Channel 4 wanted to improve its long-term representation of the Black community in the TV industry, which led to the Black To Front campaign. It created a cultural intervention, a reimagining of entertainment and advertising with 24 hours of programming fronted by Black presenters, actors, writers and experts, contributors, and programme-makers, broadcast on 10 September 2021.
The broadcaster lobbied the industry, setting up hundreds of client meetings and presenting its idea to media and creative agencies, as well as setting up live events to ask for allies to help it realise its Black To Front ambition. With the commitment of the ad industry and the entire team at 4Sales, Channel 4 pulled off a one-of-a-kind collaboration, with 70 campaigns from over 60 different brands across 55 linear ad breaks and countless All 4 breaks in programming dedicated to Black lives and Black culture. There was also a special collaboration with Google; the UK’s first all-black docuality TV show Highlife.
The campaign drove millions of Twitter impressions globally while Black to front delivered Channel 4’s biggest day for Black viewers since London 2012, doubling its average daily reach of its black audience.
Judges said the idea behind the work was hugely ambitious, and a commitment to a very worthwhile cause. resulting in a ‘campaign of dignity, bravery and epic proportions.’
Shortlisted:
England 'Til We Dine by Initiative for Deliveroo
Feasting with Ocado Retail by Hearts & Science and Guardian News & Media for Ocado Retail
MediaCom & Channel 4 Present: Changing Rooms by MediaCom for AkzoNobel/Dulux
Small Businesses United by MediaCom for eBay
Unexpected Guest takes over the Metaverse by MG OMD for John Lewis