HUMAN, A BakerRipley Campaign
Black Sheep has been working with Baker Ripley (formerly Neighborhood Centers) for a long time—nearly since the inception of our company. It’s impossible to enumerate the effects they have had on our agency.
They have impacted our business model, our employees, the way we look at our community and its residents. And today, we get to continue that inspiration. Today, we’re helping BakerRipley launch HUMAN, a campaign about people and the things we have in common. HUMAN recognizes that we all have different families, struggles and dreams, but that we all have families, struggles and dreams. We are together in this, together in our humanity.
People have always protested and marched—for rights, for equality, for things they believe in. One protest sign that has been present for all this strife is the one that reads “I am human.” Because when we want to remove barriers, we talk about our humanity, our common ground.
In the sixties, activists proclaimed “I am a man.” When love won, activists said, “I feel more human today than I have in a long time.” This was the seed of the idea for HUMAN. When people in many decades keep adopting the same central theme, that’s because the theme has power. Talking about our humanity, our common ground, has power.
That’s because “HUMAN” is a simple statement, but it’s really more than that: It is a universal truth, immediately recognizable, that connects strangers in an instant. When we began designing the campaign, we knew we didn’t need much—this campaign is one of visual simplicity and abstract implications. It draws the simplest possible line between two people. “You” and “them” becomes “us,” and this is what we needed to communicate.
HUMAN’s stark, black-and-white portraiture portrays our Houston neighbors at their best. We see our fellow humans in great detail, in moments of serenity, joy and contemplation. We get to know them in these, their best moments, when they are resilient, dignified and triumphant.
To look in a mirror is to know there is far more that isn’t visible in the face looking back at us. To look at others and extend this same courtesy, to recognize what is not visible in a stranger, is to see them as HUMAN. Therein lies the campaign’s secret. Therein lies the wonder.
To learn more about the HUMAN campaign, because we hope you will, visit BakerRipley.org/HUMAN, follow @BakerRipley or search #HUMAN.