--- title: "Raw London donates £165k media prize to positively represent trans stories - Raw London. - RAW" description: "In 2018 we won a competition for LGBTQ+ inclusive advertising, Pride Brand Makeover, run by Pride AM and supported Gay Times, YouTube and Creativebrief. We decided to donate the £165k media prize to Mermaids UK, to positively represent trans stories…" canonical_url: "https://raw.london/posts/mermaids-uk" meta: author: RAW "og:description": "In 2018 we won a competition for LGBTQ+ inclusive advertising, Pride Brand Makeover, run by Pride AM and supported Gay Times, YouTube and Creativebrief. We decided to donate the £165k media prize to Mermaids UK, to positively represent trans stories…" "og:image": "https://a2.storyblok.com/f/289672313529140/2000x1125/be026930ce/0c91906b-a4cd-430e-ba6e-eb7c08c39184.jpg/m/1200x630/smart/filters:format(jpg):quality(80)" "og:image:height": "630" "og:image:width": "1200" "og:title": "Raw London donates £165k media prize to positively represent trans stories - Raw London." --- > Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://raw.london/llms.txt) ![Raw London donates £165k media prize to positively represent trans stories]() News # Raw London donates £165k media prize to positively represent trans stories ![Charlotte Harris]() **Charlotte Harris** 7th October 2019 In 2018 we won a competition for LGBTQ+ inclusive advertising, [Pride Brand Makeover](https://raw.london/posts/raw-london-wins-pride-brand-makeover-2018), run by [Pride AM](http://www.prideam.org/makeover) and supported [Gay Times](https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/), [YouTube](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/products/youtube/) and [Creativebrief](http://www.creativebrief.com/). We decided to donate the £165k media prize to Mermaids UK, to positively represent trans stories and counteract the negative media storms affecting trans youth charities and the people they support. The film, [ETHAN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DLsMF4Qoi4), launched in September 2019 and already has 280,000 views on YouTube. Gay Times also featured a double page spread in their 500th magazine issue and shared the film on their social media. They also published an interview with Ethan and his family, [*How Mermaids became a lifeline to one family and their trans teen*](https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/originals/128024/how-charity-mermaids-became-a-lifeline-to-one-family-and-their-trans-teen/), on their website. The 2 minute film uses an arcade game to visualise Ethan’s journey; with bullies and the struggles of coming out becoming antagonists and hurdles to overcome within the game. The game takes you through three stylised levels, each representing a different milestone or turning point in Ethan's journey. Through live action and animation, it tells a powerful, emotive story, highlighting Ethan as just like any other 18 year old. Tom Fuller, Art Director at Raw London, explains; *"We all play video games so, while it's bespoke to Ethan's story, it's designed to be familiar in a way that everybody can relate to.".* With the huge level of exposure due to come with the media prize, ensuring that the storytelling was as true to a transgender experience as possible was essential, so we worked closely with Ethan to develop his story into a moving script that accurately reflects his experience. Andy West, Communications Manager at Mermaids UK, who created the behind the scenes video of the shoot below, said; *"It was great to give a service user a chance to tell their story in their own words. It's important for people to understand that journeys like Ethan's are stories of empowerment as well as struggle."* James Page, Producer at Raw London, added; *"The Pride Brand Makeover challenged agencies to improve LGBTQ+ representation in the creative industry and media as a whole. Transgender issues are often sadly overlooked or, worse, under fire in the media, so we wanted to leverage our prize to give a transgender individual a platform. We chose to support Mermaids UK who, as a small charity supporting trans youth,* [*often receive media attention for all the wrong reasons*](https://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/when-its-hardest-to-speak.-speak.html)*. This film and the substantial prize gives them a huge opportunity to tell their side of the story and, hopefully, increase general understanding of the issue."* You can [learn more about Mermaids UK on their website](https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/) and follow then on Twitter [@Mermaids\_Gender](https://twitter.com/Mermaids_Gender). ##### **Charlotte Harris** With a background in marketing and comms, Charlotte works across teams to offer strategic, creative and operational oversight on our projects. Want to say hi? Email [charlotte@raw.london](mailto:charlotte@raw.london) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://raw.london/#website","@type":"WebSite","name":"RAW","url":"https://raw.london/"},{"@id":"https://raw.london/posts/mermaids-uk#webpage","@type":"WebPage","description":"In 2018 we won a competition for LGBTQ+ inclusive advertising, Pride Brand Makeover, run by Pride AM and supported Gay Times, YouTube and Creativebrief. 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