WONDERROOT & THE CITY OF ATLANTA
OFF THE WALL - SUPERBOWL LII
As Super Bowl LIII arrived in Atlanta in 2019, the City had the opportunity to elevate its proud civil rights legacy and vision for the future. Through a series of high-quality public mural initiatives that captured the past, present, and future of Atlanta’s diverse and monumental relationship to civil rights, Atlanta was able to lift up for the spotlight it’s inspiring story of change. By emphasizing the idea of uplifting civil rights as a shared purpose, vision, and hope, the City advanced the multi-generational and everlasting story of coming together for change.
THE CHALLENGE
The initiative aimed to raise awareness of Civil Rights Off the Wall: Past, Present, and Future, in conjunction with Atlanta's distinctive civil rights history. The goal was to inspire individuals, both within the local community and across the nation, to participate actively in the civil rights movement.
Additionally, the initiative aimed to highlight alternative narratives regarding civil rights in Atlanta. It showcased WonderRoot as an Atlanta-based nonprofit arts organization dedicated to addressing civil rights issues. Leveraging Atlanta's strong civil rights foundation and the influential combination of sports and art, the initiative made a significant contribution to advancing the momentum and progress on civil rights-related matters.
THE STRATEGY
We focused on amplifying the current civil rights movement and moving it forward for the initiative to live beyond the SuperBowl LIII event and expand beyond the WonderRoot brand.
To catalyze a movement, people needed to participate and engage, not just passively watch from the sidelines. As we moved toward the SuperBowl itself there were more and more opportunities to engage individuals both locally and on the national level through on-the-ground community conversations, a downloadable discussion guide and social media content on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
To do this, our strategy was built around 5 primary pillars - community conversations, a discuss guide, policy changes, murals and public art, and an omni-channel media campaign and the goal of EDUCATING and INSPIRING those that were not currently engaged with the civil rights movement and help them understand the role that athletes, artists and everyday people have played, and are playing within the movement today through facts, stats and storytelling.
Additionally we focused on ENGAGING those that already cared about civil rights and EMPOWERING them to help define what contemporary civil rights issues look like in their own communities.
the outcome
Over 2000 people attended one of our 43+ community conversations in Atlanta, enabling diverse communities to discuss Atlanta's history and future as a Civil Rights beacon. The campaign garnered over 1.2 Million social engagements across Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, with 90% positive sentiments. We also saw over 5000 downloads of the discussion guide and were able to help advocate for and refine policy changes to the City's commitment to Civil Rights and affordable housing.
The initiative also saw the installation of 25 permanent murals across the city, that continue to celebrate Atlanta's role as a Civil Rights leader.
