Situation

While 56.1% of Brazilians declare themselves as black, black people occupy only 7% of advertising campaigns.

Brief

We needed to increase representativeness in the advertising industry offering creatives tools to leverage black people's participation without stereotyping their role in society.

Objectives

Increase black people representativeness in advertising campaigns by increasing non-stereotyped black people images requests and offers within ShutterStock database.

The project was born to mentor, nurture and offer a potential market so black photographers could value diversity in the advertising industry under a meaningful perspective and without promoting stereotypes. As a result, a mostly black country could start a movement of having its own people - and not foreigners looking - starring in advertising campaigns.

Data gathering

Using the social channels of the biggest Brazilian advertising agency as a hub, we could start a conversation that gathered black photographers that were outside the core of the advertising industry decision making. They engaged into the conversation which led, after, to a mentorship program with 11 of them.

Target audience

Advertisers, advertising agencies, photographers, marketers, and the entire advertising production chain.

Approach

Building representativeness from inside-out by helping black photographers to find their own space in the advertising industry and only then, with their true perspective, the gap of having black people in advertising campaigns following the same proportion of the country population would be filled.

A partnership with the biggest Brazilian source of images for advertising, the ShutterStock, provided mentorship so 11 black photographers could understand the market and join the advertising industry through the front door, providing imagery that would bring more representativeness to the industry while forging a proprietary space and demand for black professionals to come.

The selection process and mentorship took place from January 2022 until October 2022 when the images were deployed into ShutterStock database so they could start being used by creatives and agencies from all over the country.

Shutterstock database of images: www.shutterstock.com

Re_Modeling started with 11 photographers from 8 different states to bring diversity not only in the color of the skin but also in the perspective in landscapes. After producing 350 images, they were downloaded and used by 13 different countries besides Brazil and the next round of mentorship will include over

350+ images were produced and used in 13 countries different countries, generating over 2,000 interactions and, most important of all, a source of revenue to black photographers otherwise in the margin of the industry.

After selecting over 100 photographers in the initial longlist, the mentorship program helped 11 black photographers for almost 10 months with online and in-person classes that taught them how to enter the advertising industry offering a valuable service.

Besides increasing black people representativeness within ShutterStock database, 11 black photographers from 8 different Brazilian states were mentored producing 350+ that were downloaded by over 2,000 different people and used in 13 different countries.

11 black photographers were hired and created over 350 images that brought more black people representativeness. More than opening a door in the advertising industry, it became a source of knowledge so more generations of black photographers can keep increasing their