Every brand should embrace inclusion, but there’s a business case too

If you’re a diversity and inclusion champion within the marketing industry, then the last year or so has been a little tough. The topic has quietly fallen off a lot of agendas, many companies have become entirely unwilling to speak about it, and in some circles the letters ‘DEI’ have taken on a truly negative connotation.

It’s such a notable change of direction that the CEO of the World Federation of Advertisers, Stephan Loerke, felt the need to issue a call to advertisers to “stay the course on DEI and sustainability” ahead of this year’s Cannes Lions. Especially in the US, many major brands toned down their Pride activations this year, which doesn’t just mean fewer rainbow decorations, it also means fewer resources going to grassroots organisations.

Beleaguered as we thus are sometimes, it was a wonderful surprise this past week to wake up to arguably the most influential voice in the marketing industry, Mark Ritson, telling brands that they should absolutely crack on with positive inclusion and representation because it’s the right thing to do and it won’t hurt the business.

The phrase ‘take the wins where you can get them’ springs to mind, but the urge to build on his argument and stress that the opportunity is even more positive than suggested has proven irresistible to me.

Ritson: Brand purpose doesn’t require a commercial excuse

Progressive advertising

One thing that is hinted at in Mark’s article is that there is a difference between casual inclusion and representation in advertising and outright ‘purpose-based’ activities. It’s the difference between including LGBTQ+ people in the stories you are telling through your advertising, versus making those stories deliberately about Pride, inclusion or the barriers those people might face.

I personally remain a little sceptical about some aspects of purpose-based advertising. The most quoted evidence in recent years is Unilever’s report that ‘high-purpose’ brands in their portfolio drove 6.1% underlying sales growth versus 0.2% for ‘low-purpose’ brands. It’s compelling on some level, but it’s slightly undermined by the fact that the brands they develop purposes for are also the ones they invest most in, put the most creative care into, and are probably larger to start with.

While Mark was enjoying a glass of wine and pretending to enjoy a panel or two along the Croisette, he may however have missed a big announcement from the Unstereotype Alliance. At Cannes, it revealed the top-line results of the most comprehensive study of positive representation and inclusion in marketing ever carried out, and they didn’t just show it worked as well as other marketing – they showed it worked notably better.

A larger evidence base continues to support the notion that casually inclusive and representative marketing is just better for business.

Progressive advertising does in fact drive a 3.46% improvement in short-term sales lifts, and a notable 16.26% increase in direct long-term sales results. Loyalty is 1.29 times higher for more progressive advertising, purchase intent 1.43 and pricing power is 1.52 times higher. Kantar BrandZ research showed that high-scoring brands on progressive advertising indicators are 9.8% more ‘meaningful’ and 11.8% more ‘different’.

Lots of impressive numbers, but can they really be trusted? The real kicker here is the breadth of data that went into working them out. Data (both brand and hard sales) from 392 brands in 58 countries over a four-year period was analysed by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School academics. Brands including Bayer Consumer Healthcare, Diageo, Kantar, Mars Inc, Mondelez International, and Unilever opened up their full tracking to be included in the analysis.

That’s a seriously credible piece of research, underpinned by the Unsterotype Alliance’s framework to judge how progressive the advertising is to begin with. While the immediate impact of LGBT+ representation might be small for ads in the System1 data that Mark sourced, a larger evidence base continues to support the notion that casually inclusive and representative marketing is just better for business.

When it comes down to ‘why’, I suspect it’s a trio of fairly unmagical reasons. Firstly, there is a subset of consumers (and allies) who do feel uniquely seen and represented and whose positive responses far outweigh any pushback. Secondly, advertising thrives on emotion and unique stories, and embracing elements of diversity gives you powerful new stories to tell and ways to stand out. And thirdly, there’s an inescapable truth that the adverts with the most positive representation tend to be created by the strongest all-round marketers who’ve put the most thought into the entire execution.

Reflecting communities

So, exactly as Mark says, there’s the possibility to do the right thing just because it’s the right thing to do. Because casual inclusion and seeing yourself does make a real human difference to your customers and colleagues. Companies considering outright purpose-based campaigns might still want to adopt some caution, but when it comes to casual inclusion and positive representation, the evidence is there that it does more than just break even.

Which is great, because as a gay man I love the rare occasion when I see my community reflected in advertising, and it made me sad to see fewer brands supporting Pride this year. I know there can be backlash around some initiatives we’ve had along the way, like the ‘LGBT sandwich’, but the reality is it means a lot to people to see themselves represented, and to know that our friends and relatives are seeing that too.

If you’d like to move your own brands along this representation journey, I can heartily recommend the WFA’s free guide to potential areas of bias in the creative process, or connecting with Outvertising, who support the LGBTQ+ advertising community here in the UK. And kudos to Tamara Littleton, who helped Mark have his mini revelation, though underneath the bluster I know he’s always been a champion.

Jerry Daykin is a WFA Diversity Ambassador and an NED of Outvertising. In his day job he’s led global media and digital for brands including Diageo, GSK and Mondelez.