August 6, 2024 • 23 mins
Today's guest is Jonathan Kirkland, Head of Brand and Marketing at BLK. He joins Host Ramses Ja on today's episode to discuss the BLK #ElectionSZN app.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On July seventeenth, Bokay, the leading dating and lifestyle app
for the black community, proudly announced its partnership with When
We All Vote, a national, nonpartisan initiative founded by Michelle Obama.
The two organizations are joining forces to launch the Hashtag
Election Season Initiative, a comprehensive campaign designed to mobilize the
(00:20):
Black community to participate in the upcoming election. Over the
next three months, the Hashtag Election Season Initiative will launch
several key campaign elements aimed at encouraging and motivating Black
singles to vote. Here to discuss more about BLK, When
We All Vote and Hashtag Election Season, as well as
how we can all get involved. Is Jonathan Kirkland, head
(00:42):
of Brand and Marketing at BLK. This is the Black
Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm your host, ramses Jah.
All right, mister Jonathan Kirkland, Welcome to the show. How
are you doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Absolutely so. Obviously I gave a brief introduction of who
you are and what we're going to talk about, but
I think that it's always a good thing when our
listeners kind of know who they're listening to and kind
of what positions them in such a way that they're
an authority on certain things. So do us a favor,
(01:19):
tell us a little bit more about your story, a
little bit more about your background, and kind of what
led you to today's conversation perfect.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
So yes, I'm Jonathan Kirkland, head of brand and Marketing
for Bokay, the world's largest dating and lifestyle at made
for the Black community. I've been in the dating app
space for quite a while. Prior to be Okay, I
was at Bumble. Prior to Bumble, I was at grind Hersel.
I've always been in these niche spaces when it comes
to dating apps, and I feel like with the niche
(01:48):
community versus general market, you have a lot more opportunity
and a lot more leeway to go deeper into the
pain points, into the interest and to the issues that
affect the audience that you serve.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So with bok Sick.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Engagement is definitely one of our big brand pillars that
falls under community. So it just made sense for us
to continue the work that we've been doing in SI
the engagement with election season and a little bit about me,
I'm a proud graduate of North Carolina Anti State University,
the largest Black HBCU in the nation.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So when it comes to black.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Culture, black audience, it just makes sense for us to
do what we can in the space to empower our people,
empower our audience into spark engagement, spark interaction with spark action.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, let's talk a little bit more about the BLK.
I hesitate to call it a dating app because you know,
We've had a little bit of a conversation, but I've
been doing some some research as well, and you know,
you compared it to some of the other places that
you've worked and it seems like bolk is different in
(02:55):
some really key ways. So to discuss a little bit
about Boka and what makes it different from some of
the other dating apps that might.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Be out there, absolutely going back to like the niches
of the audience. So I started with b Okay April
twenty twenty, So think back four years ago. That was
the beginning of the COVID pandemic, That was the beginning
of quarantine. Literally four weeks after I was hired, George
Floyd got murdered. So in that sense, that really pivoted
(03:25):
the way we thought about marketing and the way we
thought about interacting and engaging with our audiences. And instead
of if you think back to summer of twenty twenty,
with the Black Lives Matter resurgence, all the brands and
all the companies are saying we're standing in solidarity with
the black community, we were uniquely positioned where we weren't
standing in solidarity. We were the ones standing. So from that,
the mindset came of using our app as a resource
(03:49):
for our users.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So instead of just doing you know, the.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Black square on Instagram, we actually use our platform to
be that resource. So whether it was say you protested,
I went to jail, we had resources to get out
of that. If you wanted to take actions, we had
resources to help you do that. So that really was
the starting point of the mindset of how we think
about marketing and how we.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Think about gaging with our audience.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
So when you think about being Okay, we're building this
with the people that are on the app. We're not
the experts and everything. We do know a little bit
about dating and we do a bit about black culture,
but what we do do is we listen to our users.
One thing that I learned really early on is be
Okay users are very active and they're not afraid to
(04:35):
say what they feel and they'll put that on social media.
We're in those conversations with them because we want to
build this with the people that are on the app.
It's not a bunch of us sitting behind the table thinking, oh,
we did this research, this is what the community needs.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
No, we know what the.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Community needs, based on our surveys, based on our interviews,
based on our focus groups, even based on.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
DMS, Like, we really want to build this with the.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Audience, and so I think that's what really is different
would be okay, And again focusing on a specific community,
and again black and not a monolith, but black is
black and black is black culture. We can say things
and do things that a lot of general market apps
won't do or can't do, and we do it in
an authentic way because, like I said, we're building with
(05:18):
the people on it day to day.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So let's shift gears just a bit here. Let's discuss
Michelle Obama's initiative When We All Vote and sort of
how the partnership came about.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So, Michelle, we started working with When We All Vote
in twenty twenty two during the midterm election.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So if you think about it. People generally think about.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Elections every four years when it's the presidential rate, but
it's those midterm elections where it's really those local those
state elections where that's what affects people really more so
on a day to day basis, Like the president doesn't
care what day your garbage is being collected.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But your local official the ones that decide that.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
So when you think about community and us being an
app that really is geo targeted and making those connections
with the ones around you, and made sense for us
to get.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Involved on those local levels.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And if you think back to twenty twenty two, a
lot of that in the term there were a lot
of runoff elections, primarily one in Georgia with Warnock and Osov.
So we were uniquely positioned knowing that our audience is
seventy seven percent under thirty five, young voters, young black voters,
sometimes first time voters, so we were able to talk
(06:31):
to them in a way that you know, the general
media wasn't talking to them because again, we aren't in
the political landstate. We don't sit in this space every day.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
What we do do is.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
We know our audience. As I mentioned earlier, we talked
to them. We understand where they are and how they
will received messaging, so we'd use that to get them engaged,
get them involved. And the one thing with the Michelle
Obamas foundation of when we all vote is that, as
non parson again, we're not telling.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
People vote this way or vote that way.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
What we're telling them to do is spark a meaningful
conversation that can happen. You don't always have to agree,
but what you can do is talk, and it's that
setting engagement. Like generations before us, they fought for this.
So the fight that they did is our duty to
live up to that and take action in this civic process.
(07:22):
So when we all vote, just provide an opportunity or
resource and an amazing partner for us to get in
this conversation and.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Become a part of this because like I said, we're
not We don't sit in this day to day.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And when we all vote, they provide an amazing tool
kit of you know, key places where people need to
get the message in how to talk to the people.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
They give you.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Resources something as simple as memes, So they make it
really turn key for us as brand partners to become
a part of the conversation and the impact it really shows.
So for the midterms in twenty twenty two, we were
their number two brand partner and driving voter registration, which
is insane to me, Like for us not to be
(08:05):
in this political landscape on a day to day.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
For us to be a black dating and lifestyle app,
for us.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Not to be this big, huge conglomerate of a company,
and for us to be their number two partner in
getting people to register and check their voter registration status is.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Amazing and huge.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So that's why we just want to keep building upon
this relationship, building upon this partnership to make sure that
our community is active and out there in this political process.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Now, you mentioned something that seventy I forget the exact number,
but it was seventy plus percentage of your users are
under thirty five, and then you mentioned how you were
the number two partner. So I guess discuss a little
bit more about sort of why young black voters are
(08:52):
so important in this election because I think that a
lot of people historically and I know that there's been
an infusion of energy because of Kamala Harris's announcement to
run and then are picking a running mate and so forth.
But over the past election season, there's been a lot
of voter apathy. So again, discuss a little bit why
(09:13):
young black voters are kind of important in this election.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yeah, and to your point, like we've all seen the
studies and the reports and the articles, like voters in
general are particularly young Black voters. Prior to Kamala Harris
being the top of the ticket, they didn't see themselves
at eel the candidates. They weren't excited, they weren't going
out there. They it was more of a chort to vote.
But I feel now with the new change and like
you mentioned the new DP pick, there's more energy.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
There is that hope that is back.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
It's it's not quite two thousand and eight with Obama,
but it's something in that same vein that same psyche.
So knowing that, knowing that energy like that the gen
Z young millennials, they're not as.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Jaded I feel, and I feel like they.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
See hope and they see themselves as being a part
of this now that that they see more representation in
the landscape of the political candidates. And to that point,
we've done surveys, We've done studies which will be coming
out in a couple of weeks to go to that
point about this young black voter is being more energized
(10:16):
and being more excited about Kamala Harris being on the
ticket and again going out there to vote. And we
don't know if they're going to vote for her against her,
who knows, But what they are doing is having that conversation,
having that energy, and that's what we care about, is
we want people to get involved in the process at
the end of the day, whether and again we're not
(10:37):
telling them which way to go, but we're telling them
to just go.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
To that point and to that point too.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Like another one of our partners is Powered the Polls
and we've worked with them since twenty twenty and in
that partnership, it's all about getting.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
People to the polls.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
And if you think back twenty twenty, COVID most POE
workers were over sixty five. A lot of them weren't
going to be PO workers because they were more susceptible
to COVID and a lot of that was going to
affect the black and the brown communities more so. Knowing
our audience is young, we encourage them to sign up
to be PO workers. To date, we have over forty
eight hundred Bokay users who have signed up to be
(11:16):
PO workers, and we are their number one corporate partner
in PO worker recruitment, above Microsoft, above Spotify, which is
in the same to me for a black dating and
life that I have to do that. So to me,
that just indicates that our community they want to be
involved in this process.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So what we want to do as a brand is
help them.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Have easy access to the tools to become involved and
the education to become involved.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Okay, well, it seems like what you're doing over there
is working. Let's talk about some of the things that
you're doing that you're actually doing. So I guess what
I'm asking is discuss some of the technical ways that
Boka is bolstering the hashtag election season initiative.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yes, so this year, what we're doing we have push
notifications that we're sending out to our current users and
working with our partners, we know which states, which cities
are for example, and need a poll worker, so we're
sending specific messaging out to them. And again we're not
trying to preach, so we talked to them out we
(12:25):
were example, what we did in Georgia with the runoff
we sent a push notification to all of our Georgia users,
get your butt out to vote with the butt with
the Georgia peach.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You know, the emojiates to Georgia peach.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So yeah, so we keep it fun, keep it light,
and that resonates with our users.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So we're doing a lot more of that this year.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
We just did a survey which is going to come
out soon which is very interesting to like see like
how you vote determines how you date, Like they're the
correlations between the dating behavior. So early voters might be
sixty percent more likely to show up early for dates
or you know, so it's like a correlation between dating
(13:04):
habits and voting habits. And we'll also be releasing next
month in app prompts that you can put on your
profile related to voting. And then the biggest thing is
going to be stickers, So you can put a profile
sticker an app on your profile to say if you're
an early voter, moderate voter, conservative, liberal voter, are also
(13:25):
like what your biggest policy issues that you're most concerned about,
and then match with people based on that. So if
it's climate change, if it's maternal health, if it's you know, anything.
We have thirty two actually that users will be able
to pick from and you can match with people based
on that shared similar interest. And again that all goes
back to sparking that conversation, sparking that dialogue, and what
(13:48):
we really want and hope is even outside of the.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
App, is to encourage a bigger dialogue.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So anybody that is doing anything when it comes to
cific engagement, please include a hashtag election season. It's spelled
election just like election is spelled, but season is spelled
s N hashtag election season. We'll see it, we'll comment,
we'll feature you, will highlight you. We want people to
get the glory for participating in the democratic process, and
(14:17):
that's what we're most excited about.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
We are here today with Jonathan Kirkland, head of Brand
and Marketing at Bok, discussing the app when we all Vote,
initiative and hashtag election season, as well as how to
get involved. Okay, so I know that you are maintaining
that this is a non partisan or that Bok has
(14:43):
a non partisan approach, and I know that we've discussed
kind of how in general there's been an infusion of
energy on the heels of Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. I
recently was in New Orleans for the National Urban League conference,
(15:04):
and this was maybe less than a week after she
had announced her candidacy for president. And you know, the
National Urban League, just like any other organization like that,
has a not insignificant number of conservative black voters that
are involved, right, which is their right. But the energy,
(15:27):
the electricity in the air, was very much in favor
of Kamala Harrison, very excited. So I think what I'm
trying to ask is, despite your non partisan positioning, how
has that announcement affected either how you do things or
how people are responding to the things that you're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Well.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
The beauty of social media is everybody could be an
expert on nothing.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
So yeah, so starting there. So when it.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Comes to yes, Michelle Obama is the face and it's
her organization when we all vote, but it's still a
non partisan organization. So a lot of that has to
come from people doing the research of knowing what the
organization is and separating when we all vote from Michelle Obama,
former first Lady, to former President Barack Obama. So that's
(16:21):
the first and foremost. So it's only so much that
any person any brand can do from what people are
going to say. But then on top of that, just
understanding how we're doing the work that we're doing as
far as getting resources, easy access to information, and to
engagement for action. So whether that's like I said, being
a POE worker, whether that's signing up to register to
(16:43):
vote or checking your registration status, we're just working with
a specific partner to get that done. And if you
look at when we all vote, like a celebrity ambassador,
their brand ambassadors, it's a huge network of that. So
who knows who's voting for who or who's one side
with the side, But that's not our business. Our business
(17:03):
is to encourage the conversation and spark that action to
get involved in the process. And that's what we're here
to do and that's what we've done. And from the
engagement and the result that we've seen thus far with
our partners, we know that we're doing the right thing
in the right way at the right time, in front
(17:23):
of the right people to get young black voters out
there to vote and to talk. And again, if the
conversation is if it goes left on Twitter, hey guess
what is the conversation being had? And that's what we're
happy about, versus people not being involved or not being
informed and not doing okay.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So yeah, okay, got you, got you all right. That
was a very very diplomatic answer, and I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know, you got to ride that a non partis answer.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
It's a very good So we'll take it. We'll take it.
So how about this. Let's say they're folks listening today
and they have not heard of be Okay, the dating app,
and they this is their first time hearing about hashtag
election season, and you know, they are just kind of
(18:12):
coming into this conversation, but they like what you're talking about,
and they want to get involved, and they want to
support and they want to help. What words of advice
would you have for those people?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
What I would say, Well, first of all, they don't
understand be okays. Be Okay, Like I said earlier's the
number one dating and lifestyle made for the black community.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So you want to do the app? Yes, that's number one.
Download the app, Number one.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Download the app there is for yourself. It's free, it's
in the App Store, it's on Google Play. Since you
launched seven.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Years ago, over twelve million people have downloaded it, so
it's a very robust.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Community and active community and engaged community. One thing that's
unique about be okay. If you've been on a dating
app before, you know, typically it's a one to one scenario.
You meet one person, match with one person, talk to
one person on a one to one. We have that,
but we also have communities where you can talk to
many people. So I'm going to age myself right now.
(19:12):
But if you remember AOL chat room from back in
the day, think of it like that. So you can
connect with other users based on similar interests. So if
it's sports, if the movies. In this instance, we'll be
introducing one next week called hashtag election Seasons, the s
the end, so you can be in these group spaces
and talk to other bokay users in real time about
(19:34):
similar interests. And again going back to like the meaningful connections,
that is our sole purpose is to bring people together
for community and for meaningful connections, whether that's friendships, whether
that's romance, whether that's you know, oh you're in DC,
I'm a DC. Let's go out this week and I'll
hit the club up like That's what it is. It's
basically taking black culture mobile and taking mobile black culture
(19:58):
in real life.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So it's very typical.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
And one thing as a brand, one thing that we're
very committed to is community culture and making sure that
we stay at the forefront of community and culture and
making sure that we're building this with the people on
the app. So d m us comment on our posts.
It probably is going to be me that's responded your comments,
(20:21):
but we want to make it personal, we want to
make it tangible, and it's something that's being built with
the people that are on us. So again, like you said,
thanks for going that out. Step one, download the app
b Okay app. It's free Google Play App Store, and yeah,
and also give us your feedback.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
All right, So let's do this. You mentioned, you know,
sending a DM. You mentioned, you know, connecting and just
kind of creating that that communication network. So talk to
us a bit about how folks can can go about
doing that. So this means any social media for the app,
(21:04):
maybe for you personally if that's something that you want
to plug, talk about websites, talk about you know, you
already mentioned the app itself, but you know, any other
ways that folks can tap in and just kind of connect.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Perfect.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
So yeah, so follow us on Instagram, We're at meat
m e e T Underscore b l K. Again, that's
m E e T Underscore b LK on Instagram TikTok.
We have a lot of fun content on TikTok. If
you want some entertainment, our TikTok is meat b Olk
m b e T b ok.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
And then you can also check out our blog where
we post a.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Lot of content things that are happening socially real time.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
You can see some of our.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Success couples, see that the app really does work and
there is hope for everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Hope is the theme word of the day. And our
blog is www.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Dot the plug by b LK dot com again www
dot the plug by bilk dot com. So yeah, so
just tap in, follow us, read our content. Yeah, most importantly,
comment and tell us what you like what you don't,
so you can build this thing together.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Well, we'll leave it right there. Thank you so much
for coming on to share all of this amazing information,
and obviously thank you for what you're doing to make
sure that we have the information as individuals, and we
have the motivation to do something with that information, and
we have a bit of strategy so that we can
(22:35):
be successful in our goings on toward trying to create
some changes in shaping our societies. That's something that's kind
of special, especially when you're able to take something like
a dating app and then plug it into something like
the political arena and obviously have some tremendous success there.
(22:55):
So my hat's off to you once again. Today's guest
is Jonathan Kirkland, head of Brand and Marketing at BLK.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
This has been a production of The Black Information Network.
Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share? Use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I am
your host Ramsey's Jaw on all social media and join
us tomorrow as we share our news with our voice
from our perspective right here on the Black Information Network
(23:29):
Daily Podcast
On July seventeenth, Bokay, the leading dating and lifestyle app
for the black community, proudly announced its partnership with When
We All Vote, a national, nonpartisan initiative founded by Michelle Obama.
The two organizations are joining forces to launch the Hashtag
Election Season Initiative, a comprehensive campaign designed to mobilize the
(00:20):
Black community to participate in the upcoming election. Over the
next three months, the Hashtag Election Season Initiative will launch
several key campaign elements aimed at encouraging and motivating Black
singles to vote. Here to discuss more about BLK, When
We All Vote and Hashtag Election Season, as well as
how we can all get involved. Is Jonathan Kirkland, head
(00:42):
of Brand and Marketing at BLK. This is the Black
Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm your host, ramses Jah.
All right, mister Jonathan Kirkland, Welcome to the show. How
are you doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Absolutely so. Obviously I gave a brief introduction of who
you are and what we're going to talk about, but
I think that it's always a good thing when our
listeners kind of know who they're listening to and kind
of what positions them in such a way that they're
an authority on certain things. So do us a favor,
(01:19):
tell us a little bit more about your story, a
little bit more about your background, and kind of what
led you to today's conversation perfect.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
So yes, I'm Jonathan Kirkland, head of brand and Marketing
for Bokay, the world's largest dating and lifestyle at made
for the Black community. I've been in the dating app
space for quite a while. Prior to be Okay, I
was at Bumble. Prior to Bumble, I was at grind Hersel.
I've always been in these niche spaces when it comes
to dating apps, and I feel like with the niche
(01:48):
community versus general market, you have a lot more opportunity
and a lot more leeway to go deeper into the
pain points, into the interest and to the issues that
affect the audience that you serve.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So with bok Sick.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Engagement is definitely one of our big brand pillars that
falls under community. So it just made sense for us
to continue the work that we've been doing in SI
the engagement with election season and a little bit about me,
I'm a proud graduate of North Carolina Anti State University,
the largest Black HBCU in the nation.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
So when it comes to black.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Culture, black audience, it just makes sense for us to
do what we can in the space to empower our people,
empower our audience into spark engagement, spark interaction with spark action.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, let's talk a little bit more about the BLK.
I hesitate to call it a dating app because you know,
We've had a little bit of a conversation, but I've
been doing some some research as well, and you know,
you compared it to some of the other places that
you've worked and it seems like bolk is different in
(02:55):
some really key ways. So to discuss a little bit
about Boka and what makes it different from some of
the other dating apps that might.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Be out there, absolutely going back to like the niches
of the audience. So I started with b Okay April
twenty twenty, So think back four years ago. That was
the beginning of the COVID pandemic, That was the beginning
of quarantine. Literally four weeks after I was hired, George
Floyd got murdered. So in that sense, that really pivoted
(03:25):
the way we thought about marketing and the way we
thought about interacting and engaging with our audiences. And instead
of if you think back to summer of twenty twenty,
with the Black Lives Matter resurgence, all the brands and
all the companies are saying we're standing in solidarity with
the black community, we were uniquely positioned where we weren't
standing in solidarity. We were the ones standing. So from that,
the mindset came of using our app as a resource
(03:49):
for our users.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So instead of just doing you know, the.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Black square on Instagram, we actually use our platform to
be that resource. So whether it was say you protested,
I went to jail, we had resources to get out
of that. If you wanted to take actions, we had
resources to help you do that. So that really was
the starting point of the mindset of how we think
about marketing and how we.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Think about gaging with our audience.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
So when you think about being Okay, we're building this
with the people that are on the app. We're not
the experts and everything. We do know a little bit
about dating and we do a bit about black culture,
but what we do do is we listen to our users.
One thing that I learned really early on is be
Okay users are very active and they're not afraid to
(04:35):
say what they feel and they'll put that on social media.
We're in those conversations with them because we want to
build this with the people that are on the app.
It's not a bunch of us sitting behind the table thinking, oh,
we did this research, this is what the community needs.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
No, we know what the.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Community needs, based on our surveys, based on our interviews,
based on our focus groups, even based on.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
DMS, Like, we really want to build this with the.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Audience, and so I think that's what really is different
would be okay, And again focusing on a specific community,
and again black and not a monolith, but black is
black and black is black culture. We can say things
and do things that a lot of general market apps
won't do or can't do, and we do it in
an authentic way because, like I said, we're building with
(05:18):
the people on it day to day.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So let's shift gears just a bit here. Let's discuss
Michelle Obama's initiative When We All Vote and sort of
how the partnership came about.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
So, Michelle, we started working with When We All Vote
in twenty twenty two during the midterm election.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So if you think about it. People generally think about.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Elections every four years when it's the presidential rate, but
it's those midterm elections where it's really those local those
state elections where that's what affects people really more so
on a day to day basis, Like the president doesn't
care what day your garbage is being collected.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
But your local official the ones that decide that.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
So when you think about community and us being an
app that really is geo targeted and making those connections
with the ones around you, and made sense for us
to get.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Involved on those local levels.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
And if you think back to twenty twenty two, a
lot of that in the term there were a lot
of runoff elections, primarily one in Georgia with Warnock and Osov.
So we were uniquely positioned knowing that our audience is
seventy seven percent under thirty five, young voters, young black voters,
sometimes first time voters, so we were able to talk
(06:31):
to them in a way that you know, the general
media wasn't talking to them because again, we aren't in
the political landstate. We don't sit in this space every day.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
What we do do is.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
We know our audience. As I mentioned earlier, we talked
to them. We understand where they are and how they
will received messaging, so we'd use that to get them engaged,
get them involved. And the one thing with the Michelle
Obamas foundation of when we all vote is that, as
non parson again, we're not telling.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
People vote this way or vote that way.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
What we're telling them to do is spark a meaningful
conversation that can happen. You don't always have to agree,
but what you can do is talk, and it's that
setting engagement. Like generations before us, they fought for this.
So the fight that they did is our duty to
live up to that and take action in this civic process.
(07:22):
So when we all vote, just provide an opportunity or
resource and an amazing partner for us to get in
this conversation and.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Become a part of this because like I said, we're
not We don't sit in this day to day.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And when we all vote, they provide an amazing tool
kit of you know, key places where people need to
get the message in how to talk to the people.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
They give you.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Resources something as simple as memes, So they make it
really turn key for us as brand partners to become
a part of the conversation and the impact it really shows.
So for the midterms in twenty twenty two, we were
their number two brand partner and driving voter registration, which
is insane to me, Like for us not to be
(08:05):
in this political landscape on a day to day.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
For us to be a black dating and lifestyle app,
for us.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Not to be this big, huge conglomerate of a company,
and for us to be their number two partner in
getting people to register and check their voter registration status is.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Amazing and huge.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
So that's why we just want to keep building upon
this relationship, building upon this partnership to make sure that
our community is active and out there in this political process.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Now, you mentioned something that seventy I forget the exact number,
but it was seventy plus percentage of your users are
under thirty five, and then you mentioned how you were
the number two partner. So I guess discuss a little
bit more about sort of why young black voters are
(08:52):
so important in this election because I think that a
lot of people historically and I know that there's been
an infusion of energy because of Kamala Harris's announcement to
run and then are picking a running mate and so forth.
But over the past election season, there's been a lot
of voter apathy. So again, discuss a little bit why
(09:13):
young black voters are kind of important in this election.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yeah, and to your point, like we've all seen the
studies and the reports and the articles, like voters in
general are particularly young Black voters. Prior to Kamala Harris
being the top of the ticket, they didn't see themselves
at eel the candidates. They weren't excited, they weren't going
out there. They it was more of a chort to vote.
But I feel now with the new change and like
you mentioned the new DP pick, there's more energy.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
There is that hope that is back.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
It's it's not quite two thousand and eight with Obama,
but it's something in that same vein that same psyche.
So knowing that, knowing that energy like that the gen
Z young millennials, they're not as.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Jaded I feel, and I feel like they.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
See hope and they see themselves as being a part
of this now that that they see more representation in
the landscape of the political candidates. And to that point,
we've done surveys, We've done studies which will be coming
out in a couple of weeks to go to that
point about this young black voter is being more energized
(10:16):
and being more excited about Kamala Harris being on the
ticket and again going out there to vote. And we
don't know if they're going to vote for her against her,
who knows, But what they are doing is having that conversation,
having that energy, and that's what we care about, is
we want people to get involved in the process at
the end of the day, whether and again we're not
(10:37):
telling them which way to go, but we're telling them
to just go.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
To that point and to that point too.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Like another one of our partners is Powered the Polls
and we've worked with them since twenty twenty and in
that partnership, it's all about getting.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
People to the polls.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
And if you think back twenty twenty, COVID most POE
workers were over sixty five. A lot of them weren't
going to be PO workers because they were more susceptible
to COVID and a lot of that was going to
affect the black and the brown communities more so. Knowing
our audience is young, we encourage them to sign up
to be PO workers. To date, we have over forty
eight hundred Bokay users who have signed up to be
(11:16):
PO workers, and we are their number one corporate partner
in PO worker recruitment, above Microsoft, above Spotify, which is
in the same to me for a black dating and
life that I have to do that. So to me,
that just indicates that our community they want to be
involved in this process.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So what we want to do as a brand is
help them.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Have easy access to the tools to become involved and
the education to become involved.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Okay, well, it seems like what you're doing over there
is working. Let's talk about some of the things that
you're doing that you're actually doing. So I guess what
I'm asking is discuss some of the technical ways that
Boka is bolstering the hashtag election season initiative.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yes, so this year, what we're doing we have push
notifications that we're sending out to our current users and
working with our partners, we know which states, which cities
are for example, and need a poll worker, so we're
sending specific messaging out to them. And again we're not
trying to preach, so we talked to them out we
(12:25):
were example, what we did in Georgia with the runoff
we sent a push notification to all of our Georgia users,
get your butt out to vote with the butt with
the Georgia peach.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You know, the emojiates to Georgia peach.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So yeah, so we keep it fun, keep it light,
and that resonates with our users.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So we're doing a lot more of that this year.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
We just did a survey which is going to come
out soon which is very interesting to like see like
how you vote determines how you date, Like they're the
correlations between the dating behavior. So early voters might be
sixty percent more likely to show up early for dates
or you know, so it's like a correlation between dating
(13:04):
habits and voting habits. And we'll also be releasing next
month in app prompts that you can put on your
profile related to voting. And then the biggest thing is
going to be stickers, So you can put a profile
sticker an app on your profile to say if you're
an early voter, moderate voter, conservative, liberal voter, are also
(13:25):
like what your biggest policy issues that you're most concerned about,
and then match with people based on that. So if
it's climate change, if it's maternal health, if it's you know, anything.
We have thirty two actually that users will be able
to pick from and you can match with people based
on that shared similar interest. And again that all goes
back to sparking that conversation, sparking that dialogue, and what
(13:48):
we really want and hope is even outside of the.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
App, is to encourage a bigger dialogue.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So anybody that is doing anything when it comes to
cific engagement, please include a hashtag election season. It's spelled
election just like election is spelled, but season is spelled
s N hashtag election season. We'll see it, we'll comment,
we'll feature you, will highlight you. We want people to
get the glory for participating in the democratic process, and
(14:17):
that's what we're most excited about.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
We are here today with Jonathan Kirkland, head of Brand
and Marketing at Bok, discussing the app when we all Vote,
initiative and hashtag election season, as well as how to
get involved. Okay, so I know that you are maintaining
that this is a non partisan or that Bok has
(14:43):
a non partisan approach, and I know that we've discussed
kind of how in general there's been an infusion of
energy on the heels of Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. I
recently was in New Orleans for the National Urban League conference,
(15:04):
and this was maybe less than a week after she
had announced her candidacy for president. And you know, the
National Urban League, just like any other organization like that,
has a not insignificant number of conservative black voters that
are involved, right, which is their right. But the energy,
(15:27):
the electricity in the air, was very much in favor
of Kamala Harrison, very excited. So I think what I'm
trying to ask is, despite your non partisan positioning, how
has that announcement affected either how you do things or
how people are responding to the things that you're doing.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Well.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
The beauty of social media is everybody could be an
expert on nothing.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
So yeah, so starting there. So when it.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Comes to yes, Michelle Obama is the face and it's
her organization when we all vote, but it's still a
non partisan organization. So a lot of that has to
come from people doing the research of knowing what the
organization is and separating when we all vote from Michelle Obama,
former first Lady, to former President Barack Obama. So that's
(16:21):
the first and foremost. So it's only so much that
any person any brand can do from what people are
going to say. But then on top of that, just
understanding how we're doing the work that we're doing as
far as getting resources, easy access to information, and to
engagement for action. So whether that's like I said, being
a POE worker, whether that's signing up to register to
(16:43):
vote or checking your registration status, we're just working with
a specific partner to get that done. And if you
look at when we all vote, like a celebrity ambassador,
their brand ambassadors, it's a huge network of that. So
who knows who's voting for who or who's one side
with the side, But that's not our business. Our business
(17:03):
is to encourage the conversation and spark that action to
get involved in the process. And that's what we're here
to do and that's what we've done. And from the
engagement and the result that we've seen thus far with
our partners, we know that we're doing the right thing
in the right way at the right time, in front
(17:23):
of the right people to get young black voters out
there to vote and to talk. And again, if the
conversation is if it goes left on Twitter, hey guess
what is the conversation being had? And that's what we're
happy about, versus people not being involved or not being
informed and not doing okay.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So yeah, okay, got you, got you all right. That
was a very very diplomatic answer, and I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know, you got to ride that a non partis answer.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
It's a very good So we'll take it. We'll take it.
So how about this. Let's say they're folks listening today
and they have not heard of be Okay, the dating app,
and they this is their first time hearing about hashtag
election season, and you know, they are just kind of
(18:12):
coming into this conversation, but they like what you're talking about,
and they want to get involved, and they want to
support and they want to help. What words of advice
would you have for those people?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
What I would say, Well, first of all, they don't
understand be okays. Be Okay, Like I said earlier's the
number one dating and lifestyle made for the black community.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So you want to do the app? Yes, that's number one.
Download the app, Number one.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Download the app there is for yourself. It's free, it's
in the App Store, it's on Google Play. Since you
launched seven.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Years ago, over twelve million people have downloaded it, so
it's a very robust.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Community and active community and engaged community. One thing that's
unique about be okay. If you've been on a dating
app before, you know, typically it's a one to one scenario.
You meet one person, match with one person, talk to
one person on a one to one. We have that,
but we also have communities where you can talk to
many people. So I'm going to age myself right now.
(19:12):
But if you remember AOL chat room from back in
the day, think of it like that. So you can
connect with other users based on similar interests. So if
it's sports, if the movies. In this instance, we'll be
introducing one next week called hashtag election Seasons, the s
the end, so you can be in these group spaces
and talk to other bokay users in real time about
(19:34):
similar interests. And again going back to like the meaningful connections,
that is our sole purpose is to bring people together
for community and for meaningful connections, whether that's friendships, whether
that's romance, whether that's you know, oh you're in DC,
I'm a DC. Let's go out this week and I'll
hit the club up like That's what it is. It's
basically taking black culture mobile and taking mobile black culture
(19:58):
in real life.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So it's very typical.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
And one thing as a brand, one thing that we're
very committed to is community culture and making sure that
we stay at the forefront of community and culture and
making sure that we're building this with the people on
the app. So d m us comment on our posts.
It probably is going to be me that's responded your comments,
(20:21):
but we want to make it personal, we want to
make it tangible, and it's something that's being built with
the people that are on us. So again, like you said,
thanks for going that out. Step one, download the app
b Okay app. It's free Google Play App Store, and yeah,
and also give us your feedback.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
All right, So let's do this. You mentioned, you know,
sending a DM. You mentioned, you know, connecting and just
kind of creating that that communication network. So talk to
us a bit about how folks can can go about
doing that. So this means any social media for the app,
(21:04):
maybe for you personally if that's something that you want
to plug, talk about websites, talk about you know, you
already mentioned the app itself, but you know, any other
ways that folks can tap in and just kind of connect.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Perfect.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
So yeah, so follow us on Instagram, We're at meat
m e e T Underscore b l K. Again, that's
m E e T Underscore b LK on Instagram TikTok.
We have a lot of fun content on TikTok. If
you want some entertainment, our TikTok is meat b Olk
m b e T b ok.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
And then you can also check out our blog where
we post a.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Lot of content things that are happening socially real time.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
You can see some of our.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Success couples, see that the app really does work and
there is hope for everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Hope is the theme word of the day. And our
blog is www.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Dot the plug by b LK dot com again www
dot the plug by bilk dot com. So yeah, so
just tap in, follow us, read our content. Yeah, most importantly,
comment and tell us what you like what you don't,
so you can build this thing together.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Well, we'll leave it right there. Thank you so much
for coming on to share all of this amazing information,
and obviously thank you for what you're doing to make
sure that we have the information as individuals, and we
have the motivation to do something with that information, and
we have a bit of strategy so that we can
(22:35):
be successful in our goings on toward trying to create
some changes in shaping our societies. That's something that's kind
of special, especially when you're able to take something like
a dating app and then plug it into something like
the political arena and obviously have some tremendous success there.
(22:55):
So my hat's off to you once again. Today's guest
is Jonathan Kirkland, head of Brand and Marketing at BLK.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
This has been a production of The Black Information Network.
Today's show was produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share? Use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I am
your host Ramsey's Jaw on all social media and join
us tomorrow as we share our news with our voice
from our perspective right here on the Black Information Network
(23:29):
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