All In campaign to build greater inclusion in UK advertising

The Inclusion Group, formed in April 2020 by the Advertising Association, ISBA and the IPA and chaired by Kathryn Jacob, CEO, Pearl & Dean, is launching All In, a campaign to help build back a better, inclusive industry for all.

The first element of the campaign will be a fully confidential and aggregated industry census on March 10, 2021. Recorded and analysed by Kantar, it will provide the very best record of the make-up of UK advertising’s workforce and a vital benchmark for progress. The results will be used to inform an Action Plan to be launched at an industry summit this summer addressing how greater inclusivity across all areas of the industry’s talent will be achieved.

The All In Census will be a short survey, easily completed online within a 30-minute window. All UK advertising and marketing services professionals will be invited to complete the survey. The distribution of the Census for March 10 will be supported by the members of the Advertising Association, IPA and ISBA to reach the teams at thousands of agencies, media companies, brands and tech companies.

Kathryn Jacob, Chair, Inclusion Working Group, said: “We know there is a systemic problem to tackle in our industry, that of fully inclusive representation in our workforce. To make the most meaningful change, we must set a benchmark to measure and track progress against. This census is a vital starting point for everyone to help build an industry that truly represents the world we live in today. I encourage people to spread the word – March 10 is the day for all in our industry to come together and say ‘I’m In’.”

Says IPA Director General Paul Bainsfair: “While our IPA Agency Census allows us to track the health of the agency business, and has provided invaluable trend data from as far back as 1960, this new study will allow us to see a far wider picture of the full industry landscape: agency, advertiser and media owner. It will also allow us a greater depth and more granularity into diversity and inclusivity than our Agency census allows.

While we ask our agencies for their company data, this additional Census will put the onus on the individual. Allowing the opportunity for individuals to share information that their company either may not have been aware of, or that they might not have felt comfortable sharing with them directly. The clearer the lay of the land, the easier it will be to pinpoint the areas we must address together for the collective good.

Jerry Daykin, Senior Media Director, EMEA, GSK, said: “This Census is a hugely important moment for all of us in UK Advertising to get involved in. It will provide the much-needed confidential and aggregated data to make real progress against. We cannot expect our agencies and partners to take this action if we don’t do the same ourselves, so at GSK, we’re all in – we will be asking our marketing team to take part on March 10. I hope all those in leadership positions across our industry, at brands, agencies, media owners and tech companies, do the same.”

4creative proposed the name for the All In initiative, and branding agency Two Stories designed the promotional campaign. Members are encouraged to make their own personal commitment to be All In through social media channels in the run-up to the Census. The goal is to generate the biggest number of recorded entries as possible of those people working in the industry on the day of March 10, 2021.

The Census will be completely confidential and aggregated, recording all aspects of diversity and inclusion to provide the industry’s leaders with comprehensive data for the first time on how the industry performs on inclusivity. It is intended to inform actions that the Inclusion Group will put into place to make genuine and concerted progress on building a workplace that is inclusive for all.

The Inclusion Group will be conducting an All In countdown to the Census and is looking for support from across the industry to show that they are in, with their own ‘I’m In’ and ‘We’re In’ messages to help secure the biggest number of participants.

Any company wishing to take part can register their interest to receive Census details to share with their teams on the All In page at the Advertising Association website.

Diversity and Inclusion in the advertising industry will be explored in detail in our new publication. A Future of Fairness, due to be published on 10 February.

Related posts

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.