More than ten years ago, the Ad Council and longtime creative agency partner R/GA launched "Love Has No Labels" with a simple but powerful premise: when we look beyond our assumptions, we can recognize the humanity we share with one another.
A decade later, that mission feels just as relevant—if not more so.
The latest from the Emmy Award-winning "Love Has No Labels" campaign, "What Makes Us Human," is rooted in insights gathered during the campaign’s development, when many Americans reported feeling increasingly disconnected from one another. According to research from Marist conducted in late 2025, 91% of Americans say a lack of respect and courtesy is a growing problem in the United States, and 84% believe people treated each other with more respect in the past than they do today. Those findings helped inform a question at the heart of our latest creative effort: How do we remind people that connection isn’t rare, it’s innate?
The answer wasn't to manufacture an idyllic, perfection-driven vision of the world. Instead, it was to uplift what is already happening around us every day.
Building on What Already Exists
Often, as marketers and communications professionals we identify a problem, develop messaging around it and ask audiences to think or behave differently.
But sometimes the most effective strategy is to build on motivations and natural instincts that already exist. That insight became foundational to "What Makes Us Human."
The campaign was inspired by a simple truth: No matter how far apart we feel, we’re still connected to one another through our shared experiences, and the emotions that remind us of our shared humanity. If we pay attention, happening all around us we find moments of connection that transcend our perceived differences: embracing a fellow sports fan after our team wins, singing along to the same song at a concert, or lending a hand to a neighbor because we know what it’s like to need help.
The campaign invites audiences to recognize and lean in to behaviors they are already capable of—and often already practicing innately.
In other words, the work builds on our better instincts.
Why Real Moments Matter
Once the strategic direction became clear, the creative execution was equally important: how do you make that truth believable?
The answer was authenticity. (Yes, frequently overused and misinterpreted, but we’re about to get into that.)
Developed pro bono by R/GA, the campaign uses found footage capturing real, unstaged moments of people supporting, celebrating, and connecting with one another. Rather than relying on scripted scenarios, the creative intentionally spotlights everyday interactions that are recognizable and familiar.
For audiences who are increasingly skeptical of overly polished or insincere messaging, real moments carry a credibility that manufactured ones cannot.
As Peter Toutant, creative director at R/GA, explains: "There was no way for us to capture the truth of this message through a traditional anthem or narrative story. The inherent goodness of human beings is something that many are questioning today. For our audience to remember that they still believe in it, we had to show that goodness coming from real people in the real world. Found footage gave us the authenticity we needed to make that connection."
Following that thinking, the creative doesn't ask viewers to imagine a better world. It shows them one that already exists in meaningful moments happening all around us. To extend that idea into everyday conversations, we activated with creators to share stories of when they have felt the impact from similar moments of connection. Whether highlighting the uplifting grand gestures making headlines or reflecting on meaningful personal experiences, they helped demonstrate that connection isn't an abstract ideal, it's something people create every day through empathy, respect, and acts of kindness. The message has certainly resonated: in the first two months of launching, the creative and creator activations garnered over 49.7 million views.
A Decade of Evolving to Meet the Moment
One reason "Love Has No Labels" has endured for more than a decade is its ability to evolve alongside culture while remaining anchored in a consistent mission.
Since launching in 2015, the campaign has encouraged Americans to look beyond labels and assumptions in many different forms. Over time, the conversations have evolved. Audiences have changed. Media consumption has changed. Expectations for brands and campaigns have changed.
What hasn't changed is the need for acceptance and understanding.
Rather than focusing primarily on the barriers that can divide us, "What Makes Us Human" spotlights the moments that bring us together. It's a subtle but important evolution—one that reflects both the current cultural landscape and emerging learnings about how people engage with messages centered on hope, possibility, and shared experiences.
Lessons for Marketers
As the campaign enters its second decade, a few lessons stand out for marketers and social impact communicators alike:
- Spotlight the good that already exists. People crave hope and sometimes the most effective way to foster change isn’t to introduce a new idea, but to remind people of who they are and what they value.
- Extend the message through trusted voices and relevant channels. A strong creative idea shouldn't stop at a hero asset. Creators, social platforms, and community voices can help carry a campaign beyond its initial launch while maintaining authenticity and relevance.
- Lead with shared experiences. In an era of increasing fragmentation, creative that highlights common ground - beyond surface level interests, diving into the feelings we can all relate to and experiences we share - can be both emotionally resonant and culturally relevant. Showing moments of humanity and connection can remind audiences of what they have in common, and inspire them to act on it.
The Human Opportunity Ahead
At its core, "What Makes Us Human" is built around a hopeful premise: that connection is not something we have lost, it is something we can choose.
For more than a decade, "Love Has No Labels" has worked to remind people of the humanity that exists beyond assumptions and differences by spotlighting a simple, but often overlooked, truth: the things that make us different can never change what makes us human.
And when we show those moments honestly, authentically and at scale, we remind people of who we can be together.