Digiday published the first part in a series on DE&I at White
advertising agencies.
Regarding DE&I in
Adland since 2020, the only thing that has significantly increased is the
diversity of ways that diversity is discussed—although it can all be
categorized as bullshit.
A common argument is
that DE&I must be separate from HR. Yet now, DE&I is connected to PR.
More than ever, Chief Diversity Officers are political mouthpieces delivering
scripted promotional propaganda. They are performative performers.
The Digiday report
covers the routine rhetoric: percentage bumps without firm figures, monumental
vision sans measurable action, spiking recruitment and sinking retention, and
pollyannaish optimism vs realistic pessimism.
One EVP admitted, “The first wave of DEI was really about
women.” The missing qualifier is “White”—i.e., “The first wave of DEI was
really about White women.” And the admission didn’t include how people of color
will unlikely be addressed until a much later wave—well after waves for White
LGBTQI+, White people with disabilities, White people who are neurodivergent,
White old people, White menopausal women, White conservatives, White house
pets, and White fill-in-the-blanks. BTW, these other waves will be preceded by
many more waves for White women.
Oddly
enough, Chief Diversity Officers generate lots of White noise.
‘It has to
be built in’: How agencies strive to advance their diversity goals
By
Antoinette Siu
This
is part 1 of 2 in our series about diversity at agencies. Part 2 will focus on strategies for the
future and client diversity.
For
many agencies, it can be hard to quantify progress in diversity.
There
often is no blueprint for it in the broader corporate world, and many
initiatives at media agencies are still being developed since the murder of
George Floyd in 2020 sparked a nationwide movement toward greater awareness
over the lack of diversity in the working world. Almost three years later, as
agencies reflect on these various efforts, they agree that impactful diversity,
equity and inclusion work needs to be ingrained across an organization’s
culture and values — and not sit in its own lane.
“It
has to be built in, not bolted on,” said Janis Middleton, evp and executive
director of inclusion strategy at Guided by Good, the parent organization
behind agency 22Squared. “The bottom line is you’ve got to have the intention
and someone leading it in the organization. You’ve got to give them the power
to actually lead it — the power that breaks down into budget, [and] that breaks
down into say-so at the table.”
Overall,
it appears the industry is eager to move beyond making statements to showing
action. As Angela Seits, head of strategy and insights at independent agency
PMG, put it, “We’re seeing companies move beyond the reaction stage — of
pledges and external statements — to measurable commitments, progress and
collective action.”
Impact
of the numbers
When
it comes to the aspects of DEI that are more easily measured, some agencies
have improved their workforce diversity and added people of color to their
teams. Others have made progress by including more women in leadership roles,
increasing hires from diverse backgrounds or guiding clients in furthering
their own diversity goals. These are pieces of the blueprint that are still a
work in progress.
In
advertising, there is also a business incentive in engaging communities of
color. Research shows that consumers will stick with brands or favor a company
when they see diverse and multicultural media. Some 90% of U.S. consumers
belonging to BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color) and LGBTQ+
communities said they would switch over from a competitor, tell others about a
brand or support it on social media if a company is investing in their
community, according to data from ad tech firm Direct Digital Holdings.
From
major agencies to news publishers, the industry has been attempting to shift
its gender and ethnicity representation. Floyd’s murder forced major publishers
to examine the diversity and representation of their workforces — resulting in
measures like hiring diversity officers and adding DEI training. By 2023, many
of those publishers had lowered their overall number of white employees and
increased staff who are people of color.
At
Dentsu, regional chief equity officers across the holding company’s four main
regions are subject matter experts. Christena Pyle, chief equity officer of Dentsu
Americas, said beyond the representation numbers, tracking progress means
looking at qualitative data. These can be surveys or metrics around employee
sentiment and sense of belonging.
“From
region to region, there are so many laws, nuances, differences,” Pyle told
Digiday. “Diversity means different things in different regions, so we’re able
to have subject matter expertise in what’s happening in in Asia, or the
diversity challenges in Japan, South Africa, Germany.”
Increasing
representation
At
Dentsu Americas, BIPOC representation increased from 27.1% in 2021 to 31% in
2022. The company said its goal was to surpass 30% by 2025, and the strongest
growth has been in Asian and Black populations and those identifying with
multiple races. Additionally, 37% of Dentsu’s new hires in the last year
identified as BIPOC, up 33% from the previous year. Globally, the agency saw
hires who are women remain at 49%.
Guided
by Good began reporting its diversity numbers annually in 2020. Its workforce
shifted from 24% BIPOC out of 352 employees in 2020, to 30.3% BIPOC out of 395
employees in 2021. White employees decreased from 75% in 2020 to 68.9% in 2021.
When looking at leadership (directors and vp level), BIPOC representation
remained 20% for both years.
The
company’s 2022 report has not been released yet, but Middleton mentioned its
executive team of BIPOC staff has increased from 25% in 2021 to 40% in 2022.
Women now make up 67% of the executive teams, which is up from 61% in 2021.
“The
first wave of DEI was really about women,” Middleton said. “[As we continue
this work], not only do we just look at it, but we also make sure that we’re
putting different types of training in place, different workshops and things in
place throughout the year.”
For
IPG’s UM Worldwide, Chief Diversity Officer Jeff Marshall said the diversity
goals have centered around recruitment and retention as well. Around 33% of new
hires identified as BIPOC in 2018, which increased to 59% in 2020. Since then,
Marshall said the agency has maintained around 50% in incoming BIPOC employees
in the last few years.
“Honestly,
a lot of it is awareness,” he said. “There’s not always some nefarious actor.
It’s usually just awareness, like people don’t realize what their teams look
like or they don’t realize that they hired the person because they connected
with them on something else.”
Current
staff at UM is about 38% BIPOC, and the target by the end of 2023 is 41%,
Marshall added. “By the end of next year, we hope to be at 43%. This year,
we’ve got three percentage points to make up and then next year, we’ll try to
cap those other two percentage points and then we’ll adjust — but our goal is
to be representative of the U.S. population,” he said.
The
U.S. population was 41.9% BIPOC in 2021, according to the U.S. Census. Marshall
said he believes there is also more work to do “in particular groups,” in cases
where they over-index against one demographic group, for example. UM said it
will soon release a public and internal version of its diversity report
starting this year. Dentsu, Guided by Good and Publicis also publish their
diversity program results publicly.
Diversity
as a strategy and challenge
Increasingly,
diversity leadership is included in the C-suite, or is at least appointed to
director and strategic roles. Experts agree that this may become more common,
as agencies implement DEI goals across their businesses. But the commitment to
diversity is not without its obstacles. Dentsu’s Pyle noted that sometimes companies
may also pull back during periods of economic uncertainty.
“Watching
what is playing out with some of our tech partners or platform partners, for us
it’s a cautionary tale to the advertising industry,” Pyle said. “In the past,
things like diversity, equity and inclusion have been invested in and focused
on [only] in good times.”
Pyle
started in 2020 in a multi-faceted role with clients, outside organizations and
employees. She contends effective change needs to go beyond voluntary work, and
DEI should have a stake in the business functions of an agency.
“When
the role is respected, there’s a lot of areas of impact,” Pyle said. “The
accountability aspect is where DEI in some organizations has failed. So I think
that accountability piece and the business rigor of DEI is why we’re breaking
through in this moment.”
Similarly,
PMG’s efforts ramped up in 2020. It launched a steering committee responsible
for auditing its commitment to a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity
(which it dubs “CBID”). The group tracks progress and milestones with support
from its nine employee resource groups. It has expanded those ERGs recently,
focused on new hire diversity and expanded programs for community college
students.
“Cultivating
an equitable and inclusive culture is a complex process, and one that takes
time,” Seits said.
At
UM, Marshall is supported by a program manager, with a council of 50 people and
a pillar lead that is selected from different teams. Part of the company’s
strategy is also giving teams the tools to gain perspective and make decisions
on diversity and hiring. Since around 2018, balance sheets showing the makeup
of a team were given to leadership every quarter.
These are decisions and practices that need to
be “executed on the business side,” Marshall said. “You can put a chief
diversity officer in place, but that chief diversity officer’s role is to
provide a strategy at the end of the day. A coach can write up the plays, but
if the players don’t follow the coach’s plays — it is probably not going to be
a good result in the end.”
