Zola Is Using Real Love Letters to Celebrate Pride in Its Out-of-Home Campaign

All around the city, billboards, bus shelters and kiosks will feature words lifted from real love notes that the brand gathered at a pop-up event earlier this month. At San Francisco’s West Coast Craft, Zola set up a station called the “Love Post,” staffed with professional writers and calligraphers. During the fair, visitors could write a love letter to a special someone before sending it off in a stamped envelope.

Of the 924 letters sent, Zola highlighted 10 in its campaign (with permission from participants), many of which feature messages from LGBTQ couples.

Although this is the brand’s first Pride-specific campaign, Jennifer Spector, Zola’s director of brand, said the effort is more about inclusivity than anything.

“Our campaign is not featuring the Pride flag or things that are overtly associated with Pride,” she said. “It’s really more about celebrating love in all of its forms.”

According to the company, the concept for the campaign stemmed from a recent study conducted by the brand that found that 92% surveyed would be “thrilled” if their partner gave them a handwritten love letter, but 60% said it’s been longer than six months since they’ve written even a Post-it for their other halves. Additionally, 18% of couples said they’ve either never exchanged handwritten notes or it has been at least five years since.

To broaden the effort, the company plans to extend the campaign nationally across social. Additionally, influencers will be used to garner reach by sharing their own handwritten love notes and encouraging followers to spread love.

“We really love to tell the love stories of couples, so hopefully this is something that we’ll be able to replicate in other cities and potentially make this an annual event around Pride,” Spector said.

Zola worked with branding and design firm The Working Assembly, experiential marketing shop Rebel & Rogue and creative media agency Noble People on the campaign. Noble People helped Zola with concept and execution, while The Working Assembly designed campaign elements and Rebel & Rogue brought the activation to life.

“In approaching this campaign, we wanted to address a tension we all felt when we kicked off the project: the omnipresent narrative of hate and division that has taken hold of our culture, and that stands in stark contrast with all the love Zola helps the world celebrate,” said Josh Millrod, group strategy director at Noble People. “So we concepted and planned Love Notes as a way to put more love into the world while showing Zola’s deep dedication to celebrating love of all types.”