Amp spotlight: How agencies are taking a stand against racism

As protests have erupted across the U.S. and the world following the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, industry leaders have been forced to consider how their business decisions may have contributed to the proliferation of systemic racism. (For a regularly updated list of how brands are responding, head here.) On an individual scale, this cultural moment has forced white people—some for the first time—to consider how their actions may contribute to the same. Here’s how leaders from the Amp community have been coordinating efforts to do better and move beyond lip service and working to become better allies.

Re-evaluating company culture

Part of the anti-racism work to be done in the corporate world involves shifting the burden of education around systemic oppression off those oppressed parties—Black people, Indigenous people and people of color. “We recognize that it is extremely unfair to ask our Black employees to donate time out of their regular schedule to work on diversity and inclusion initiatives, so we immediately created a position to focus 100 percent on D&I and we will be adding senior leadership to the department in 2021,” says Zach Morrison, chief executive officer at Tinuiti, where staff have also been encouraged to take unlimited paid mental health days “to educate, self-reflect or protest—anything that contributes to the solution.”

Part of that solution for agencies lies in staffing, something many decision-makers are currently reassessing. “We are committed to doubling the percentage of Black employees at every level of the company over the next three years,” says Morrison. At New York-based Kettle, efforts to overhaul the hiring process to provide opportunities for BIPOC have been fast-tracked and are closely linked with initiatives to educate staff on systemic racism. “We made a pledge to make it happen in days and weeks, instead of months or years,” says co-founder and executive creative director Olivier Peyre. “We’re planning unconscious-bias training, refocusing our internship program around students from underserved communities, and challenging the way we interview, review talent and staff projects.”

Getting to the root of an industry-wide problem

Peyre and those at likeminded agencies, have an opportunity for their efforts to be made all the more effective by pooling resources across the ad world. Specifically, publicizing their agency plans public and making them available for other agencies to apply similar practices within their organizations will be key. “If we’re going to make significant headway, we’ll need everyone onboard, and we’ll all need to learn from each other,” says Peyre. NYC-based StrawberryFrog has taken a similar approach, sharing their educational resource deck with the rest of the advertising community, with the goal of creating a united cross-industry front against racism. Beyond educational resources, StrawberryFrog is also working to strengthen diversity under its own roof. “We are kicking off a workshop next month to help our employees understand the significance of diversity and how to relate to one another respectfully,” explains Nicola Conneally, StrawberryFrog’s chief of staff. “We also have a 24/7 hotline available for employees who may need assistance with their mental and emotional well-being as a result of stress and anxiety related to these critical issues.”

The anti-racism strategy at New Haven’s Response aims to level the professional playing field by starting at the high school level. The agency has partnered with local Hill Regional High School for their “Marketing Explorers” program, which involves annual seminars for the school’s predominantly Black student population, after which two to three students are hired for internship positions and receive college scholarships for completing the program. “We can no longer just talk about what needs to be done, what should be done or how shocked and sad we are,” says Carolyn Walker, CEO and managing partner of Response. “We are evaluating our own initiatives and asking ourselves, ‘What more can we do?’  Trust me, there is plenty more we all can do.”

Guiding clients toward anti-racism

Naturally, agencies are also being tasked with helping clients take the necessary steps toward allyship. For some, that means working on initiatives that get to the roots of systemic racism. “Recently, we had a kick-off meeting with one of our clients, Exact Sciences, the leader in cancer diagnostics, to explore ways to lessen the medical care disparity that currently exists among people of color, as they have less access to cancer screening and diagnostics,” says Dana Maiman, president and CEO of FCB Health Network. “It is our mission to continue to have these important conversations with our clients and ensure that we are able to positively impact underserved patient communities.”

Client needs during this moment have also revolved around communication, with the importance of getting company messaging right as critical as ever. “Our recommendation focuses on transparency, open dialogue and a commitment to continued learning,” says Guru founder and executive creative director Gagan (Jared Levy). “We encourage clients to avoid business as usual on social media, not remain silent and use this opportunity to engage with loyalists.” Guru also recently joined J.E.D.I. Collaborative (an organization in the natural products industry working toward justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) and partnered with author Valerie Kaur for the promotion of her newly published book, “See No Stranger.”

Even agencies with founding missions of diversity are waking up to the fact that combatting racism requires constant vigilance and continued work. For Micky Ogando, president and chief creative officer at Austin’s Bakery Agency, that means resisting complacency and the return to the way things were. “We don’t want to go back to normal because normal was never good enough,” says Ogando, whose team has instituted new hiring practices (“No hiring decision will be made until we have a slate of diverse finalists for every senior and leadership role.”), an agency-wide book club focusing on BIPOC authors and themes of racial justice and continued work on projects like the East Side Shield, a housing tax fund for residents of their neighborhood. “Our team wants to be part of a more equitable environment,” says Ogando. “We're willing to put the work in to get there.”