In the age when digital access is at the fingertips and in the eyesight of consumers, the priority to reach a diverse audience via active and creative media content is at a premium.
News delivered. Information shared. Advertiser’s products and services pitched. Understanding obtained. That’s the story of widening the online highway to go places it must go – into the minds and hearts of African American consumers.
Dynasty Media Network, founded in St. Louis, is launching the indoor digital platform, Dynasty Interactive Screen Community (DISC) in St. Louis.
The new platform will reach new audiences in the most trafficked businesses and institutions throughout the region. In essence, DISC will reach African American consumers where they live, work and play.
Dynasty Media has generated over $2.5 million in advertising revenue for its Media Partners since 2019. The network is a partnership of trusted African American owned digital & linear platforms across the United States. The agency offers advertisers the opportunity to CONNECT with a valued audience that is African American, culturally relevant content to “grass root” local communities.
“Our goal is to give Black media a bigger voice and some type of competitive advantage in the larger mass communication landscape,” said David Beckford, Creative Director, and Founder of Dynasty Media.
“In addition, The Argus, and any publisher, can compete in the digital world, can create awareness, and most of all, attract and inform the African American community that’s spread out across a wide swath of the region,” Beckford said.
The Black Press: A legacy of service in St. Louis
The St. Louis Argus was an African American-oriented weekly newspaper founded in 1912 by brothers Joseph Everett Mitchell and William Mitchell. The newspaper published the stories that would also help the influx of southern blacks migrating into St. Louis. The primary goal of the St. Louis Argus was to be the voice of the “Negro” community for political action.
The newspaper’s editors promised its readers that it would be “moderate, fair, and fearless” in its journalistic efforts. The newspaper championed better schools, educational opportunities, and full civil rights for Black people.
The legacy of the Black Press is the core for inclusion into the digital universe. The problem we are solving:
- Black legacy Publishers are suffering as the entire industry shrinks in advertising support for its print products (i.e., daily, and weekly newspapers, etc.)
- Our publishers are small. The quality of their audiences are often undervalued by media planners and agencies as most Black publishers don’t cater to millions of subscribers
- Provides an easy path to increasing audience and brand value
- Does not require huge investment dollars to enter the digital space with a new proven digital signage platform
- Optimizes impressions for Publishers advertisers with facial recognition analytics and
- These are real people – Not bots which reduces Publishers revenue in the digital space
About D.I.S.C St. Louis Indoor Digital Network
The plan for St. Louis is the placement of indoor digital billboards to reach active consumers where they are with relevant news and information as well as targeted advertising messages as they spend time at high traffic establishments – engaging them when they are most receptive.
The network will span 15 of the area’s most popular retail, recreational, entertainment and institutional venues. The monthly combined in-person audience is projected to exceed 100k visitors up to 16 hours daily.
St. Louis’ DISC is patterned after the successful launch of an indoor digital platform in Minnesota. In May 2022, Dynasty Media partnered with Minnesota Digital, a national agency focused on indoor advertising services to establish MSR Digital in Minneapolis.
“We knew their monitors and advertising software/analytics on viewable impressions would allow the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR), Minnesota’s oldest Black owned newspaper, to grow into and compete in a new way in the publishing space,” Beckford said. “It also allowed a unique selling proposition to reach an audience somewhat skeptical of traditional media sources.”
Minnesota Digital handled the entire setup of screen installations and location agreements and we were up and running in under 3 months. In addition to MSR expanding its reach via social and digital media channels, opportunities avail themselves for community engagement and involvement via strategic partnerships and events.
MSR Digital launched in 10 high trafficked locations such as community centers, local restaurants, retail shops with:
- Daily Black news headlines
- Monthly and annual events
- Advertisers announcements
- Community and public safety initiatives
Potential locations for DISC in the St. Louis market include the St. Louis City and County offices of the NAACP, Harris-Stowe University, Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce, and various other local businesses. The monthly combined in-person audience is projected to exceed 100K visitors, operating up to 16 hours daily, Beckford said.
Adolphus M. Pruitt, II, President. St. Louis City Branch, NAACP, sees the project as a source of liveliness and energy for African Americans to embrace. “This digital network has the capacity to educate, inspire and empower Black Americans while fostering a greater sense of group vitality,” he said.
