Summer is a celebratory time for many, especially for Black Americans. Tentpole events like Jazz Fest, Roots Picnic, Essence Fest, and BET Awards have been staples of the Black experience during the summer months. While there is typically much fanfare behind those events, a moment that often gets overlooked is Father’s Day in the case for Black males. According to a research study commissioned by Dove Men+Care, less than 50% of Black fathers believe mainstream media and popular culture portray Black fatherhood accurately. With summer being a time of liberation, promoting positive depictions of Black Fatherhood was a clear gateway to enabling joy in the season with loved ones.
Walmart recognized an important role needed to be served in providing a platform for real stories to be told and solving the representation crisis with Black Fathers. While also looking to refresh the Black & Unlimited initiative, Walmart turned it’s focus on opportunities to highlight what Black Fatherhood looks like today. This mission was also two-pronged as Black Fatherhood was a conduit to deepen relevance with both generations of Walmart legacy Black consumers and the vital young Black audience.
With the ambition established, the next step was for Walmart to identify a unique moment to bring major attention and engagement to positive Black Fatherhood stories.
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Walmart identified that gaming was one of the most engaging pastimes for our target customers during the summer. To aid it’s customers in embracing their love of gaming and being an ally for their summer, Walmart partnered with Group Black to develop a custom program that would engage customers virtually and in real life, bringing families together and offering a platform to celebrate Black fatherhood.
With livestreams being a popular medium for gaming content consumption, Walmart collaborated with Group Black and Cxmmunity Media (CXM) to orchestrate a Fatherhood Streamathon experience that brought fathers and their kids together to game, talk fatherhood, and invite viewers to participate. This started with designing a custom game room activation space in Atlanta, GA to host the streamathon and create a safe space for Black Fatherhood to thrive. With the stage set, it was then necessary to find the right pairing of fathers & kids to embark on this Fatherhood Streamathon experience. The event was leveled up when two dynamic duos in former NFL quarterback Cam Newton and gaming influencer iPod King Carter also come onboard and brought their sons for an epic match-up. During the afternoon of Juneteenth, the father & son pairing came together to host a 2-hour engaging livestream in the custom game room for some friendly competition (with the occasionally trash talk).
The gaming livestream was syndicated across IGN, the #1 games & entertainment media brand, and Group Black’s media collective to authentically connect with diverse gamers and extend the reach of the livestream. Walmart messaging further amplified the joyful interaction of Black fathers & sons through a mix of bespoke content, editorial articles, site takeovers, and social amplification.
As a finale to the streamathon experience, Walmart unveiled that custom game room would be made available to anyone in the Atlanta area to enjoy free gaming through the end of summer. Participants had the opportunity to be featured on the CXM page and win prizes sponsored by Walmart. The game room served as a gathering spot for the local community with gaming competitions and an opportunity for Black fathers & families to come together and unlock their own Black joy during the summer.
Amplifying messaging across multiple video channels and formats, Walmart and Group Black exceeded all viewership metrics, delivering talkable moments around Black Fatherhood and the Walmart Black & Unlimited initiative.
Walmart & Group Black together delivered nearly 67K livestream views on Juneteenth and 15MM impressions across all organic & paid media efforts. Total hours watched came to over 2K hours with average view time per users at nearly 10 mins and click-thru rates 7.5x above average. The strong engagement extended from the URL to IRL as well, with the custom game room seeing average dwell time nearly half-hour per person over the course of 41 days.
These results proved that there’s an appetite to see strong Black Father stories and opportunities. Walmart & Group Black were able to providing a high visibility platform for Black fatherhood and using gaming as access point towards a more enjoyable summer for Black families.
