10 ways everyone who works in advertising can support black talent right now

Adland’s open letter in response to the death of George Floyd and the need to address inequality and take action against racism contains a brilliant to-do list for everyone working in advertising. It’s one to print out now and make sure it stays front-of-mind if we are to be part of the change that everyone is calling for. Here it is in full:

1. Empower leaders and boards to drive representation and inclusivity by being a core part of the leadership team’s strategic priorities with clear KPIs, actions and objectives, transparently communicated. Deeply understand and monitor the data of your company and understand what goes on within it.
2. Senior leaders must step up, speak out and take action. All leaders need to acknowledge the escalating racism of the last few months in town halls and company wide gatherings, in order to open this conversation in their organisations. Leaders should use their company channels to share links, information, resources and black-driven research.
3. Enable employees to understand their own privileges (and what white privilege means) and their biases to help them become accountable allies and activists.
4. Call out racism whenever it is encountered. Everyone is responsible for this, from the CEO to all staff across your organisation. Implement an incident management plan or refer to your equality policy for guidance. Building trust creates solidarity in the workforce and provides a psychologically safe space to work. This can allow for issues such as micro-aggressions (subtle acts of discrimination) to be addressed.
5. Create safe and inclusive spaces to have open and frank conversations about racism with everyone in attendance. Use these to promote active advocacy and open dialogue for both black talent and allies.
6. Use existing employee resource groups, such as WPP’s Roots, Publicis Group’s Embrace or for those without networks, assemble ad-hoc forums now such as Publicis Sapient’s ‘Brave Spaces’.
7. ‘Check the make-up of your own circle and seek out different points of view,’ as recommended by WPP U.K. Country Manager & CEO GroupM UK, Karen Blackett OBE.
8. Check-in with black employees – particularly if you are a leader or line manager.
9. Represent at every level and most importantly, on your leadership team: welcome, promote, champion, and celebrate black employees. Commit to amplifying and elevating black talent, working with black-owned businesses and supply chains.
10. Examine your preferred supplier’s list. Ensure your advertising isn’t funding white supremacy or racist content.

And you can read the full letter here via Campaign.

If you want to do even more, check out our UK Advertising Needs You hub which launched just last month to help share best practice to build a more inclusive workforce across our industry.