UK Advertising Is All-In for a More Inclusive Industry

The first census recently ran in a bid to better understand the reality of ad inclusion

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The past year has seen issues of inclusion take center stage. As a mirror of our society, it is important that the global advertising industry joins together to see whether we truly reflect the world around us and, if not, what can we do to bring about change.

On June 10, the Advertising Association, Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) shared the findings of the U.K. advertising’s first-ever industrywide survey: the All-In Census. It also revealed the crucial industry action plan that the results have shaped.

The impact of All-In

All-In has also inspired a global roll out of the same inclusion survey via the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and Kantar, which will go out later this month. After the doomed U.K. Eurovision Song Contest entry recently, where we yet again came bottom of the leaderboard, it’s heartening to see that the nation can redeem itself by leading a global response on something so positive in a different area of creativity.

Engaging the creative, media and marketing agencies, brands, media owners, tech platforms and production companies that took part was key to the start of All-In, but that was just the beginning. We ended up with a unique snapshot of the makeup of the U.K. advertising workforce, not only with how we all identify but also how we feel about where we work.

The All-In Census and Action Plan is part of a long-term campaign launched by the three organizations. This powerful alliance means that, via our collective memberships, there is reach that spans across the U.K. ad industry. All-In’s ambition is to improve inclusion and representation within the industry and for everyone who works in U.K. advertising to feel that they belong.

Making progress

The ad industry is making great strides in improving how people are depicted in work, which has seen a positive impact on consumers. Consumers are increasingly responding positively to advertising that challenges stereotypes and reflects the diverse society we live in. The public thinks the ads are more relevant and enjoyable. They also increase brand loyalty and drive purchase intent.

With this ongoing focus on the work we create, the Advertising Association’s Inclusion Working Group wanted to take a step back and give the same attention to the people who create, buy and sell advertising. By improving representation in our workforce, the work would inevitably be more authentic and would also help attract talent long into the future.

More than 16,000 professionals across the advertising industry in the U.K. completed the census, most on March 10, the day we chose to ask leaders to give their staff time to stop work and be All-In. Thanks to those pledges and a subsequent media and social campaign, #AdvertisingAllIn was trending at No. 1 on Twitter in London on census day. The website crashed on three occasions that morning because the interest was so strong!

This incredible reaction cemented what we had already observed: that the pandemic has escalated the need—and our desire—to fix some of the issues we have talked about for years.

This vital data has informed the first phase of the All-In Action Plan, which has set out three initial areas of focus:

  • To improve the experience and representation of Black talent.
  • To improve the experience and representation of disabled talent.
  • To improve the experience and representation of working class talent.

Shocking statistics

Although there is some good news within the results, particularly in terms of representation, there are some shocking statistics to come out of the questions around our experience at work.

For example, 32% of Black talent is likely to leave the industry because of a lack of inclusion, and 22% of disabled talent is likely to leave their organization. An area where we need to do much more to improve representation is social mobility, as people from a professional/privileged background outnumber working class people by almost two to one.

The All-In Action Plan has a deliberately simple structure. Initially, there is just one very clear ask of the industry for each of the actions above. We hope that if we all do the same three things at the same time, we can make significant progress. And the simplicity of the calls to action is not to dismiss other issues that were reinforced by the data. We are already working with groups including Media for All, Women in Advertising and Communication Leadership (WACL), Outvertising and industry charity NABS on other actions to be announced later this year.

Our hope is that we can act together to take advantage of the increased appetite for this change. Despite a year of enormous challenge, we have seen collaboration at its best. Our industry has the power to influence change, and in the last year has helped support the U.K.’s National Health Service by encouraging us all to stay at home and get the vaccine. Now we need to harness that power to influence change for our workforce.

We all have a part to play in achieving an inclusive industry. Inclusion is for all of us and needs us all to be All-In.