Case StudyGoogle Arts & Culture
Scaling a cultural story across 25+ global partners.
ENGAGEMENT: Campaign Strategy & Governance
STRATEGIC ROLE: Strategy Lead
Strategy At A Glance
Client
1
Google Arts & Culture: Union Black
Sector
2
Technology • Art • Culture
Engagement
3
Strategic Campaign Partnership
Strategic Focus
4
Cultural Strategy • Editorial Architecture • Partnership Governance • Campaign Leadership
Strategic Shift
5
From coordinating a complex multi-partner campaign to enabling one cohesive cultural narrative.
Overview
Union Black was created by Google Arts & Culture as a landmark digital celebration of Black British music, bringing together artists, archives, cultural organisations and industry partners to preserve stories that have shaped British music history.
The ambition was significant - but so was the complexity.
With more than 25 partners, hundreds of contributors and thousands of creative assets involved, the challenge wasn't simply launching a campaign. It was creating a strategic framework that allowed every contributor to tell their part of the story while ensuring the programme felt coherent, credible and culturally authentic.
Forward Slash provided the strategic leadership that connected those moving parts, developing the campaign architecture, editorial principles and governance model that enabled independent contributions to become one shared narrative.
The Challenge
The perceived challenge was coordinating one of Google's most ambitious cultural programmes.
The real challenge was maintaining strategic clarity across a highly distributed ecosystem.
Every museum, archive, artist, label and cultural organisation had its own perspective, priorities and content.
Without a clear strategic framework, the programme risked becoming a collection of disconnected stories rather than one meaningful cultural experience.
Success depended on balancing creative independence with editorial consistency - creating enough structure for everyone to move in the same direction without limiting the authenticity of individual contributors.
25+ global partners with unique perspectives.
Thousands of assets across multiple formats.
One narrative to connect and bring to life.
The Strategic Shift
Forward Slash shifted the focus from managing individual contributions to creating the strategic architecture for one connected cultural story.
A move from coordinating a complex network of partners, to giving many voices the structure and freedom to contribute to a shared narrative.
FROMPartner Coordination
Individual contributions
Asset management
Content approval
Campaign delivery
Multiple voices
TOConnected Cultural Programme
Shared strategic direction
Editorial governance
Distributed storytelling
Programme architecture
One cultural narrative
Strategic Response
The solution wasn't tighter control, but better strategic architecture.
Rather than defining every piece of content centrally, the work focused on establishing the principles that would guide every decision throughout the programme.
That meant creating a governance framework that aligned partners around a shared purpose while giving each organisation the flexibility to contribute from its own perspective.
Instead of managing thousands of assets individually, the strategy created the conditions for consistency at scale.
Strategic Approach
The programme was built around five interconnected strategic pillars:
Editorial Architecture
Established a clear narrative structure capable of connecting hundreds of independent stories into one coherent programme.
Governance Framework
Established a clear narrative structure capable of connecting hundreds of independent stories into one coherent programme.
Cultural Stewardship
Ensured community voices and cultural integrity remained central throughout planning, communications and launch.
Collaborative Systems
Developed ways of working that enabled multiple organisations to contribute confidently while maintaining strategic consistency.
Campaign Leadership
Provided senior strategic direction across planning, creative development and launch execution, ensuring every stage reinforced the wider programme objectives.
Execution & Delivery
Forward Slash worked alongside Google Arts & Culture, cultural institutions and project partners throughout planning and launch.
Along with directing individual outputs (official campaign trailer, audio documentary), the role focused on enabling the wider programme to function effectively - aligning stakeholders, shaping editorial decision-making and maintaining strategic clarity across an exceptionally complex delivery environment.
This governance-first approach allowed creative teams and partners to focus on telling meaningful stories while operating within a shared strategic framework.
Strategic Impact
The programme delivered measurable impact at scale, and established a model for cultural partnerships.
Global partners aligned
25+
Editorial stories delivered
200+
Campaign assets coordinated
2,500+
Launched at YouTube’s Legacy Event Series celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop at Royal Opera House
Launch
Alongside the measurable outputs, the programme demonstrated how strategic governance can enable creative freedom rather than restrict it.
Stronger relationships with artists and cultural organisations.
Positioned Google Arts & Culture as a credible collaborator within Black British culture.
Created a lasting digital resource celebrating Black British music history.
Demonstrated how strategic partnerships create value for both organisations and communities.
The most valuable cultural partnerships don’t borrow credibility - they invest in it.
Organisations earn trust when they create platforms that amplify communities rather than placing themselves at the centre of the story.