The archive · Brand & Identity · Marketing decision · 2020
Zalando's 'Here To Stay' turns its spring moment into a stand for values
Rather than promote its spring collection, Zalando handed the campaign to underrepresented voices and made a public stand: values outlast trends.
Zalando
What it had to solve
In 2020 Zalando had already doubled down on diversity, equality and inclusion: more LGBTQIA+ talent, more female leaders, and new lines from over 70 BAME-owned brands. With racist and non-inclusive sentiment growing across Europe, it decided the moment had come to take a public stand.
How it works
In 2020 Zalando had been quietly building a more inclusive company: hiring more LGBTQIA+ talent, promoting female leadership and adding new lines from over 70 BAME-owned brands. Then, as racist and non-inclusive sentiment grew across Europe, the fashion platform concluded that staying quiet was no longer an option.
The creative decision was to refuse the obvious brief. Instead of simply promoting its spring collection, Zalando partnered with authentic voices from underrepresented groups to create 'Here To Stay', a rallying cry for progress in the face of prejudice and discrimination.
The message reframed what the season was selling: true style is not a trend but a position, and the values a brand stands with are what last. Trends come and go — values are forever.
The campaign turned a scheduled commercial moment into a public declaration of values, and D&AD preserved it in its awards archive as an example of a brand taking a stand. The archive records no reach or sales figures.
Why it lands
- The statement was credible because the work came first: LGBTQIA+ hiring, female leadership and 70-plus BAME-owned brand lines had already changed the company before the campaign asked for attention.
- Ceding the message to authentic voices from underrepresented groups avoided the usual failure mode of a brand speaking for people it has not listened to.
- Refusing a straightforward product push in the spring slot proved the values claim was not decoration: the brand gave away its commercial moment.
- The line ties fashion's own logic — trends — to a durable claim, so the stand reads as native to a style brand rather than imported politics.
What it did
The spring moment became a public statement of the brand's values rather than a product pitch, and D&AD preserved the campaign in its awards archive; the archive records no reach or sales figures.
What you can take
Make the values claim credible before making it public: Zalando's hiring, leadership and assortment changes let it borrow its own commercial moment to speak without sounding like a sales tactic.
Since then
Here To Stay is preserved in D&AD's awards archive as an example of a brand using its commercial moment to take a public stand. No reach, engagement or sales results are recorded on the archive page, so the case stands on the creative decision itself: making values the campaign instead of the product.
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