A few years ago, in the UK, Cathedral City started using spoken word in its advertising campaigns. The Evening Standard followed suit. Then NatWest. Before long, spoken word was everywhere and poets like Hollie McNish (cf. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6nHrqIFTj8, probably my favourite poem) were rock stars.
Included below are a few exemplars I’ve used in the classroom – they offered a good entry-point into the relevance and power of poetry, and they helped us explore whether or not, in thinking about ‘corporate art’, the corporate compromises the art:
A Love Song (Anthony Anaxagorou, for The Climate Coalition): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD3YxrZdyzo.
I’m On A Journey (Ainsley Burrows, for Guinness): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2K0ys8sACY.
The Somme (Molly Case, for The Royal British Legion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW97kmm4QYA.
For Natasha (Dominique Christina, for Under Armour): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WFrHNYLApk.
Two Worlds (Leonard Cohen, for Sony): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLKsomPow-s&list=PL2DD45D25A3B989DC&index=4.
Dear Brother (John Bang Reilly, for Johnnie Walker): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2caT4q4Nbs.