*P&G (Procter & Gamble) is continuing its mission of fostering community relationships, promoting diversity and encouraging economic growth in Cincinnati. As such, the consumer goods company is the proud sponsor of three big events this week: the NAACP Convention, the Cincinnati Music Festival and the EmpowerMe Expo 2016, all taking place in Washington Park.
Damon Jones, P&G’s Global Communications Director, enthused about the Cincinnati Music Festival line-up, which includes New Edition, Doug E. Fresh, Maze and Frankie Beverly, Uncle Charlie and Babyface.
“We know people come as far from the west coast, from New York. I’ve got friends and family coming in from across the country, Jones told the EUR/Electronic Urban Report‘s Lee Bailey. It’s a great time.”
The EmpowerMe Expo aims to encourage and inspire black women to take their game to the next level. The event kicks off on Saturday — as part of the Cincinnati Music Festival, and Jones said it’s “Really about empowering black women. We’ll be talking about fitness. We’ll be talking about finances. Tasha Smith from ‘Empire’ is going to be the Keynote speaker, and she had an interesting personal story. When life throws at you some challenges, you have choices to make, and as she tells her story about overcoming that, we think that’ll be incredibly inspirational to many women in the community. So we want to bring people together and really just create a multiple day uplifting, empowering experience,” Damon said.
The Cincinnati Music Festival is one of the oldest in the nation — celebrating over 50 years. With retail partner Kroger, My Black is Beautiful and brands Always, Bounty, COVERGIRL, Crest, Olay, Pantene, Secret and Tide, P&G invites consumers to Share the Rhythm at CMF via multiple engaging experiences throughout the weekend.
“For us, music has a unique ability to bring people together, and so we say this is an opportunity for us to remix, recharge and reenergize, in particular, the African-American community, and bring people together. Music will unite people, so if we can’t do nothing else, we can get together for a few nights, enjoy each other’s company and listen to some great music.” said Damon. “The more we can enjoy each other — in a positive, uplifting experience — the more familiar we’ll be with each other, [and] the more that will promote dialogue and change in our community.”
Ladies are encouraged to come out to the festival and relish in a “number of activities that we’re doing — bringing together our brands like Pantene and COVERGIRL and Olay.”
“Even though it may be hot and humid outside, they can get their make-up and nails touched-up. We have a patio spa going on. Lots of different activities so that you not only come out to listen to great music, but you can look good and you can feel good.”
From a marketing standpoint, Damon says sponsoring interactive events is important because: “We want to create experiences with our brands.”
“We know increasingly, consumers are sitting at home watching TV. They may not have their full attention when a commercial comes on. They may be on their phone. They may have stuff going on around the house. Those commercials, as great as they may be, will only capture and leave a limited memory, but we have an experience. When you come out to the Cincinnati Music Festival, and you get a spa makeover with Olay, and COVERGIRL and Pantene, then you can take a picture, and capture a moment when you’re with your friends at the concert, that’s going to be a lasting memory. We hope that’s a memory that they will take with them.”
The NAACP Convention wrapped earlier this week, but Damon noted how the event was a “Way for everyone to come together and really celebrate all that the NAACP is doing on many of the individual honorees including, Cincinnati’s own Judge Nathaniel Jones, whose been a friend to everyone in the community, a longtime civil rights leader, and played an incredible role in founding the National Underground Freedom Center.”
Jones also acknowledged how the NAACP Conference is “leading the dialogue on the tough issues.”
“Several years ago, when the NAACP talked about coming to Cincinnati, we wanted to lean forward and do our part to make that possible. Cincinnati has a rich history of both challenges and progress, and as a community, we think we’ve come a long way. And so we thought it would be important for our city to host that dialogue. Not only to move forward what’s happening here in Cincinnati, but to move forward what’s happening in the nation. It’s very easy for many of our young people to be disenfranchised and discouraged by what’s going on, but providing a real effective outlet for them to discuss their ideas, engage with leaders and learn from the past so that we can move forward in the future, which is an incredibly powerful and uplifting experience for anyone to be part of,” Jones explained.
This is P&G’s second year sponsoring the Cincinnati Music Festival, and Jones noted that the mission of the corporate partner is to “build strong connections, not just with the African American community but with multiple communities.”
“We believe that events like the Cincinnati Music Festival, like the NAACP Convention, have a unique opportunity to bring people together, and we want to do whatever we can to foster people coming together promoting unity, promoting familiarity, and showing people that when you get to know people as people, and you have a good time, that can break down barriers in our community. And at a time like this, that’s something that we really-really-need.”
For MORE information about the Cincinnati Music Festival, click here.
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