Drag The Vote

The Drag the Vote campaign launched with support from Momentum, LeBlanc (& co.) Communications, dozens of partner organizations, and drag performers across Canada — including over 250 official “drag ambassadors” who endorsed the campaign through an influencer model. From the queens of Canada’s Drag Race to beloved hometown performers, the ‘drag world’ emphatically joined the campaign and called on the 2SLGBTQI+ community to get out and vote, with queer and trans human rights in mind.

When supporting Drag the Vote with strategy and design, our team fulfilled our client’s brief for a joyful, colourful campaign inspired by our favourite drag performers and gay bars. To bring the campaign brand to life, we sought inspiration from the rich visual tradition of drag and incorporated elements like sparkles, hues of pink, and typography modelled after neon signs found in nightclubs.

The tone of voice for the central campaign was playful and cheeky, as the audience was the queer community. As the campaign's influencer strategy employed a decentralized approach, individual drag ambassadors were able to go even further and promote the campaign with their unique personalities on display. More than once during the campaign, we heard drag queens tell their followers to "close Grindr and get out and vote" — which is just one example of how the performers spoke directly to their audiences on social media in a way that resonated with them.

To motivate more 2SLGBTQI+ people and allies to vote in a crucial election, Momentum and LeBlanc (& co.) planned Drag the Vote to be a major campaign with both online and in-person activations, including drag shows across the country. Due to the focus on events, we also prioritized creating merch that made the campaign's drag shows feel like a party celebrating the queer community's political power. We designed a suite of branded merch — including branded t-shirts, crop tops, stickers, and handheld fans that said ‘Hi Gay, Go Vote!” — that was mailed to hundreds of supporters and performers across the country. This ensured that the campaign would be fuelled by an influencer model, as drag performers and partner organizations across the country wore the merch to show their support at drag shows and in their influencer videos online.

To visually showcase the campaign with photography, we invited performers to strut their stuff at a photoshoot (in a queer nightclub, Ottawa’s famed Lookout, of course). The resulting photos helped bring the campaign to life while also highlighting the delightful overall message of the campaign — to get out and vote, with 2SLGBTQI+ rights in mind! 

The Drag the Vote campaign was featured in 13 unique media stories, including the nationally syndicated Canadian Press which brought the story to the hundreds of outlets across Canada that carry their newswire.

The campaign had an impressive reach and impact, as 150 candidates from 3 of 4 major federal political parties took the Rainbow Equality Pledge which was targeted at candidates during the election. There were 70 Drag the Vote campaign events hosted across Canada to encourage the 2SLGBTQI+ community to vote. Receiving major interest from grassroots supporters, the campaign raised $45,000 from 753 individual donors. The campaign received 4.9 million impressions from digital billboards across 12 Canadian cities and over 1 million organic impressions on Instagram. As a fun way to spread the campaign's message, a whopping total of 40,000 Drag the Vote stickers were shared with advocates across Canada, with stickers prominently featured on laptops, water bottles, and in gay bars across the country. 

LeBlanc (& co.) Communications also received recognition as an agency for our work on Drag the Vote. Campaign Canada — a media outlet covering the design and advertising sectors — covered LeBlanc (& co.) Communications’ work on Drag the Vote. We were also nominated for the Winnipeg Advertising Association's Signature Awards in the "campaign" category and the "public service / charity design" category.

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