Battery, the Los Angeles-based creative advertising agency, has launched the second marketing campaign to come out of the Battery initiative An Idea for L.A., a pro bono program that provides a marketing makeover for L.A. businesses struggling to stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic. After their first-round for Seoul Sausage, a popular L.A. food brand, Battery selected an equally deserving business among the hundreds of submissions: 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.
Treating the ROTV 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.
At ROTV, the Chakura family sells handmade African clothing, art, and knickknacks. More than just a store, ROTV offers classes in African drumming and language courses on the Nigerian Igbo and Yoruba dialects. On the last Saturday of every month, ROTV distributes locally grown fruit to the local community. The center also periodically presents Tribal Nights, events in which L.A. artists, creatives, and vendors share their talents and art with the community to build a larger following and gain more exposure.
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.”
In addition to the films, the Battery campaign also includes radio spots all donated through iHeartRadio, 9 digital OOH billboards spread across L.A., and a Los Angeles Magazine print ad. For Onochie’s son Emeka, the generously donated media served as the cherry on top of what he called an incredible experience. “The team from Battery lifted our spirits and brought a lot of light to our business. We felt like a family by the time it was complete. They contributed to a resurgence here at Rhythm, with their presence alone, and within our community. People are already talking to me about the radio commercials that they have heard playing!"
View the 90-second film “Welcome to the Village” below or on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/LOJIrMjQ5EU
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. It 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. came in.
“At Battery, 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. Because we get it.”
Thanks to An Idea for L.A., ROTV is able to spread the word to the larger community that they are open and thriving. “Rhythms of the Village is a cornerstone for many in the Altadena and LA community,” says Battery Creative Director Drea Schneider. “It has served as a place where children have grown into adults and passed on their learning, acceptance, and understanding for African culture. During this pandemic, the center has had to dial down its operations and is struggling to stay open. Our campaign is designed to spread awareness of the center and help revive its business.”
- 30-second film “Welcome to the Village”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a5d7syaWls
- 15-second film “Welcome to the Village”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ69onp6KpI
More about the inaugural An Idea For L.A. campaign created for Seoul Sausage:
The first campaign to come out of the Idea for L.A. initiative launched in November 2020. After coming off of their largest month of revenue, Seoul Sausage’s business plummeted in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to help the L.A. eatery recover and thrive, Battery envisioned a series of hilarious short films that will have you splitting your casing.
In the films, actor Donald Faison performs the voiceover of a turtleneck-clad talking Korean BBQ weiner. The saucy sausage has lost his pants but it's our gain because what our hero lacks in appendages he more than makes up for in attitude.
The Seoul Sausage campaign films were created in partnership with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the studio behind the longest-running stop-motion show on television, and Emmy Award®-winning, Robot Chicken.
The series presents the eatery’s latest incarnation as a virtual outlet that sells their most popular menu items as food delivery kits via the reputable Goldbelly.com/seoul-sausage, which made the Seoul Sausage menu available for overnight shipping nationwide.
“This year, 2020, completely wiped us out,” said Yong Kim, Co-Owner of Seoul Sausage. “We gave ourselves one month to mope and feel sorry for ourselves. Since then, we have pivoted our business entirely, and rather than playing defense, we flipped the switch into offense mode. We’re hungrier than ever and at this point have nothing to lose. Watch out for us.”
View the Seoul Sausage campaign on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/aSax2iBqJks
About Battery
Battery’s mission is to create impactful advertising with a philosophy that merges classic marketing principles with Hollywood storytelling and a Silicon Valley work model. The agency has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Fastest Growing Private Companies in L.A. three years in a row and celebrated by Ad Age as an Agency of the Year in 2018, 2016, and 2015. Battery creates global advertising campaigns for forward-thinking clients including Epic Games, Netflix, and the Royal Bank of Canada. A lead creative agency of the Paris-based Havas Group, Battery has offices in Hollywood, Toronto, and Shanghai.
For more information, visit https://BatteryAgency.com
