The Power of Diverse Advertising Teams

2020 was a year like no other – where the call to become more diverse and inclusive within marketing created catalysts of change among even the largest brands. Yet, this important work is nowhere near complete. Late in 2020, demographic data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showcased the stark inequities still inherent within the advertising industry: with Latinx people (18.5% of the US population) comprising only 12.5% of advertising jobs, while Black people (13.4% of the US population) comprised just 8.1% of the entire industry in the US.

Unfortunately, those statistics don’t even scratch the surface of the systemic racism faced by Black, Brown, and Indigenous marketers living within majority-white countries; barriers like steep racial wage gaps, opportunity gaps, and scarce access to leadership positions.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives seek to address many of these issues in meaningful ways. However, white-owned & operated agencies seeking to tackle systemic racism within their own organizations run the very real risk of sabotaging their own DE&I efforts if women, Black, Brown, and underrepresented voices are not centered within these initiatives from the very start.

In order to help marketers better understand – and address – these complex issues, APR convened a Virtual Town Square (VTS) of experts who currently own a multicultural agency or work in organizations championing diverse creative talent. Hosted by APR’s Managing Director of Global Business Development & Marketing, Sue De Lopez, this panel featured Lewis Williams from Burrell Communications, Luis Messianu from Alma, Gustavo Lauría from We Believers, and Senta Singerland from Invisible Creatives.

The Power of Diversity is Nothing New

Sue De Lopez (APR) opened the panel with some foundational reminders: “Consumers are demanding accountability and activism from brands, in addition to calls for brands and agencies to address systemic racism and begin hiring more people of color.” While many CMOs have already begun implementing DE&I policies that do exactly that, brands would do well to remember that none of these principles are anything new. While the levels of public attention for these causes are higher than ever, we should never erase the experiences of those diverse creatives of the past by looking solely to present examples.

“This has always been the DNA of diverse agencies and diverse creators – long before any of this,” De Lopez continues. “At their core, they are more resilient, they are ingenious, they are agile, and they are constantly reimagining and transforming. They are innovative and resourceful – all while creating within their own truth.”

Furthermore, data validates all of these claims. “A report by Deloitte noted that ‘organizations with inclusive cultures are 6X more likely to be innovative and agile. They are 8X more likely to achieve better business outcomes and 2X more likely to meet or exceed financial targets.”

Why, then, does our industry perpetuate such staggering levels of inequality?

Systemic Racism & Creative Supply Chains

At the core of this issue is the reality of systemic racism – wherein implicit and explicit forms of racism “are embedded as normal practices within an organization.” The demographic composition of an organization’s employment data is usually a reliable testament of these practices; if your organization disproportionately hires white talent over other ethnicities, your organization perpetuates systemic racism through inequitable hiring practices.

Solutions to such problems often include explicit policies prescribed to directly combat racist practices – like hiring levels of diverse talent that directly correlate with the demographic composition of one’s local population.

However, some agencies may find that such hiring goals are difficult to attain due to limits within the creative supply chain. Lewis Williams, the CFO of Burrell Communications in Chicago, Illinois, recognizes this issue while proactively addressing the real root of the problem: community access to the training and education necessary to enter the creative supply chain in the first place.

Williams says that Burrell Communications “commits to finding the right talent. We hire from public schools – community schools. We have a responsibility here – a role to play. I personally like to nurture talent and see them go away.”

Again, Williams reminds us that these approaches are nothing new. “Burrell Communications is owned by women, and 8/10 of our creatives are women. I wish more media would pay attention to our agency and agencies like ours – because we do exist, and we’ve been doing this for a long time.”

Making The Case For Diversification

While diversification should be a fundamental goal for every agency, we recognize that some marketers may find themselves in a situation where they must convince their leadership (or clients) that diversification is the right path forward. Luis Miguel Messianu, the Founder, Creative Chairman, and CEO of ALMA in Miami, Florida, provides anecdotes for how he approaches such scenarios:

“I ask them, ‘How would you feel if you walked into an ice cream parlor and there was only one flavor? Or, what if you go into Home Depot and see only beige paint?’ With diverse talent comes diverse thinking. And the beauty of it is that you get freshness – different solutions, different angles. A word of caution, though: DE&I does not replace multicultural marketing. While DE&I is a corporate initiative that we should all strive towards, ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ are values. Multicultural marketing adds value.”

Additionally, marketers should avoid falling into common, faulty lines of thinking: “Something I would like to point out,” Messianu continues, “is that these approaches will not pit minority segments against each other for a limited size of the investment pie. Instead, marketers should consider how to redistribute the entire pie according to the growth-opportunity and our country’s population composition.”

Diverse Teams in Action

Diverse creative teams simply have a larger pool of experience to draw from. Senta Singerland, Partner at Invisible Creatives & the Head of Europe at MESA, harnesses the “human potential” of diverse teams (in thought and ethnicity) to solve complex problems within tight deadlines. A stellar example of this is their recent campaign, “I Am Amazon.”

“‘When we talk about the importance of diversity, we often talk about race, gender, disability, or age – which are all so very important,” Singerland states. “However, MESA also focuses on the diversity of thought and skill. One example of this is a project we did for Google Earth. The result was an interactive experience called ‘I Am Amazon,’ which takes you through the environmental impacts facing the Amazon – told through the voices of locals.

“Around the table – as always – we had a very diverse group of people. We had an Indigenous leader who actually lives in the Amazon who came to the MESA for this project… we had an Oscar-nominated filmmaker… we had sustainability [experts], copywriters, coders, and all. Within just 6 weeks, Google launched ‘I Am Amazon’ globally.” Would such a project even be possible without diverse thought-leaders at the forefront of every consideration?

Along with extreme ingenuity, diverse teams are “wired for efficiency.” Gustavo Lauría, Co-founder and Chief Creator at We Believers, a multicultural agency catering to Latinx audiences, was able to create a wildly successful project for Corona Extra during the limitations of COVID-19. Titled the “Match of Ages,” it was a first-of-its kind campaign that edited over 70-years of the most tantalizing soccer footage between Mexico’s two biggest rivalries into one unforgettable match, resulting in the “highest number of earned media coverage” for Corona Extra… ever.

“With the money for a 30-second spot, we were able to create a 90-minute game using existing footage. During the week of the broadcast, we had a 54% increase in sales compared with regular (pre-COVID) sales – and 79% more mentions on social media than any other classic game has ever generated in Mexico.”

These levels of efficiency and ingenuity aren’t out of reach, either. Lauría reminds us that “brands should begin looking to the side – to agencies like ours who know how to achieve more for less. If we deliver this amount of work with these small budgets, imagine what we could achieve with budgets that could support additional, diverse creators.”

Which brings up a critical point: the creative standards for multicultural agencies are always the same as traditional agencies, while their access to the resources required to produce content at that level remains limited. This is part of the dangerous cunning of structural racism.

Multicultural agencies have succeeded in producing high-quality content despite systemic barriers. However, this simple fact deserves to be restated: all brands must pay diverse creatives at fair market value. An ethical alternative simply does not exist.

Concluding Remarks

Diverse teams have long existed, created, and succeeded despite the various barriers that stand in their way. As Luis Messianu says, “We are children of crisis; our upbringing has made us resilient and optimistic. We are used to doing more with less. We are used to new beginnings. Look at natural disasters like the earthquakes in Mexico, hurricanes in Puerto Rico, economic downturns, you name it – but we keep going, keep pushing forward, and that’s our spirit.” 

Key takeaways:

• Multicultural agencies have always been resourceful, creative, agile, and impactful.  They are used to working with less while delivering the same or even higher levels of creativity and results.

• “Specificity brings authenticity” in your approach. The goal is to have authentic dialogue with “citizens” vs “consumers” and for brands to be a natural part of people’s lives. 

• Include multicultural agencies when considering overall brand strategies and campaign development.

• Recognize that multicultural agencies deserve to be compensated equally to general market agencies.

Diversity is always worth striving for, and this universal fact is especially true for creative fields, where new perspectives and unique schools of thought only serve to improve final deliverables. As Keith Cartwright famously stated, “Diverse thinking breeds better creativity.”