when we made an ad-break takeover with no ads in it

Channel 4’s Black to Front day saw its entire programming schedule being fronted by Black talent, celebrating stories from the UK’s diaspora communities in favour of the usual default-white approach. As part of the day, C4 offered big brands the chance to be featured in a three-minute ad-break takeover that would include Black colleagues from their staff. But this media buy needed a meaningful story behind it.

because these businesses don’t exist without the people

We created and directed ‘Moments of Black Joy’, which put these staff members front and centre in set-pieces celebrating their personal passions, hopes and dreams - in short, showcasing everything that personally gave them joy. We deliberately avoided (and fought against) having our heroes appear in their uniforms at work, with the respective brands featuring only as logos, so that they - like C4 - instead took a step back for the day.