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World Pride sponsorship deal becomes the new crown jewel for Coles
Coles Group this year launched its inaugural Sydney Mardi Gras parade float- the climax of a glittering debut to pride celebrations. But is there more to the supermarket giant's latest big sponsorship deal? Mumbrella's Kalila Welch speaks to head of events and sponsorships, Carmel Horvath.
As one of the largest, and most visible companies in the Australian market, Coles Group’s commitment to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community is one, that unlike some pride-themed activations in recent months, has the opportunity to make a real and tangible difference for queer-identifying Australians.
Touching thousands of regional and metro communities across more than 2,500 Coles Group retail stores, and employing upwards of 120,000 staff across Australia, the business is one of few large bricks and mortar retailers to officially (and loudly) broadcast its support for the LGBTQIA+ community, despite the increasing corporatisation of pride-related celebrations in recent years.
The supermarket group has not been shy in spruiking its ‘everyday low prices’ across a number of major and minor sponsorships that rolls out each year at the national, state, and community level.
However, Coles remains steadfast that its commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community through its World Pride sponsorship, is more than just a marketing ploy, but a meaningful investment into its team members and local communities.
It’s the latest in a long string of high-profile partnerships that the business has undertaken in recent years, with Horvath explaining that the grocery retailer is approached by potential partners so frequently it almost never seeks them out proactively.
Horvath herself gets approached four to five times a week about potential opportunities but asserts that those which make the cut must “be meaningful to Coles”, with strategic alignment the most basic prerequisite to tick off.
What qualifies as meaningful?
At the bare minimum, partnerships should relate to Coles’ densely worded purpose statement: “Sustainably help all Australians lead healthier, happier lives”. The purpose encapsulates three strategic ‘pillars’ – smarter selling, inspire customers and win together.
Coles’ strategic pillars
Most partnered initiatives are rolled under Coles’ ‘win together’ strategic pillar, having been identified as being beneficial to Coles’ customers and team members.
While Coles’ work in the partnerships and events space runs through from small regional activations and initiative to highly visible national sponsorships, there are no doubt a few tentpole moments in the supermarket’s annual calendar.
One such partner that has become near inseparable from the Coles brand is Masterchef Australia, for which Coles has been tied to since the format’s local launch in 2009.
The partnership has proved fruitful for the supermarket brand, positioning Coles as the grocery store of choice for the budding home chef. And despite a slight dip in metro TV ratings, the format remains a winner for Ten and Coles alike, drawing in a sizeable average of 755,000 metro viewers in the 2022 season finale.
Not only does Horvath say the Masterchef partnership “inspires” Coles’ people and customers in the kitchen at home, but it translates effortlessly into food-oriented content across “all of Coles’ channels”, appearing in magazine, radio and in-store executions, as well as on TV.
Carmel Horvath
Next on the list is Coles’ sponsorship with the most-watched sports league in Australia – the AFL.
Signing onto a five-year deal as the AFL’s major partner in 2020, the grocery chain has scored new campaign platforms from the deal, as well as launching its Coles Healthy Kicks program, targeting kids’ eating habits.
Coles describes the initiative as being “designed specifically to encourage Australian children aged 7 to 14 years old to embrace healthy cooking, mindfulness and exercise”, with the support of a number of ambassadors involved in the AFL.
And now, with World Pride under its belt, Horvath says that pride and Mardi Gras will be the next event to become a staple event in the Coles marketing calendar in future years.
The group signed on as presenting partner of Sydney World Pride in September – a latecomer to the event’s sponsorship line-up, for which most partners were required to sign up for Mardi Gras in 2022, as a part of the organiser’s integrated partnership strategy.
The Mardi Gras partnership extends to 2025, and included support for Sydney World Pride’s First Nations Roadshow, which will continue to feature as a part of Mardi Gras for years to come.
“It ticks all the boxes,” says Horvath. “We had a big focus on being able to support our pride community because 10% of our team members identify within that space.”
Externally, the partnership was an opportunity to build Coles’ allyship within the pride community.
“It’s been huge for us,” says Horvath, explaining that what started out as something relatively small, ultimately evolved into much larger scale activations than initially expected.
“I think that it will become huge for us going forward and ongoing. We’re already starting to plan for next year.”
The more visible aspects of the partnership, which included pride decorations across stores nationally, and Coles’ inaugural Mardi Gras parade float, mark the culmination of an ongoing investment into the LGBTQIA+ community by the group.
Last May, Coles signed on as a partner of Pride Cup Australia – an organisation that helps community sports clubs to run their own pride matches. At the same time, the company announced its gender affirmation leave policy, which gave team members undergoing gender affirmation access to up to ten days of paid gender affirmation leave.
“We know that we have at least 900 team members who identify as transgender or gender diverse. We need to have proper policy and education in this area so there is clear guidance around taking leave for this important transition in their life,” said Coles chief legal and safety officer and chair of the Coles Pride Steering Committee, David Brewster, at the time.
The company also has existing partnerships with Wagga Wagga Mardi Gras, Newcastle Pride Festival, Port Douglas Pride, Pride Fest WA and The Daylesford Chillout Festival.
As marketers across Australia engaged queer advocates and celebrities to front their pride campaigns and partnerships, Coles looked inwards, centering its efforts around MisTy del Ray – a drag queen who also happens to be a Coles store manager in Bridgewater, Tasmania.
Horvath met MisTy, who also goes by Tyler Shaw, eight months ago on a business trip to Tasmania. When Shaw approached her about being involved in Coles’ World Pride partnership, Horvath initially didn’t think much, but after googling MisTy on the way home, came to realise how impactful it could be to involve team members directly.
MisTy went on to star in the Coles float, dressed in a custom dress that lent itself to the partnership theme: ‘Everyone is welcome at our table’. Her centerpiece table dress was surrounded by team members from regional stores.
MisTy del Ray (left) and Carmel Horvath (right)
“I already have a queue of team members for next year,” says Horvath. “That’s how powerful that message has been within our business, because people want to be involved – and that’s coming from the allies as well.”
Describing the moment she watched the Coles float pass her by at the Mardi Gras parade, Horvath couldn’t contain her pride for the team.
“Just to see them search for me in the crowd and it the way it just came to life. It was just… I was so proud of them and their moment to shine and to be able to allow them to be who they want to be. We’ve had a couple of people there that came out to Coles before they came out to their families. So it meant a lot for me to be able to help them on that journey.”
With the apparent success of the partnership to date, it can only be hoped that Coles’ LGBTQIA+ and ally team members will hold the company to account to continue to expand its work in the space, for many years beyond World Pride.
topics
AFLCarmel HorvathColesDavid BrewsterMardi GrasMasterChef AustraliaMisty del RayTyler ShawWorld Pride
Coles have done such an exceptional job of their World Pride partnership. I’ve heard on radio, seen on Tik-Tok, in-store and on TV. I couldn’t believe a major supermarket – with hundreds of regional stores- was going all-in on Pride and not just a token effort. I was blown away and really impressed with some of the subtleties – particularly using young in-store ‘allies’ from regional stores on Tik Tok.
I’ve switched from Woolies Metro to Coles based purely on their ‘all-in’ approach.
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