

“I was told they were sailing the big blue aboard a lavish yacht.”

After a while, the tale takes a twist as we find out the romantic meeting was between a plastic straw and a party cup.

“I’m a party cup, I’m a straw. I’m a party animal – more specifically a dolphin soft toy made from ocean plastic.”

IKEA’s childlike take on a serious environmental issue will continue across radio spots, social films, print and OOH.

Read more about the best IKEA campaigns.

The ‘hopeful monster’ theory in biology suggests that evolutionary changes can occur in abrupt leaps, allowing organisms to survive and changing their lineage forever. This controversial idea of macroevolution goes against the belief that evolution is a gradual process of microevolutions. 

Communications agency Magnum & Co. recently underwent its own evolution, relaunching as Hopeful Monsters. Self-described as a “challenger agency for challenger-minded brands”, Hopeful Monsters has a refreshed ambition to help brands affect radical change in their categories.

The agency has been founded to help clients lead and influence culture, something managing partner Carl Moggridge believes has been “misappropriated” by the advertising industry. Marketing caught up with Moggridge to find out more about how Hopeful Monsters hopes to redefine culture in marketing.

Marketing Mag: You’re passionate about the topic of culture and say that this word has been misappropriated by the advertising industry. What do you mean by that?

Carl Moggridge: It’s a bold statement to make but it’s true. When you think about culture, what comes to mind, how would you define it? It’s a tricky one.

There are over 150 definitions of the word in the English language and we throw it around to describe anything from the arts to the latest cool things young people are doing or suffering from, such as FOMO.

Given we’re an industry that over-indexes in its use and the fact we’re a little loose in how we use it, it isn’t a surprise serious marketers roll their eyes every time someone says the ‘c-word’.

For most brands, culture isn’t a serious business. It’s a fluffy and vague concept because that’s how we treat it, even though it’s the biggest influence on human behaviour – probably bigger than Byron Sharp.

MM: How does the industry currently view culture?

CM: There isn’t a brand in the world whose future isn’t reliant on understanding or influencing culture. The best and most effective brands we admire, as marketers and consumers, do this.

Yes, how we invest in media is important. Yes, marketing science is helpful. But for an industry where changes in culture impact a brand, we don’t spend much time really understanding it. We’re far too focused on ploughing through the various advertising methods, frameworks, processes and rules. 

At the end of the day, people don’t really care about brands, they care about their own problems and themselves. It isn’t always about big existential stuff either. Like climate change or the myriad issues, brands are jumping on. It’s everyday stuff, like not getting shot playing video games when snacking.

The majority of marketing communications do not do this. The general convention is for brands to simply tell people what they want them to hear. Chasing them down an abstract funnel, crossing off problems flagged in a brand tracker. 

MM: How should the marketing industry define culture?

CM: The word culture is loaded with baggage, however, the most practical definition of culture is: “the shared values, attitudes and behaviour of a group of people“.

When you view culture with this definition, it becomes useful. By understanding people and what makes them tick, you have a far better chance of influencing these attributes. 

MM: What are some examples of when brands have influenced culture, rather than reflected it back?

CM: Apart from our work with Converse, one of my all-time favourite examples is from outdoor retailer, REI, whose mission is to get people outside. 

On Black Friday – traditionally a day dedicated to shopping indoors – REI chose not to open its stores on the biggest shopping day of the year and actually paid its staff to take the day off.

They announced they were closed for the day and encouraged people to #optoutside. Other retailers joined their movement by closing for the day and state parks even opened for free to help people spend the day outside.

They understood that their customers and staff don’t want to be stuck inside for the day. They’d used the power of their people’s insights to start a movement.

MM: How have marketing science and digital metrics affected marketers’ approach to culture?

The stark reality is, a lot of hardcore marketing work gets in the way of understanding the culture of a category: from market segmentation to analytics, sales funnel analysis, media investment analysis, brand tracking, econometrics, ad testing and the application of marketing science, to name a few. 

For everything this gives us, such as keeping us on the straight and narrow, stopping us from doing silly things, and ensuring we’re efficient with our spend, it has probably taken an important thing away. Our imagination and deep understanding of people are worryingly diminishing every day. We tend to have the answers before we’ve really understood anything at all. 

That isn’t to suggest we should dismiss it, we just shouldn’t always use reason to deliver creativity. 

MM: How does Hopeful Monster plan to help brands influence culture?

CM: We believe culture is a serious business and it’s at the heart of everything we do at Hopeful Monsters. In our humble opinion, there is no force on human behaviour bigger than culture.

At the end of the day, marketing communications is about understanding people. Communicating with them and through them. Yet our industry continues to make it unnecessarily complicated and increasingly detached from people.

Ultimately, a rebalancing of the adtech-obsessed, hyper-rationalised way of marketing is needed, at a time when its effectiveness is on the decline. 

Brands should not only leverage it more, but a better business case needs to be made for it. We might not have a fancy pants regression analysis chart, but saying our behaviour is not disproportionately influenced by culture, is like saying the world is flat. 

We specialise in culture – the biggest influence on human behaviour – and when a brand affects the culture of a category, there’s a big commercial upside.

Streaming digital audio and podcast advertising is continuing its strong growth, according to a report released today by Australia’s peak trade association for online advertising. The IAB Audio Advertising State of the Nation Report found that, despite greater economic uncertainty looming, agencies intend to increase expenditure on digital audio formats in 2023.  

Beginning in 2017, the annual report covers usage and attitudes to advertising in broadcast radio, streaming digital audio, DAB+ and podcasts. For the most recent study, an independent research group collected 249 survey responses from decision-makers or influencers in the allocation of marketing spend over December and January. 

The results found 71 percent of media agencies intend to increase their investment in streaming audio and 78 percent intend to increase investment in podcast advertising in 2023. This comes just two days after the release of the IAB Online Advertising Expenditure Report, which found digital audio revenue hit $221.2 million in the 2022 calendar year.

Major findings from the report

Digital audio remains a powerful brand builder, with seven in 10 agencies saying digital audio is effective at increasing brand awareness. Streaming music and radio are seen as highly effective reach extensions to broadcast radio, while podcasts are rated highly effective for accessing hard-to-reach audiences and increasing engagement.

With these objectives in mind, 75 percent of media agencies now have streaming digital audio advertising as a regular part of their activity, while 70 percent of media agencies include podcast advertising as a regular part of their activity (increasing from 36 percent in 2020 and 59 percent in 2021).

Integration is also more consistent, with planning and buying digital audio in combination with other digital advertising types continuing to rise.  Eighty percent of agencies now at least sometimes buy digital audio in combination with digital video advertising. And 69 percent of agencies intend to buy digital audio bundled with other media opportunities (up from 51 percent last year).

Agencies are still choosing to buy audio advertising programmatically, with 82 percent of agencies intending to buy programmatic audio in the next year (up from 64 percent in the year prior).

Interestingly, although brand building is the predominant objective for digital audio campaigns, only 27 percent of agencies consistently use sonic branding. But that may change, with the intention to introduce consistent sonic branding now at 43 percent.

What’s holding digital audio advertising back?

Despite the expansion of digital audio advertising, respondents identified key areas holding the sector back from biting off a larger chunk of the ad volume. 

Brands and advertisers say challenges include creating compelling creative in broadcast and streaming radio, and a lack of understanding across all formats. The predominant challenge continues to be a lack of measurement and standardised metrics, although this was also reduced in 2022.

“This year’s’ report shows that brands and advertisers see the effectiveness of digital audio for engagement and reach, but will need more proof of the effectiveness of audio for brand building,” says IAB Australia’s director of research Natalie Stanbury.   

“This should be a top priority this year for all in our industry considering the role of long-term brand building to business success during and after economic downturns.”  

The company’s CEO Gai Le Roy says “one of the most pleasing results” of the study was the marked increase in planning and buying audio in combination with other digital activities.

“There is great potential for digital audio to increase its share of the digital ad pie with eight in 10 agencies who use digital audio now considering its use alongside digital video as well as the increase in omnichannel programmatic buying,” she says.

To learn more about the business of marketing in podcast format, listen to Marketing Mag‘s podcast Not So Serious.

Squarespace is no stranger to the spectacle of the Super Bowl. This year, the American website hosting-turned all-in-one platform launched its ninth Super Bowl campaign with ​​‘The Singularity’ starring actor Adam Driver. 

The in-game spot, directed by award-winning filmmaker Aoife McArdle, has Driver playing multiple versions of himself, struck by the idea that Squarespace is a website that makes websites. As he follows that line of thinking down the rabbit hole, reality itself begins to unravel, triggering a singularity event.

Ben Hughes, vice president of creative at Squarespace, is one of the brains behind ‘The Singularity’. He helps run the company’s in-house creative department, which is responsible for global advertising, brand design and content across different markets, including Australia.

Marketing spoke to Hughes for a peek behind the curtain at how a multi-million dollar Super Bowl campaign like ‘The Singularity’ comes together.

Marketing Mag: What first inspired the idea for ‘The Singularity’? How many ideas were left on the cutting room floor?

Ben Hughes: We create hundreds of ideas for each Super Bowl and a big part of the creative process is progressively whittling the field down to get to the very best one. Here, the inspiration came from our own founding story. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Squarespace and our founder used this to pitch the company to people as “a website that makes websites”. When we heard that, we knew it would make for an incredible ad. 

MM: From idea to campaign launch, how long did it take Squarespace to create ‘The Singularity’?

BH: It was about nine months from initial briefing to final delivery. That includes all of the creative rounds to arrive at the idea, locking in the director and talent, production, post-production and trafficking. 

MM: Squarespace’s Super Bowl ads often feature A-List celebrities. This year, did you explore the option of not featuring a celebrity? Why did you choose to feature one in the end?

BH: Our brand is all about creativity and we’re lucky to be able to attract partners who are artists at the pinnacle of their crafts. Every year, we always look at some ideas that don’t involve celebrity talent, so it’s definitely not a mandate, but the combination of Adam and the Singularity script seemed to click perfectly. Fortunately, he agreed.

MM: Why was Adam Driver the right brand ambassador?

BH: We don’t really think about him as a brand ambassador. It’s more that he was the right partner to tell the story we wanted to tell. Something we realised early on about this year’s idea was that the straighter you play it, the funnier it becomes. Adam is known for his intensity as an actor, but he’s also extremely funny, and we felt like he would totally commit to the absurdity of the idea. 

MM: Do you think Super Bowl audiences will ever get tired of ads that are oversaturated with celebrities? 

BH: As long as there are Super Bowl ads, there will be celebrity Super Bowl ads. The human desire to watch famous people doing silly things is endless, not to mention that they come with their own audiences and passionate fan bases built in. 

MM: How do you characterise and then approach the Super Bowl’s audience?

BH: I think it’s the last true mass audience. It’s very rare these days for so many people to be looking at the same thing at the same time. That being said, we’re always trying to make an ad that’s the best expression of the brand, not the thing that we think the most people will like. 

MM: How do you think ‘The Singularity’ stood out among the noise of other Super Bowl ads and entertainment?

BH: I think it was both the simplest ad in the game and the most visually rich.

MM: Squarespace released the behind-the-scenes teaser ahead of the big game. What does the company hope to achieve by releasing teaser content early, rather than waiting to launch on the big day?

BH: All of the content we create for the Super Bowl is rolled out in a very deliberate way. This year, we led with our behind-the-scenes film, which we used as a talent reveal moment. It wasn’t originally designed to be a campaign teaser, but it ended up being a perfect way to bring people into the world of the campaign without giving away too much.

MM: What constitutes a successful Super Bowl ad in your eyes?  

BH: If we can make an ad that we love, that’s a great expression of the brand and that people talk about and write about, we consider that a success.

Ben Hughes

For an analysis on why Super Bowl ads are dropping earlier and feature so many celebrities, read ‘The Super Bowl tease’.

ALDI has started 2023 by trying to reposition itself in the minds of consumers with the ‘Shop ALDI First’ campaign.

The nationwide campaign from the supermarket chain launched with a schmaltzy TVC via BMF this week.

It depicts a dramatic moment of heartbreak between cashier and customer. When the young ALDI cashier spies ‘smoked herring paste’ left uncrossed on the customer’s shopping list, he tells her: “It’s cool”. Rain starts to pour in store as they share the understanding that she will need to buy her expensive indulgences elsewhere.

“We love you,” the cashier says as she departs.

“You’ll always be my first shop,” she responds through tears.

The TVC aims to leverage a lack of loyalty when it comes to supermarket spending.

“We know consumer shopping habits are such that few people only shop at one place,” explains ALDI Australia marketing director Jenny Melhuish. 

“You might have a particular bakery that you get a croissant from in the mornings, or you might need smoked herring paste for a very specific recipe. But true savings are made when you make ALDI your first shop. It’s about creating new habits in 2023, that we are sure will save Australians cold, hard-earned, cash.”

According to ALDI, new research reveals that almost half of Aussies (45 percent) chose their supermarket based on their parents’ brand of choice despite the savings they may be missing out on elsewhere. Seventy-eight percent of Australians have changed their grocery shopping habits in the last twelve months, and one in five (21 percent) are considering changing where they shop to save money in the next year.

“The new year is often a time for being more mindful and intentional in setting new routines,” continues Melhuish. 

“It makes sense to shop with ALDI first when a basket of groceries is considerably cheaper than at other supermarkets. Post-Christmas and holiday spending, we think Australians should rethink their habits to easily save themselves serious cash.” 

The campaign launches across a range of media channels, including TV, BVOD, OLV, OOH, print, radio, digital, and social.

Partnerships have been aplenty this week, with Valentine’s Day on Tuesday and Sydney WorldPride and the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras starting Friday 17 February.

Local Aussie brands have bonded over one particular product more than once during the week’s festivities.

The first frictionless collaboration was between Archie Rose Distillery Co. and sexual wellness company LBDO for a personal lubricant in celebration of WorldPride. 

Meanwhile, Gelato Messina and sun and skin care brand Standard Procedure released a limited edition Finger Bun Gelato Lube for Valentine’s Day.

Gelato Messina x Standard Procedure lube

Standard Procedure is a family business with a factory on the Sunshine Coast, while Gelato Messina has locations across Australia and one in Hong Kong.

Self-described as “two Australian brands with a love for fun, sun, and high-quality ingredients”, Messina and Standard Procedure have created a raspberry-scented, coconut and brioche water-based lube to “bring Australiana nostalgia down under for a memorably happy ending”.

On Valentine’s Day, the lube was bundled with a tub of Messina’s Finger Bun gelato in an adults only ‘Lover’s Pack’ via Uber Eats.

The package didn’t stop there – nor did the puns. The brands also curated a Spotify playlist of “saucy bedroom bangers to get everyone in the mood”.

Archie Rose x LBDO lube

Founded in Sydney, Archie Rose enlisted Melbourne-based LBDO to contribute to its WorldPride collection. 

Archie Rose had been named the official gin partner of Sydney WorldPride, while LBDO was already seasoned in slinging its ‘Essensual’ lube. Together, they created a new, special edition lubricant to offer as a complimentary gift with some of the Archie Rose WorldPride-edition cocktails and gins.

According to a statement from Archie Rose, the brands shared an ethos “all because we both believe everyone deserves to experience pleasure in a way that’s uniquely our own, whether through the joy of an impeccably crafted cocktail or in the exploration of safe, inclusive sexual wellness”.

“We both strive to create safe spaces for everyone and have a mutual love of heightened experiences. Plus, their approach to sex education is, well, sexy as. Open-minded, knowledge-centred and all about creating safe and inclusive conversations.”

Smooth collaborator

In a sea of questionable partnerships, these fun and colourful collaborations are made meaningful by clever products and copywriting that promote an important practice: safe sex.

For more updates on Sydney WorldPride partnerships, sign up to our newsletter.

Aussie vitamin company VÖOST has released a short film featuring Adelaide United player Josh Cavallo, the world’s first openly gay top-flight men’s soccer player, to encourage inclusivity in sport. The clip kicks off a three-year partnership between VÖOST, Sydney WorldPride and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Released on 13 February, the film sees Cavallo revisit his childhood soccer club in Melbourne. Here, he reflects on the path that led him to post his viral coming out video on Twitter in 2021, making sporting history.

Out on the field

VÖOST’s five-minute video references the first international study on homophobia in sport, which found around 70 percent of participants believe youth sport is not safe and welcoming for LGB people. (The study focussed on sexuality rather than gender-based discrimination faced by trans and intersex athletes.)

“VÖOST firmly believes this exclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in sport is unacceptable and wants to proactively work to change that,” the Melbourne-based company says in a press release.

While discrimination continues on the field and in the stands, some brands are doing their bit to right past wrongs in the realm of sports sponsorships – and of course earn some cash in the process.

Partnerships continue for Cavallo

Coming out as gay might have once negatively affected sponsorship deals for sporting champions like Martina Navratilova and Greg Louganis, but Cavallo’s announcement seems to have opened the door to his deals. Before he came out, he had no sponsorships in the pipeline. Since his announcement made global headlines, Cavallo has partnered with Ralph Lauren, Cupra, Gymshark and now VÖOST.

In August 2022, Cavallo told Marketing that he is selective about the brands with which he works.

“Yes, it’s great having these companies come to me and want to work with me, but they have to align with my brand and my messaging behind it,” he said at the time.

It seems that VÖOST has made the cut. Alongside working with Cavallo, the Melbourne-based company owned by Procter & Gamble (P&G) will activate across WorldPride and Mardi Gras. P&G is also supporting rainbow youth charity Minus18 to create Anti-Bullying Resource Kits for students across Australia.

For more on Cavallo’s experience in the public eye as the world’s first openly gay top-flight men’s soccer player, read our full interview with him last year.