Right now, countless Mom-and-Pop companies and local independent businesses that are crucial to the cultural fabric of L.A. are scrambling for survival. Businesses like Rhythms of the Village, an African cultural center in Altadena that has been enriching the local community with a focus on African culture and education for over a decade.
How can advertising help? That’s the question that Battery, the Los Angeles-based advertising agency, asked and answered.
The city is home to more minority and women-owned businesses than any other city in the country, and more than 90% of L.A. businesses employ fewer than 20 workers. The lucky few who were able to get small business emergency loans under the Paycheck Protection Program cannot spend it on marketing. That’s where ‘An Idea For L.A.’ comes in.
“We’ve all staked our own careers and livelihoods on the power of creativity to solve big problems,” says Philip Khosid, Chief Creative Officer at Battery. “So we’re stepping up to pay it forward to the city that gave us the opportunity to build the business of our dreams, with the one thing we know works.”
Treating the pro-bono campaign with the same attention and care a traditional brand client would receive, Battery highlighted the vital importance of a small business promoting a rich cultural heritage through a series of films featuring Onochie Chakura, who established the Rhythms of the Village (ROTV) cultural center in 2013 out of a storefront in Altadena.
The upbeat centerpiece film “Welcome to the Village” illustrates the need to support and foster these grassroots, community-based endeavors that go beyond simply selling a product or a service. As Onochie Chakura explains, “Rhythms of the Village is a cultural center where our doors are always open to the community. Remember, it takes a village. So all are welcomed to be the light.”
