Language created the Yes Equality identity for the extraordinary and successful referendum campaign for marriage equality in Ireland. This included brand strategy, campaign name, logo, and design of websites, social media and all Yes Equality campaign and canvassing materials.
“It did not identify the campaign as lesbian, or gay, or LGBT, but identified it as the collective values of Irish people… an identity in which everyone could see themselves and the values they would be happy to stand up and vote for. ‘Yes Equality’ did just that.” Ireland Says YES; the inside story of how the vote for marriage equality was won.
The campaign was established by a coalition of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Glen), the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Marriage Equality to canvas for a yes vote in the referendum on civil marriage equality. The communications objective was to make marriage equality relevant to the majority of the electorate, engage and motivate eligible voters to register and vote in the Referendum. The campaign strategy was to build a grassroots civil society campaign by resourcing and enabling local groups, organisations and individuals. This resulted in a level of engagement and participation never seen before in a political campaign. in Ireland The Yes Equality campaign had three phases; Registration, Pledge to Vote and Your YES Matters and was adopted widely by Student’s Unions, political parties and civil society organisations.
The campaign resulted in a record number of first time voters, young voters and general voter turnout for the successful Civil Marriage Equality referendum in 2015.
