Christopher Kenna

Brand Advance

“We connect brands with diverse audiences; our media buying agency (Brand Advance) our diversity media consultancy (DECA) and our creative agency all use insights from BACKLIGHT’s Black Pound Report. It’s an integral part of our arsenal because it helps us ensure the work we do is founded on authentic facts.

“Anyone who hasn’t read the Black Pound Report needs to. I’d even go so far as saying they should be ashamed if they haven’t… it doesn’t matter what they do as a job, what demographic or community they are part of – people need to have more than a basic cultural awareness of Black and Brown people; they need to have a real understanding.

“When people think of affluent people, they don’t think of a black or brown person, they think of a middle-aged white guy. They need to look out of the window. We’ve lived in Black Lives Matter; we’ve come out of Covid and hit the great reset. The world has changed.  We should be looking to understand the communities all around us. The Black Pound Report lets you do this. It delves deeper into black and brown communities: it identifies their affluence, what they spend their money on, what they are about.

“What BACKLIGHT does, what the Black Pound Report does is show that Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic people are more than what we’re portrayed as. The work we do at Brand Advance works because we’re able to connect with diverse people, and we’re able to connect with them because the insights collateral we have is truth. The Black Pound Report is one of our key tools; it gives us the facts we need to back up and successfully sell in our creative concepts to our clients globally.

“I had the privilege of meeting Lydia Amoah - BACKLIGHT’s founder and Black Pound Report author - at an event we were both speaking at. As a Black woman, you’re pretty invisible - what Lydia’s achieved is outstanding. Knowledge is there to be shared. If you ever get the opportunity to engage with her in a group or one-to-one space, do it. It will open your eyes.”