Marketers' Investment in Diverse Suppliers on the Rise, But Behind Level of Interest

The study quotThe Marketing Community39s Support of Diverse Suppliers amp8211 The Supplier Perspectivequot surveyed leaders from those companies on the ANA list of Certified Diverse Suppliers At this writing there are 469 companies on the list agencies media companies researchers production companies and more A supplier diversity program is defined as quota proactive business program which encourages the use of womenowned ethnicminorityowned veteranowned LGBTQowned disabilityowned and small businesses as suppliersquot In the ad industry there has been a recent focus on supporting ethnicminorityowned suppliersKey findings of the studyThirtyeight percent of the diverse suppliers stated that for their business specifically investment from the marketingadvertising community has increased in the past year The median increase was between 15 and 20 percentFortysix percent of the diverse suppliers expect investment from the marketingadvertising community for their business specifically to increase in the next yearAt the same time however 56 percent of respondents say that interest from the marketingadvertising community in supporting diverse suppliers has increased in the past year So there is a gap within the marketingadvertising community between the interest and actual investment support of diverse suppliers between quotintentquot and quotactionquotRegarding that gap some respondents notedquotThe most significant issue is having advertisers and marketers in the community align their actions to their wordsquotquotLots of talk little action Marketers must put action and funds behind their lofty speeches from the podiumquotquotIt seems like there is a cattle call of sorts for marketers who have not engaged multicultural audiences or agencies in the past but they are seeking to put multicultural agencies on their mantel versus actually investing in the market and giving these agencies businessquotquotThere is a gap between requiring diverse suppliers to bid projects versus actually awarding the workquotOne hypothesis about the gap between interest and investment is that many companies which have interest are still quotsitting on the sidelinesquot and don39t know how or where to get started To address that the ANA is working with a crossindustry task force which includes the 4A39s and the ANA39s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing AIMM to develop guidelines to help those companiesAnother common reason given for the lack of investment is the that the inventory supply of diverse media is still lagging demand This concern has been voiced by advertisers which have started investing with diverse media suppliers and it has limited increased investment As stated by an agency exec at one industry event quotWe can39t find enough stuff to buyquot Buyers can help increase inventory by cocreating content with diverse media suppliers Furthermore when working with diverse media companies buyers should look for opportunities beyond traditional media sponsorship of events for exampleFurthermore diverse suppliers identified their top challenges to beLack of feedback when they don39t get the businessGetting their foot in the door with national advertisersagenciesExtended payment terms required by some advertisersagenciesThe new study is part of a robust portfolio of ANA products services and initiatives dedicated to reducing diverse media investment inequality in the marketing advertising and media industries More at wwwananetsupplierdiversity and wwwanaaimmnetClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Marketers' Investment in Diverse Suppliers on the Rise, But Behind Level of Interest

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Bill Duggan

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Marketers' Investment in Diverse Suppliers on the Rise, But Behind Level of Interest

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