| BlackHistory.com
Recognizes Top Corporate Black History Month Supporters For
2008
-- Wal-Mart,
Alltel Wireless and Infiniti Top The List --
Columbus, OH
- 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®:
RANK: 10 -
Verizon
Verizon produced advertising that was targeted to Black History
Month, though it was sparse, and lacked visibility. In past
years, they have had larger Black History advertising campaigns.
They, however, did not hit the mark this year.
RANK:
9 - McDonald’s
McDonald’s put out a creative campaign for Black History Month,
and their campaign strategy persists year round. However,
their campaign is not visible in all mediums and appears to
be less and less promoted each year. In addition, their 365Black.com
web site needs to be updated with more resourceful content.
(www.365black.com)
RANK:
8 - KFC Corporation
KFC initiated a website that is devoted to the year-round
celebration of Black-Americans. Even so, the site is not well
publicized, and there weren’t significant advertisements in
2008 for Black History Month like the company has delivered
in the past. (www.kfc.com/pride360)
RANK:
7 - Target Corporation
Target developed an ad campaign distinctly for Black History
Month this year, though it was solely Internet-centered, and
not very visible. Their concept of personal histories of contemporary,
popular Black entertainers was quite creative, as was the
design. However, their campaign perpetuated the stereotypes
that Blacks’ only contributions to history and society are
through sports and performing arts. (www.target.com/blackhistory)
RANK:
6 - Allstate Insurance The company didn’t put out a significant
Black History Month campaign this year, but Allstate makes
the list because, since 2007, they’ve had a campaign called
“Beyond February.” As the title suggests, the company’s goal
is to market to and celebrate the history of Black-Americans
all year, rather than spend a large portion of its marketing
budget for only one month of the year and believe that was
sufficient.
RANK:
5 - Buick (division of General Motors)
The company did an impressive job this year by teaming up
with PBS and Ancestry.com to sponsor their Black History Month
programming of "African American Lives 2". Buick also created
a website component where visitors could research their genealogy.
However, headquarters admitted little had been done to target
the African-American market recently, and their site, while
well-presented, was not largely publicized. (http://buick.ancestry.com)
RANK:
4 - Nationwide Insurance
During Black History Month, Nationwide launched a monthly
cultural celebration and a speaker series. Although this aspect
of the campaign was an internal investment, it did gain visibility
through public relations efforts to the Black media. Nationwide
also developed an informative and creative print ad set for
Black History Month, that was promoted in several African
American magazines.
RANK:
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.
RANK:
2 - Alltel Wireless
Alltel, 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. (http://content.alltel.com/o/wordsofwisdom)
RANK:
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. (http://blackhistory.gh-walmart.com/)
Honorable Mentions:
Kmart
(division of Sears Holdings)
This struggling company did the best with the budget they
had to show that Black History Month and the African-American
market should be highly regarded. Kmart may have spent more
on their Black History Month advertising than companies of
twice their size and revenue. The company created a website
featuring events and workshops occurring in four major cities
throughout the month. (www.kmart.com/blackhistorymonth)
Metlife
Insurance
Metlife advertised specifically for Black History Month this
year, though the print-only ads were far and few between.
Maybe next year they will step up efforts because they didn’t
do as much as they could have to reach the Black community
in 2007.
Kellogs
The company had visible and clever ads, but they declined
to comment or give any details on their advertising efforts
whatsoever for this press release.
American
Family Insurance
American Family Insurance partnered with American Legacy Magazine
to launch American Legacy Challenge, an African-American history
trivia competition for high school students. The competition,
however, took place in only three cities.
Coca-Cola
Year after year, Coca-Cola generates somewhat concentrated
efforts to recognize Black History Month. This year, their
campaign was announced during the Super Bowl. They were lacking,
however, in any significant online or print promotion.
About Lee Moss Media
Lee Moss Media is a Columbus, Ohio-based online media powerhouse.
The organization owns and produces the largest Internet network
for African-Americans in the United States. A joint venture,
the firm is the result of a collaboration between Dante Lee,
founder and CEO of Diversity City Media and William R. Moss,
founder and CEO of HBCU Connect.
For eight
years, Diversity City Media (DCM) has been growing into a
necessary online amalgamation of websites to fill a niche
void for Black-Americans. DCM boasts a number of Internet
titles, such as BlackPR.com, BlackNews.com, BlackSpeakers.com
and BlackExperts.com.
Moss
began HBCUConnect.com nine years ago with the goal of catering
to the competitive but often overlooked population of students
and alumni associated with Historically Black Colleges or
Universities. With two glossy magazines published bi-annually,
and an entire online community of over 480,000 current and
former HBCU students, Moss continues to provide news, job
opportunities, social and networking platforms and more to
this market.
About
BlackHistory.com
Lee Moss Media acquired BlackHistory.com in the fall of 2007,
and the site was officially launched on February 1, 2008.
The year-round site advocates “celebrating Black History Month
every month,” recognizing that “our history is your history.”
It seeks to serve people of all backgrounds, ages, ethnicities
and classes with pertinent information regarding all aspects
of Black history, including up-to-date, contemporary history-in-the-making.
BlackHistory.com
can be used as an encyclopedic reference guide, yet it allows
visitors to create a profile, add content, maintain a blog,
connect with other members and, most importantly, become an
active participant in the celebration and creation of Black
history. By submitting articles about an event or person,
for example, and posting it on the site, visitors are contributing
their opinions and knowledge to Black history in a personal
way.
BlackHistory.com
is close to reaching the 200,000 member mark, and receives
nearly 5 million page views each month.
PRESS CONTACT:
Brittany Davis
brittany@blackhistory.com
614-416-5522
Dante
Lee
dante@diversitycity.com
614-595-6063
|
