It’s Optus’ fifth year of partnership with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and this year Apparent and Optus have launched Pride blooms from Yes. The platform is built on the idea that pride doesn’t happen overnight. It grows from every yes, from quiet moments of self-acceptance to loud celebrations of identity.

The platform launches with a video series celebrating the personal stories of Optus’s own LGBTQIA+ employees, and an interactive guide to the places that shaped Sydney’s queer history. The video series features four members of Optus’s internal Express Yourself LGBTQIA+ Employee Network sharing personal photographs that capture their defining moments of yes. Each film follows an employee as they reflect on the moments of courage, connection and joy that helped them bloom with pride.

Then Tour De Pride takes that spirit out onto the streets. Hosted by Optus Pride Guide Raine Ingmenn, the interactive series guides visitors through ten locations that have shaped Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ history, from Equality Green at Prince Alfred Park, where Australia collectively said ‘Yes’, to Taylor Square’s famous Rainbow Crossing, Qtopia Sydney, St Vincent’s Hospital, the Bondi Memorial: Rise, and more. Plotted across an interactive map within the official Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras app, the series gives festivalgoers a way to connect with the places and spaces where LGBTQIA+ pride has lived, fought and flourished.

David Jackson, executive creative director at Apparent, stated, “For many in the community, becoming who they truly are happens quietly, over years. Mardi Gras isn’t the beginning. It’s the arrival. We wanted to capture what comes before that moment, whether that’s someone sharing their story on camera or walking visitors to the places where it all started. That’s not something you can fake.”

Tom Hennessey, brand, network and sponsorships and events marketing at Optus, added, “We’ve been a Partner of Mardi Gras since 2022 and our commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community goes well beyond the parade. Optus is proudly a place where our amazing people are supported on their own journeys, and this body of work is a reflection of that. We’re proud to elevate LGBTQIA+ voices of both our employees and the broader community, so that we can help push toward a more inclusive Australia. When everyone feels comfortable being their true self, we all thrive.”

Optus is also supporting key moments across the Mardi Gras festival from Fair Day through to the iconic Parade, as well as LGBTQIA+ inclusion across its retail network and campuses nationally.

Credits:
Client: Optus
Creative Agency: Apparent
Media Agency: Accenture Song
Production (Blooming with Pride): Daughter Collective
Director (Blooming with Pride): Michael Dole
Production (Tour De Pride): Tribal Apes