2024: Resolved and Relentless

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.” Martin Luther King

It feels fitting to quote Dr. King in this issue of our monthly newsletter. Not only is our nation celebrating what would have been his 95^th birthday next week, but his words reflect the reality of our industry as it works toward greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Change is certainly not “rolling in” and it is far from inevitable. Change has only come through intention and hard work. For the past seven years, a group of companies across our industry has participated in #Inclusive100, the industry’s first data-driven tool designed to measure progress against DEI goals. They have completed the Seramount Inclusion Index, participated in spirited roundtable discussions, and demonstrated to all a determination to know where they stand, and perpetually push for improvement.

Progress has been slow. But it’s also been real. And the participating companies have the data to prove it. They also have a trove of proven best practices and policies that have allowed other successful companies to create workplaces and nurture workforces that more accurately reflect the consumer population our industry seeks to engage.

This year, the tool is smarter, more relevant, and easier to complete. Working in partnership with Seramount, the She Runs It Foundation Board, and members of the #Inclusive100 consortium, a new Marketing, Media, and Ad Tech Inclusion Index is available for the first time to advertising agencies, ad tech companies, PR firms, and media companies. There is no cost to participate. And if seven companies per sector complete the survey, we will have the very first set of segmented data which will allow an ad agency to understand how they are progressing compared to other ad agencies, a media company to know how it stacks up against other media companies, and so on.

She Runs It made a significant investment as a 501c3 non-profit to make this new tool a reality. And so far, seven companies have donated at the Believer level ($5K) to help us recoup that cost. They are Basis, BCW Global, DoubleVerify, NBCU, Netflix, SiriusXM, and TransUnion.

We are seeking additional investment partners. More than that, we are pursuing broad industry participation in the Index. Please reach out to your CEO or your DEI leader to ask if they plan to participate. The link to the application is here.

Resolve to make 2024 the year of progress.