Houston, TX
Since 1930, the Houston Defender has been committed to the mission of “Raising Black Voices” through the efforts of Education, Entertainment, and Empowerment within the Greater Black Houston Area. Their historical legacy is profound, their influence is significant, and their outlook is promising.
At Get Current Studio, we are highly impressed by the exceptional work they are doing. They have adopted a pioneering “mini-publisher” approach to community journalism, seamlessly aligning the interests of their reporters with carefully selected segments of their local audience. With this focus, we set out to visually distinguish their journalism across all platforms and mediums, pushing the bounds of presentation in ways that punch well above their weight.
Aspirational content is key to the Defender’s strategy, and it pays. Sponsors have found a great partner in the Defender for their ability to present client messaging around easy-read content for target audiences, made possible by the Newspack Sponsors post type.
With this business model, the Defender disproves the myth of their audience as a monolith, attracting buyers for unique audience segments, and engaging them with tailored messages.
The Year in Review is the Defender’s annual end-of-year package where each staffers looks back at the year’s biggest headlines, and the impact they had on the live’s of Black Houstonians. The series allows reporters to put on display their knowledge of the community and the issues and stories that mattered most to their readers.
The Defender has boldly embraced video as an innovative frontier, so we made it the cornerstone of this package. The challenge: overcoming the dominance of mainstream media on the same topic during this time of year.
However, by offering succinct summaries and dynamic quick-hit videos, the Defender has positioned itself to compete, enabling audiences to engage with their insightful analysis of news headlines from an essential Black perspective that is often overlooked.