2020 marked a challenging year for us all but especially small businesses. Over 60% of small businesses faced permanent closure. And Black-owned businesses were disproportionately hit thanks to decades worth of racial inequality in the United States.

As a brand that wanted to show to business that they were relevant, trustworthy, and for “someone like me” T-Mobile could not sit back and do nothing. But in an era where socioeconomic and racial equality was at the center of conversation, T-Mobile for Business would have to do it the right way.

T-Mobile for Business briefed the agency on coming up with the solution. A solution that would not only build the brand in the short term, but would carve out a strategic platform that could be used by T-Mobile for Business on an ongoing basis.

The creative idea was not a TV commercial. Or an ad campaign of any sorts. Instead the result was a digital content destination, called Magenta Edge.

Magenta edge would be a tangible solution to the problem that these small businesses unfairly had to deal with. A resource to provide them with the tools to not only help them survive the global pandemic, but come through it better than they had before. Magenta Edge would feature a growing library of original content including insightful articles and live workshops offering advice for launching and sustaining a small business. Along with a docu-series showcasing teachable moments along the small business journey. Powered by Black small business owners and experts, this content provided actionable best practices applicable to all entrepreneurs. All while addressing the distinct experiences Black business owners face such as accessing resources, procurement bias, credit & lending bias, gentrification, and more.

Whilst other brands dealt in hand outs, our research found what was wanted most were the tools and resources to help our audience overcome the unique challenges, pain points and nuanced experiences of the Black small business community in America.

We identified the core elements of small business ownership that all entrepreneurs must grasp in order to succeed in the short and long term through a mixture of in-depth audience interviews, survey work and desk research. Using this information we built a curricular educational experience across editorial, experiential, and social media touchpoints.

But we knew this alone would not be enough. These entrepreneurs needed inspiration too. Stories of people like themselves who were overcoming systemic barriers, and who themselves wanted to pass on useful pieces of information and advice.

These key wants formed the strategic pillars of the program that we then created promotional assets to drive traffic towards.

U.S. CDC and State COVID guidelines along with limited access to Vaccines and Testing forced our team to be very nimble and on a very tight timeline. Our film crew consisted only of a Director, Producer, 2 Camera Operators and one Audio engineer. The team travelled to 8 states over the course of 3 weeks, maximising every second they had with talent. It was an always rolling approach.

The small agency team members that stayed back (Creative Director, Designer, Content Strategist and Account Director) were at the same time working on all the promo assets so that once the films were done, they could be quickly implemented into the designs.

The work took many forms, from Digital Display to Social, to Video all with the objective of inspiring and incentivizing viewers to come learn more on the Magenta Edge content hub.

Magenta Edge was the most successful content program TfB has ever done. The key measures for T-Mobile were perceptions towards the brand as well as engagement with the content. Amongst microbusinesses there was 2 point increase in a “brand for someone like me.” and Qualtrics web survey saw 62% of total users have a more favorable opinion of T-Mobile with 70% of minority business owners having a more favorable opinion of TfB after experiencing Magenta Edge.

The site experienced 372,000 unique engagements, 21,000 workshop leads, an organic reach of 180M, and the average time spent on site was 3 minutes; a staggering 167% above the benchmark. The program sets up TfB to be the champion of small businesses in America, irrespective of race. But of course, the most meaningful result was the lasting legacy of this program on these businesses, equipping them with the tools to help them succeed.