Coca-Cola North America announced it will nearly double its media spend with minority-owned companies over the next three years, pledging that no less than 8% of its yearly ad budget will be directed to Black-, Hispanic- and Asian American-owned platforms and their partners by 2024.
The storied company already increased its minority-owned media spend this year more than five-fold compared to 2020.
Coke is also working to foster new relationships with partners like Ebony/Jet, Revolt and My Cultura, the company confirmed, in addition to long-standing multicultural media partners such as Essence and Univision.
“Following a thorough analysis of our marketing spend, we recognized we could do more to support an equitable media landscape by creating growth opportunities for minority-owned and led outlets,” says Melanie Boulden, chief marketing officer of Coca-Cola North America.
In addition to that growing investment, Coke is hoping to further its goals of racial equity by enlisting its global procurement division to launch a pilot certification assistance program in conjunction with the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council that will help accelerate the growth of Black, Hispanic and AAPI media partners.