The story below appeared at PRNewswire.com (Hat tip to Agency Spy). A brief MultiCultClassics commentary immediately follows…
Top 2008 Black History Month Corporate Supporters
BlackHistory.com Recognizes Top Corporate Black History Month Supporters for 2008 -- Wal-Mart, Alltel Wireless and Infiniti Top the List
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- February signifies the annual celebration of Black History Month, an occasion to recognize African American people and organizations making a difference in society past and present. Lee Moss Media’s BlackHistory.com has identified the most prominent corporate supporters of Black History Month via advertising and marketing efforts.
Below are the top corporations in 2008 that have prevailed as leading contributors to the month’s purpose. Rankings are based on a corporation’s ad visibility and impact, campaign creativity, budget allocation and past Black History Month endorsements.
Top Ten Black History Month Supporters(R):
10 - Verizon
9 - McDonald’s
8 - KFC Corporation
7 - Target Corporation
6 - Allstate Insurance
5 - Buick (division of General Motors)
4 - Nationwide Insurance
3 - Infiniti
Infiniti has been a prominent sponsor of featured black history content for years, and were responsible for the award-winning “Infiniti in Black” campaign. They have consistently supported black heritage through their long-running online campaign targeting HBCU students and alumni. They also showed their ingenuity by being an early adopter of online African American marketing.
2 - Alltel Wireless
Alltell, in partnership with Maya Angelou, created a campaign for Black History Month wherein they awarded 10 scholarships for winning essays. This same campaign had success last year as well. Their advertisements were greatly visible, and the concept was honorable and creative.
1 - Wal-Mart Stores
Wal-Mart leads the top of the list because of their consistency in allocating a larger budget to African American advertising through all media venues, and their creativity. Wal-Mart’s latest online Black History Month campaign included interactive banner ads that linked to a flash-interactive website where visitors can trace their history and learn about great strides in Black History. Their campaign, by far, displayed the most energy and effort.
THE COMPLETE REPORT CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE.
It’s interesting and ironic that the Top Ten list features corporations whose actions in the past year dramatically—and negatively—impacted Black advertising agencies.
In 2007, Wal-Mart reassigned its business to GlobalHue, effectively decimating longtime partner E. Morris Communications. The work generated by GlobalHue is arguably worse than anything E. Morris produced over the years.
Nissan Infiniti just announced its multicultural advertising is going into review, which could spell disaster for The True Agency.
General Motors shook up its Black advertising agency roster, and it’s still tough to figure out exactly what happened.
Verizon dumped Burrell Communications Group, consolidating its business with GlobalHue, which ultimately led to layoffs at the iconic Burrell.
Yes, these top corporations prevailed as leading contributors to Black History Month’s purpose. But a lot of Black careers are history thanks to the corporate efforts.
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