OneTen
Together, we are OneTen
Branding the promise of economic empowerment for Black talent in America
Challenge
Days after the murder of George Floyd, a group of leading executives came together to discuss how corporations like theirs could take meaningful and sustained action for racial justice and equity in America.
As employers, they knew companies could play a strong role in job creation and mobility. However, only about 1/4 of Black people in America older than 26 have a four-year college degree often required for high-earning jobs. This contributes to a startling wealth gap between Black and white Americans.
Together, they formed a coalition of leading executives and their companies, including—Merck, IBM, Bain & Company, American Express, Delta, Gilead, HP, Nike, Nordstrom, Target, Whirlpool and many more—who committed to upskilling, hiring and promoting one million Black individuals into family-sustaining careers over the next ten years.
Insight
One million careers for Black talent is just the beginning. The coalition supports economic empowerment by focusing on skills first rather than a four-year degree, giving Black talent opportunities for training and pathways to higher education so they can advance in their careers and build greater wealth and opportunities for generations to come.
As a critical part of this effort, they partnered with highly-reputable talent and training organizations and educational institutions across the United States.
Working closely with coalition leaders and interagency partners, we created a brand platform that reflected the coalition’s invitation to employers, Black talent, training partners and advocates to seize the opportunity to be part of historic progress toward equity in America.
Answer
We were honored to partner with the coalition’s founding leaders to provide support to launch the start-up. We started by developing the name, “OneTen,” as a declaration of the scale and longevity of their action: create one million careers for Black talent over a decade. We then designed a simple and powerful logo, visual identity, and translated those to a digital expression. A strong brand positioning and messaging framework succinctly captures OneTen’s story and tailors it to be relevant and ownable for a variety of audiences.
