One of the UK’s leading merchants in plumbing, heating, cooling and infrastructure has enlisted the help of creative agency Poke to show their ongoing commitment to LGBTQIA+ and visibly marking Pride Month.
Working with the chair of Wolseley’s Fairness and Respect Board Sam Grierson, Poke created a new LGBTQIA+ logo, as well as supporting with an internal marketing video, which aims to honour the company’s lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer intersex and asexual colleagues and customers while supporting its communities and allies.
As part of the efforts, Wolseley is proudly working with AKT, a charity that supports young LGBTQIA+ people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and living in hostile environments.
Sam said: “Pride at work is important to me because 20 years ago when I started work, it wasn’t a safe place to be out and gay.
“With fairness and respect as one of our core values, we wanted to ensure all colleagues feel comfortable and empowered to be their true selves at work, regardless of their sexual orientation and how they identify. As part of our LGBTQIA+ Pride Month celebrations, we’ve been speaking with colleagues from across the business to discover what Pride means to them and why it’s important.”
Rather than implementing a simple logo change, Wolseley partnered with the team at Poke, which is based in Liverpool and established in 2020, to ‘create a transitioning logo, which is a visible demonstration of their commitment’ to the changes that the decades’ old company is making.
Sam added: “This isn’t just about creating a corporate strategy around EDI; what we’ve done is lead with grass roots passion, so we’ve gone to each EDI working group in the business to say what do you care about, what matters to you and then we’ve surfaced those issues. All of our campaigns are underpinned with policy reviews, training and development initiatives with our groups and allies.
“We’re really impressed with what the Poke team have come up with as it encapsulates what we wanted to get out there and it also supports our internal raw, honest and authentic energy that colleagues have contributed, because they truly wanted to.”
AKT recently found that 77% of people surveyed felt that coming out at home resulted in them becoming homeless.
Creative Director of Poke Mark Harrington said: “We’ve worked with Sam on several projects and her passion for pushing brands and making a change sits hand in hand with our own values. This wasn’t just about changing a logo to mark a calendar day – it’s about having impact for years to come and showing other businesses of what they are capable of when highlighting important issues.”
