Thank you Sol, Tinie, David, Ade, Magnus, Rankin and June

When good people come together we can change our world."

This is what one of the world's most famous photographers – Rankin - wrote on the inside pages of his book.

We’d just finished shooting football legend Sol Campbell for the hard-hitting campaign put together by the brilliant creatives at Saatchi & Saatchi. The aim was clear: to inspire a BME generation to register to vote, and then to vote. A week later Rankin would shoot Hollywood star David Harewood, chart sensation Tinie Tempah, and Olympian and TV presenter Ade Adepitan.

All of these people had been brought together by the CEO of one of the most famous Ad agencies in world Saatchi & Saatchi, Magnus Djaba, and TV presenter June Sarpong - friend and patron of OBV.

Together, this talented group of individuals driven by Team Saatchi has produced the most compelling and talked about advert for voter registration ever seen in the UK.

Yesterday alone every national newspaper, radio station and TV broadcaster covered the story. Radio stations such as LBC, and BBC London dedicated hours of furious debate and discussion about the campaign, BME issues and the broader subject of voter registration.  June Sarpong brought glamour to the debate on the TV show, ‘Loose Women’ by ‘whitening up’ and talking about the issue.  David Harewood told OBV that his social media feeds went ‘nuts’ over the last 24 hours.

Thanks to these men and women across the country were talking about the issues that concern Black Britain: disproportionately high Black youth unemployment; stop and search; rising Islamaphobia, and of course urging BME communities to register to vote and to vote.

When I sat down and discussed this with the OBV team, I said:

"See what we can do when we come together, find common cause, and seek to inspire a generation? This will be one of many projects that will fantastically move the debate for our communities."

But right now we at OBV want to say thanks and salute our friends: June, Sol, Tinie, David, Ade, Rankin and his team, Magnus and the Saatchi & Saatchi team.

You’ve helped both raise our issues, and made us feel fantastically proud and strong.

Thank you!

Simon Woolley