Channel 4 has joined forces with Virgin Media, Uber, NHS, British Gas, Department for Education, HSBC UK and Nationwide Building Society for a spot that gives a platform to black employees.
The 130-second film features a person from each brand reflecting on what Black History Month means to them and their hopes for the future of black Britain.
Omar Gurnah, head of marketing at Uber, who is featured in the film talks about the month being a time to pause and take stock of the achievements that black people have made to British culture.
The ad will air on TV today (30 October) during Channel 4 News, Gogglebox and The Last Leg, as well as on Channel 4’s social channels.
The film has been created by 4Sales’ creative arm PL4Y together with The Collective, Channel 4’s employee representative group for black and minority ethnic staff. It was directed by Jason Bernard through Whisper.
The partnership was brokered by 4Sales and Omnicom Media Group’s MG OMD (Virgin Media, Uber, NHS, the Department for Education Teaching campaign) and PHD (HSBC UK), along with Group M agencies MediaCom (British Gas) and Wavemaker (Nationwide).
Viewers are encouraged to keep the conversation going beyond October using the hashtag #BlackandProud, which is also the title of Channel 4’s month-long season of Black History month programming.
Sophie Lloyd, Channel 4’s branded entertainment and creative leader, said: “We’re really proud of this unique campaign that provides our brand partners’ employees with a national platform to share their views and deliver an important message as Black History Month draws to a close.
“At Channel 4 we’re committed to reflecting the cultural diversity of Britain on-screen in commercial airtime, as well as within editorial content so we’re thrilled by the strong appetite from brands and agencies to work with us to achieve truly inclusive, engaging and creative content.”
Additionally, Channel 4 is working with Dove, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and Sainsbury’s on a series of programmes that are part of its Black and Proud season.
This article was originally published by Campaign.