Juneteenth, America’s second Independence Day, commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States—a time for people of all races and creeds to celebrate. Since its declaration as a national holiday in 2021, Juneteenth (June 19) has also become an occasion to advocate for racial equity, celebrate Black contributors to society and champion diversity, equity and inclusion.

This year brands have been notably quieter in commemorating the holiday, perhaps due in part to declining DE&I efforts and wariness of racial or social controversy. Some of the brands that have chosen to participate are celebrating Black culture and Black figures in history, while others are launching efforts to build community and offer career opportunities to people of color. As in recent years, there are also agencies hosting Juneteenth conversations and events at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

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From Texas to the Croisette, here’s how some brands and agencies are marking Juneteenth in 2024.

Assembly

Stagwell agency Assembly and /prompt. are celebrating Juneteenth at Cannes with Kickback on the Croisette. The event pioneered by /prompt. agency Lippe Taylor’s Black ERG (the employee resource group is named The Inkwell) will take place for the third year as the official Juneteenth celebration at Cannes Lions. This year, the two agencies will host DJ Mercedes Benson, who owns a recruitment initiative for Black talent and other people of color to get connected with creative opportunities in the U.K. The event will be hosted by Bria Bryant, global CMO at Assembly and Destiny K. Chambers, VP and head of marketing at /prompt.

Havas

Havas is hosting a panel on Inkwell Beach at Cannes on Juneteenth that focuses on two critical issues—obesity and mental health—and looks at how the advertising industry plays a role in these epidemics. The panel will be hosted with the NAACP, CBS, The Springhill Company and more. Highlighting health issues in underserved communities via entertainment properties can more effectively communicate the breadth of medical issues to consumers. 
 
The "Black, brown, and still forgotten" panel will include the NAACP, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Freedom to March NYC and Rutland Medical Group and Havas. Panelists will discuss health inequity, the health equity gap in obesity and mental health and how seemingly banal things, such as your zip code, can be the biggest predictors of how long you live.

BarkleyOKRP

Since Juneteenth was declared a national holiday many Black Americans have been tasked with educating their non-Black coworkers, neighbors and friends about the holiday and its traditions—a responsibility they should not have to bear alone. In response, BarkleyOKRP’s Black ERG, The Hub, collaborated with a Black-owned subsidiary of the agency, Putney, to create an AI chatbot designed to educate non-Black people about Juneteenth. The chatbot webpage encourages visitors to use it as a resource instead of asking their Black friends everything.

The tool is meant to alleviate some of the pressure and perceived obligation Black people may feel to educate others on a critical piece of American history. 

BLK 

Black dating and lifestyle app BLK introduced an in-app community space called “Juneteenth Celebration Central,” where users can share their achievements and celebrate milestones. The company has also updated its app icon to display the official Juneteenth flag and it is promoting the forum online for visibility.

CNN

CNN is airing its third-annual Juneteenth special, hosted by Victor Blackwell and including interviews and musical performances from artists such as Patti LaBelle, John Legend and Smokey Robinson. Blackwell also sat down with Opal Lee, the “grandmother” of the national holiday to honor its 159th anniversary. The special will air Wednesday, June 19 at 10 p.m. ET on all CNN channels, Max and OWN.

Crown Royal 

The whisky brand sponsored the second annual 8 Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo in Portland, Oregon. The June 16 rodeo featured Black rodeo athletes from around the country competing in events like bull riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling and mutton busting, as well as live music and local vendors. 

The National Juneteenth Museum

The National Juneteenth Museum is hosting its first History Harvest event in partnership with UNT’s Special Collections. On Saturday, July 6, the museum invites community members to Ella Mae Shamblee Library in Fort Worth, Texas, to help archive, preserve and celebrate local Juneteenth stories and history. The event will feature stations where attendees can scan their artifacts, transfer digital files and document their stories with UNT staff.

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A+E Networks & Domino’s

A+E Networks partnered with GroupM’s diverse voices accelerator to bring on Domino’s as the sponsor for the History Channel’s original documentary “Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics,” premiering on Juneteenth at 8 p.m. ET. 

The documentary, executive produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s athlete storytelling brand Uninterrupted and Cinemation Studios will showcase Owens’ historic four-gold medal triumph during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. (See the trailer below.) 

Fox Sports 

Fox Sports created a series of animated graphics to promote the Juneteenth Celebration at Rickwood Field and explore the Birmingham, Alabama stadium’s historical significance within the Negro Leagues. Created by minority-owned design studio Váscolo, the animation dives into the ongoing fight for racial equality in sports.

Irth 

Irth, an app dedicated to prenatal, birthing, postpartum and pediatric reviews of care from Black and brown women, has created the “Drop the B” campaign to eliminate bias in maternal healthcare. 

Created by precision marketing agency RAPP, the initiative is a call to action for all parents and providers to address systemic racism and end the bias in care that leads to higher rates of Black maternal mortality and morbidity. The campaign features a landing page and social media content that urges pregnant people, new parents, healthcare providers and allies to provide data and feedback on providers, hospitals and overall care to eliminate disparities in information.

The campaign comes as data show that Black people giving birth in the U.S. are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than those who are white, with 80% of these deaths being preventable.