Who: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR), with agency of record Humanity for strategy and creative; Mast Creative for production; and Arrivals + Departures for media.
What: A new campaign supporting the launch of “Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change,” an exhibition launched by the museum Feb. 2 that is running through September.
What: A new campaign supporting the launch of “Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change,” an exhibition launched by the museum Feb. 2 that is running through September.
When & Where: The campaign launch coincides with the exhibition, and is anchored by a 30-second hero spot running across TV, cinema, social and digital. Print, digital OOH and radio assets are also being deployed to support the effort.
Why: This is Humanity's first creative work for the museum since winning the AOR assignment in April. The campaign supports an exhibition that the museum has been developing for several years, said agency president and CCO Carolyn Shaw.
The exhibition showcases the intrinsic link between music and countercultural resistance, both historically—in the form of the civil rights movement and anti-war protests–and in the modern day, particularly with respect to Indigenous rights and climate change.
“We noticed a visual connection between music and protest," said Shaw. "There is a lot of similarity in the body movement and language. So that was such a perfect, visible way to show the connection between songs and resistance.”
How: The campaign is built around sourced footage and imagery showcasing music's long history as a countercultural tool of resistance. This resistance spans decades, with the exhibition itself covering history from early 20th century labour unrest to modern-day struggles for Indigenous rights and climate action.
“With the budget and the scale we needed to cover, there was no way that we could shoot fresh footage for it. We needed footage of concerts and protests because of the nature of it—none of that could be staged,” said Shaw. “So all of the visuals had to be sourced, and we had to make sure the imagery we were pulling was represented in the exhibition.”
To tie the campaign visuals together, Humanity developed a custom soundtrack that draws inspiration from seven distinct genres of music represented in the exhibition.
What’s Next: The campaign is just the opening act from Humanity for the CMHR. The agency is working on a brand refresh for the museum that will coincide with its 10th anniversary in September. The agency has enlisted help from members of its internal DEI advisory panel, Unity, to contribute to that refresh.
