Barclays champions Black wealth creation on Instagram Live

Brief:

Barclays' consumer bank in the U.S. this week launched a livestreamed series on photo-sharing app Instagram to champion wealth creation in the Black community. The "Share Black Stories" series premiered yesterday on Instagram Live and will run every Thursday at 5 p.m. ET until Oct. 8, per an announcement emailed to Mobile Marketer.
The series is part of Barclays' #BlackWealthMatters social campaign with Trell Thomas, the celebrity publicist and philanthropist who started Black Excellence Brunch. The five-week series is available at his @TrellWorld handle on Instagram and features interviews with Black entertainers, influencers and entrepreneurs who discuss how they overcame financial adversity.
The latest sponsored livestream to address diversity and inclusion, #BlackWealthMatters premiered with an appearance by fashion designer Tina Knowles-Lawson. Model Jasmine Sanders and hair replacement entrepreneur Wade Menendez, also known as "Wade the Barber," will be featured in future livestreams, per the announcement.

Insight:

Barclays' sponsorship of a livestreamed series about wealth creation in the Black community aims to educate viewers about how they can become more financially secure, a difficult undertaking as the coronavirus pandemic has a disproportionately negative effect on Black people. More than half of Black-owned businesses may not survive the economic consequences of the health crisis, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research report cited by Barclays. By hosting the series with Trell Thomas, Barclays can help to inspire viewers, support the Black community and raise awareness for its banking services.

"I'm excited to partner with Barclays to give a platform to share these stories with you because it is important now more than ever that we know how to build generational wealth in our community," Thomas said in the press release, highlighting the systemic economic challenges Black Americans face that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

By hosting the series on Instagram Live, Barclays can reach a broad audience of people who use the app to share photos and videos, and to watch its growing selection of livestreamed events. About 40% of Black adults in the U.S. said they use Instagram, Pew Research Center found in a survey of social media usage last year. Seventy-seven percent of Black people use YouTube, making it more popular than Facebook (70%), Snapchat (28%), Pinterest (27%), Twitter (24%), LinkedIn (24%) and WhatsApp (24%), the study found. Those percentages likely have grown as more people use social media to stay connected with friends and family during the pandemic.

Barclays' series is the latest sponsored livestream to address social issues that include diversity and inclusion. Ikea last month hosted a virtual Instagram gathering to promote equality and LGBT inclusion. The home furnishings retailer's "I-Kiki" event included LGBT influencers Alyssa Edwards and Isis King on Instagram Live. Back in June, Chipotle Mexican Grill observed Pride Month with a similar "Lunch & Listen" session led by influencers on its TikTok page. For every viewer who watched the TikTok Live event, Chipotle gave $1 to a group that supports Black gay pride organizers.