February is Black History Month—typically a period when brands highlight the Black community with products, campaigns and promotions. But this year, following the social unrest of 2020 as a result of the deaths of countless of Black victims including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, marketers are paying even more attention than usual.
While some campaigns are similar to previous years, others are more innovative and long-lasting, purposely designed to exist as a permanent part of the brand rather than just a one-off for February.
“This is probably going to be one of the, if not the, most active Black History Months ever and I think it’s a direct result of what happened on and following May 25,” says Ahmad Islam, CEO of Ten35, an agency that specializes in reaching multicultural, millennial and Gen Z consumers, alluding to the killing of Floyd by the police in Minneapolis.
“You’ve got more brands being active, you’ve got the brands that are typically active doing bigger things and you have more emphasis on it than you would typically have.” He adds: “You’re seeing more creativity and in some ways that’s just more effort—brands are actually trying as opposed to just checking a box.”
Indeed, many brands, media companies and agencies responded to Floyd’s death with campaigns against racism and donations to charities to help the Black community; more recently in January, TikTok launched a program “TikTok for Black Creatives” to amplify emerging Black creators and music artists.