‘Black Future’ was a creative campaign with Cadillac launched in June 2022 for Black Music Month, featuring the all-new and limited edition Escalade-V alongside rap artist and car aficionado, Killer Mike -- with the focus on celebrating the Power of Black Promise, Black Art, Black Music, and Cadillac’s connection to it. In addition, the goal was to showcase the power of the new Escalade-V – the most powerful ever of its kind.
We brought on rising director Spike Jordan, to capture the vision of stepping into an unprecedented CGI-created world, to pique the imagination of young Black innovators and creators within a future that is written for them. Reimagining the landscape of a ‘New Atlanta’ and leading the way to feature the emerging works of Black NFT artists, the NFT art from artists like Nyla Hayes, Nick Davis, and Elise Swopes adorn the accent of Atlanta’s futuristic landscape within the campaign's short film.
This campaign also had a social impact focus by driving support for the Save the Music Foundation and its J Dilla Music Tech Grant, in the hopes of expanding the musical horizons for the youth in marginalized communities that the Foundation serves. In partnership with 13-year old Rising Icon Nyla Hayes, Nyla created a one-of-a-kind gold edition NFT and a limited silver edition NFT for purchase to raise funds with a matching donation by Cadillac for Save The Music Foundation.
Strategy:
With an overall focus to raise visibility & transform market expansion for Cadillac, our strategic focus for the ‘Black Future’ campaign was to engage aspiring affluent multicultural millennial and Gen X luxury intenders -- engaging underrepresented communities in today’s marketplace.
The impact of 'Black Future' extended well past Black Music Month, creating lasting visibility & engagement for Cadillac. Our intentional & nuanced approach in this campaign led to strong overall positive sentiment overall, amplified brand awareness, significant brand consideration and considerable brand engagement for Cadillac. The ‘Black Future’ campaign garnered international awareness and powered positive brand perceptions among the key consumers (affluent aspiring multicultural millennial and Gen X luxury intenders & consumers with an income of $100K or more) in addition to driving cultural & social impact. Through this campaign, we were able to amplify Black art, the future, and also showcase Cadillac as a true collaborator in innovation & culture.
Execution:
In anticipation of Cadillac’s annual Black History Month campaign, the Creative team at Spike DDB gathered for a deep ideation surrounding the concept of a Black Future. Not only to celebrate the history but also to visualize the Black history that lies ahead.
We brainstormed not just how we envision a Black future in a car commercial but also how the Black community would be instrumental in creating the world it drives.
There was also an early buzz around this ideation on NFTs and how this visual medium would play a role in this campaign driven by a Black Future.
This is where we were introduced to the 13-year-old digital NFT artist and creator of the best-selling "Long Neckie Ladies" NFT collection, Nyla Hayes.
As a young person thriving in the art space, Nyla not only represented the Black Future but also embodied undeniable talent, so much so that Cadillac introduced our rising icon initiative, where Cadillac is dedicated to amplifying big dreams and bold ambitions.
Cadillac and Nyla Hayes partnered with the Save the Music Foundation to donate proceeds from the NFT sales.
For the spot, we also felt that a Black Future would best fit and begin in the culturally dominant city of Atlanta, as an inspiration.
Now that Atlanta was our premiere location, we added one of its local heroes, Cadillac music ambassador Killer Mike, as a central on-camera narrator, to ensure that this Black Future was heard loud and clear.
For brand awareness, we achieved 1.2M video views (200% above the 400K view benchmark) and reached 5M users across social, digital, broadcast & more.
For brand consideration, we exceeded the monthly handraiser acquisition average for Cadillac.com/Audacity by 65%. With this campaign’s extension into August 2022, August also contributed the highest-ever percentage of monthly handraiser sign-ups for Cadillac.com/Audacity that we achieved in 2022 (11%, 2,087). Determined by an independent qualitative study, 74% of multicultural luxury car intenders were motivated to learn more about Cadillac and a 70% overall positive sentiment was reported.
Lastly, for brand engagement, we achieved 55% of our NFT sales goal within the first week of launch, securing our baseline $20K donation to the Save the Music Foundation's J Dilla Music Tech Grant focused on young future leaders in music & tech innovation.
Once the $20K donation milestone was secured, Cadillac then increased that threshold to a total $55K donation to the Save the Music Foundation, investing in the J Dilla Music Tech Grant focused on young future leaders in music & tech innovation.
