2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

“Maps are not ideologically neutral location guides. Mapmakers choose what to include and exclude, and how to display information to users. These decisions
can have far-reaching consequences.”

The same could be said for our industry’s use of data. All data is biased. Our responsibility is to locate and understand data biases, establish more deliberate and inclusive biases, then connect with our brands’ audiences in ways that make fewer assumptions about who they are and what they need. The Black Elevation Map is transparent and purposeful about its biased use of data. The bias, in a way, is the story.

Black & Abroad is among the world’s most prominent niche-audience travel brands. Known for its international trips to Latin America, Europe and Africa – and its provocative “Go Back to Africa” campaign – global shifts in the tourism industry created an opportunity to focus on domestic travel. With Black-owned businesses disproportionately affected by the pandemic and the brand’s audience at the center of a retraumatizing conversation about systemic racism, there was an opportunity to activate Black & Abroad as an emerging domestic travel brand with an uplifting,
tech-forward engagement platform.

The objectives were to build the brand’s domestic travel credentials, stimulate interest in Black-centered domestic travel and create a
cultural counterpoint to Black pain narratives.

When marginalized communities navigate the world, they're asked
to do so using tools that prioritize someone else’s worldview. Change the tools, and you could change the experience.

An uplifting domestic travel utility for Black & Abroad that visualizes Black cultural data as elevation at BlackElevationMap.com. The greater the density of data, the higher the elevation. Target audiences include modern black travelers, Black-owned businesses and institutions and allies.

Data visualization includes +330,000,000 total points of data, +47,000,000 Black population data, +28,000 Black-owned businesses listed, +6,500 cultural markers and +1,500 social sources across 53 embedded data feeds.

The bold headline font used throughout this project is “Martin” and was created by American designer Tré Seals based on Civil Rights protest posters. The body copy is another Seal typeface: “Du Bois,” inspired by that legendary graphic designer’s work. Seals also created the project’s original “points of interest” icon set, based on his survey of West African symbology.

This project sits on a historical continuum of Black-led design and “counter-mapping” – a map-making practice interested in charting Black geographies at times when barriers to owning your space (disappropriation) could be as elusive as barriers to owning your body (slavery, lynching, incarceration).

The campaign saw brand building results such as a 116% brand lift, 647% greater campaign awareness than benchmark, 45.4MM impressions across paid and earned channels, +116% increase in ad recall compared to control and 293% exceeded benchmarks for key traffic clickthrough rate from digital media.

The campaign saw business driving results of a 302% increase in traffic to BlackAndAbroad.com, a 360% increase in unique visitors and a 971% increase in event sales and site merch. Condé Nast Traveller said about the campaign: “Turning heads and garnering plenty of attention online,” while Travel Noir called it
“the black excellence visual we've needed.”

Credits

Black & Abroad:
Co-Founders: Eric Martin & Kent Johnson

Performance Art:
CCO: Ian Mackenzie
ACDs: Pedro Izzo, Benson Ngo
Copy: Hemal Dhanjee, Tobi Adebowale, Paula Purdon, Jasmine Mans,
Experience Delivery Lead: Nzegwhua Anderson
Sr Experience Designer: Joe Szabo
Experience Designer: Leon Mullings
Designer: Emily Plewes
ECD: Colin Craig
Producer: Sharon Nelson-Bailey
VP Strategy: Kirk Linkletter
Strategists: Leandra Legendre, Simran Kaur, Eli Ferrara, Cassandra Cervi
SVP Head of Strategy: Priyanka Goswami
Program Manager: Kaylen Dillon
Digital Producer: Darwin Garcia
SVP Managing Director: Jordan Dinning
Account Supervisor: Ricky Gunawan
Account Director: Jon Rae
VP Tech: Stuart Cheesmond
Technical Solutions Consultant: Suraj Patel
Group Director, Product Development: Arnaud Icard
Lead Dev: John Iacoviello
Dev: Cody Schreiber
Solutions Consultants: Kaivalya Kashyap
Analytics Manager: Anil Iqbal
Jr Analyst: Shaista Meghji
Analytics Analyst: Abdul Dau
Consultant: Gigi Basanta
CEO: Andrea Cook
COO: Elizabeth Sellors

Initiative Media:
CSO: Nish Shah
Strategy Director: Christian Kern
Director Comms Design: Lara Senbanjo

Reprise:
Sr Director, Head of Social & Strategy: Tyler Dmytrow
Associate Director, Strategy: Jessica Singh
Associate Performance Strategist: Jacob Ziegler

Mediabrands Content Studio:
President: Cynthia Steele
Creative Strategist: Alisha Dayaram

Kinesso:
SVP Global Client Solutions: Wendi Dunlap
Director, Audience Solutions: Mandy Wong
Manager, Audience Solutions: Rory Materson
VP Audience & Identity: Whitney Chamberlain
Sr Associate Marketing Data Operations: Bridgette O’Connor
VP Analytics: Yerddy Lanfranco

Matterkind:
Managing Director: Michelle Primrose
Sr Associate: Bree Monture

Alfredo Films:
Director: Kelly Fyffe-Marshall
DOP: Shivam Pandya
Producers: Alex Henry, Holly Rowden
Editor: Michael Ofori-Attah

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