On the first day of AdColor Everywhere, the industry’s largest diversity and inclusion conference, Snapchat announced its latest creative council, in collaboration with AdColor. It is composed of 12 Black creatives, industry leaders who will act as judges for a campaign contest running for the next six weeks.
AdColor and Snap selected young creatives of color who are now working in small teams on a brief from Snap. The winning pitch will run on the platform in October. “We were inspired by the open letter that Saturday Morning put out in early June, which called for bold steps that will bring about real change within the industry,” says Jeff Miller, senior director, global creative strategy at Snap.
“This is Snap’s first time ever working with a council completely composed of Black creative leaders. And within that community, it's still incredibly diverse in terms of experience, in terms of gender, in terms of where they are within their lives within the industry.”
The inaugural council members are Shannon Washington, group executive creative director at R/GA; Kai Lawson, global director of community engagement, global culture at WPP and co-host of the “Mixed Company” podcast; Empress Varnado, digital content creator at The Empress Agency; Candace Queen, creative director at Tabernacle and co-Chair of the AdColor Advisory Board; Geoff Edwards, executive creative director at Gale Partners and co-founder of Saturday Morning; Keith Cartwright, founder of Cartwright and co-founder of Saturday Morning; Martellus Bennett, former NFL player and founder of The Imagination Agency; Mark Clennon, artists and photographer at Mark Clennon Creative; and Kevin Green, creative director at RAPP and co-chair of the AdColor Advisory Board.