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“The Art of Drag” Pop-Up Truck Tour comprised mobile drag transformations, performances, and activism at two of Miami’s most iconic drag venues. We parked our glass-walled mobile drag dressing room – covered with original Max title-inspired art – at Palace South Beach and R House Wynwood. We partnered with 10 drag queens including Latrice Royale (star of “We’re Here” season 4) and Morphine Love Dion (star of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16). Trixie Cosmetics provided hundreds of eyeshadow palettes and powered more than 50 free drag-inspired makeovers for show attendees and passersby – complete with wigs, lashes and makeup. We executed two full drag transformation makeovers and performances – complete with custom costumes and wigs inspired by Max characters – and filmed the whole process for an 11-minute featurette for Out.com. All of this was done in collaboration with Equality Florida, the state’s largest non-profit fighting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the state of Florida.
Lupine Creative and Max—via its LGBTQ+ community platform Human By Orientation—set out to activate in Miami during Art Basel weekend 2023 with a singular mission: harness the power of the Max brand and its LGBTQ+ content and characters in support the local queer community in Florida, and amplify the results for as wide an audience as possible. This community was – and is – under siege by anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including one that bans drag in public in the presence of minors. We wanted to leave a meaningful impression with both local, national and Art Basel-attending audiences that Max is unwavering in its commitment to empowering queer artistry and visibility – including when and where visibility is being threatened. We aimed to create engaging real-life experiences in which guests could interact with and be inspired by drag artists, and also to create a full-length narrative video featurette chronicling actual drag transformations, and the humanity and artistry behind. Our goal was to drive impact through strategic storytelling across all platforms, actual IRL community connections, and earned/paid media value.
Our many strategic partnerships with venues, talent, product vendors and nonprofits helped us maximize our activation’s visibility. HBO and Max Original characters and stories lived in the DNA of every aspect of the experience and resultant coverage, creating pathways back to the Max platform as we told an urgent, original story all our own.
Results:
875 Pieces of Content Created and Shared on Social (Owned + Earned)
18 Custom Partnerships
758 Show Attendees over 2 Days
584.M Impressions
$2.56M Earned Media Value
2023 brought a remarkable change in how corporate brands interact with LGBTQ+ audiences. Due to outspoken political opposition of queer visibility in public spaces, brands like Bud Light, Target, The North Face and the LA Dodgers experienced highly publicized boycotts after announcing LGBTQ+ partnerships. A chilling effect occurred across many marketing sectors during Pride month in June, with high-profile brands and organizations reducing their outreach strategies or limiting messaging so only queer audiences would see their support.
In Florida, political dynamics threatened LGBTQ+ life even further: Governor Ron DeSantis ushered in myriad laws that attacked queer visibility in schools, banned gender-affirming care, blocked access to gender-appropriate bathrooms, and more. Among these was a broadly written law targeting drag shows that might expose minors to “adult” entertainment, risking revocation of liquor licenses and other potential penalties, which left the state’s queer venues and performers in a state of confusion and fear. It’s all part of an larger ongoing anti-LGBTQ crusade across the U.S. that aims to stifle freedoms and limit human visibility.
Max’s Human By Orientation draws from queer culture and Max programming to build a thriving and dynamic online community. We’re Here – the HBO Original series documenting drag queens who visit small American cities and challenge anti-queer attitudes – is core to the brand’s strategy of growth and engagement. Our opportunity – in fact, our mandate – was to position Max as a powerful, vocal and unwavering partner of the art of drag, in all its expressions.
No AI was used in any element of our activation.
