Nationwide’s head of media Chris Ladd calls on the industry to do better in supporting brands as they develop diversity and inclusion strategies, they can be proud of.
Certainly, many stopped to think about diversity and inclusion again. October’s Black History Month continued that reflection. However, I think the risk is that some of those well-meaning efforts are not followed through into ever-lasting change in the media industry.
Experts in this field would say that this change is long overdue, and not new news in 2020.
Now, prompted by the Black Lives Matter protests, but also inspired by Nationwide colleagues far more in tune with the challenges faced by minority groups, we and our agencies committed to drive change in Nationwide’s media planning and buying.
So, what have we done so far?
Most importantly, we recognised that we needed to do more. Our media agency partners, Wavemaker and Ebiquity, also reflected on how to accelerate change. Since then, the Nationwide account team at Wavemaker has been leading the agency’s output in changing how they plan and buy media for all their clients.
Prompted by our challenge, Ebiquity has also mined industry data, and improved its own learning and access to these audiences through its joint venture with DECA, with us as their first client. Everyone agreed this was a time for collaboration between companies.
Then, with Wavemaker’s access to research systems not directly available to Nationwide, we strengthened the diversity insight in our own marketing segmentation. Plus, we are commissioning more research through the Ebiquity/DECA partnership to understand further the specific diverse groups’ views on our brand and our advertising.
To read the article in full in Mediatel, click here.
First featured 10/11/2020.
