{"id":622386,"date":"2023-03-26T23:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/26\/how-agencies-are-shaping-the-future-of-dei-beyond-their-own-walls\/"},"modified":"2023-03-26T23:01:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T04:01:00","slug":"how-agencies-are-shaping-the-future-of-dei-beyond-their-own-walls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/26\/how-agencies-are-shaping-the-future-of-dei-beyond-their-own-walls\/","title":{"rendered":"How agencies are shaping the future of DEI beyond their own walls"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is part 2 in our series about diversity at agencies. You can read <\/em>part 1 here<\/em><\/a>, which discusses organizational progress, strategic leadership and challenges in DEI.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amidst a slew of post-pandemic epiphanies, agencies are acknowledging their role in expanding their diversity efforts to support a more inclusive industry.<\/p>\n

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In addition to improving employee representation, agencies are broadening their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts for clients, too, by focusing on recruitment, retention and client services.<\/p>\n

That means a DEI strategy at Publicis Groupe U.S. that stretches from the \u201cworkplace to the marketplace,\u201d said Geraldine White, chief diversity officer at the agency. With a staff of roughly 26,000 in the U.S. and 100,000 globally, White said Publicis\u2019 approach to increasing diversity needs to involve the client, team and brand sides \u2014\u00a0challenges given the company\u2019s breadth of the company and entrenched biases in many places.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of these conversations are new, unfortunately,\u201d White told Digiday. \u201cBecause there\u2019s so much that is systemically embedded, you need to apply systems thinking, change management and governance to actually be able to unravel what is \u2026 embedded. And that\u2019s in our industry and outside of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June 2022, Publicis Groupe reported<\/a> a 17.5% increase in the percentage of non-white staffers compared to 2021, totaling 34.4% across the company. Its global workforce is 51% women. In addition to pledging to update these numbers annually, Publicis said it will invest 45 million euros over three years on diversity, inclusion and social justice. Funding goes to existing programs, such as training for Black talent, and some new programs, including an interactive forum called Multicultural Talent Pipeline, apprenticeships and support for organizations fighting racism and inequalities.<\/p>\n

Moving beyond the agency to external efforts<\/h2>\n

Agencies are feeling the pressure to step up from clients, who White noted are holding the agency \u201caccountable.\u201d \u201cFor the majority of RFPs, RFIs, conversations around growth, we are asked about our diversity commitments \u2014\u00a0but also how we are actually acting on and achieving them,\u201d White added. \u201cAnd our ability to be able to transparently share that also leads to greater and deeper relationships with clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guided by Good, the parent organization of agency 22Squared, offers internal programs ranging from training and recruiting to forums and mentorship for employees. But Janis Middleton, evp and executive director of inclusion strategy there, acknowledged that she is currently thinking about how to engage on the client and supplier level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had in the back of my mind, I\u2019ve got to get back to the client work,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to bring the clients on because we had to clean up our own backyard. You can\u2019t get the blind leading the blind, and can\u2019t guide people if we don\u2019t even know what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently the company developed an offering for clients called Embrace, to help them build inclusive work and culture. And the company offers employees workshops on topics like \u201cactionable habits\u201d and \u201cauthentic selves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think supplier diversity is a whole other ballgame that it\u2019s time for us to step into,\u201d Middleton added. \u201cI would love to put a structure in place to properly track it. But from a media perspective, from a production perspective, from a freelance perspective, I think it\u2019s time to focus on supplier diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa Torres, president of multicultural at Publicis Media, also said many recent agency initiatives in supplier diversity focus on the short-term of upping spending toward minority-owned media \u2014 \u201csometimes committing to a percentage of spend that isn\u2019t theirs to control, but rather their clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we buy more inventory across diverse owned, targeted and operated properties if that supply does not exist, or partners do not have the means to make that supply available to advertisers?\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Publicis launched its Once & For All Coalition to create more equitable representation for diverse media suppliers. It currently counts some 60 members \u2014\u00a0consisting of suppliers, brand marketers and industry organizations \u2014\u00a0that have 50% higher budget allocations toward minority media than non-members, and engage with 40% more diverse-owned and targeted suppliers, according to the company.<\/p>\n

Engaging the future workforce<\/h2>\n

Some of the agencies\u2019 external efforts aim to build connections with schools and universities to fill the recruitment pipeline earlier in the process.<\/p>\n

IPG\u2019s UM Worldwide wants to build media and university partners through a program called Curriculum, said chief diversity officer Jeff Marshall, which includes visiting university campuses to recruit.<\/p>\n

One of its partnerships with Vox Media offers a free media and advertising course for college students. The nine-module course gives insight into the media and advertising industry, invitation to private events and a LinkedIn badge after completion. After continuing for three semesters, Marshall said the goal is to increase the current average completion rate of 100 students per semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s given us kind of a really interesting space to play in when we\u2019re chatting with universities and with students and trying to attract people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Angela Seits, head of strategy and insights at PMG, mentioned similar goals in engaging with the students and graduates. Seits sits on a diversity steering committee created in 2020. In 2022, PMG partnered with Tarrant County College to offer digital career training in data, analytics and e-commerce. The goal is to train more than 1,000 students by 2028, with PMG committing $50,000 in scholarships to 50 students over the next five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgencies have a much greater role to play in shaping an inclusive media landscape,\u201d Seits said.<\/p>\n

Publicis is similarly developing training and career development for diverse communities. Its remote learning program, or Open Apprenticeship, is structured with different apprenticeships across creative industries and offers practice with access to live briefs with real clients. The pillars include brand marketing, creative, tech and data and media and public relations.<\/p>\n

White acknowledged that agencies need to strive for more gender and ethnicity representation \u2013 but should not overlook areas of leadership diversity and balance or career support.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo having a sense of being at or near parity is great, but what does that mean from a career trajectory standpoint?\u201d White said. \u201cHow are we further establishing what that means for women in leadership roles? But again, it all comes back to not just the number \u2014 what is our accountability beyond just the representation?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Antoinette Siu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is part 2 in our series about diversity at agencies. You can read part 1 here, which discusses organizational progress, strategic leadership and challenges in DEI. Amidst a slew of post-pandemic epiphanies, agencies are acknowledging their role in expanding their diversity efforts to support a more inclusive industry. In addition to improving employee representation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":622387,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34102,534,25987],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-622386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agencies","8":"category-financial","9":"category-shaping"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}