ASSIGNMENT 1: ESSAY ONE

Assignment 3: Essay One

Caryl Dolinko - # 332385
Royal Roads University
PCOM633: Strategic Communication Management
Tom Workman
Friday, November 27th, 2015

ASSIGNMENT 1: ESSAY ONE

In this assignment, I focus on the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS), the organizational body behind the
annual Gay Pride Day Parade, Festival and celebrations for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer
(LGBTQ) community. It was 2005, and the VPS had three years before it celebrated its 30th anniversary in
2008. The newly elected, working board of eight was aware of the significance of this imminent date and
knew they needed a plan. A communications team was created, a three year plan developed and a PR unit
was created to interact with the public, and stakeholders. It was the optimal of PR units and the peak of Pride.
What began as a small protest march, was about to blossom into a world-class event attracting close
to 750,000 participants at the parade and festival events! Vancouver was voted #1 gay travel destination in
Canada by Community Marketing surpassing both Montreal and Toronto, and Top City in the World by Cond
Nast Traveler 2004, 2005, 2006. Same sex marriage had just become legal under federal law, gay and lesbian
characters were visible in mainstream media, Pride events were massive in scale and the pink dollar was
having enormous economic impact on cities. However, LGBTQ youth seemed unaware of the struggle to
achieve these rights, disinterested in the history that lead to these freedoms and a lack of appreciation of the
LGBTQ community around the world. The Pride Parade and Festival brought together members of the
community, but somehow the Pride had become a party and the greater meaning was lost.
Pride was a strong organization in the city so its strength was that it was known, respected and had
history in the city. It was weak because sponsors werent supporting it, allies werent attending and the
community saw Pride not as a movement but as a reason party. The threat was that funding for the event
would disappear and the LGBTQ community was losing the appreciation for its history and significance. The
opportunity was present to engage people, expand the message, grow the event and develop a voice.
The VPS Board approved a plan to by the PR team to All final decisions regarding messaging and
finance went through the Board. The President was chosen as the spokesperson to the public and a Grand
Marshall would represent the theme, and speak to the message of the year. The first year the focus would be
on Educate, the next year on Liberate, and the theme Celebrate would coincide with the 30th anniversary of

ASSIGNMENT 1: ESSAY ONE

Pride in the third year. Coincidentally, the rainbow flag was also turning 30, so we wanted to generate the
biggest exposure of Pride in the third year! Every aspect of Pride would reflect the theme and build on the
messages that reflected on the struggles and sacrifices made to achieve freedom and equality to celebrate
Pride.
The main goal of the PR unit was to take control of the images and messages that mainstream media
was presenting of our community. It was imperative that we change how the LGBTQ community was
represented and the three year theme was going to change the direction. There had never been anybody to
work in this position and there was no budget for anything related to communications. A media director was
appointed to address all incoming inquiries and all interviews were conducted with the President exclusively
and focused on the annual theme and specific messages. Grand Marshals were appointed to lead the parade
who represented the message of Pride and annual theme and in the final year, we invited Sarahan
Abeysundara, a Sri Lankan human rights activist, and Gilbert Baker, creator of the Rainbow Flag to lead the
parade for the 30th anniversary of Pride and the rainbow flag. This led to massive media!
A media kit was created and leading up to Pride, press releases were emailed to media and formatted
to generate interest, inquiries and visibility. We created a photo bank of high resolution images and also
provided information on our annual theme and messaging All interviews were recorded and shared on the
VPS website and a media section created on the website. Sponsors and partners were familiar with the annual
theme, grand marshals and messaging, and web logos and advertising banners were available for all of their
websites. Newspapers, radio and television stations were provided scripts for all commercials and
advertisements and offered opportunities for interviews with the grand marshals. Grand Marshalls were given
a media kit regarding the theme and messaging a for all interviews that needed to be shared.
The board, staff and volunteers were kept apprised of updates, messages and annual themes and
became our best spokespeople and voices in the community. We created a monthly newsletter that shared
messaging that was replicated across all media channels. The promotional materials and graphics for each of
the twelve Pride events was also related to the theme in some way and for three years, the posters and images

ASSIGNMENT 1: ESSAY ONE

were all related. A survey was conducted at the end of each year for stakeholders: sponsors, volunteers,
vendors, parade participants, entertainers and the general public. We created media releases leading up to
Pride with important stories and fed the public new stories.
To build greater alliances and presence in the LGBTQ global community, we developed relationships
with Pride organizations across the province, country and world and hosted a national Pride conference in
2007. The final evaluation on the success of the Pride PR initiative was gathering enough global interest in
Pride to host a world pride conference in 2008, two months after the 30th anniversary Pride. These major
events outside of the Pride season continued the interest in Pride and kept us relevant in the media, with a
national and global perspective. The PR unit generated continual visibility in media with the three year theme
which increased the size of the parade, and the message of Pride was heard. Educate, Liberate and Celebrate.
During the course of the three year plan, a part time consultant was paid to oversee the three year
strategy and act as lead of PR unit as part of the responsibilities. The fee to complete this properly would
require a $35k a year contract. The cost of phones, computer and email programs would need to be included
in planning a budget as well as online e-newsletter, web hosting and survey programs.