Case StudyGoogle Arts & Culture
Scaling a cultural story across 25+ global partners.
ENGAGEMENT: Strategic Campaign Partnership
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 Strategy • Campaign Leadership
Strategic Shift
5
From coordinating a complex multi-partner campaign to enabling one cohesive cultural narrative.
Overview
Union Black was a major digital celebration of Black British music, bringing together artists, archives, cultural organisations and industry partners to preserve and share the stories that shaped British music history.
With 25+ partners, hundreds of contributors and thousands of creative assets involved, the challenge was bigger than launching a campaign. Every organisation had its own perspective, priorities and content — but the programme needed to feel like one coherent cultural experience.
Forward Slash provided the strategic architecture that connected those moving parts, creating the editorial principles, partnership framework and ways of working that allowed many voices to contribute to 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 brought its own perspective, priorities and content.
Without a shared strategic framework, the programme risked becoming a collection of disconnected stories rather than one meaningful cultural experience.
The challenge was to create enough structure for everyone to move in the same direction without compromising the independence or 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
The work shifted 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 strategy established the principles that would guide decisions throughout the programme.
The framework aligned partners around a shared purpose while giving each organisation the freedom 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
Created the narrative structure that connected hundreds of independent stories into one coherent programme.
Partnership Framework
Established the principles, roles and decision-making processes that enabled 25+ partners to work towards a shared objective.
Cultural Stewardship
Kept community voices, context and cultural integrity 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, keeping activity aligned with the wider programme objectives.
Execution & Delivery
Forward Slash worked alongside Google Arts & Culture, cultural institutions and project partners throughout planning and launch.
Alongside directing individual outputs including the official campaign trailer and an audio documentary, the role connected strategic planning, editorial decision-making and partner collaboration across the wider programme.
The result was a shared framework that gave creative teams and cultural partners the freedom to tell meaningful stories while maintaining consistency across the programme.
Strategic Impact
The programme brought together 25+ partners, 200+ stories and 2,500+ assets within one coherent cultural programme.
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 meaningful value for the communities they want to work with, rather than simply placing themselves at the centre of the story.
The strongest cultural partnerships create something valuable for both the organisation and the people whose culture they are engaging with.