Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in marketing
Consumers are paying more attention to DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). According to a 2019 Adobe survey, 61% of the surveyed people believe that diversity in marketing is essential. Furthermore, it’s said that 38% of consumers are more likely to trust brands that use diversity in their advertising effectively.
It’s crucial to keep a watch over trends that showcase how companies approach things like inclusive marketing campaigns, shoppable content, and other topics that can help generate demand, sales, and loyal engagement.
Brands should take a more intelligent and holistic approach when it comes to key topics such as diversity, equity, and inclusion. To be really representative, it’s important to understand the various identities and nuisances that are significant to people in your market, and then focus your efforts on the hyper-local level.
Each person’s discriminative experiences are unique, and it’s key to examine everything that has the potential to marginalize people. People aren’t defined by a single characteristic, thus this can overlap. Customers are more likely to engage with your brand if they perceive themselves reflected in a nuanced way that resonates with them.
The following are 5 global companies that are proudly embracing diversity and inclusion:
“Diversity & Inclusion: J&J have pumped a lot of resources into ensuring that all employees help to create an inclusive environment. The organisation’s Global Diversity and Inclusion vision is “to maximise the global power of diversity and inclusion, to drive superior business results and sustainable competitive advantage.”
How they’re making this happen is through employee resource groups, mentoring programmes and ‘Diversity University’, which is a dynamic website that helps employees to understand the benefits of working collaboratively.”
“Diversity & Inclusion: Mastercard consistently makes it into the Top 10 of DiversityInc’s 50 Best Companies for Diversity list. They believe that “diversity is what drives better insights, better decisions, and better products. It is the backbone of innovation”.
A particularly unique project that Mastercard has executed over the past few years involves getting older employees in the company more active when it comes to social media.”
“Diversity & Inclusion: At EY, they believe that “only the highest-performing teams, which maximise the power of different opinions, perspectives, and cultural references, will succeed in the global marketplace.”
The organisation was the first of the Big Four to assign full-time, partner-level leadership to diversity recruiting. Ever since, the number of women in top executive management positions has increased by more than 20%.”
“Diversity & Inclusion: At Coca-Cola, diversity is seen “as more than just policies and practices. It is an integral part of who we are as a company, how we operate and how we see our future.”
Diversity education programmes
include Diversity Training, a Diversity Speaker Series and a Diversity Library. In 2017, a new parental benefits policy was implemented, whereby 6 weeks of paid leave is extended to all new mothers and fathers.”
“Diversity & Inclusion: Novartis believes that diversity is integral to their success, because it helps them to understand the unique needs of their patients and find innovative ways of addressing those needs.
Within the organisation, the word ‘disability’ has been replaced with ‘diverse-ability’ because they don’t view people living with disabilities as having a lack of ability, but rather having diverse skills and proficiencies.”
Source: Social Talent
Here are the top 2 tips for to consider:
- Learn what your brand identity involves and what it means for the people it serves. Then, throughout the creative process, implement what is learnt, including modifying things like language, tone, imagery and designs from within the company first.
- Be more purposeful in defining the brand value and true purpose in order to stand out in 2022. It’s important to create messages and experiences that are true to the brand while still being relevant to the demands of the intended audience. In this case, relevance is just as important as reach. Leaning into brand purpose and delivering value in an honest and consistent manner may help brands connect effectively with consumers and produce business benefits
Stay ahead and put your best foot forward moving forward in 2022. These tips will definitely put you ahead of your competitors and connect your brand in a truly authentic and humanized way.
Focusing on DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) should be one of your digital marketing strategies for 2022 and beyond. Consumers will no longer be able to support brands they believe are unethical or indifferent.
