Ally is a financial services company with a long history of giving customers the tools to bring big dreams to life. Since only 3.9% of comics artists and 5.8% of writers are Black, Ally saw an opportunity to help Black artists realize their dreams of making more Black superheroes and inspiring generations to come.

To relaunch a legendary but long-dormant and relatively niche entertainment IP, DC and Milestone Media approached Ally as a brand partner.

For DC and Milestone, it was necessary to reintroduce the Milestone characters to the public, galvanize sentiment with finicky comics fandom, and build a new readership among groups—particularly women and people of color—who have long felt excluded by the world of comics.

Meanwhile, Ally’s brand aim was to position itself as a leader in financial empowerment and DEI, raise awareness of their brand, and build trust with communities of color, particularly Black consumers.

People of color over-index among comic book fans, but are underrepresented among creators.

But equitability in comics isn’t just about providing access. DC and Ally’s partnership would provide creators of color with both creative support and business skills that are often a barrier to artists’ long-term success.

And since change can’t happen without a groundswell of conversation, we engaged trusted authentic voices—like entertainment mogul Reggie Hudlin, the Wu Tang’s Method Man, and comics legend Jim Lee—to activate our target communities through social media, specialized channels, and on-the-ground activations.

This campaign needed to accomplish its objectives while maintaining consistent messaging and remaining authentic in the ultimate goal of empowering Black and diverse creators, reshaping the comics industry, and sparking heroic and durable change in our shared, modern mythology.

We launched with an announcement at DC’s flagship fan event—viewed by 22M— followed by a Milestone-themed special and CTA on TBS’s Friday Night Vibes. Organic social media amplified these announcements, driving users to The Milestone Initiative digital hub.

The next several months saw a rollout of content and activations, including branded short form films re-introducing digital and linear audiences to the Milestone characters and mission, an innovative and wildly popular AR Snapchat experience, Milestone murals by artists of color in historically Black neighborhoods, and a NASCAR featuring Milestone’s most popular hero.

In May, we executed the one-week Milestone Initiative Summit at DC Headquarters. This was followed by a mini-documentary spotlighting the Initiative fellows, and in July, the launch of Milestone Generations, an Ally-branded feature doc on HBOMax. We capped the program with The Milestone Chronicles, a print magazine collectible distributed at fan events, comic shops and to Ally customers.

The campaign garnered 1B+ impressions, including 82.5M impressions for our Snapchat experience.

Among engagers, Ally saw double-digit growth in brand KPIs, including:

+19% familiarity

+20%: “Ally cares about your financial wellbeing”

+10% purchase consideration

Milestone Generations received marquee placement on HBO Max, where it scored a 95% positive rating with 85% intention to share, and garnered sentiments like:

“[It] genuinely moved me to tears… Ally being a literal ally to Black business owners and spreading that to communities and individuals is genuinely incredible."

The story was covered in outlets like the LA Times, Variety and The Root, and the film was independently screened by institutions like the prestigious Schomburg Center.

Finally, The Milestone Initiative accomplished its goal. The diverse emerging creators selected for the program are now publishing professional work starring iconic superheroes including Batman, Cyborg, and others—and consumers see Ally as the brand that made it happen.