‘We should all be in by default’: Why adland must back industry census

Channel 4’s Jane English, GSK’s Jerry Daykin and the IPA’s Leila Siddiqui explain why measuring diversity as an industry is so important for media owners, advertisers and agencies alike

Jane English, marketing lead, Channel 4

We’re all facing the same problem: our industry workforce isn’t nearly as diverse or inclusive as it needs to be.

Any recent research you read – like IPA’s 2020 Agency Census or Marketing Week’s 2020 survey – tells the same story: we’re not doing enough. And the pandemic hasn’t helped, either – disproportionately impacting women and minority groups and communities across the UK.

We all win by building an industry where more people look and think differently. Put a variety of world views and experiences in a room and you’ll leave with richer ideas that better serve diverse audiences.

At Channel 4 we know we couldn’t possibly expect to represent and reflect the whole of the UK without having diversity of thought and experience within our own walls – and we know that creating a culture where everyone feels equal and included is just as important.

If we want to bring about the change we desperately need as an industry, we first need to know where we stand.

Measurement matters: we wouldn’t develop a marketing campaign without a clear starting point and KPIs against which to track progress, and the same should apply for diversity and inclusion.
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I’ve seen the value of this first-hand; Channel 4’s BAME and social mobility research and gender pay reporting has exposed issues we’ve then been able to act on. There’s work still to be done, but we’re ahead of where we’d be otherwise.

Put simply, if we care as much about diversity and inclusion as we say we do, we must track it. As the saying goes, ‘you should measure what you treasure’.

That’s why the ‘All In’ census is crucial. It’s a rare opportunity to get a complete picture of our industry, and then do something about it.

So, as leaders across brands, media owners and agencies, let’s take a big collective step for the good of our people, our businesses and society, and sign up. Because if we’re all ‘in’ for building a more diverse and inclusive industry, then we should all be ‘in’ for this census by default.

Jerry Daykin, senior media director, EMEA, GSK Consumer Healthcare Marketing

The marketing industry by definition is about understanding & reflecting people, and we all get better at that when we’re surrounded by truly diverse & varied perspectives.

We’re never going to work in teams that represent every nuance of the millions of people we need to talk to, but all too easily we end up at the other extreme, where very like-minded individuals are making decisions without any challenging perspectives in the room.

As advertisers there are very immediate steps we can take to improve the diversity & representation of the communications we are producing, or even the inclusiveness of the products we make. We can all unstereotype our adverts and ensure they better reflect the rich diversity around us, and in doing so we’ll often find new perspectives & stories to tell.

To do this we need to look right across our marketing process to see where bias can creep in, or where we don’t allow the perspectives and opportunities to be heard.

There’s no denying however that going on this journey authentically is made a lot easier by having diverse teams. As clients looking to fast track, we’re absolutely looking to our partners to help us – after all, one of the main reasons we work with agencies is to bring in new expertise, experiences and perspectives.

It has been great to see the IPA championing inclusion within agencies over the past few years, and the considerable efforts many have made to try and start driving change. I was proud to see our own agency partners at Publicis launch a new ‘Open Apprenticeship’ scheme recently to continue opening up the industry to broader entrants.

Brands have a lot of influence to drive this change throughout the marketing ecosystem, but of course we also need to start with ourselves. We need to be unequivocally focussed on breaking down the barriers to entry and to progression in our own businesses, and on collaborating to create a healthier & more welcoming industry across the board.

As we see in our marketing, it’s hard to effectively change something that we cannot first measure. That’s why the Advertising All In census is such a critical step for us to take together as a combined industry, one I urge all advertisers to enthusiastically embrace, and something we can each be individually proud of playing our part within.

Leila Siddiqui, associate director, diversity, IPA

Diversity and inclusion is a topic area that has come to the forefront of leadership conversations this year.

The starting point for any D&I strategy, of course, is data measurement and monitoring.

We are delighted that the IPA, along with ISBA and AA, has joined forces with Kantar to create a new diversity and inclusion measurement initiative in the shape of a census – All In – to measure the diversity of everyone in the advertising and marcomms industry for the very first time.

This is an ambitious initiative, with the objective being to create a single source survey on diversity and inclusion across all UK advertising and marketing services professionals.

We are expecting a positive response from everyone working across the industry as a result of the jointly planned communications programme between the AA, IPA and ISBA. We urge you to encourage your teams and colleagues to join us on 10th March, as the accuracy of this data depends on how many of you are All In.

One of the most exciting elements of this initiative is that for the first time we will have data on certain strands in the D&I spectrum which we don’t have much data around currently – such as disabilities, sexual orientation and social mobility.

The results from this survey will allow us to see exactly where the gaps are and plan ahead strategically to ensure fair representation across all protected characteristics in order to build a diverse, relevant and inclusive workforce.

For anyone wanting to know more, please visit the All In page on the AA website.