To commemorate the end of Black History Month, WPP’s global health and wellness agency TANK Worldwide has partnered with DESTA, a Montreal-based Black community network, to launch a campaign built around a Spotify playlist featuring historical voices.
Tying into the brand’s mission of empowering the Black community to turn barriers into opportunities, the "Speechlist" campaign amplifies the voices of past heroes who fought for justice and equality, while bringing visibility to contemporary Black talent.
“Speechlist” consists of recreations of six historically relevant speeches from the civil rights movement, accompanied by tracks from contemporary Black musicians and artists. Each track recreates a portion of each speaker’s speech or interview statement, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Justice” (1963), Nina Simone’s “Freedom” (1968), and Malcolm X’s “Independent” (1963).
The campaign is being supported by digital ads running on DESTA-owned channels, as well as Facebook and Instagram, in which each speaker is accompanied by a segment of their speech laid out to appear like track titles.
DESTA supports Black youth in reaching their educational, employability, and entrepreneurial goals. TANK has a standing relationship with DESTA through a mentorship program in which DESTA participants are exposed to the advertising industry. When the agency conceptualized the campaign idea, they brought it to DESTA and asked the organization to be a key partner.
“'Speechlist' is more than just a campaign; it's a catalyst for change, weaving together the threads of history and modernity to amplify the voices of Black leaders and artists alike,” said DESTA’s executive director Kassandra Kernisan in a release. To ensure the campaign’s longevity past Black History Month, DESTA is emphasizing the importance of the initiative on its social media channels, positioning it as a continuous resource for education and musical celebration.
