Consultancy / Strategy / Audio production
THE CHALLENGE
Union Black was Google’s brainchild, aiming to shine a spotlight on the contributions, achievements and cultural significance of Black British music.
They approached us to ideate a decentralised campaign strategy, produce a trailer to launch the project and audio documentary that would build and launch a social campaign where the rich tapestry of Black British music was recognised, celebrated and embraced by different audiences in the UK and across the world.
our STRATEGY + WORK
We set out to author a detailed social strategy, laying out key messaging, tone of voice, individual platform strategies and how to handle community management for those platforms and a content strategy for the whole campaign.
We considered minor details such as hashtag usage or how to reply to audience comments to foster engaging conversations, to major considerations like what content formats would best leverage the talent community Google could access, ideating a variety of engaging content formats to captivate the audience and bring the rich tapestry of Black British music to life.
Our strategy cast the multichannel net as wide as possible, considering opportunities across Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Reddit.
With no central hub, the strategy needed to bring together 25 cultural partners (via Google Arts & Culture) to cohesively bring the narrative together by following the same rules. Partners ranged from the Black Cultural Archives, Horniman Museum and Notting Hill Carnival (cultural organisations) to Trench, Punch Records, Black Lives in Music and Power Up (music industry) who contributed 2,500+ digital assets and 200+ stories.
As part of the campaign, we created an audio documentary, ‘Stormzy & #Merky’s Empowerment of Black Britain’, a compelling exploration of Stormzy's meteoric rise and his profound influence on music and culture. Produced in collaboration with Google, this documentary narrated by journalist Aniefiok 'Neef' Ekpoudom delves into Stormzy's journey from underground sensation to global icon.
We also partnered with Cozy Global to create an awe-inspiring trailer for Union Black. Narrated by the renowned Julie Adenuga, this trailer is a visual and auditory masterpiece celebrating the rich tapestry of Black music in the UK.
As well as a fully fleshed social and content strategy, including a prospective 6 week rollout plan, we produced the campaigns’ launch trailer and an audio documentary focusing on Stormzy and #MERKY as an example of empowerment in Black Britain.
the impact + REACH
In addition to a successful launch event at the Royal Opera House, Union Black was showcased at YouTube’s Legacy Party celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop, with over 500 of the most influential figures in UK music, including Aitch, Mabel, MNEK, Alesha Dixon, Ms Dynamite, Mahalia, Nippa and more.
The launch was announced online in a Google Keyword post. Press pick-up was positive, with press hits ranging from tech and mainstream media to music outlets. Key hits include Mashable, NME and London Post to name a few.
