When San Diego LGBT Weekly had the opportunity to speak with Raymond Braun, a man who, not quite 25, was named one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 most influential Americans under 30 for marketing and advertising, we leaped. Raymond is the marketing manager for YouTube (among one of his many titles) and has helped power the #ProudToPlay viral marketing campaign, a quasi-official sequel to last year’s highly successful #ProudToLove campaign following the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision on same-sex marriage.
The video campaign, which features a mix of gay and straight athletes including Jason Collins, Neymar, Robbie Rogers and Kobe Bryant encouraging their audience to simply be who you are, hopes to not only inspire athletes across the globe to be their very best but to spark a conversation among the LGBT community by inviting everyone to submit their very own videos with the hashtag ‘proud to play’ addressing that very issue. YouTube featured a selection of them throughout the month of June – officially Pride month – on YouTube.
“We applaud the courage and openness of athletes at all levels who have come out and admire their teammates, friends, families and supporters who are all proving that it doesn’t matter who you are or who you love – what matters is that you put forward your best effort,” declares YouTube on their official blog. “We stand with our community in the belief that youth everywhere should all have the same opportunities to grow up and pursue their dreams and passions, on or off the field.”
Currently, #ProudToPlay has been seen by over 4.5 million viewers since its launch June 3 and has been endorsed by everyone from President Barack Obama to Ellen DeGeneres to Dustin Lance Black. And, though no longer alive, Nelson Mandela, who is quoted early on in the video, seems to boil down the issue to its very essence when we hear him saying, with a riff from Katy Perry’s “Roar” in the background, “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.”
San Diego LGBT Weekly: Raymond, Can you tell our readers what it is you do for YouTube?
Raymond Braun: Sure, I am a marketing manager for YouTube. And part of my role is that I lead all of our LGBT marketing and community engagement activities and Internet communities. I also work on creator and brand marketing initiatives that span the company. And I would say that one of the really cool things about working for a company like Google and YouTube is that there’s always so many exciting projects going on I honestly can’t say that I have a typical day.
Let’s talk about the #ProudToPlay campaign. It has managed to capture our cultural Zeitgeist well. Tell me about its genesis. Where did it come from?
Absolutely. So first of all, I think I’d say that one of the things that make me so proud to work for YouTube is that we have a long-standing history, along with Google, of dealing with the LGBT community and to support equal rights. And so we’ve always been really inspired by the way in which the LGBT community is connecting, advocating, finding support and building communities on YouTube.
I think that’s particularly important to the LGBT community especially if you think about an individual who may have not seen a lot of openly gay role models on television or movies or even in their communities. YouTube is a place they can come and they can find hundreds of thousands of videos that feature the whole range of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences of the LGBT community.
And so, that was kind of the philosophical basis of these types of campaigns (#ProudToLove, #ProudToPlay). We just really wanted to celebrate what’s going on in the community and empower that.
In terms of the #ProudToPlay campaign, one of the main things we are hoping to do on YouTube is to amplify conversations that are happening on our platform and shine a spotlight on issues and topics that really matter to our community.
Last year during Pride month we had a ton of conversations going on YouTube and also across all social media around the historic Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. And so we knew we had to do a campaign with the LGBT community and supporting equal rights for everyone. And that was called #ProudToLove.
And we were just completely floored and really honored and humbled by the response that people had to that campaign and how much it moved people and how much they appreciated YouTube for taking a stand on that.
This year the topic should be something that we really care about and that is the world of sports. Everything from the Sochi Olympics to the World Cup in Brazil to the string of high profile celebrity athletes coming out and setting a great example about being open. And so this seemed like the right time to do a campaign highlighting all these conversations because this is something that is very timely and that people really care about and are tuned in to talking about.
Have you been approached by any of the major networks or cable networks about airing this spot?
The #ProudToPlay video was recently featured on Good Morning, America.
There’s a beautiful quote from Nelson Mandela. He says there is a synergy that athletes and spectators alike feel when they are in the same arena. How do you hope to connect that to the feeling that the LGBT community feels when we are among our own say during Pride?
I do think that one of the mains goals is really to empower the community and amplify the conversations that are going on. And I agree with you that Pride is such a great time every year for the LGBT community to reflect on our progress, what’s in store for the future, how we can come together to make a difference and kind of create more change and support each other. And so that’s definitely the same type of bent that we wanted to get out with this video. And we also really just want people to feel incredibly proud and moved and excited and hopeful when they watch this video. One thing I think is really powerful is we want every LGBT youth to be able to dream and believe that they can achieve their full potential and do whatever it is they might want to be.
I don’t recall seeing either Chris Kluwe (formerly of the Minnesota Vikings) or Brendon Ayanbadejo of the Baltimore Ravens in the spot. And I thought they’ve been such vocal supporters of our community, especially on the issue of same-sex marriage and athletes coming out. Did I miss them? Did you approach them?
So the campaign was about celebrating all voices that are part of this movement and that have participated. And they were actually both a part of the campaign and they both recorded videos for it. And Brendon participated in the ‘Hang Out’ campaign sponsored by YouTube Nation talking about this topic and why it matters. We also promoted a video that Chris created for #ProudToPlay on one of our shelves on the spotlight table.
Did any athletes refuse to participate?
No. I was really excited and encouraged by the response that we got. That was one of the things that moved me the most with the campaign. What we were doing was showing how open and receptive people were to the message of participating. It should be about their talent, the integrity they bring and about bringing their best effort, and so we were really very pleased and excited when we reached out to athletes and they just kind of clicked with the idea and we were excited for them to participate.
Check out the #ProudToPlay video at: youtu.be/S14QJcI4KNs
