Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
Cephas Williams, founder of The Black British Network, has launched a campaign, which features on Digital OOH screens as we approach one year since the murder of George Floyd. The campaign is titled ‘9:29’ and is set to reimagine the approach to ‘demonstration’ through the power of digital media and DOOH.
In light of the recent Derek Chauvin trial that took place in Minnesota the world has learnt that Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds (it was initially believed to be 8 minutes and 46 seconds).
With the understanding that many people may not gather as we did last year due to ongoing threats of #COVID19 alongside government restrictions; Cephas Williams looks to take the demonstration digital. Using the power of digital media and billboards that grace the same streets where demonstrations were held last year, to send a loud message to our nation.
Following on from his 2020 campaigns ‘Let’s Not Forget’ and ‘Letter to Zion.’ This campaign seeks to encourage last year’s demonstrators to repost their images using the hashtags #TheDigitalDemonstration and #929, on Instagram or Twitter social platforms.
Supported by Talon and multiple OOH media companies, Cephas will be working with Hashtag’d who will be using software to get permission to aggregate and curate any new post with the associated hashtags across a network of screens. Clear Channel and JCDecaux are the first companies to get behind the campaign as Cephas seeks to grow the number of screens and visibility across the country in the lead up to May 25, 2021.
OOH media companies will display the creative specific to the times 9:29 am and 9:29 pm for the duration of 9 minutes and 29 seconds. The campaign will be live throughout the month of May, including Tuesday the 25th.
Cephas said “The 2020 Black renaissance was the biggest movement in his lifetime. This cultural and social vibration pushed corporate companies and institutions to stop, listen and have long overdue conversations, specific to the Black community, but many of these conversations did not last and many of the statements were empty and short lived.”
Cephas also poses the question, “how do we ensure the conversation continues? How do we make sure this will last?”, When you think about what pushed companies, leaders and people to engage, it was the visibility of Black people and the presence that Black people had culturally, supported by non-Black allies in a major way.
Cephas is the founder and photographer behind the groundbreaking 56 Black Men movement and the founder of the Black British Network. He launched ’56 Black Men’ as a campaign in the UK focusing on changing the narrative of Black men in the media as an introduction to a much wider conversation. Since launching the campaign on the 23rd of December 2018, it has had both a local and global impact.
Talon are one of the sponsors of the AdTECH: OOH – London Conference which takes place Thursday May 20, 2021 during London Digital Signage Week. Talon’s Adam Pace will participate in a Fireside Chat with LiveDOOH Signkick’s Chief Revenue Officer Andy Hamblin entitled ‘Generalists are Dead; Long Live The Specialist. How To Redefine Programmatic OOH‘ and Talon’s Kloe Wells will take part in a panel discussion.
Registration can be found here.
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