15 March 2023: Marketing and advertising professionals from around the world are being asked to share their views on the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry by participating in the second Global DEI Census in marketing, which goes live on 15 March here.
The initiative, which is supported by a coalition of 10 global marketing and advertising organisations –WFA, VoxComm, Campaign, Kantar, Advertising Week, Cannes Lions, Effie Worldwide, IAA, Global Web Index (GWI) and Adweek – has also been backed by a growing list of leading companies from across the marketing and advertising ecosystem, including Bayer, BP, Danone, Diageo, Dentsu, The Estée Lauder Companies, Haleon, Havas, Kraft Heinz, L’Oréal, McCann, Philips, Reckitt, Sanofi and WPP.
The goal is to measure the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in the marketing and advertising industry, as well as people’s sense of belonging, the absence of discrimination and presence of negative behaviours, in order to monitor progress on the results of the inaugural 2021 census, which covered 27 markets.
The results are due to be released in June 2023 and will be used to showcase areas of progress as well as highlighting areas where performance may have slipped back.
What gets measured gets managed. Our industry is facing a well-documented talent crisis. Ensuring our industry is more diverse, equitable and inclusive will go a long way to addressing this challenge. There are patently clear moral and business cases for why our industry must better reflect the diversity of consumer we all aim to reach. This is why this exercise is so critical.
Stephan Loerke, WFA CEO.
