It was a tremendous conference. Presenters from all corners of the globe and I was honored to be among them; marketers, designers, even a futurist with a fabulous accent. Still, the highlight for me were the attendees; passionate, gracious and hungry for information.
With the conference over I said good bye to colleagues and friends, and welcomed my family who flew in from Boston.
Back in my hotel room we watched the DVD of the previous evenings award show winners. All the winners were inventive and shared world-class production values but one campaign was more than branding.
Channel O aspires to be an Original African music channel that delivers world class content. Its ‘Young Gifted and Black’ campaign as its Facebook fan page announces is nothing short of ambitious.
“It’s a song. It’s a message. It’s a movement. Join up and Wear it Loud!”.
Taking impetus from the 1970 Nina Simone song ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’ the network created a music video, a fully integrated ad campaign, a T shirt contest, and full range of 2.0 efforts that celebrate the musical talent that is found in Africa, both historic and current.
We began the day walking through Soweto where I struggled to digest the horrors of apartheid. It’s too fresh to even be called history, apartheid is a current event. We ended the day watching the YGB music video and the FB fan page was not ambitious it was right. It’s a song. It’s a message. It’s a movement. And, it is as current and relevant as any campaign I’ve seen.
The music video below.
What do you think?
