Consumers have raised the bar on what they expect from companies they shop at and work for. They are no longer just looking to buy products or work for a paycheck, they are looking to be involved with brands that share their values, particularly in relation to social justice.
At Brand Innovators’ TrendWatch livecast event last week, CMOs and senior marketing executives from leading brands talked about the importance of diversity and inclusion for their brands.
“Diversity and equity are top of mind for us at Reddit,” said Roxy Young, CMO, Reddit. “We want to communicate our values as a company across three key audiences. As the leader of marketing, Reddit wants to attract employees. It’s important for us to share with our current and potential employees what we stand for. Now more than ever, people aren’t just going to work for a paycheck, they want their beliefs to be aligned with their company.”
For example, Reddit has platform values that guide their communities, with tips like “Remember the human” designed “to encourage people to remember that they are all humans engaging on Reddit to connect with their passions and others.”
Retailer Ulta Beauty recently revealed plans to spend more than $25 million in support of its diversity and inclusion initiatives, including $20 million in media spending to multicultural platforms to create more personal connections with LatinX, Black, and other communities. Additionally, Ulta recently launched MUSE: Magnify, Uplift, Support, Empower, a campaign platform celebrating and amplifying Black voices in beauty with a commercial that celebrates Black women’s heritage and beauty.
“At the core of the Muse campaign is this idea of recognizing the impact of the voiceless or those who haven’t gotten credit for their influencer and inspiration,” said Karla Davis, Vice President, Marketing, Ulta Beauty. “In the last few years, we have really doubled-down on this idea that Ulta Beauty is about possibilities but being about possibilities means you have to acknowledge where there are barriers for people in being able to access those. When we think about the value of representation across all things, so much of that ultimately comes back to economic value and power.”
Economic power often comes in the form of advancement at work. Nilukshi De Silva, Head of Digital Marketing & Content Strategy at Calvin Klein Fragrances, Coty said that she brings her own values to the table at work and uses her position to mentor and support rising employees.
“You spend a lot of time in this industry or in your professional life and you want to be able to be your authentic self so at some point that’s when I realized that you produce the best work, that’s when you become the best leader, that’s when you really thrive and you can help your team as well,” she said. “So you have be be strong enough to make those changes yourself but you also have to have other people that are advocating for you that are creating those safe spaces as well. If I can help inspire someone or be a sort of mentor or give some sort of strength or confidence to any other, especially any other woman of color, I want to be able to do that.”
Soyoung Kang, Chief Marketing Officer at eos is also creating a culture that embraces people of different backgrounds and celebrates diversity within the workplace. “As leaders the simplest thing we can do is be generous leaders,” said Kang. “Be aware of the people we are leading, are going through their own journey in the outside world, whether it’s the pandemic, racial injustice, economic struggle.”
Kang talks about the importance of working with specific ethnic communities such as how she has worked with the AAPI community, while also building allies outside of the community to create a collective movement that has impact outside of an echo chamber.
Unilever brand SheaMoisture has been looking for ways to “over serve the underserved consumer,” which they often define as people of color. “We really believe in the power of entrepreneurship in closing the racial wealth gap in communities worldwide,” said Eden Zeilo, Director of Global Brand Marketing at SheaMoisture, Unilever. “We’ve done a lot of programming to support women of color entrepreneurs in the US and globally, especially this last year as these businesses have suffered at higher rates than other demographics due to the impacts of COVID-19.”
Creating policies that are more open and supportive of people of different backgrounds is not only humane, it is also good for business. “There’s a huge connection between purpose and profit – especially in how consumers think about brands and companies today. It’s an area of big importance for us right now,” said Zena Arnold, Chief Marketing & Digital Officer, Kimberly Clark. “There’s been a growing consumer awareness about the impact businesses can have when it comes to social movements, sustainability and injustice. People want to know that the money that they’re spending on branded products is supporting things that they believe in. More and more brands have stepped up in that way and now there’s a new expectation.”
Brands have an opportunity to be leaders in what inclusion looks like in the culture and part of that is through storytelling and stopping the spread of misinformation.
“Storytelling is so important,” said Mita Mallick, Head of Inclusion, Equity, and Impact, Carta. “As an ally, I think about what cost I want to get that from a primary choice. More than being an ally, it’s about education. This has been a continuum. There’s a history in this country about racism against the AAPI community, and do you know that history? If not, do the work. What are you doing personally to help lift the stories of those that are in pain right now, that don’t have the resources to tell their stories. What is your CEO and Head of DEI doing? If you don’t have a Head of DEI, this is the time to get one.”
Everette Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer of Artsy, recommends that all people identify any internal biases they may have and do the work internally to be less biased and to be more equitable and then doing it externally.
“This is about basic human decency. What are you doing to look at yourself and the biases that you may have? Growing up in an all black community, I had biases growing up. These are biases that I had to check. Encourage people to do the work themselves, on themselves, and then do the external work.”
For Eric Toda, Global Head of Social Marketing at Facebook, empathy is a core element in building allyship to bring different communities together, particularly as some groups are unfairly attacked.
“If what The Me Too movement and Black Lives Matter movement taught us, is that this is a worthy fight, worthy of our time, worthy of our attention and it’s not just our fight,” Toda said. “It’s a cultural awakening, that’s been happening for a few years now. That fight is a worthy fight. The reality is, whether you’re a parent, a friend, a family member, you need to continue to fight for a better future, so the people that come after us don’t have to have these conversations. Encouraging everybody that this is a marathon, we’re up against a lot, and we have to keep pushing past the boundaries of our own communities. The more people understand empathetically that this is not known, racism is not just targeted at one group, the more we can solve the bigger issue.”
