COTA PRIDE MONTH
THE CHALLENGE
Pride has become a familiar part of the transit world, with agencies across the country rolling out wrapped buses, events and free rides. COTA needed to authentically celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month without the campaign feeling performative, while also solving a very real, practical problem: getting tens of thousands of Pride attendees safely and easily to Columbus' largest annual celebration amid road closures and rerouted service.
THE OBJECTIVE
Position COTA as a safe, welcoming and reliable transit option for Pride attendees and the broader LGBTQ+ community, while strengthening internal pride and allyship among COTA's own workforce. The campaign aimed to grow ridership around the Columbus Pride Parade, build connections with LGBTQ+ community partners and voices and keep a steady stream of storytelling throughout the month, all while giving COTA employees meaningful ways to take part and feel proud of where they work.
THE APPROACH
Anchored in the platform "We Serve," COTA built a campaign starring its own employees: a vibrant, rainbow-lit photoshoot of real COTA staff became the visual identity across print, digital, social and internal channels. The campaign paired that employee-led storytelling with authentic community partnerships (Stonewall Columbus, Transit Columbus), practical rider tools like "Take COTA to Pride" route guidance and an original historical initiative — "Illuminate: Central Ohio's LGBTQ+ History" — created with the Columbus Metropolitan Library, which turned Pride Month into an opportunity for education and legacy, not just celebration.
THE RESULTS
488K
Reach
951K
Impressions
262K
Video Views
224K
Engagements
TEAM COTA SERVING
CAMPAIGN CREATIVE
CAMPAIGN PHOTOGRAPHY
