Out of Home Industry reunites to support Cephas Williams’ ‘9:29’ campaign and tribute to George Floyd one year on

‘9:29’ Reflects on the #BLM Movement the biggest Black renaissance of the 21st Century.

Cephas Williams, the founder of The Black British Network, has launched a campaign, which features on Digital OOH (DOOH) screens as we approach one year since the murder of George Floyd. The campaign is titled ‘9:29’ and is set to reimagine the approach to demonstrating through the power of digital media and DOOH. In light of the recent Derek Chauvin trial that took place in Minnesota, the world has learnt that Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds (it was initially believed to be 8 minutes and 46 seconds).

With the understanding that many people may not gather as we did last year due to ongoing threats of COVID alongside government restrictions; Cephas Williams looks to take the demonstration digital. Using the power of digital media and billboards that grace the same streets where demonstrations were held last year, to send a loud message to our nation.

Following on from his 2020 campaigns ‘Let’s Not Forget’ and ‘Letter to Zion.’ This campaign seeks to encourage last years demonstrators to repost their images using the hashtags #TheDigitalDemonstration and #929, on Instagram or Twitter social platforms.

Supported by Talon and multiple OOH media companies, Cephas will be working with Hashtag’d who will be using software to get permission to aggregate and curate any new post with the associated hashtags across a network of screens. Clear Channel and JCDecaux are the first companies to get behind the campaign as Cephas seeks to grow the number of screens and visibility across the country in the lead up to May 25th.

OOH media companies will display the creative specific to the times 9:29 am and 9:29 pm for the duration of 9 minutes and 29 seconds.  The campaign will be live throughout the month of May, including Tuesday the 25th.

Last year after George Floyd was killed, the cultural and social vibration of Black people globally could not be denied, Cephas says, “The 2020 Black renaissance was the biggest movement in his lifetime. This cultural and social vibration pushed corporate companies and institutions to stop, listen and have long-overdue conversations, specific to the Black community, but many of these conversations did not last and many of the statements were empty and short-lived.”

Cephas also poses the question, “how do we ensure the conversation continues? How do we make sure this will last?”, When you think about what pushed companies, leaders and people to engage, it was the visibility of Black people and the presence that Black people had culturally, supported by non-Black allies in a major way.

‘9:29’ reflects and focuses on how we start to digitise demonstrations in a time where the government is trying to stop it with things like the Policing Bill but also in a time where we are learning to adjust to the effects had by a global pandemic. The aim is to highlight images from the Black Lives Matter protest post the death of George Floyd and to display them on billboards nationwide presenting a creative time stamp of images and moments.