Minneapolis MadWomen, a non-profit dedicated to promoting racial and gender diversity in the Minneapolis creative industry, recently held a first of its kind event that saw executives from 21 area creative agencies gather to discuss diversity issues and collaborate on ideas of how to close the gap for those underrepresented in creative fields.
The North Leadership Summit and participating agency leaders plan to work together to implement several new diversity and inclusion initiatives, focusing on three major issue-based categories: recruitment of more diverse leadership, retention of the area’s existing diverse talent and pipeline growth.
Minneapolis is the sixth largest city for creative shops in the nation. Participating agencies at the North Leadership Summit included: Adventure, BBDO MPLS, Carmichael Lynch, Colle+McVoy, Fallon, Fast Horse, GoKart Labs, Hogarth, Latititude, Little & Company, McCann Minneapolis, MentorMate, mono, Mirum, Olson, Periscope, Rabbit / broadhead, Peterson Milla Hooks, SixSpeed, Space150 and Zeus Jones.
DIVERGE spoke to MPLS MadWomen VP and communications director at Fallon, Alex Steinman to find out more:
Why is the work that MPLS MadWomen does so important?
Many individual agencies have initiatives and structures around diversity and inclusion, yet we’ve seen little and slow movement in the amount of diversity in advertising agencies, particularly in leadership roles. It’s not just about exposing a broader pipeline of talent to the industry, which is the focus of most diversity programs. We have to also grow our existing diverse talent and hire diverse leaders who will then encourage more pipeline growth. Just as women are more likely to be hired on merit than potential, so are people of color. We have to be willing to train people and grow them into their full potential.
The Mpls MadWomen North Leadership Summit invited c-suite executives from 21 agencies in Minneapolis to work together and think through regional initiatives to build a more diverse North. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” so we benefit from doing this work together as opposed to individually. Our goal is to give women and people of diverse backgrounds a voice in this industry.
What were the initiatives that were discussed?
We left with three areas of focus:
1) Recruitment of diverse leaders. The idea of a regional diversity recruiter was very appealing.
2) Retention of existing diverse talent through leadership training, coaching, development and sponsorship.
3) Growth in the pipeline by continuing exposure programs and expanding them to include more accountability, opportunities/paths to full-time employment, and even subsidizing housing costs.
We will be meeting with agency advocates in early February to keep things moving and develop a plan of action for 2017. This is a long-term project that we anticipate will change the face of advertising in Minneapolis and hopefully inspire other cities to work together. It will take time, consistency, and dollars, so we’re building a plan together with the agencies.
Can you elaborate more on the “this is a movement” quote?
Agencies were not built for diversity. It doesn’t take more than one Mad Men episode to understand what agencies looked like. Women were relegated to the front desk and people of color were rarely seen. This was reflected in the ads these agencies made. Though we’ve made a little progress in six decades since the Mad Men era, the systems of exclusion built long ago still exist. There are many diversity initiatives and pledges out there, but we need less moments of advocacy and more sweeping action to create a movement of change. Mpls MadWomen is the movement. You can’t just shift a model that was built on exclusion. You have to build a new model that works for everyone.
Why is diversity so important in advertising agencies?
As communicators in everyone’s homes and phones, we have a responsibility to talk to everyone. We should better reflect the communities to whom we market our products to. More diverse workplaces make more diverse work, and we should be able to speak to the greater community with appreciation, not appropriation, for the cultures from which we borrow. The more racial, gender and socio-economic diversity we build at the top of our agencies, the better we’ll be able to recruit, retain and grow our talent.
Additional thoughts:
Mpls MadWomen hosts events throughout the year that spark conversations around women in creative fields. With more than 2,100 members, we strive to give women the voice and courage to pursue their ambitions in advertising/marketing, tech and entrepreneurial fields.
