PANDORA - AFRICA’S NEXT
The brand
Pandora helped define the birth of the streaming music era, pioneering the concept of music discovery through curated radio-style stations. But as on-demand streaming, playlist culture, and culturally-driven editorial content grew in popularity, Pandora began to lose relevance—particularly among listeners under 30. Younger audiences were gravitating toward platforms that better reflected their global tastes and cultural identities. To stay competitive and regain cultural relevance, Pandora needed to evolve not just its content offerings, but how it presented them to a new generation of listeners.
the brief
The emergence of Afrobeats presented Pandora with a timely opportunity. The platform’s editorial and content teams developed Africa’s Next, an initiative to spotlight emerging African artists and showcase the continent’s vibrant and expansive music scene. The objective was to move beyond just Afrobeats as a genre and instead capture the wide diversity of sound coming out of Africa by creating a visual identity that both celebrated this richness and felt globally forward. Our task was to create branding and marketing assets that positioned Africa’s Next as fresh, credible, and relevant to both Gen Z and Millennial audiences.
To launch Africa’s Next successfully, we had to position Pandora at the center of the conversation around African music and culture. This meant more than simply promoting a new station—it required a rebranding moment that reintroduced Pandora as a tastemaker to a generation that may not have grown up with the platform. The goal was to earn the attention of the under-30 demographic, many of whom are already immersed in African music through TikTok, YouTube, and artist-led marketing. Our creative work had to signal that Pandora was not just participating in the movement but playing an authentic role in championing it..
the challenge
the opportunity
Pandora gave us the space to move quickly and creatively. With few constraints and full support from internal stakeholders, we were able to take risks, explore bold ideas, and execute at speed. This agility allowed us to beat competitors to the punch and make a cultural statement that felt timely and authoritative. We weren’t just branding a music station—we were staking a claim in the evolution of global Black music. The creative strategy became not just about capturing attention but about capturing the flag. Pandora had the opportunity to plant itself at the forefront of a movement, and this campaign became the platform for doing so.
The Insight
Gen Z and younger Millennials value experiences over material goods and have become increasingly travel-fluent. Many of them—especially those in diaspora communities—move frequently between the U.S., U.K., and West Africa, forming a transcontinental cultural loop. This global movement has fueled the rise of Afrobeats and related genres, turning African music into a dominant force in global pop culture. Artists aren’t just traveling for tours—they’re exporting language, fashion, rhythms, and aesthetics. Their physical movement has amplified the spread of the music. This insight became our narrative anchor: the diaspora isn’t just the audience—it’s the engine.
the work
The visual identity for Africa’s Next needed to reflect the dynamism, creativity, and movement of African music and culture. Our design system drew inspiration from West African fashion and textiles—specifically the bold, repeating patterns often seen in Ankara and Kente cloth. These visuals conveyed rhythm and history. We paired these patterns with typography influenced by modern African graphic design, Afrofuturist aesthetics, and the geometric styles seen in global streetwear and album artwork. To reflect the insight around travel and diaspora, we layered in cues from global mobility: passport stamps, boarding pass layouts, luggage tags, and airport signage. These elements told a story about how African artists—through travel, collaboration, and digital reach—are carrying their culture around the world.
