King James

Client: Blackboard
Product: Blackboard
Title: Just for awards
Media: Print
Country: South Africa
Date Of Campaign: January 2021

Background: The advertising industry is struggling with racial diversity, especially when it comes to black people. Most leading agency networks don’t have a black CCO, let alone ECDs. Even in South Africa, which is 80% black. The one place that demonstrates the lack of black representation is award juries. Even in 2021, most juries have one black person, if they have one at all.

Idea: We ran an ad that would speak to the people who have the power to make a difference: creative leaders, because they are in a position to hire and nurture the next generation of diverse talent for their respective agencies. That's why we entered the ad to be seen by them. At the same time, we needed to speak to the reader on the other end of the spectrum, the people of colour who are marginalised and heighten their appetite for the world of advertising - which is why we ran the ad in the newspaper.