Following last year’s inaugural celebration, the Global Day of Influence (GDI) – a day earmarked to celebrate the phenomenon of influence and to interrogate its importance and impact across diverse polities, will be held yet again on November 22, 2021.
Founded by international public relations consultancy, BlackHouse Media (BHM), The Global Day of Influence is celebrated annually to remind stakeholders of the sheer power of influence – on an individual, local and global scale.
According to the founders, ‘it has become clear that through the advent of social media, human interaction has increased and continues increasing exponentially – providing everyone with a chance to influence others through their actions and words.”
This year’s celebration explores the non-discriminatory nature of influence, seeks to guide the utilisation of influence in an ethical and truthful manner, and encourages individuals to seek out the attainment of influence.
The date, November 22, once again pays tribute to Edward Bernays, who spearheaded the development of public relations in the 20th century and was regarded by many as “America’s No. 1 Publicist” during his lengthy career.
“I keep coming back to Bernays,” said Ayeni Adekunle, BHM’s Founder. “Over the course of a century, he pioneered techniques and tools used in marketing communications even today, which in and of itself is a feat beyond comparison.
“Bernays teaches us that anyone can be influential and that we must always be guided only by objective reason, our honest, unbiased judgment, and our ideal of truth.
“In a world where everyone is constantly subjected to both visible and hidden influences, I believe that we have a duty to educate our future influential leaders against the increasingly prevalent antagonists of the truth.”
Last year’s Global Day of Influence started an international discussion about the importance of influence that reached over 2 million people across Africa, Europe, America, and Asia.
This year we continue on our journey to transform how the world sees and utilises influence, focussing on the next generation of influential leaders and showing how anyone can grow to become influential.
For 2021’s Global Day of Influence we plan to continue the conversations around influence; if your joining us from Johannesburg to Washington, from Nairobi to London, from Lagos to Abu Dhabi, we are excited to invite you for the second time you to join in on the conversation around influence; we want to reach more than 10 million people this year and that journey starts with you.
The second edition of the Global Day of Influence will be hosted on November 22, 2021, as relevant stakeholders continue to raise awareness for the need to stop the abuse of influence, and to help nurture the next generation of honest and ethical influential leaders and individuals across sectors in both public and private endeavours.
