Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Brands Are Scared to Use LGBTQ+ Marketing That Works

Brands know LGBTQ+ marketing helps grow their business–they’re just afraid to use it. A study released exclusively to ADWEEK by the ANA found that despite 82% of marketers believing there’s still significant room for more marketing that includes LGBTQ+ people, just 55% of brands actively marketed to or included the LGBTQ+ community in their marketing…. …

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The 10-Year Tension: Women Need More Time, Not More Balance

Organizations nationwide, especially ad agencies, say offering balance is key to attracting and retaining women talent. From unlimited PTO and job-sharing opportunities to remote work and childcare allowances, we’ve received many undeniably excellent benefits to support caregiving responsibilities and promote well-being. But the fact is, women still can’t have it all. Promoting work/life balance as… …

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Influencer Marketing Needs to Adapt: A Cautionary Lesson From Tarte Cosmetics

The influencer marketing recipe is well-established. Select influencers who attract a certain audience and fly them out to a tropical location for sun, fun and product placement. Organic reach across social, particularly TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are off the charts. Marketing = sorted. Except, that doesn’t work anymore. What once was aspirational is now exclusionary,… …

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AIQ Podcast: What Is the Role of AI in the Future of Business?

On the latest episode of AIQ presented by Microsoft Advertising, host Cathy Hackl sits down with Sandy Carter, chief operating officer at Web3-powered site host Unstoppable Domains, to discuss the future of business and the role of AI within it. During the conversation, they cover the potential of AI to transform industries, the importance of… …

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Wieden+Kennedy’s Powerful Campaign Tackles Rise of Book Bans in Schools

Book bans in American public schools are on the rise, increasing by 33% over the 2022-23 school year compared with the previous year, according to nonprofit PEN America. And diversity, equity and inclusion education is under attack–just last month in Florida, the Board of Governors banned public funding of DEI programs across state universities. A… …

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Breaking Traditions: Gen Z and Millennial Women Transform Super Bowl

Women have always watched the Super Bowl, with Nielsen reporting that in 2018, women made up nearly half of Super Bowl viewers–surpassing the combined female viewership of the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys. Brands, marketers and the NFL have begun to embrace female perspectives as part of the football discourse. However, the Taylor Swift Effect has… …

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Naomi Osaka Chose a Taboo Path. Bobbie Walked With Her

Bobbie, a mom-founded baby formula brand, signed four-time Grand Slam tennis champion and new mom, Naomi Osaka, to star in its first major TV campaign “Parents Push Harder.” This marks Osaka’s return to the court after giving birth to her daughter, Shai, who is now six months old. Bobbie working with Osaka is a partnership… …

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Barry’s Is More Than a Fitness Trend. It’s a Community

Everyone has their preferred way of working out according to their strengths and goals. Going to the gym can be intimidating for some people due to the abundance of equipment or feeling like others are constantly judging them. However, Barry’s aims to help its members build a sense of community and meet them where they… …

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As 2024 Approaches, the Future of Work Feels Like It’s at a Tipping Point

For all of the advancements and enhancements we’ve seen take center stage, sometimes it feels like we’ve time-traveled back to pre-pandemic circa 2019. Over the course of three years, under the worst conceivable circumstances, we proved that there were new and different ways to work, shining light on the possibility of much needed, long overdue… …

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Dove’s New Partnership Enables Black Gamers to Reach New Levels of Representation 

During a recent session featuring Black women in gaming at Adweek’s Nextech event, COEXIST founder Jaye “Letta J” Watts’ opening remarks pointed to how the industry’s top two games–NBA2K and Madden NFL–prominently feature athletes of color, citing their popularity as strong indicators of the importance people of color hold in the space. Watts also noted… …

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Women’s Sports Is at an Inflection Point. Here’s How Brands Can Step Up

Historically, there has been an argument that women’s sports were not profitable, with a perceived lack of demand. Recent events show a very different story. This was abundantly clear in Ojai Valley at the espnW Summit, where athletes, executives and brands gathered to discuss the year in sports and highlight what they’re seeing across events,… …

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For UPS, Delivering DEI to the Fashion Industry Never Goes Out of Style

There was once a time when UPS was the unlikeliest brand to be associated with fashion. With its ubiquitous (some would say drab) brown color scheme, nothing about the shipping company seemed to connect with an industry often characterized by its kaleidoscopic usage of color. This unexpected, radical connection makes UPS uniquely situated to usher… …

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Q&A: Black at Cannes Founder on the Movement’s First Year and Future

Earlier this year, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) released its second global diversity, equity and inclusion census, which discovered that despite all of the pledges made across the industry in the two years since the previous census was run, little-to-no progress had been made within workplaces. There has often been criticism of the accessibility… …

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Carmelo Anthony’s Advice to Brands: ‘Don’t Talk, Just Listen’

Life after the NBA has been good for Carmelo Anthony. The 10-time NBA All-Star enjoyed a storied two-decade basketball career: He is one of the league’s top 10 all-time scorers and the player with the most Olympic medals. Now, he is setting his sights on what’s next. Anthony sat down with Adweek’s Christine Lane at… …

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Morgan Stanley’s US Open Campaign Backs Next Generation of Women Tennis Players

Ahead of the US Open, Morgan Stanley and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) are using a major marketing campaign to support the next generation of players. This is part of the financial company’s multi-year partnership with the WTA, which it announced in March. Developed by agency The Marketing Arm, the ad shows Canadian tennis player… …

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Lonely at the Top: Investing in Generational Change for AAPI Leaders

While the saying “it’s lonely at the top” is cliche, it is also an acute reality for the less than 2% of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women in C-suite roles. Without a large enough pool of candidates for consideration, and a trending decrease in diversity investment, how do we affect any kind of… …

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Why Marketers of Color Are Quitting Their Jobs

Ample research has documented the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) for business. We know that marketing organizations and creative agencies with diverse workforces enjoy better business performance, innovation, creativity, and decreased attrition and related hiring costs. Yet three years since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a period marked by ambitious DEI pledges… …

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Silver Pride: Project Brings LGBTQ+ Pioneers Back to Parades

Aline Tracol, at 75 years old, is long past her days of pounding the pavement and crowding shoulder to shoulder with thousands of fellow revelers at Pride parades in her French hometown. Though she has still wanted to take part–she was on the front lines of the LGBTG+ rights movement decades ago–she’s reluctantly been sitting… …

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The Creative Collective’s Mission to Cultivate Culture

They say if you don’t see what you want in the world, go out and make it. That’s exactly what Imani Ellis did when she founded The Creative Collective in her apartment. The Creative Collective serves as a space for diverse creatives to come together to network and offer educational resources. From that, CultureCon was… …

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The Important Role of Intersectionality in the Ad Industry

AAPI Heritage Month is an interesting and reflective time for many of us who exist within the community. It’s special to hear the voices and stories of folks who are doing incredible things for the community and culture at large. It can also be a really interesting time to take a deeper view into the… …

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Anheuser Busch CEO Issues Statement Following Uproar Over Bud Light’s Partnership With Dylan Mulvaney

Two weeks ago, transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney announced a limited partnership with Bud Light. To commemorate March Madness and her “day 365 of womanhood,” Mulvaney encouraged consumers to celebrate the tournament with the beer brand while brandishing cans with her face on them. The subsequent transphobic outroar on social media–which can be summarized by a… …

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Champions of Change: Storytelling and Building a Brand With Arielle Chambers

Arielle Chambers knows the WNBA–and women’s sports–is so important, and she’s making sure everyone else knows it too. On this episode of Champions of Change, Adweek senior TV reporter Mollie Cahillane is joined by Arielle Chambers, founder of media platform HighlightHER. Chambers founded media platform HighlightHER in 2019 with an all-female team of Black content… …

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Why a Household CPG Brand Made an Honest Film About Autism

There is a gender gap in autism diagnoses, and research points to widespread public misconceptions about the experiences and needs of autistic girls. Vanish, a household garment care brand in the U.K., is tackling stereotypes about autism in its latest ad campaign. Though it may seem an unexpected choice for a CPG brand to address… …

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Dwyane Wade, Rosario Dawson, Ayesha Curry Join Square’s Forward Initiative

Square is continuing to do its part to move the needle, literally, for Black and Latino retailers. This time around, the fin-tech company has added star power for the launch of Forward, an accelerator program designed to provide capital, coaching and products to under-resourced small business owners. The program will support 25 early-stage businesses in… …

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KR Liu Used to Hide Her Disability. Now She’s Advertising’s Biggest Accessibility Advocate

As Google’s head of brand accessibility, KR Liu is as influential a voice for the disabled community as you’ll find on the corporate carpet. Her injunction to marketers–the time has come to get serious about inclusion–won global attention last year with Google’s release of its Accessible Marketing Playbook, a seminal document that Liu had a… …

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