BMB to Handle Global Communications for Youth Brand Yegna

BMB has been appointed to handle the global advertising and communications for Ethiopia’s first youth brand, Yegna, created to transform the lives of adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa. The entertainment brand uses an all-female pop group, a radio drama and a talk show to create positive change for girls in Ethiopia. The Agency is off to an exciting start with work for the launch the latest season of Yegna’s radio drama and a music video promoting the band’s latest track well underway. The work will break in May/June and will run in Ethiopia.

BMB won the business following a pitch against undisclosed agencies and will fulfil a communications consultancy role, assisting Girl Effect and the team to determine Yegna’s strategic direction.

Yegna was launched in 2013 by Girl Effect, the organisation supported by the NIKE Foundation, DFID among others, all of whom acknowledge that girls are the most powerful force for change on the planet.

The Yegna talk show and radio drama reaches 5 million listeners across the country, sparking conversation and reframing the value of girls within Ethiopian society.

BMB has seconded staff to Ethiopia to ensure fluid movement of ideas and strategy between Addis Ababa and London and will work in creative partnership with the team in-country to develop communications which will not only change society’s perception of girls but also its behaviour towards them. 

The team will also work closely with Girl Effect, drawing on global learnings and country-based research to further unlock the power of the Yegna brand.

“We have ambitious plans for Yegna this year, and we are excited with our new partner, BMB.  BMB will help us bring the brand to more girls across Ethiopia so they, and the whole of the country, realise their full potential” – Richard Stuart, Girl Effect.

Tamsin Northridge, BMB’s Head of Planning, said: “The potential of Yegna goes beyond transforming the lives of girls - a fantastic goal in and of itself – to elevating Ethiopian society out of poverty. We are humbled and proud to be working with Yegna to contribute to this change.”