Singer/producer Pharrell Williams has launched a creative advocacy firm called Mighty Dream that he says will promote Black and brown social issues to a broader audience. The firm recently held its first event.
According to Pharrell, the firm is the first creative advocacy agency whose goal is to assist companies and individuals in creating social change. Based in Washington, D.C., the company will be for hire to provide brown and Black communities the avenue to shape their own narrative.
Mighty Dream is a partnership between Pharrell and marketing and global communications firm Edelman and its sister firm, UEG.
“I meet and work with brands and organizations from all around the world and many are quick to share the good work they are doing. They all have the same goals, but are approaching things through their perspectives. Those perspectives are so valuable. I am left wondering… why aren’t all of you talking to each other,” Williams said. “If everyone wants to see the same improvement, let’s get together and talk, and perhaps inspire others to act as well. I am happy to host it and make it very special.”
“We [Edelman] will be the partner that goes to a brand and a corporation and says, ‘The community is worried about a food desert in Detroit, Michigan. The community is worried about the underrepresentation of Black women in STEM programs. The community worries about access for women of color who want control over their bodies,’” said Edelman U.S. CEO Lisa Osborne Ross.
Ross and Williams will serve as co-chairs and co-founders of Mighty Dream.
“It is probably the most important thing I’ve done in my 30-something-year career,” Ross said. “As a woman and as a woman of color in my role and in this industry, it’s my very firm belief that businesses have not only the opportunity but also the responsibility to drive change.”
Mighty Dream Forum
The company’s first event, the Mighty Dream Forum, was held from Nov. 1 to Nov. 3, in Williams’ hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. It featured a series of panels, pop-ups and dinners sponsored by UPS, McDonald’s, the state of Virginia, The Guardian newspaper, the Rockefeller Foundation and more.
The aim of the forum was to link major players in business with tomorrow’s founders and industry stars.
“This is an entire movement,” said Sarah Fetter, executive producer of programming for Mighty Dream Forum, to Adweek. “Pharrell sits at the intersection of so many brands, geographies and political ideologies. Mighty Dream is this embodiment of Pharrell sitting at [these intersections].”
The three-day conference merged business, art, music and culture and included 166 speakers from around the world, who delivered insights into investing, the tech world, entrepreneurship and innovation. Longtime LeBron James business partner Maverick Carter and race car driver/investor Lewis Hamilton also spoke.
There were also live shows from artists Thundercat and Kaytranada, Pusha T and Hannibal Buress.
