The real reason tech brands are lining up to sponsor Australia’s LGBT Mardi Gras

On Saturday, the streets of Sydney, Australia will shut down as marchers with colourful costumes and choreographed dances celebrate the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade — all alongside a number of corporate floats.

This year, four major U.S. tech companies with offices in Sydney — Facebook, Google, Twitter and Airbnb — have signed up to be major partners of the event, among other brands. 

There is a clear benefit to the Mardi Gras from such sponsorship — commercial partnerships delivered A$838,000 of investment to the event in 2015 — but what is the gain for these four brands? All worthy causes deserve attention and amplification, but when corporations get involved, with their own specific set of incentives and priorities, it’s fair to ask why.

Paradegoers make their way along Oxford Street during the 2015 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on March 7, 2015 in Sydney, Australia.

Google became a major sponsor of Mardi Gras in 2011, and Airbnb began its partnership in 2015. Both have campaigns coordinated with this year’s event, including floats in the parade. Facebook and Twitter are new partners this year, and also launched Australian LGBT rights-associated initiatives in 2016, including a profile picture frame in support of marriage equality and events with Mardi Gras celebrities in a #RainbowRoom, respectively.

The four brands have used their platforms to support LGBT issues around the world, and are known for their LGBT-friendly workplaces, but there have also been missteps along the way. In 2014, for example, Facebook ran into trouble when it enforced a “real names” policy, inadvertently affecting a number of drag performers and transgender people who used names that reflected their identities. Twitter has also had to address widespread incidents of harassment of LGBT people on its platform.

Supporting diversity

By partnering with the Mardi Gras, brands are supporting their diverse set of employees and customer base, Ben Mulcahy, managing director of gay and lesbian media network, Pink Media Group, which works with the Mardi Gras, told Mashable Australia.

In his view, while the event welcomes sponsors of all types, their brands have to align. “They really have to show they’re supporting diversity in other ways,” he said. “Through their recruitment, through their employee networks, through their marketing.”

An Airbnb spokesperson told Mashable Australia that like all brands who partner with Mardi Gras, the company wants to support the community that supports them.

“The [LGBT community were some of the first people to use Airbnb around the world and continue to be some of our biggest supporters,” he said in an email. “We believe that Airbnb can play an active role in changing biases and fostering understanding among people and communities around the world.”

Representatives of Google, Facebook and Twitter echoed the sentiment. “Our values of tolerance and respect, and policies on non-discrimination are universal throughout Google,” a Google spokesperson said. “We firmly believe that the diversity of perspectives, ideas, and cultures leads to the creation of better products and services.”

The benefit to corporate brands

Their support is not purely lip service, clearly, but there is still a marketing benefit to these brands playing out. If the gay and lesbian community had a brand, after all, it would speak to progressiveness, liberation and free-thinking, Adam Ferrier, global chief strategy officer at media agency Cummins & Partners, told Mashable Australia.

“That particular group of people says a lot of positive things about a brand who aligns in that space,” he said. “By supporting the gay and lesbian community, you’re communicating that you’re a progressive, forward-thinking, humanistic brand … a brand for everybody.”

There are three main reasons an event like Mardi Gras attracts so much brand attention, Ferrier suggested. Number one, exposure. All eyes are on it, so it’s easy to get noticed by the public and media. Number two, it’s a contained event. The Mardi Gras festivities occur within a set timeframe, so it’s practical to act by building a parade float or hosting events. Number three, it’s a clear proposition. 

“Mardi Gras says ‘celebrating gay and lesbian communities’,” he explained. “If you take something more vague like climate action, what are you saying? How do you activate against that? How are people going to notice you?”

Drag Queen and ANZ employee David Beks Poses in front of a GAYTM on Oxford st Darlinghurst in recognition of the Sydney Gay Mardi Gras Festival on February 23, 2014 in Sydney, Australia.

Following the trends

According to Ferrier, advertising is a very reactive business — it follows trends, it rarely sets them. “Minorities and diversity is the big thing at the moment,” he said. “It’s moved from clean and green.”

Partnering with Mardi Gras can do more for some brands than others. “When ANZ did Gaytm a few years ago, that was quite surprising for a bank. Generally, you associate banks with conservative institutions,” Guy Marshall, strategy director and partner at advertising firm Bashful, told Mashable Australia. “For the tech companies, [supporting Mardi Gras] makes total sense.”

There has been a shift in marketing towards topical content more generally, Marshall suggested. “Once upon a time … a brand would go away for a year and come up with a campaign,” he said. “These days, because of the primacy of social media, it’s really essential brands have topical content.”

And, as he pointed out, if you take away the political elements, Mardi Gras is a really, really big party. “It’s something for brands to talk about,” he added. 

The pink-washing risk

Still, Ferrier warned brands could face a backlash if they’re perceived as “pink-washing” — merely paying lip service to the LGBT cause.

“Pink-washing is rife in the community at the moment, and if you’re not giving more than you’re taking, you’ll get found out,” he said. “The more vocal you’re being about gay and lesbian rights, the more you have to be doing something about it.”

While brands should absolutely support LGBT rights, Marshall suggested there is a risk of band-wagoning if they are perceived to be inauthentic. He pointed to Airbnb’s 2015 Mardi Gras promotion, Big Gay Stay, where a couple could stay in the company’s house-styled float for one night before riding in the parade, as a great example of something that showed support while being innovative.

“[Airbnb’s] brand promise is ‘Belong Anywhere’ … and it was a really nice way to bring that brand promise to life in a meaningful way,” he said.

It’s likely Facebook, Google, Twitter and Airbnb are well aware of the pink-washing risk. “You’ll find that all the sponsors of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras are all, without a doubt, giving something significant to that community, even if it’s in the form of a bloody big cheque,” Ferrier said.

Parade goers make their way along Oxford Street during the 2015 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade on March 7, 2015 in Sydney, Australia.

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