MediaVillage will induct Jones into the Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors on January 8 at CES, along with seven others who have stood out by accelerating the move from advocacy to activism. Jones, who serves as a conduit for many of diverse voices at the agency group, aims to ensure he amplifies their messages throughout the organization to drive real action. He loaned his voice to a episode with E.B. Moss, head of content strategy for MediaVillage, discussing both his origins and the origins of some of the Publicis Media initiatives created to help diverse talent get hired by our industry and be heard — and why they strive to take that message to Washington, DC, as well.
The following is an abridged version of their in-depth conversation. Listen here to the full interview. Subscribe or listen to the Advancing Diversity podcast series on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or watch on YouTube.
E.B. Moss: Let's talk about your overall company D&I initiative. What's the message internally?
Tim Jones: We express our overriding vision in three words: trust, talent, and transformation. A key component of each is our approach to diversity and inclusion.
We've put in place a number of foundations to build on. One was establishing business resource groups. We have Egalité, which is LGBTQ. We have Viva Mama, which is mothers in the workplace. We have Next Generation, which is young professionals. We have MOCA, which is Men of Color Alliance. Each group acts as a voice [for its constituents] and to help activate our plans. And I help to ensure they're heard throughout our organization.
[For example], we select our star performers from within the Gen Next population and assign them with tasks to look at such as mobility and the company's internal communication. As a result, we've learned to communicate in a different way, such as shortening memos.
The second is that we set D&I goals within each level of the organization. We track our entire population by the typical demographics, and we look at diversity and we set goals within each level to ensure that we have a diverse balance between men and women, across all areas of diversity among African Americans and Hispanics and Asians, as well…. We also reach out to the veteran community for people looking to come back into the workforce. And we hire people from among the autistic adult community … who have the ability to work in an office environment and can cope with administrative tasks that need accuracy and commitment. We've had a lot of success with that and they've really enriched the culture of the company.
Moss: You're also an honoree of the 13th annual Autism Speaks Celebrity Chef Gala. Talk about the work that you've done through Zenith and Publicis Media for Autism Speaks?
Jones: I was at a fundraiser for Autism Speaks and I was touched by the issues that group faces; the number of children being diagnosed with autism. I felt that it was something we could help with: provide strategic counsel pro bono, in addition to the Ad Council media inventory that they receive. So, we now have a 10-year partnership with Autism Speaks in securing strategic space for them, particularly around World Autism Day and their Light It Up Blue program.
Moss: What have you done in the past year that's new or different?
Jones: When we created Publicis Media, we looked for a cause that we could adopt. Right at that time, Ad Council was coming out with this with it's a signature campaign "Love Has No Labels." We put our hands up and said, "We would really like to be involved in that."
The ambition of that campaign was something that we wanted to promote and get behind. I'm really happy with our association with that work. RGA does the creative and we support with media strategy and other services, particularly in the digital area.
We also put our hands up to support the See All initiative, launched by the ANA and AIMM. They're recognizing that advertising still doesn't totally reflect multifaceted American consumers, and that it needs to be course corrected. Advertising and programming need to have more accurate representation and inclusion of all segments, including African American, Asian, Hispanic, disabled, LGBTQ, multi-racial, and beyond.