Female boxing champion Laila Ali is hosting a branded content collaboration between A+E Networks’ History Channel in the US and genealogy brand Ancestry. The short form series is being used alongside a series on the channel called History’s Greatest of All Time with Peyton Manning, and will also be distributed via social platforms.
The Ancestry-backed branded content series profiles women who had an outsized impact on history. Using interviews with descendants, it features Madam C.J. Walker who became a self-made millionaire with haircare products; Susan La Flesche Picotte, one of the first Native American women to earn a medical degree; and Mary Spencer, who launched the oldest confectionary company in the US.
For television, each of the branded films is 60 seconds long. But there are also extended 90 second versions which are featuring on History Channel social platforms and within a playlist on History.com. An associated campaign promotion will include newsletter placements, in-programme messaging, and tagged tune-ins.
The involvement of Ali in the project also creates scope for the series to benefit from further exposure via her own channels. Currently the undefeated boxer and daughter of boxing icon Muhammad Ali has around 1.1m followers on Instagram. She has also developed a strong working relationship with Oprah Winfrey across platforms.
Niki Mandell, VP, ad sales marketing partnerships at A+E Networks, said “Our collaboration with Ancestry is especially fulfilling because it seamlessly marries each partners’ efforts to illuminate lesser-known history. We’re honoured to deliver well-known talent, along with the trusted, custom, creative environment for this important partner to reach audiences with stories of diversity and family exploration.”
A+E Networks previously produced a branded content series with Ancestry that told the stories of formerly enslaved African Americans through conversations with their descendants, and exploring online records containing stories of their ancestors’ lives.
