Charles Todd’s ‘Black-Owned Friday’ Spot Scoops Up 18 Awards

‘Black-Owned Friday’, directed by Scheme Engine’s Charles Todd in collaboration with BBH and Google, has scooped up an impressive 18 awards across the festival circuit, including recognition at The One Show, D&ADs, Clios, AICPs, and Webbys. Harnessing Charles’ adventurous cinematic vocabulary and his ability to entertain whilst delivering meaningful work, the campaign spotlights how every day we all have a choice, to search, shop and support Black-owned businesses.

Created by Google in partnership with the U.S. Black Chambers Inc, the ‘Black-Owned Friday’ initiative rebrands the anticipated annual shopping event into 'Black-Owned Friday' with the aim of encouraging all communities to ‘buy Black’. Accompanying an original track from Ludacris featuring Flo Milli, the fun three-minute interactive visual transports the rapper to various locations through his Google searches. 

Combining bold in-camera visuals, VFX and motion graphics alongside great performances, Charles’ love for experimenting and pushing boundaries to see a concept come to life in the most creative way is palpable in his award-winning spot for Google. In addition to his recent success with Google, Charles’ projects for PUMA x BALMAIN, ‘Romeo Santos: King of Bachata’, and ‘Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase The Blues Away’, have all received honours at the AICP, Webbys, Latin Grammys and Tellys this year.

Jannie McInnes, executive producer at Scheme Engine, comments on the impressive award wins: “The awards we’re winning this year reflect the quality of highly creative, large scale jobs Scheme Engine is producing, with diverse executions in commercial, documentary, and music. That’s exciting for a company with a young roster comprising mostly emerging and underrepresented talent!”

Please find the full list of awards and nominations below. 

Webby Awards:

The One Show:

Clio Awards:

D&AD Awards:

AICP Next Awards: