7161: Advertising Week Tweak Six-And-A-Half.

Kevin Walker of CultureLab reported that The New Dynamics of Diversity did indeed draw a decent audience at Advertising Week. There is still virtually no post-event news about it on the Web, but here’s a recap from the Draftfcb blog:

Compelling Advice Offered at Draftfcb Supplier Diversity Forum During Ad Week

Posted by Nancy Murray, VP, Director of Procurement

I’m ecstatic to report that the “The New Dynamics of Diversity” forum sponsored by Draftfcb was a great success! If you were able to attend, I hope you were able to take away something of value that was applicable to your entrepreneurial objectives. For those who could not attend, here’s an overview of what you missed:

Understanding what most of the audience came out to hear, the panelists quickly got the true meat of the forum: How, as a diverse supplier, can you distinguish yourself from the pack of contenders to forge a long-term, lucrative relationship with a potential client? Our panelists offered some critical do’s and don’ts for those seeking an audience with key agency decision makers:

DO: Have a good capabilities deck. In it, say what you do, show examples, include profiles of key personnel and testimonials from clients you have worked for.

DON’T: Be a Jack-of-all-Trades. That seems to be the biggest mistake suppliers make.

DO: Be a specialist. Focus on what you do well. If you say you do 20 things well, you probably don’t. Pick one or two specialties.

DO: Go after projects that are reasonable for your scale. If you handled $50,000 worth of business last year, don’t respond to an RFP for a $1 million project. We need to have some proof you can handle it.

As for our supplier diversity efforts, Draftfcb has a supplier diversity program we believe (as does the AAF as evidenced by our Mosaic Award recognition) can offer entrepreneurs with ingenuity and drive a place at the table. Within the past 18 months, through our in-house supplier diversity conferences, we have interviewed over 200 suppliers in areas of expertise related to the advertising industry, such as digital media, print, photography, broadcast production, market research, etc. These suppliers have been afforded the opportunity to meet with Draftfcb's decision makers, opening the door to initial dialog and potential collaboration. As a result, we have built a robust database of suppliers, sharing their respective capabilities with our offices across the country, and offering suppliers a chance to win business.

Draftfcb is committed to our clients’ goals of increased spend to third-party diverse suppliers. We are educating our account teams to include diverse suppliers in their bid and RFP process. We also strongly encourage account leadership to venture beyond their comfort zone of go-to suppliers and give qualified diverse suppliers the opportunity to compete. It's really amazing to witness the breadth of new ideas, creativity and nimbleness that have been uncovered as a result of this process.

In my role as director of procurement, I engage with so many of our agency’s leadership, and the sentiment is the same: Ensuring a diverse workplace and utilizing diverse partners is absolutely fundamental to the lifeblood of our agency, and our future endeavors.