MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER | CATALYST

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Client: Major League Soccer (MLS) via Charcoal Pitch F.C.
Role: Strategic Architect & Executive Producer
Timeline: 2023 Juneteenth Campaign
Project Type: Cultural Partnership Development, Social Impact Strategy, Multi-Platform Content

Most brands treat a cultural moment as a checkbox. I built one with actual stakes.

MLS wanted a Juneteenth campaign. The trap was performative activism, a gesture that photographs well and helps no one. I built the opposite.

I aligned the league, Black Players for Change, and artist Gianni Lee around a single narrative, turned a custom jersey into the centerpiece, and premiered the content on Apple+ MLS Season Pass for premium reach.

It earned millions of impressions and a premium debut, drew an overwhelmingly positive response, and delivered direct support to Black-led organizations. Not a campaign about giving. Actual giving.

Cultural campaigns work when the community is in the room, not on the poster.