Ad Age is marking Black History Month 2023 with our third-annual Honoring Creative Excellence package. (Read the introduction here.) Today, in our final installment, guest editor Steve Stoute turns the spotlight to Reginald Jolley, aka Reggieknow, who, as a young Chicago artist and ​​American Academy of Art College graduate, formally began his advertising career at influential Black-owned agency Burrell Communications in the early ’90s—and then went on to art direct groundbreaking campaigns for brands ranging from Sprite and Vitaminwater to Reebok and Louis Vuitton.

Here, Reggieknow shares his thoughts on the making of the groundbreaking Sprite Voltron campaign.

I guess looking back, I would have to say the Sprite Voltron campaign was a pivotal moment in my career because of what it represented to the culture.

On the back of Burrell, we created a few Sprite gems like KRS vs. Shan, Wild Style 97—with Nas, Kobe (R.I.P.), Caz and Flash—and of course Five Deadly Women with Kool Keith, but the Voltron would have to stick out because for me it came a time when there was what some would call a manufactured East Coast/West Coast beef fueled by media “vibes” that became something all too real—and as a result, we lost Pac and Big.

Stirring the pot and having sides play against the other is nothing new, but at the time things were getting pretty ugly and I chose to reflect on the culture that helped raise me, and I took a page out of the Zulu Nation and what they did to unite gang culture like the Black Spades, etc. That concept was to take a look at the system and better ourselves through knowledge, and not fight one another, but rather express ourselves through various art forms.

The Voltron campaign was my way of celebrating different styles of rap to fight against the “Robeast” and “Zarkon.” I remember the set was like something from Star Wars and all these rappers from different regions came together for a good cause.

The commercials were broken into five sequential segments creating one complete anime short, and the viewer needed to watch all five to understand—and that was unheard of at the time.

It was definitely brave and monumental for Sprite to take a chance and risk on hip-hop, considering many rappers didn’t have squeaky-clean images. Sprite was making it their business to be a part of something bigger, similar to Nike and Kap, where you see the importance of a brand taking on the culture’s cause—so together we totally helped spearhead a revolution in advertising. We combined anime and hip-hop, two longtime friends, and even used subtitles as a nod to Japanese culture and its influence on hip-hop.

When the five lions unite, they form the blazing sword, and it’s the end for the Robeast. But we had them form the blazing mic to represent the power of their words to affect change and destroy King Zarkon, the real puppet master—as in the “system.”

Again, things are not always what they seem on the surface level. We ultimately wanted to create unity in hip-hop and help end any and all beef, and just keep it on record. Oftentimes media monsters like King Zarkon exploit to their benefit, scheduling beefing rappers at radio stations at the same time for “interviews.”

Today, beef sells, but the knowledge pendulum is swinging back this way and the Voltron/Sprite campaign was rooted in that.

Visit Ad Age’s Honoring Creative Excellence hub for more essays from notable Black creatives and leaders.