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2024 has been a whirlwind year of changes and challenges. WFA strategic partners, Creative Equals, share four key cultural opportunities for brands to strategically disrupt categories, create engaging, authentic and inclusive creative work in 2025.
In this 60-minute session in partnership with Creative Equals we look back on an eventful year for brands and what it means for inclusive marketing.
I’ve fumbled two big opportunities to get rich quick. The first was when I wrote a feature for the Guardian about Bitcoin when it cost a mere $32 and I DIDN’T BUY ANY. The second was in 2016 when I launched a satirical website called Rent-a-Minority. My “Uber for diversity” let companies hire a minority on-demand when they needed to look inclusive. It was a commentary on superficial corporate DEI efforts. Reader, I got genuine enquiries from big businesses about my service. I could have made tons of money if I’d turned my joke service into a real one.
Keen to avoid the gaze of the manufactured outrage machine, marketers have been timid about investing in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the past year. Kantar’s research, and that of our partners, however, indicates brand inclusion and fairness inside and outside businesses are the keys to brand growth. There is a strategic imperative to put inclusion back at the core of their brands.
The WFA team is constantly working with members to share best practice and smart ways for marketing to make a bigger impact.
The Geena Davis Institute published a new report during Cannes Lions 2024 which looked at on-screen representation in Cannes Lions Film and Film Craft winning and shortlisted work from 2006 to 2023.
The industry-led coalition convened by UN Women published a new study during Cannes Lions 2024 which looks at how consistent and progressive advertising can drive sales and growth.
This case study was originally published in the WFA DEI in Content Production guide (June 2024)
The UK data consultancy presented a new study at Creative Equals’ 2024 RISE conference which looked at how DEI is a significant contributor to companies’ overall Glassdoor score.
The industry-led coalition convened by UN Women published the third iteration of its report examining the progress of DEI across the global advertising industry in 2023, including an assessment of progress within workplaces, advertising content and consumer sentiment.
Despite one in two saying things are improving, inclusion scores remain the same as in 2021. The greatest forms of discrimination are still on basis of age, gender and care-giving status. Disabled respondents report the worst lived experiences.
The Global DEI Census 2023 – which will investigate the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in the marketing industry – is due to go live around the world on 15 March at https://wfanet.org/census in 34 markets. Here is what you need to know about its objectives and how to get involved.
Talent is the lifeblood of marketing. Brands need to meet their needs for a better lived experience if they want to attract and retain the very best. Ranjay Radhakrishnan, Chief Human Resources Officer at Reckitt, explains how the company is championing diversity and inclusion to make Reckitt a great place to work.
Consumers come in all shapes and sizes, so brands need to ensure they are getting insights from everyone. Corrine Moy, Council Member of ESOMAR – the global insights community – explains.
The results will provide a check on progress in people’s perceptions of diversity, equity and inclusion in their organisations and the industry more broadly. The global research will include 33 markets and run alongside UK’s All In.
Inclusive marketing isn’t just a sideline or a charity project, it’s just better marketing, says Jerry Daykin, Vice-President, Global Media at Beam Suntory, and WFA’s Global Diversity Ambassador.
A WFA session around how to embed true representation across the entire marketing process
Cable provider creates video chat system to help individuals with autism interpret emotions.
This article was originally published in Contagious I/O on 22 April 2022.
Charter defines set of universal requirements for global organisations to improve their employees’ lived experiences
Resource provides “ideas to steal” from successful initiatives that companies can adopt
Barclay’s This is Me initiative challenges the stigma around disability and mental health in the workplace.
Over 15% of the global population live with a disability, but they are still the largest under-represented group in the world. To address this, Unilever has committed to building an organisation that is a beacon of diversity and inclusion by setting a global goal to have 5% of their workforce represented by people with a disability by 2025, as well as becoming the no.1 employer of choice for people with a disability.