How Iconic American Brands are Embracing Summer Cultural Moments: LGBTQ+ Pride Month & Juneteenth

Cultural moments during the summer are an excellent time for brands to engage diverse consumers through a celebration of heritage, chosen family, and culture.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

June 5, 2023
Victor Paredes – Executive Director of Cultural Strategy

June, in particular, provides opportunities for brands to connect with American consumers through LGBTQ+ Pride and Juneteenth celebrations.

In addition to these insights, I moderated a special panel discussion to explore how brands are connecting with consumers during these key cultural occasions – as well as opportunities to highlight joy, nostalgia, heritage, and connection throughout the season.

Read on and fill out the form to watch a recording of ourHow America’s Iconic Brands Are Engaging Diverse Consumers through Meaningful Summer Holidays & Occasions presentation.
How America's Brands are Engaging Diverse Consumers - slick deck example

Collage Group’s Jack Mackinnon, Senior Director of Cultural Insights shared leading insights for brands to consider when engaging diverse consumers in the coming months, and key cultural occasions. Check out relevant insights for Pride Month and Juneteenth below.

Key Holiday #1: Pride Month

Pride Month serves to recognize and celebrate all LGBTQ+ people while also honoring the incredible achievements and contributions of the community. With 57% of all LGBTQ+ Americans celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month, as compared to just 8% of non-LGBTQ+ Americans celebrating the holiday, it’s important to activate around Pride Month by celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and teaching people about the segment and the holiday’s unique history.

Over half of LGBTQ+ Americans celebrate pride month

Key Holiday #2: Juneteenth

On June 19th, six in ten Black Americans will celebrate Juneteenth and honor the occasion by learning about Black history and culture, supporting Black-owned businesses and attending a parade or festival. Since being established as a federal holiday in 2021, Black Americans celebrating the holiday have increased by 18%. Americans are most interested in brands and companies helping to explain the holiday’s meaning and importance, but Black Americans are open to a number of inroads for brands can celebrate the holiday. Include other components alongside your main educational message to help your Juneteenth messaging stand out from the crowd.

Learning about black history and culture is the most popular way to celebrate Juneteenth

In addition to these insights, I moderated a special panel featuring Emily Arthurs, Vice President of Marketing for Talking Rain and their Sparkling Ice Brand and Nicole Buchanan, Senior Director of Head of Cultural Strategy for Pandora (SXM), to discuss how their brands are effectively activating on these moments to engage diverse consumers.

Our Panel

Headshots of speakers for the panel

When speaking to what consumers are looking for during Pride Month, Emily noted the universal human need for connection. She shared that the desire to get back outside and connect is key to our culture and allows brands to showcase how products are personalized and can even empower this experience. Summer cultural moments, like Pride Month, are the perfect opportunity to enhance or change the experience you seek by celebrating your community with joy. 

Emily and Nicole agreed that brands should understand how to empower consumers to connect through marketing strategies. Each holiday is layered, and it is essential to understand the segments. For example, chosen family is particularly important to Gen Z during Pride Month. Gen Z wants to see brands take initiative and uplift voices from their communities. It is imperative for marketers to understand how intersectionality works, especially during these holidays and occasions.

When speaking to what consumers are looking for during Juneteenth, and specifically black consumer-targeted marketing activations, Nicole shared the importance of having the consumers that are presented on screen be supported by diverse creators behind the screen and production. Whether it’s in real life, or on platform, leaning into black-owned companies and leadership broadens the lens in terms of how to build truly authentic representation with the diverse segments’ marketers are trying to capture.

The importance of understanding heritage months and holidays, and the lessons learned from insights and research, will help you engage the diverse consumers you are trying to activate during summer months and all year round. To learn how you can receive full access to all insights presented and more, contact us today .

Thank you again to Emily and Nicole from Talking Rain and Pandora for your participation and partnership!

Other LGBTQ+ Research Articles and Insights from Collage Group

Victor Paredes

Victor Paredes

Victor leverages his expertise in inclusive marketing and advertising in combination with Collage’s proprietary data and insights, to support clients. He is a successful marketing and advertising executive with proven experience in building practices that drive brand equity, sales, traffic, and qualified leads. His marketing experience spans sectors such as entertainment, hospitality, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, retail, and direct to consumer services.

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