Black Lives Matter: Education, insight and action for marketers
About this series
This on-going series aims to educate brand marketers on diversity and activism, in light of the recent progressive steps made with the Black Lives Matter movement.
The series looks at brands taking steps to tackle systemic racism, embracing diversity and re-evaluating their brand purpose, with examples from case studies focusing on Black audiences and communities and brand activism content.
Explore the different sections within this series below:
News and opinion picks
Changing your brand for the better: Six lessons on diversity and inclusion from Lions Live
- Fighting racial injustice is everybody's responsibility
- Truly working towards racial justice is all-encompassing
- Use your platforms to amplify, innovate, and desegregate
- Brands need to be mindful of platforms too
- Now is the time to admit your brand’s shortcomings
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Brands push social networks to act on harmful content
Author WARC
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Brands need to fight back against racism: UN Exec Director
Author WARC
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P&G’s roadmap for tackling racial inequality in marketing
Author WARC
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Brands and agencies step up BLM support
Author WARC
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COVID-19, recession, Black Lives Matter: What now for brand purpose?
Author Anna Hamill
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ANA/AIMM call on marketers to tackle industry bias and embrace diversity
Author Stephen Whiteside
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Black Lives Matter movement forces brands’ marketing review
Authors WARC
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Ad industry needs accountability on diversity problems
Author WARC
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P&G builds on breakthrough diversity marketing
Author WARC
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Lessons in brand activism and effectiveness from the North America SABRE Awards winners
Author Chiara Manco
Black Lives Matter specific coverage
Procter & Gamble steps up to tackle systemic racism with marketing action
Procter & Gamble is using the power of marketing to help tackle the systemic racism faced by the Black community in the United States by:
- Ensuring the media supply chain is representative of the wider population
- Pushing for enhanced diversity within the marketing industry
- Rewarding partners that are stepping up in this area
- Not directing resources to any organizations that are falling behind
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McDonald’s breaks with history to march boldly in support of Black Lives Matter movements
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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Four in five want brands to act in support of Black Lives Matter
Author Rob Clapp
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NASCAR & Black Lives Matter study
Author Performance Research and Full Circle Research Co
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Endeavor’s Bozoma Saint John seeks to make sure Black voices are heard in new places
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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Burger King’s Machado focusing on walking the walk concerning equality
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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Edelman Trust Barometer 2020: Brands and racial justice in America
Author Edelman
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Johnson & Johnson group president: Marketers must stand up to confront racial injustice
Authors Geoffrey Precourt
More on Black audiences and communities
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Author David Lansanah
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How consumers are responding as brands drop racist logos and characters
Author Stephen Whiteside
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Advertisers are failing in portrayals of Black women ‒ and need to embrace intersectionality
Author Stephen Whiteside
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UWG’s advice for brands and agencies that are seeking to address racial injustice
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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Before you shoot: Let's pledge to stop anti-Black ad casting
Author We Are Pi
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A three-step framework to address racist casting in advertising
Author Stephen Whiteside
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How Tide cleans up with multicultural consumers
Author Stephen Whiteside
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How Ford found an audience of female African-American pick-up truck enthusiasts
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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Author Anne Field
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Inclusiveness is key to spurring diverse talent
Author Marie Griffin
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Diversity in advertising is common, but here’s how to make it actually have impact
Author Lindsay Wade
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How Denny’s fights a negative “diner” stereotype with multicultural initiatives
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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Authors Morgan E. Ellithorpe, Michael Hennessy, and Amy Bleakley
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Sequent Partners find faults in coverage, accuracy of multicultural-marketing data
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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P&G’s Pritchard calls on brands to prioritize diversity and inclusion in a crisis
Author Stephen Whiteside
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How Procter & Gamble identified (and filled) the “gaps” in its multicultural advertising
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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Coty’s five-step march to excellence in multicultural marketing inclusion
Author Geoffrey Precourt
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How culture and content collide for multicultural audiences
Author Stephen Whiteside
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“The Talk” remains P&G’s very public (and very bold) anchor for multicultural equality
Author Geoffrey Precourt
Cases focusing on Black audiences and communities
Talking the Talk: P&G Blackish Integration
P&G, the consumer goods giant, continued its My Black Is Beautiful campaign in the US with a comedic take on the serious issues that were raised in its 'The Talk' video.
P&G deepened interracial dialogues by creating an episode of the sitcom 'Black-ish', written around 'The Talk', which became the centerpiece of an integrated 'lead the conversation' program.
Awards show North American Effies, 2019
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Black Lives Matter: 'Unsafety Check' (US)
Awards show WARC Rankings, Creative 100
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Awards show SABRE Awards, North America, 2018
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Be The Match: Inspiring the African American community to step up and save lives
Awards show SABRE Awards, In2, 2016
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World Afro Day: The most visible invisible problem
Awards show Account Planning Group (UK), 2019
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Pantene Gold Series Launch Initiative
Awards show SABRE Awards, In2, 2018
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Awards show Cannes Creative Lions, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2017
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Give Blood: #Represent – Empowering a generation to take on a worrying inequality
Awards show Account Planning Group (UK), 2017
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Black & Abroad: Go Back To Africa
Awards show WARC Rankings, Creative 100, 2020
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Awards show SABRE Awards, North America, 2020
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The Groveland Four: Righting a historical injustice
Awards show SABRE Awards, North America, 2020
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Toyota: Toyota RAV4 Adventure Grade: Alleviating Fear Through Community
Awards show Jay Chiat Strategic Excellence Awards, 2018
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Awards show SABRE Awards, IN2, North America, 2020
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Lloyds Bank: Reflecting Modern Britain – Ethnicity in Advertising
Awards show MRS Awards, 2019
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Susan G. Komen: Know Your Girls
Awards show ARF Ogilvy Awards, 2019
Brand activism content
What the rise in social activism means for brands
Research by Starcom UK and Twitter into the motivations behind social activism and consumer expectations of brands
- Consumers perceive brands to be stewards for specific activism topics
- People are deeply emotionally involved in these issues
- Brands must become involved authentically and cautiously
- Brands should engage their core user base for stronger positive perception
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Rising to the moment: A roadmap for brands amid social unrest
Author Kantar
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How companies can Brand the Vote! (And why they should)
Authors Drew Train and Davianne Harris
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What we know about activist campaigns
Author WARC
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Five considerations for building activist brands
Author Stephen Whiteside
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Political movements in an election year – and what it means for brands
Author Amanda Ginzburg
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What we know about brand purpose
Author WARC
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How Airbnb mixes brand-building and politics
Author Stephen Whiteside
WARC Commitments to Racial Equality
Our Organisation
We are committed to being an anti-racist and inclusive organisation.
Our Team
We are committed to recruiting and developing talent from Black and diverse backgrounds.
Our Content
We are committed to building a network of contributors, content and insights from Black and other diverse communities, to be amplified on WARC platforms.
Our Product
We are committed to an ongoing review of the structure, language and tagging of our product, to accurately represent Black and diverse communities.
Our Market Influence
We are committed to educating and nurturing the marketers of tomorrow from Black and diverse backgrounds.