Much of our culture is the product of Black creativity, but that creativity does not always receive the recognition it deserves. Online video trends have evolved to become the driving force of pop culture.
But do you know who’s creating them?
Flowers, presented by #YouTubeBlack is a 3-part short documentary series amplifying Black stories that showcase the outsize influence black creativity has had in the formation and evolution of modern pop culture. The series is produced by YouTube and Breakwater Studios and joins an already robust slate of content dedicated to spotlighting and elevating the voices of Black Creators on the platform. These unique Black stories deserve their moment to be appreciated and celebrated for the impact they’ve had on YouTube and on culture as a whole.
Our goals included:
Utilizing data and insights provided by the YouTube Culture and Trends team, we identified the untold true stories of the Black creators and culture behind viral internet trends.
Flowers features three creators — Adande “sWooZie” Thorne, Nyma Tang, and Bianca Bonnie — giving them their flowers, here and now, for their significant contributions to culture as we know it. These creators have lent their creativity and passion to the YouTube platform, inspiring millions and fostering entirely new communities. The data confirms that these trends have gone global and resulted in billions of views on the YouTube platform.
The series debuted with the premiere episode, “How @swoozie inspired an entire genre of animation,” focusing on sWooZie’s role in creating the storytime animation format that has become integral to animation on YouTube. “How @NymaTang helped change the beauty industry,” spotlights how Nyma’s series “The Darkest Shade," sparked a conversation on YouTube around the need for inclusion in beauty and transformed the entire industry, and the final episode, How “Chicken Noodle Soup” paved the way for viral dance trends,” features Bianca Bonnie’s multifaceted talent and contribution to the viral dance culture which became a blueprint for the dance trends that followed.
Beyond the series itself, the creators were celebrated with a larger campaign that included activations on YouTube’s official channel (Youtube.com/YouTube), across social, as well as creator surprise-and-delight gifting plus a full-scale screening and creator event.
We achieved our initial three goals through the following:
Since it launched 4 months ago, the three-part series amplifying black creators and stories has accumulated over 2 million views and significant positive engagement from audiences and fans of the three creators.
Swoozie gained 29,206 followers during his portion of the campaign.
40 additional creators tied to the trends in the series were featured in Flowers playlists promoted on the YouTube homepage.
https://youtu.be/q9kdFvBvJN4?si=OkTHeL4NBgKJQiSrFeatured Creator, sWooZie, commented on his video in the series, “joining YouTube is hands down one of the best decisions I've made in my life! […] If you're on the fence about creating, consider what I would've missed out on if I never started posting videos and the same could be applied to you.”
These unique stories garnered coverage in Blavity, SIlifestyle, The Futon Critic, Morty’s TV and Tomilli, thus far.
