To address growing industry perceptions regarding the fiscal justification for DE&I initiatives, UM released its October 2022 “Future Impact” study. According to List member W. Joe DeMiero, U.S. CEO of IPG Mediabrands’ global media agency network, the study “correlates investment in DE&I with business outcomes. It’s a key piece of the puzzle to help CMOs convince CFOs and other stakeholders why these investments are essential.”
Among the key findings:
• Purchase intent more than doubles when socially conscious brands engage advertising media partners that share common values.
• When a brand embodies three core values—integrity, sustainability and equity—purchase intent rises by 75%.
• Brands that support sustainability and integrity values alongside media partnerships mirroring the same values provide the most efficient lift in purchase intent.
• Brands that score low on responsibility metrics cannot improve their performance simply by advertising on media partners with higher responsibility metrics; rather, brands must evolve their practices and commitment to social values to see increased results.
From ‘marginalized communities’ to the rising majority
And yet, despite UM’s report and other hard data linking ROI to DE&I initiatives, Revelio Labs found that many of the largest brands have responded to uncertain economic forecasts by disproportionately cutting its investment. Revelio’s research, released this past February, found that DE&I roles are diminishing at a faster pace than non-DE&I roles, beginning in 2021 and continuing to accelerate during layoffs in 2022. In fact, over 300 DE&I professionals have left companies that have experienced recent layoffs, with the end result sometimes being the exodus of entire diversity teams.
How did we end up here? We are not far removed from the days when brands realized they could no longer address existing or prospective customers, employees and partners through blanket messaging void of multicultural awareness and meaningful intent.
Changing demographics and societal attitudes have resulted in an array of ethnic and identity groups expecting the brands whose products they purchase to responsibly address their needs and concerns. That means taking deliberate actions clearly displaying their stance on sociocultural, political and economic realities these groups face, which in turn may impact a brand’s relevance and bottom line.
Due to the content boom of the 2010s, brands effectively became publishers and by default began building audience communities of followers and subscribers. New roles were created, ushering in an era of content and community professionals responsible for growing these audiences along the marketing funnel in collaboration with sales and performance teams. Meanwhile, as brands continued to over-index on multichannel content and messaging, society at large hit various turning points in racial, ethnic, identity and political relations.
Even before the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement commanded headlines and corporate attention, a groundswell of startup brands, especially those founded and led by Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs, recognized the value of self-publishing and leveraging digital communities to grow business.