Our Progress: NBCUniversal's 2023 Creative Impact Lab Report
February 02, 2024
NBCUniversal launched the Creative Impact Lab to broaden access to the media industry for the next generation of diverse creative talent and help nonprofits tell their impact stories to a wide audience.
Our Impact to Date
- Donated over $7 million in media inventory across NBCUniversal and Xfinity.
- Generated over 19 million impressions for the Lab's nonprofit clients.
- Engaged 60 NBCUniversal volunteers, who provided coaching, creative feedback, and training to 66 apprentices in key skills — like storyboarding, shoot planning, editing, animation, and post-production.
- Served 20 nonprofit organizations — in arts, education, sports, technology, and health and human services.
Our full report illustrates 2023 highlights and the results these marketing assets have achieved.
Skills Training Highlights
Last summer, the Creative Impact Lab hosted an in-person workshop in New York with The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture for 22 nonprofit agency representatives and 19 employee volunteers, with training sessions led by Pyxera. The workshop illuminated best practices for producing effective shortform videos and tips for mentorship in the creative space.
Creative Connections Summit
In July, NBCUnites held a virtual "Creative Connections Summit," where apprentices heard from executives across studios, filmed entertainment and news, and networked with NBCU recruiters. Efforts like this have helped widen our talent pipeline.
Apprentices from our creative agency partners benefited from the connections we helped forge. One apprentice from Creative Media Group was hired as host associate for the Karamo Show and another from The London Screen Academy was hired as office runner at Working Title films.
Assets Created In The Lab
This Laureus spot created by Reel Works ran on Xfinity, Peacock, NBCU Local and NBC Network and was featured in the Tour de France on USA Network. The video contributed to a roughly 10% increase in the amount of individuals and organizations formally joining their coalition.
After PhillyCam's spot for Cradles to Crayons ran alongside the Notre Dame Women's basketball game, the team saw a 400% increase in donor registrations.
StartOut reported an 8% increase in participant signups for their StartOut Growth Lab Program and an increase of 6% in the number of founder members who participate in programs after the release of their PSA created by Free Spirit Media.
Venice Arts showcased International Bird Rescue's conservation mission using animated characters from the Illumination film, Migration, in a 30-second promo that debuted on the TODAY Show. Apprentices learned to incorporate animation and had their work featured nationally for a major motion picture.
2024 is Poised to be Even Bigger
- This Year Creative Impact Labs will provide over $600,000 in grants to participating nonprofits. We're also collaborating with The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture to launch a new storytelling grant, where Lab apprentices can win $5K grants to help fund a short film.
- The lab will be adding new creative agencies to our partnership roaster, including Kids in the Spotlight and Pittsburgh Pop District.
- Creative Impact Lab will support 12 more clients in 2024 from the NBCUniversal and Comcast portfolio of nonprofit partners, as well as a couple of outside organizations.
