11/30/2023
Three Ways Widen The Screen Is Widening Our View As We Serve Black Consumers
At P&G, we innovate products for everyone. It’s our job to do our best to understand, respect and reflect the uniqueness of all the people we serve. Because there is no better way to reach multicultural audiences than through their own voices and experiences, we launched Widen The Screen to Widen The View of the joy, richness and beauty of Black life. In its first four years, Widen The Screen has led to a widening of opportunities for Black creatives, as well as expanded into efforts to Widen The Screen with women, Hispanic, and Asian storytellers and audiences.
Today, P&G continues to step up our efforts to serve Black consumers in an authentic way that best serves and supports them—in everyday life, with everyday needs—through superior brand innovation, and cultural and education partnerships.
1. Supporting Students Every Day
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are centers of Black life and culture.
For generations we have partnered with UNCF to support and strengthen our nation's HBCUs and students of color. HBCYOU is P&G’s new partnership program with UNCF that supports students as they grow up and glow up through the college experience.
Through our participation in high-impact HBCU events on the yard like back to school and homecoming, we provide students with direct access to P&G’s innovative products and experiences that support student life in their home away from home. This includes:
- Bringing the brands you love from home to homecomings all over the country, from glow-up go-tos from brands including Bevel, OLAY and My Black Is Beautiful, to grow-up home care essentials like Gain, Swiffer, Febreze and Charmin.
- Offering 75, $2,500 scholarships to students currently enrolled at several HBCUs! Applications are due Dec. 14, 2023, by 5 p.m. ET. For eligibility and details on the simple process, visit the HBCYOU Scholarship page.
- Plus, we’re celebrating with HBCU students and alumni by bringing some of our closest friends to perform during the homecoming festivities, while keeping our eye on the prize by inserting fun HBCU trivia and games in the mix to receive on the spot $500 Book Awards.
Strengthening P&G’s relationship with HBCU students also enables us to attract, retain and grow our talent, so that we can continue to serve our increasingly diverse set of consumers in an inclusive and meaningful way.
2. Innovative Cultural Partnerships
From movies to sports to music and everything in between, Black culture resonates deeply, spans generations and impacts all the consumer groups we serve. Together with our brands, we’ve launched new cultural partnerships with the icons and influencers that represent the diversity of Black life to meet our consumers’ needs, right where they are.
With Queen Latifah and Flavor Unit we continue to build an expansive network of diverse filmmakers through Queen Collective, which aims to create more opportunities with multicultural creators and bring accurate visibility of the fullness of Black life and culture to the screen.
Partnerships with LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells in Queens, New York, and ONE Musicfest, in Atlanta, Georgia, expand P&G’s Widen The Screen vision to also include immersive brand experiences that bring together fashion, beauty, health and home essentials that everyone needs, in everyday life.
Together with P&G brands My Black Is Beautiful, Head and Shoulders, Next of Us, OLAY, Charmin, Gillette, Febreze and Old Spice, P&G created the Kings and Queens fan experience at the Rock The Bells Festival, honoring Hip Hop’s impact on fashion, art, food and culture as consumers experienced our innovative brands.
At ONE Musicfest, our brands curated Gain Garden vibes, creating an urban garden featuring whimsical art installations and shareable vignettes that included Febreze Scent and Sound Booths. While Charmin’s VIPee Lounge provided a bathroom oasis for all attendees to experience.
ONE Musicfest was also the perfect venue to partner with relevant and resonant tastemakers, creators, and influencers like actress, reality television star and Hip-Hop music royalty, Reginae Carter. Together with influencers, we promoted festival attendance, drove on the ground engagement with our brands, and grew awareness of product benefits among more consumers.
3. Delivering Superior Brands
P&G has a family of innovative brands uniquely designed to better serve consumers of color. Brands like Bevel, King C Gillette, Mielle, My Black Is Beautiful, and Old Spice celebrate Black beauty and culture, feature inclusive redesigns for all skin and hair care needs, and are authentic and accurate in their portrayals of consumers.
Learn more about the many ways we see and serve the uniqueness of all our consumers and how we continue to Widen The Screen to Widen Our View.
