GRRRL ZINE ISSUE 5 LAUNCH
Creative Ally recently partnered with Lu Williams and Grrrl Zine Fair to support the launch of issue 5 of their independent, queer & feminist zine with a launch event, social strategy and press outreach.
We worked with Lu Williams, artist, zine maker and the founder of Grrrl Zine to create a launch strategy for the zine, entitled ‘Queer Utopias’, that would celebrate and centre its queer contributors and allow new audiences to immerse themselves within the issue’s theme.
‘Queer Utopia’ was inspired by how queer people have consistently forged new worlds and spaces, both as a means of self-preservation and survival and to strategise an equal, shared intersectional future. Poetry, illustration, manifestos, essays, recipes, fiction and photography feature throughout the Zine, depicting many utopian worlds. From imaginary dreamland spaces where queer bodies in many forms can exist free of judgement or persecution, to sacred healing recipes, to an author’s memories of a film which had an instrumental impact on their identity, Grrrl in Print’s contributors dissect and interpret the theme in a plethora of unique and exciting ways.
We worked with Lu Williams to create an 8-week digital launch strategy that would bring awareness to the zine, its diverse contributors and bring people down to celebrate at the launch event held at queer space Dalston Superstore. We informed the social creative and storytelling, digital marketing rollout, press outreach and post-amplification, and gained press coverage for the zine event in Notion magazine, London on the Inside, Creative Lives in Progress and DIVA. Importantly, we launched the event with a full guestlist of supporters.
On working with Creative Ally for this project, Lu said:
"Working with Phie was not only successful in gaining a lot more traction, especially detailed meaningly engagement with press, but she also gave me a social strategy that I can adapt and implement on further work. It was so great working with someone who gets how creatives think, too - harnessing our energy and desire to make it by channelling it into a well-thought-out, planned timetable. I felt really supported in the process of launching something that can feel quite scary, putting new work out and hosting a launch event. She was able to frame a lot of the work I do anyway into a public-facing way for social media. Whenever I'm making, I now think of the behind-the-scenes content, what I'm learning in the process and how I can share that with my community and audience. I'd 100% work with Phie again, it was a lot of fun, and I felt like I made a friend in the process!"
Launch party photos credit - Twiggles
