To Boost D&I, Ad Industry Needs to Lean into Data

New figures from the 4A39s Diversity Report indicates agency employees at holding companies and independent shops are predominately white with 7057 percent identifying as whiteCaucasian compared to 1077 percent Asian American 868 percent HispanicLatinx and 581 percent African American 417 percent did not identify or were classified as other races such as Native American and Middle Eastern Women make up the majority of agency employees representing 597 percent of independent agencies staffers and 594 percent of workers at holding companiesOrganizations say they39re committed to improving those stats and they39re holding themselves and their partners accountable At the 4A39s recent Equity ampamp Inclusion Congress top agency and brand execs representing diversity ampamp inclusion HR and marketing departments affirmed their commitments to multiculturalismThey encouraged companies to take a fourstep approach set goals create programs to nurture inclusivity and diversity measure progress and then hold the leadership accountable for achievements or shortcomingsquotIf companies make this a business priority and treat it like a business priority if they track they hold people accountable they set goals they invest this is a very solvable problemquot Michelle Peluso IBM39s SVP digital sales ampamp chief marketing officer said during a CMO panel at the 4A39s39 Congress quotJust like if I was going to enter a new market or introduce a new product line I39d have clear clarity about that and set the conditions to make sure I succeededquotIn recent months particularly since the killing of George Floyd by a former Minneapolis police officer these conversations have taken on renewed importance said GM39s Global CMO Deborah WahlquotIt galvanized the whole companyquot Wahl said quotWe have to make sure our house is in order We39ve been looking at recruiting and hiring and we39re not making enough progressquotSet Goals and Own ThemAt the organizational level many agencies and brands are setting targets for a diverse workforce including people of color women LGBTQ individuals and people with disabilities and publicizing these goals to employees investors and shareholders At GM Wahl said the company is targeting 40 percent diversity both internally and with their agency partnersProcter ampamp Gamble has a similar target To get there the company39s Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard said firms should look at both representation in percentages and head count At PampampG for instance his brand division is just seven promotions away from a 5050 split between male and female employees at every level Data provides the critical intelligence to solve problems he saidquotYou can39t diagnose what you don39t measurequot he said quotOnce you diagnose you can figure out ok we need to recruit more people we need to retain more people we need to promote more peoplequotFor organizations looking to take concrete actions MediaVillage Founder Jack Myers has identified four immediate actions to foster diversity and curtail bias advancing black leadership ending age bias in media buying eliminate the use of terms quotwhitelistquot and quotblacklistquot in messaging and reallocate portion of ad budgets to multicultural buyingquotIt is such a simple thing More diverse teams produce better business resultsquot Peluso saidWork with LikeMinded PartnersIncreasingly brands are demanding their media partners share their diversity goals Pritchard said agencies that advance multiculturalism are the preferred partners over the ones who don39t make it a focus Of course agencies should be doing this on their own accord but in a hypercompetitive market where reviews seem to happen annually they need to demonstrate commitmentTo hire and develop minority talent Pritchard suggests media creative and production companies should look beyond a candidate39s portfolio and consider the individual candidate quotThat39s how we can break down systemic inequalityquot he addedPampampG is also investing in minorityowned firms including suppliers media companies and agenciesAt IBM Peluso said her company endeavors to work with as many minority and womenowned companies as possible calling it quotbusiness diversityquotquotWe look at the entire supply chain where we39re spending money and where we can do betterquot she saidGet Creative to Inspire and HireSome brands are promoting diversity through content creation PampampG partnered with Queen Latifah and Tribeca Studios to create the Queen Collective a short film mentoring and development program Peluso lauded athletic giant Nike39s New Yorkbased Serena Design Crew program which paired young minority designers drawn from local schools with tennis legend Serena Williams and Nike designers to produce a special edition collectionWhen it comes to finding multicultural talent a common lament is that there are too few candidates That39s a notion that PampampG39s Pritchard was quick to dispel as a quotmythquot quotThey are out therequot he said quotYou need to connect the pipesquotIn a recent Leadership Conversation with MediaVillage NPR39s Chief Marketing Officer Michael Smith who is African American said that he fields inquiries from white executives at other organizations looking for qualified black candidates Too often Smith said white hiring managers and executives recruit people who look like them and are from their network squelching diversity So he is happy to help advance qualified peersquotIf you39re really serious about this then you39re going to have to step out of your comfort zonequot he said of building diverse teamsAt IBM the company invests in developing its own minority talent Its PTech initiative trains and educates underprivileged youth for careers in STEM fields and has worked with more than 200000 students worldwide Grads have joined IBM as data scientists programmers and designers quotIt has been a huge source of talent for usquot Peluso saidTo identify prospects Peluso said managers should consider skills over degrees and academic pedigree quotWith technologyamp8230so many of the jobs are skills based and you can get those skills in so many places not necessarily with fouryear degrees Leaning into that bias we have is importantquotTo boost education MediaVillage is coordinating a 100 million 10year investment goal to expand the industry39s activation of diversity and educational programs including online resources and forums with industry leaders including MeetingPrepcom an online training program for professional developmentAdvancing Diversity While better hiring is key advancement is equally important The 4A39s report indicates that agencies may be hiring more multicultural workers but they39re losing them to other opportunities That leaves a gap in midlevel and executive ranksThe bulk of minority employees at agencies hold entry or administrative level positions including 68 percent of Black employees 62 percent of Hispanics and 58 percent of Asian Americans compared to 50 percent of white employees In contrast minorities are severely underrepresented in quotCSuitequot executive ranks with 87 percent of those roles occupied by white individuals compared with 6 percent Asian American 5 percent Hispanic and just 28 percent African American the 4A39s reportedRetention is a significant problem According to the 4A39s data 65 percent of all agency employees have less than fouryears39 experience The number is slightly higher among Black employees with 69 percent having less than four years39 experienceAt IBM Peluso said they39re trying to better understand the attrition Along with standard exit interviews for departing employees IBM also conducts quotstayquot interviews with key employees to understand what39s workingSimilarly at Campbell Ewald part of the Interpublic Group IPG Chief Talent Officer Barb Rozman said her agency set diversity goals and shared them with the entire agency staffquotThis has to be everyone39s responsibilityquot she said quotWhen a manager comes and asks 39Why aren39t I seeing a more diverse slate of candidates39 or 39Why can39t I hold on to any Black employees39 you can turn the conversation around and ask the same question 39What are you doing to help in that area39quotClick 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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To Boost D&I, Ad Industry Needs to Lean into Data

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