Getty Images appointed as an Official Media Partner of Pride in London

Getty Images rainbow logo for pride
Getty Images rainbow logo for prideGetty Images press release – 3 July 2018.

Getty Images, a world leader in visual communication, today announces that it has been appointed as an Official Media Partner of Pride in London, which will see it capture this year’s official celebrations and set up a legacy collection of content for Pride in London to reference in years to come.

Under the official designation, Getty Images will deploy its elite roster of expert news and entertainment photographers and videographers – who have a long history of covering Pride events – to cover the Pride in London parade on 7th July, and the Pride in London Gala Dinner on 5th July.

All imagery will be distributed across Getty Images’ industry-leading platform, bringing the diversity of this year’s celebrations in London to audiences in every corner of the globe. Getty Images will also create a digital asset management system (DAMS) for Pride in London, facilitating the easy storage and sharing of their content across social media and owned platforms. The DAMS will also serve as a permanent platform for Pride in London to access imagery and video from these events for future use.

Dawn Airey, CEO at Getty Images – who was recently named PWC Business Leader of the Year 2018 Award at the DIVA Awards –  said, “Pride in London is a cultural moment – and movement – of great importance to us all. It’s a time when Londoners come together to celebrate individuality and inclusivity and when we are reminded of what really matters – human connection and community. We could not be prouder to support this event and the LGBT+ community by documenting this important moment and taking it to global audiences.

“At Getty Images, we care passionately about elevating diverse voices through imagery, and evolving the representation of LGBT+ people is a key part of this. Imagery has a unique power to effect change, creating positive awareness and breaking harmful stereotypes and we hope our involvement in some way can contribute to a more positive and empowering representation of this community.”

Asad Dhunna, Director of Communications for Pride in London said, “Every year we are overwhelmed by the support we are offered as Pride in London continues to grow and we continue to push for LGBT equality. We ensure our partners support the community in an authentic way and are very pleased to be working with Getty Images this year. In tandem with our fantastic team of volunteers, we can’t wait to see all of the photos and videos of this year’s Pride Festival events and of course of the Parade.”

Images captured as part of the Pride in London partnership will be live here from 7th July.

New data shows LGBT+ visual representation is evolving

Proprietary data taken from the one billion customer searches on gettyimages.com indicates that the conversation taking place within mainstream media around the LGBT+ community and the growing awareness and understanding of what it means to live beyond the binary is filtering through in commercial storytelling.

Search data highlights an incredibly exciting uptick in the interest in terms related to gender fluidity with customer searches for terms like ‘gender fluid,’ ‘gender neutral,’ ‘transgender’ and ‘gender identity’ increasing by 214%, 86%, 43% and 79% respectively, over the past 12 months.

There is also an indication of increasing interest in the overall community itself, how its members live and love and the deep history that’s brought them to where we are today. Customer searches for ‘LGBTQ’ are up an impressive 250% while ‘LGBT flag’ is up 47%, ‘LGBT protest’ is up 61%, and ‘gay pride’ is up 39%.

Further data shows increased interest in representing everyday moments for the LGBTQ+ community in visual communications. Top selling images of 2017 depict scenarios including a lesbian couple at the beach, portrait of a transgender woman outdoors, portrait of transgender man in a living room, homosexual couple sharing breakfast and young LGBT+ friends.

“With the recognition of same-sex marriages by law in many countries during the beginning of this century and all the social movements asking for the equalised acceptance of LGBT+ people in society, brands and businesses are increasingly understanding the need for a more inclusive and accurate visual representation of this community,” said Rebecca Swift, Director Creative Insight at Getty Images. “Supporting them to do this, we at Getty Images are working hard to create imagery which reflects the nuances and full spectrum of sexuality and gender identity in a diverse and inclusive way.”

Getty Images has also unveiled a new logo in celebration of the partnership. This is the first time the company has ever modified its logo for partnership purposes. The new logo will be worn with pride by the company’s team of photographers and videographers covering the event and has taken over a number of the company’s social handles.