Go Back To Africa - Behind The Campaign
The phrase “Go back to Africa” has a long, complicated history, and unfortunately, today, it is still widely used in racialized contexts online and beyond. According to NetBase’s social listening platform, the phrase is used over 4,500 times a month online.*
This project hijacks the racialized and derogatory phrase “Go back to Africa” (#GoBackToAfrica) for a pan-African tourism campaign. By blacking out hate-fueled Twitter posts and reframing them against words and images showing the beauty and diversity of all African countries, the brand is putting a positive and uplifting spin on a negative and disparaging narrative.
“One of the campaign’s goals is to effectively strip the perceived power away from those who use the phrase ‘Go back to Africa’ with derogatory intent,” says Eric Martin, co-founder of Black & Abroad. “If we can strip the expression of its impact, then we can debunk the age-old narrative that Africa is a desolate, disease-ridden wasteland undeserving of our time and travels.”
WATCH THE CASE STUDY
“One of the campaign’s goals is to effectively strip the perceived power away from those who use the phrase ‘Go back to Africa’ with derogatory intent. If we can strip the expression of its impact, then we can debunk the age-old narrative that Africa is a desolate, disease-ridden wasteland undeserving of our time and travels.”
In our research, the phrase “go back to africa” was used on social media with negative intentions over 4,500 times a month. 150 times a day. Once every three minutes.*
*data collected via social listening platform Netbase in February 2019
THE PLAN
Through a series of paid ads on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and digital OOH, we are capturing that hate as it happens, redacting the context, then turning it into a positive tourism message – brought to life through user generated photos harvested from social media using a powerful AI platform.
With messaging speaking to each of Africa’s 54 countries, every ad in the campaign builds equity behind the hashtag #GoBackToAfrica while driving to our website, GoBacktoAfrica.com.
GOBACKTOAFRICA.COM
To create the campaign, Black & Abroad partnered with data-driven creative agency FCB/SIX and IPG’s Initiative Media to help identify and reach Black travelers who are interested in travel. The campaign highlights each one of Africa’s 54 countries then invites them to “See themselves there” by clicking through to GoBackToAfrica.com. Designed as a counterpoint to the travel industry’s bias toward Caucasian travelers, the site features all African countries, and real social photos of the Black community traveling there.
“Do a quick Google image or stock image search of the word ‘travel’ and you’ll immediately see how biased the industry is toward caucasians,” says Ian Mackenzie, Executive Director of FCB/SIX. “GoBackToAfrica.com is a place where Black travelers can see themselves represented with positive images set in each one of Africa’s 54 countries.” “We’re interested in showing a more diverse picture of Africa than you see in traditional tourism campaigns,” says Martin. “Yes, there are zebras in Africa, and zebras are great. But there are also amazing art galleries, and restaurants, and beaches, and other experiences, many of which may be more relevant to African American tourists than some other groups.”
An image on gobacktoafrica.com submitted by a consumer after utilizing the hashtag #gobacktoafrica.
THE TECHNOLOGY
At the heart of the project is an innovative digital platform designed to locate, quality control and gain permissions to use aspirational images of the Black community traveling in Africa. The platform, fueled by Google Vision and crafted by FCB/SIX, is an AI-powered content marketing engine purpose-built for the travel and tourism industry. The platform looks for images and ingests thousands of pieces of user generated visual content from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, then uses Google Vision’s image recognition technology to filter through content by location, subject, quality, and relevancy – all in real-time. Once curated and customized into campaign materials, the agency uses the platform to push the content out through Black & Abroad’s social channels and website.
The ultimate goal is for this campaign to break down barriers and encourage conversation among Black travelers around what it means to ‘Go back to Africa.’ Through targeted efforts to effectively showcase the essence of each African country, the campaign aims to spark a movement dedicated to eroding the negative perceptions of the continent with the high volume of content it creates purposefully designed to displace and bury hateful content that exists online.
““In this digital age, there’s a lot of negative data like fake news, privacy violations, or hate messages, [but] the Grand Prix winner tackled this issue with a bold and impactful way.”
“It changes negative messages into meaningful contents. It created a new community with the power of data and contributed to the culture.””
List of Awards, Acknowledgements & Accolades
The “Go Back to Africa” campaign did well with consumers and the advertising world. Since its launch, the campaign has been recognized for its creative use of data and social media.
“Go Back To Africa”
Cannes Lions – Creative Data | Social Data & Insight – Grand Prix
Cannes Lions – Creative Data | Data-driven Targeting – Shortlist
Cannes Lions – Creative Data | Data-enhanced Creativity – Shortlist
Cannes Lions – Creative Data | Data Technology – Shortlist
Cannes Lions – Media | Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight – Silver
Cannes Lions – Media | Challenger Brand – Shortlist
Cannes Lions – Media | Data-Driven Targeting – Shortlist
Cannes Lions – Media | Travel – Shortlist
Cannes Lions – Mobile |Targeted Communication – Bronze
Cannes Lions – Social | Audience Targeting – Bronze
Cannes Lions – Creative Strategy | Travel – Shortlist
D&AD Impact – Equality and Diversity – White
Clio Awards – PR – Gold
Clio Awards – Direct – Silver
Clio Awards – Innovation – Bronze
Clio Awards – Integrated Campaign – Bronze
ANDY Awards – Idea – Gold
ANDY Awards – Bravery – Gold
ANDY Awards – Reset – Gold
ADC – Interactive – Best of Discipline
ADC – Interactive – Social Media/Twitter – Gold
ADC – Advertising – Direct / Digital – Campaign – Gold
ADC – Integrated – Digital – Silver
ADC – Integrated – Innovation – Bronze
London International Awards – Integrated – Gold
London International Awards – Travel – Gold
London International Awards – Influencer, Travel – Silver
London International Awards – Social Media – Silver
London International Awards – Banners – Bronze
London International Awards – Use of Data – Bronze
London International Awards – Tone of Voice – Bronze
Communication Arts – Integrated Campaign
Webby Awards – Advertising, Media & PR: Real-Time Response Campaign
Webby Awards – Advertising, Media & PR: Social Media Campaign
Webby Awards – Advertising, Media & PR: Tourism & Leisure
Cresta Awards – Jury Chair Award
Cresta Awards – Digital, Travel – Silver
Epica Awards – Online Ads – Gold
Epica Awards – Integrated Campaign – Gold
Epica Awards – Travel – Bronze
Adweek ARC Awards – Best Use of Data/Insight-Driven Storytelling
Adweek ARC Award – Best Use of Social
Strategy Awards – Grand Prix
Strategy Awards – Data/Tech – Gold
Strategy Awards – Niche – Gold
Strategy Awards – Game Changer – Gold
Campaign U.S. Inclusion & Creative Awards – Top 20
Applied Arts – Entire Advertising Campaign – Campaign
Applied Arts – Online Banner Ad – Series
Applied Arts – Social – Series
Applied Arts – Website/Microsite – Single
Applied Arts – Entire Online Campaign – Campaign
ADCC – Media Innovation – Silver
Contagious – 25 Most Contagious Campaigns of 2019
Immortal Awards – Commendation
Echo Awards – Best Use of Creative Storytelling – Gold
Echo Awards – Travel – Gold
Echo Awards – Best Data-Inspired Insight – Silver
Echo Awards – Best Use of Emerging Technologies – Silver
Echo Awards – Best use of Social Media – Silver
ATMoiC Awards – Grand Prix
AToMiC Awards – Idea – Gold
AToMiC Awards – Social – Gold
AToMiC Awards – Niche Targeting – Gold
AToMiC Awards – Diversity – Gold
AToMiC Awards – AI – Silver
AToMiC Awards – Cause & Action – Silver
AToMiC Awards – Tech Breakthrough – Silver
AToMiC Awards – Best Digital Engagement – Bronze
CMA – Best of the Best
CMA – Brand Building – Gold
CMA – Business Impact – Gold
CMA – Innovative Media – Gold
CMA – Martech – Gold
CMA – Environics Analytics Data Marketing Award – Gold
Shopper Innovation Awards – Insights – Bronze
Shopper Innovation Awards – Targeting – Bronze
Shopper Innovation Awards – Idea – Bronze
Media Innovation Awards – Best In Show
Media Innovation Awards – Best in Travel & Tourism – Gold
Media Innovation Awards – Best data-driven marketing – Gold
Media Innovation Awards – Best in Social Media – Gold
Media Innovation Awards – Best in Niche Targeting – Gold
Media Innovation Awards – Best use of Technology – Silver
Media Innovation Awards – Best disruption – Silver
Media Innovation Awards – Best new insight – Silver
Media Innovation Awards – Best in mobile – Bronze
ANA Multicultural Excellence Awards – Digital – Grand Prix
Agency of the Year Awards – Digital Campaign of the Year
