World Afro Day Campaign 2018

Ogilvy, Wavemaker and World Afro Day have pioneered a new awareness campaign ‘Change the Facts, Not the Fro’ which launches for World Afro Day 2018, an annual event launched by Michelle De Leon which aims to help change the narrative around natural Afro hair. This year's event focuses on tackling how society perceives women’s Afro hair and highlighting the importance of celebrating it in its natural glory. The campaign aims to challenge the status quo so this generation and the ones to come feel they have the choice to wear their hair in whatever way, shape or form. The rallying cry is featured on a series of images that use women’s Afro hair to illustrate startling statistics taken from The Good Hair study, and in doing so calls for change and for choice. World Afro Day Founder Michelle De Leon explains "there is a huge gap in the market for a global celebration of African descent. Our culture, style, music and fashion have been trendsetting for centuries and now it is ‘time’ for our hair to take centre stage too. The story of Afro hair is the same in every language, culture and country. Hair that has been hidden and hurt is now out and proud. Over a billion African people, have been waiting for their ‘time’ and when we throw a party, the world wants to come!” Speaking about the creative work, Executive Creative Director at Ogilvy UK, Andre Laurentino, says “I am incredibly proud of the work the Ogilvy team has done to bring this brief to life. We scoured the world for the right idea and, together with creatives from our Singapore office, are very excited to help World Afro Day grow. It’s stimulating to see the energy that such a diverse team, in every sense, has brought to the idea. A group of promising creatives, a fantastic photographer and a passionate production team. We hope this campaign will raise real awareness around the perceptions of natural hair and will continue to drive change in today’s society.” The campaign was brought to life by an integrated team at Ogilvy, working across London and Singapore. The project was driven by a core team from Ogilvy’s diversity network Roots, coming together with Wavemaker’s Roots members, of whom many have experienced the very issues they are looking to raise awareness around. The Roots team seek to drive greater inclusivity, representation and opportunities within advertising, media and the wider creative industry. This World Afro Day, they want people to wear and share their hair with pride. The campaign consists of DOOH, social, PR and online. Audiences can follow the campaign on the hashtags #WorldAfroDay and #Changethefacts CLIENT: * MICHELLE DE LEON - FOUNDER OF WORLD AFRO DAY AGENCY: OGILVY UK AND OGILVY SINGAPORE * ANDRE LAURENTINO – OGILVY LONDON EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR * NICOLAS COURANT – OGILVY SINGAPORE CO-CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER * FRANCIS WEE - OGILVY SINGAPORE EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR * NATASHER BEECHER – OGILVY ROOTS CREATIVE DIRECTOR * DANI MATTHEWS – CREATIVE DIRECTOR * SHAWNN LAI - CREATIVE * PAUL KEMP - CREATIVE * UMA RUDD TAN - CREATIVE * PEDRO PEDREIRA - CREATIVE * JENG YI SOW - CREATIVE * LEONARD KOH - CREATIVE * YOLANTA BOTI – CREATIVE * AMIE SNOW – CREATIVE * LUCIE DAVIS – CREATIVE * FEI WALLER – CREATIVE * CLAYTON GRAY - HEAD OF DESIGN * LUKE O'PREY - SENIOR DESIGNER * SEAN AYELTIGAH - SENIOR DESIGNER * CHRISTINE KAWASAKI-CHAN - DESIGNER AGENCY PRODUCTION: * JODIE SIBSON – PRODUCTION DIRECTOR * SOPHIE LARK - DIGITAL PRODUCER PRODUCTION COMPANY: RANKIN PHOTOGRAPHY AND GRAFT PRODUCTIONS * DERRICK KAKEMBO – PHOTOGRAPHER * BETH MONTAGUE - PRODUCER * JOSHUA PARSONS – PRODUCER STYLIST: * CHARLOTTE MENSAH - HAIR STYLIST ACCOUNTS MANAGEMENT: * PUMIE MSENGANA - CLIENT DIRECTOR * INES TAHI EZAN - ACCOUNT DIRECTOR * JORDIE WILDIN - ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE PLANNING: * SHADI-SADE SARRESHTEHDARZADEH – STRATEGY DIRECTOR * JOSS MAJOR – STRATEGIST