Black & Abroad launches data-driven follow-up to its celebrated “Go Back To Africa” campaign.

Two years after its provocative and acclaimed pan-Africa tourism campaign “Go Back To Africa,” travel brand Black & Abroad has launched a powerful, data-driven domestic travel platform: “The Black Elevation Map”.

Residing at BlackElevationMap.com, the platform takes cultural data, including Black population data, historical markers, Black-owned businesses and social media activity, and visualizes it as points of interest on a dynamic, searchable elevation map of the United States. The greater the density of data, the higher the elevation.

“From redlining to modern urban planning, you don’t have to look far to see ways in which maps have been used to marginalize, divide and oppress communities around the world,” says Eric Martin, Chief Creative Officer and co-founder, Black & Abroad. “We wanted to help Black travellers see the country in a way that prioritizes and celebrates the contributions of folks who look like us – and facilitates travel choices that deepen engagement within our community. Repurposing a traditional elevation map is a way for us to weave joy and uplift into the story, the experience, and our interpretation of the data.”

In addition to thousands of places of interest, the Black Elevation Map includes 12 curated city guides and 10 national guides, that include Black-owned wineries (“Melanin Vines”), notable start-up companies (“Black Silicon Valley”) and restaurants that fuelled civil rights (“Civil Bites”).

The project is the second major collaboration between Black & Abroad and the team at creative-data advertising agency Performance Art. In 2019, that team launched “Go Back To Africa”, which led to a measurable shift in sentiment and usage of the racial slur, and won nearly every major global advertising award, including the Grand Prix in Creative Data at Cannes, the D&AD Black Pencil, and the Global Grand Effie in Positive Change.

“We’re inspired by the relentless positivity at the heart of the Black & Abroad brand, and wanted to once again explore what happens when you push a bold, brand idea into a sophisticated technology ecosystem,” says Ian Mackenzie, Chief Creative Officer, Performance Art. “We know the data we’re visualizing represents just a fraction of actual Black cultural contribution. We see this as part of an ongoing conversation, and a conceptual counterpoint to a long history of maps created with harmful and unacknowledged biases.”

The Black Elevation Map is launching with a 60-second film called “A Hymn Away From Home”, directed by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall (whose “Black Bodies” was an official selection of TIFF 2020) and produced by the Black-owned production company Alfredo Films. The film combines aspirational footage of more than 30 business owners from across America with iconic images of mountains, and original poetry commissioned and performed by Washington D.C.-based poet Jasmine Mans (“Black Girl, Call Home”).

The project’s other contributors include designer Tré Seals, whose “Martin” typeface was inspired by protest posters from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike. Seals also created an original set of icons for the project, inspired by a survey of African symbology.

Site functionality includes the ability to create and email “favorites,” an “Add to map” feature, search by city, a freestyle explore map mode, a Black travel social media feed, and buttons that enable users to toggle between several powerful elevation-based data visualizations. The map also pulls in Black travel-related social media conversations from Twitter and Instagram based on hashtag use, categorized across three streams.

“We have always seen an opportunity to elevate the community through world exploration,” says Kent Johnson, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder Black & Abroad. “The Black Elevation Map is a way for us to share the brand’s positive view from a domestic travel standpoint, while encouraging exploration across our diverse community. We’ll always have miles to go. We hope this map helps with the journey.”

About Black & Abroad

Black & Abroad is a multi-platform travel & lifestyle company. Since 2015, our digital campaigns, international events and travel experiences have redefined exploration for the modern Black traveler. We pride ourselves on working together to connect people all over the world through culturally conscious & thought driven initiatives centered around exploration while providing crowd-sourced information hubs for urban travelers. Seeing a need to elevate the community through world exploration, our company was created to expose the world to nuanced, diverse narratives within the travel community. https://www.blackandabroad.com/

About Performance Art

Performance Art is a full-service agency network that brings together deep data, technology and customer-centric strategy with highly awarded leadership and creative talent. With a specialist approach focused on the individual, the agency leverages technology consulting and implementation, creative-data and CRM, systems design and customer experience strategy to help brands make the highest performing work, in the most creative way. Performance Art is an independent network in the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG). Learn more at and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram (@Performance.art.agency). www.performanceart.co

url: BlackElevationMap.com

Client: Black & Abroad

Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder: Eric Martin

Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder: Kent Johnson

Agency: Performance Art

Chief Creative Officer: Ian Mackenzie

Associate Creative Director: Pedro Izzo, Benson Ngo

Copywriter: Hemal Dhanjee, Tobi Adebowale, Paula Purdon

Copywriter: Jasmine Mans

Experience Delivery Lead: Nzegwhua Anderson

Senior Experience Designer: Joe Szabo

Experience Designer: Leon Mullings

Studio Designer: Emily Plewes

Executive Creative Director: Colin Craig

VP Strategy: Kirk Linkletter

Strategist: Leandra Legendre

Strategist: Simran Kaur

Strategist: Eli Ferrara

Strategist: Cassandra Cervi

SVP, Head of Strategy: Priyanka Goswami

Program Manager: Kaylen Dillon

Digital producer: Darwin Garcia

SVP, Managing Director: Jordan Dinning

Account Supervisor: Ricky Gunawan

Account Director: Jon Rae

VP: Technology: Stuart Cheesmond

Technical Solutions Consultant: Suraj Patel

Group Director, Product Development: Arnaud Icard

Lead Developer: John Iacoviello

Full stack developer: Cody Schreiber

Interface developer: Heung Lee

Senior Technical Architect: Valerian Nasqidashvili

Quality Assurance Lead: Natalia Zadorozhna

Quality Assurance Analyst: Nataliya Vislyanska

Solutions Consultants (BAs): Suraj Patel, Kaivalya Kashyap

Analytics Manager: Anil Iqbal

Junior Analyst: Shaista Meghji

Analytics Analyst: Abdul Dau

Consultant: Gigi Basanta

Chief Executive Officer: Andrea Cook

Chief Operations Officer: Elizabeth Sellors

Type: Vocal Type Co.

Designer: Tré Seals

Production: Alfredo Films

Director: Kelly Fyffe-Marshall

DOP: Shivam Pandya

Producer: Alex Henry

Producer: Holly Rowden

Editor: Michael Ofori-Attah

Online: Alter Ego

VFX Executive Producer: Hilda Pereira

VFX Producer: Andrew Tavares 

Motion Designer: Rob Fisher

Motion Designer: Ian Flaig 

Colourist: Conor Fisher 

Colour assistant: Daniel Saavedra 

VFX Artist: Joel Osis 

VFX Assistant: Victoria Gaston 

Audio: TA2 Sound + Music

Audio Director: Simon Jain

Project Manager: Heather Ngo

Audio Engineer: Dean Metherell

Assistant Audio Engineer: Justin Poon

Creative Director: Steve Gadsden

Media: Initiative Canada

Chief Strategy Officer: Nish Shah

Director, Communications Design: Lara Senbanjo

Director, Strategy: Christian Kern

Performance Marketing: Reprise Canada

Head of Content: Cynthia Steele

Sr. Director, Strategy & Social Commerce: Tyler Dmytrow

Audience: Kinesso

SVP, Global Client Solutions: Wendi Dunlap

Director, Audience Solutions: Mandy Wong

Manager, Audience Solutions: Rory Materson

Agency Partner: Meta

Creative Agency Partner: Kayla Osmond

Creative Agency Partner: Katie Wall

Creative Director: Scott Drey

Creative: Michael Dooley

PR: Glossy

PR: Shannon Stephaniuk