PLANNING GUIDE FOR CALLS TO ACTION BY BLACK INDUSTRY VOICES

600 Black ad and PR agency professionals signed a letter demanding urgent action from agency leadership to address the systemic racism in the industry. Led by ad agency pros Nathan Young and Bennett D. Bennett, the letter includes a list of 12 actions agencies should take. According to Young, the CTAs should not be seen as a list for agency leaders to “tick off.” Rather, “they should look to it as a starting point of a conversation that’s long overdue.”

Click here for the planning grid.

Make a specific, measurable, and public commitment to improve Black representation at all levels of agency staffing, especially Senior and Leadership positions; PRC strongly recommends committing to hiring at least one senior Black professional by the end of 2021

  1. Track and publicly report workforce diversity data on an annual basis to create accountability for the agency and the industry
  2. Audit agency policies and culture to ensure the environment we work in is more equitable and inclusive to a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives
  3. Provide extensive bias training to HR employees and all levels of management
  4. Extend agency outreach to a more diverse representation of colleges, universities, and art schools
  5. Expand residencies and internship programs to candidates with transferable skills who may not have taken a traditional educational path toward [public relations, marketing and] advertising; PRC would like input about diversifying away from 4-year degree programs to improve diversity
  6. Create, fund, and support Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for Black employees
  7. Invest in management and leadership training, as well as mentorship, sponsorship, and other career development programs for Black employees
  8. Require all leadership to be active participants in company Diversity & Inclusion initiatives and tie success in those initiatives to bonus compensation
  9. Create a Diversity & Inclusion committee made up of Black and NBPOC employees to help shape diversity & inclusion policy and monitor its progress
  10. Establish a diversity review panel to stem the spread of stereotypes in creative work and ensure offensive or culturally insensitive work is never published
  11. Introduce a wage equity plan to ensure that Black women, Black men and people of color are being compensated fairly; PRC strongly condemns pay inequalities of any kind in our industry