2025 Winner

Black & Abroad is a luxury travel company for the Black community and in 2024 it launched “See You There,” a campaign using generative AI to show past guests in future travel destinations. Knowing that people often struggle to imagine themselves in places where they’ve historically been underrepresented, Black & Abroad created personalized digital experiences that placed each traveller into scenes from upcoming trips. But the project went even deeper. It also exposed the racial bias often embedded in gen AI, leading to the launch of a public campaign – “Where is the Black Traveller?” – and the creation of an AI bias reporting system for the public to continue engaging with the campaign. The result reinforced Black & Abroad’s role as a culturally conscious travel innovator.

Credits

Client: Black & Abroad
Eric Martin - Co-founder, CCO
Kent Johnson - Co-founder, CSO

Ian Mackenzie - Chief Creative Officer
Pedro Izzo - Creative Director
Sydney Gittens - Art Director
Leo Ding - Copywriter
Thiago Santarem - Senior Product Designer
Colin Craig - Executive Creative Director
Elijah Di Gangi - Associate Creative Director
Arnaud Icard - Group Director, Product Development
Pedro Izzo - Designer
Stef Fabich - SVP, Director of Production
Nikhil Bijlani - Project Manager
Gary Gimelfarb - Director of Production
Abdul Dau - Senior Analyst
Mitch Wong - Associate Strategy Director
Luis Pinto - Senior Manager, Platforms
David Imbrogno - Senior Email Developer
Anthony Pilger - Developer
Jason Kan - Motion Designer
Jean-Pierre Goulet - Photo Retoucher
Dan Dragicevic - Production Designer
Bradley Hodgkinson - Production Lead
Ryan Timms - President
Stefanie Kubanka - EVP, Managing Director
Elizabeth Sellors - Chief Operating Officer

Media: Initiative Canada
Sammy Rifai - Chief Strategy Officer
Chris Gairdner - VP, Head of Creative Partnerships
Christian Kern - Group Strategy Director
Ramzi Thabit - Project Manager
Hawie Kenea - Senior Communications Designer
Bethany Coke - Senior Communications Designer
Samantha Rosenberg - Manager, Creative Partnerships
Tyler Dmytrow - Vice President, Head of Social, Kinesso
Olivier Leblond - Senior Vice President, Client Strategy and Growth, Kinesso

Production: The Den Editorial
Tania Mesta - Editor
Gabe Sanchez - Colorist
Laura Macauley - Managing Director
Jennifer Mersis - Executive Producer
Kortney Rubottom - Sr. Producer