• by Larissa Faw , March 23, 2021

Direct Agents, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, is using its talents and visibility to fight against racism and hate crimes in light of the Atlanta spa shooting spree.

The agency is auctioning off a series of digital art known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Buyers can submit bids to land one of 10 Future First Studio-created cinemagraphs. The images show an eagle-eye view of an outdoor piazza with thousands of people milling over a ground overlay that proclaims “Love.”

All proceeds from these auctioned pieces will benefit Hate Is A Virus, a nonprofit fighting instances of discrimination against Asian-American Pacific-Islanders.  Direct Agents will match all donations up to $1,500. The agency is also spreading the movement across social media using the #StopAsianHate hashtag.

These NFTs – a digital token used as cryptocurrency, much like Bitcoin — were inspired by a motion graphic first created by the agency as part of the Outframe 2020 photo contest. In the competition, Digital Agents won first place with its “Out of Love” submission.  Direct Agents selected Color of Change as its partner charity for that project. The winning prize, courtesy of Outfront Media, included a billboard feature in New York’s Times Square, as well as other U.S. locations in November 2020. 

The current project builds on that artwork to support a cause close to agency team members. Some 42% of Direct Agents employees identify as POC and both of its co-founders — Josh and Dinesh Boaz — are first-generation immigrants from India and Sri Lanka.

“As many other charity art projects move at a much slower pace, we’re excited to get this project out quickly. We’re looking forward to incorporating more charity initiatives into our work and continuing as a creative agency driving art for nonprofits,” they say.