UM Canada is donating more than $100,000 worth of media to BIPOC-owned small businesses across Canada thanks to team’s efforts during UM’s fourth annual Global Impact Day.

Originally launched in 2016, Impact Day is UM’s annual corporate social responsibility initiative, during which employees in over 100 UM offices in over 50 countries close their office for a day to do some form of public service and give back to their communities.

This year, UM’s teams in Toronto, Montreal and Calgary worked with media partners to source space that would only be unlocked if the team met their goal of collectively walking, running or hiking 270 KM in a single day. The good news is that, on Impact Day last Thursday, UM’s final kilometer total was 735 KM.

The space is being donated to BIPOC-owned businesses across Canada, with the team currently finalizing the business it will work with and how much media space each will receive.

The media space that has been unlocked is primarily OOH and includes digital display, closed caption television and high-impact premium placements at Yonge and Dundas Square.

This year’s effort builds on Impact Day 2020, when UM staff donated their media expertise to BIPOC-owned small businesses, helping them get the most out of their digital advertising in a time when they were disproporinatlety feeling the business impacts of the pandemic. To that end, this year, the agency will also distribute playbooks to help the businesses it ends up working with promote themselves on platforms such as Google and Facebook.