Right Behind Gay Footballers
For many years, homophobia had been a taboo topic for British football: of 5,000 professional players, not one would speak out, let alone come out.  One week in September 2013, Paddy Power set out to change all that – on a shoestring.  

We sent rainbow-coloured laces to every professional player in Britain and asked them to wear them, to show they were “Right Behind Gay Footballers” (#RBGF).  We then used a barrage of advertising, PR, digital and social media to marshal wider public support.

Thousands of players joined in, the media broke their silence to devote 400 stories to the campaign and the British public showed their support with over 320 Million Twitter impressions.  All in just 7 days and on a £150K budget (about half Wayne Rooney’s weekly paypacket).