What Agencies Are Doing to Encourage Discussion, Reflection and Celebration During Black History Month

Diversity can sometimes be a buzzword when it comes to corporate culture, but a number of agencies are putting their money where their mouth is and amplifying black voices in celebration of Black History Month. Adweek sent out a call to learn more about what agencies are doing to honor minority contributions for Black History Month and beyond. Deutsch Deutsch is pulling together efforts from its New York and Los Angeles offices to produce several experiences in a nod to Black History Month. Mikaela Liboro, who serves as vp and director of communications for the agency, said Deutsch will host a panel discussing the experience of black women in corporate America moderated by Bridget Kyeremateng from Tumblr with panelists Marieme Sall of Deutsch, Kai Deveraux Lawson of Mixed Company Podcast and Shannon Ross of Spotify. [kickout id="7" label="deutsch"] Taking it a step further, the agency is presenting a workshop series, an Afrobeat dance class and two art installations from artists Jill Knox Powell and Zahyr Lauren. The agency said its core is in its talent and that “creating an inclusive place for our employees is our number one priority.” Argonaut San Francisco-based agency Argonaut recently kicked off a gallery along with a panel that features black leaders from varying industries in honor of Black History Month. The gallery showcases an exhibit featuring African American photographer and podcast host Erik Umphery, who has worked with Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah and countless others. [kickout id="3" label="argonaut1"] The gallery is Umphery’s first, and the artist has vowed to help the next generation of creators by “donating all art sales, profits and proceeds to a local organization geared toward providing support for local, underserved youth communities with resources to grow, learn and express themselves creatively through the arts.” [kickout id="4" label="argonaut2"] Maura Heilbron serves as Argonaut’s head of culture and said the agency’s goal, as “advertisers who have the privilege of telling stories on mass-viewed canvases, is to truly reflect the change we want to see in the world.” TBWA\Chiat\Day Black History Month is about “recognizing and paying homage to the individuals who have trailblazed, built, led, contributed, created and inspired the U.S.,” said TBWA\Chiat\Day chief diversity officer for North America Doug Melville. The agency said that while many of those trailblazers' accomplishments were never acknowledged, “it is our duty to take the time to understand America’s past and to lay a pathway through creativity to celebrate the contributions of all black Americans.” The agency is hosting two events to celebrate the month, including Intermission, a monthly event celebrating artists and those who create spaces for artists to thrive, which will showcase a performance and conversation with the singer and rapper Angel Haze. Additionally, their next installment of the Disruptor Series will feature Debra Lee, the former CEO of BET and the founder and CEO of Leading Women Defined. According to the agency, the company recently launched an ongoing project called OneSandbox, a curated search platform built to showcase diverse makers and vendors in the creative space and connect them with brands and agencies looking to develop a more inclusive supply chain. Anomaly Over at Anomaly, the agency is celebrating Black History Month by taking a closer look at black identity and culture in its many forms. Expect a panel where experts in media, journalism and culture discuss what it means to be black. There will also be musical performances from British rising talent Samm Henshaw and hypnotic singer-songwriter Niya Norwood. [kickout id="2" label="anomaly"] For those hungry for more, a cooking demo highlighting tastes from the African diaspora is planned. Culinary artists and educators Cleopatra Zuli and Travis Young will explore black food history through an interactive cooking demo, preparing an Afro-Italian version of ragu alla bolognese, a traditional Italian favorite that found its way around the globe and onto African diasporic dining tables. Finally, the agency will also host a cultural trivia night inspired by everything black and pop culture. “We strive to have an excellent culture, which importantly, must be born out of a culture of excellence. And to be truly excellent in our business requires a genuine understanding of people of all backgrounds, colors and identities,” said Franke Rodriguez, partner and CEO of Anomaly New York and Toronto. “That’s why we’ve made Cultural Awareness Programming an agency priority over the last three years; it gives us a chance to celebrate all of these diverse cultures.” Marcus Thomas Cleveland agency Marcus Thomas is focusing its efforts on representation by honoring “the power and resilience of black professionals who have left a mark on the advertising industry.” Internally, the agency will feature the stories of creative directors, CMOs, and diversity and inclusion thought leaders. A social campaign recently kicked off where agency staff shared whom they admire most in the industry, resulting in thoughtful observations about their own African-American staff and local leaders. Publicis The holding company has a number of initiatives across its network. [kickout id="8" label="publicis"] First, Publicis Groupe’s talent engagement and inclusion team developed an awareness campaign specifically targeted to senior agency leadership that brings visibility to several black executives who have and continue to leave their mark in business. The email campaign includes profiles of former BET CEO Debra Lee, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, Vista Equity founder Robert F. Smith and others. Individual agency and business leaders have also created their own programs to call attention to the myriad contributions to celebrate the men and women of color who blaze trails. Publicis Groupe’s Men of Color Alliance (MOCA) took the opportunity to launch in the Chicago market. The Collective, which is made up of Starcom’s BASE, Spark Foundry’s NOIR, Digitas’ ONYX, Leo Burnett’s Shades and Publicis Groupe’s VivaWomen of Color business resource groups, is collaborating to make Black History Month programming available across agency silos. Colle+McVoy The Minneapolis MDC shop is hosting special activities throughout the month, including an exhibit called “Where Are All the Black Designers?” created by Augsburg University design student Olivia House. [kickout id="5" label="colle1"] As a black graphic designer, Olivia wanted to showcase the work and contributions of her predecessors. Giving specific focus to black designers during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, Olivia spent months researching and compiling designs from the artists she uncovered. The result is a series of 18 posters featuring eight designers that can be viewed throughout the agency. [kickout id="6" label="colle2"] Additionally, Colle+McVoy is hosting an agency event with The BrandLab called "Identifying Racial Blind Spots in the Creative Process.” The conversation will dissect and discuss recent and historical advertising that has crossed the line of racial or ethnic sensitivity. Havas The Havas network will, once again, have its #BlackAtWork experiential activation and programming across its three offices in the U.S.: Havas New York, Havas Chicago and Arnold. With an eye toward creating a more accurate reflection of the community, the platform seeks to celebrate, educate and positively influence the network. Each office will have this interactive experience, and Havas is raising funds for Black Girls Code, and locally, has developed partnerships with black-owned businesses, influential black artists, and diversity and inclusion networking groups in the industry and beyond to ensure conversations about representation. Every year, the activation is led by black employees and allies, who design a concept rooted in the current black experience at work. In this way, the activation remains, according to the agency, "authentic and culturally relevant." [kickout id="1"] Activations from the past two years garnered close to 45 million media impressions, sparking countrywide conversation. Forsman & Bodenfors In New York, the Sweden-based agency will screen one of four African-American-focused movies—The Hate U Give, Selma, Black Panther or Coming to America—which will be chosen on Feb. 18. Internal newsletters will curate black-owned businesses, local Black History Month celebrations and events and will feature key moments in black history. Additionally, the agency will celebrate the month via Instagram with what it calls a “timely design” curated by one of its art directors. Wavemaker Wavemaker operates with a "culture first" mindset, and Black History Month is a time of "collective consciousness through celebration that reminds us that black history is our history and that we are committed to celebrating our different cultures and empowering our people," according to associate director of marketing and events Porscha Scott. [kickout id="9" label="wavemaker"] During Black History Month, the agency will be hosting its Art Noir Exhibition to celebrate diversity through various forms of artistic expression, including photography, film, graffiti, music, spoken word and digital art. The exhibition is available to all agency employees to express themselves alongside other leaders in the industry. They'll also have an in-office activation called #FutureMakers Perspectives: Giving Black, a digital series that celebrates black leaders from the past and present each day of the month. Allen & Gerritsen "Black History Month is a time to reflect on the past and inspire A&G's commitment to consistently evolve and bravely challenge ourselves to be inclusive," said CEO Andrew Graff. [kickout id="11" label="A&G"] One of the ways the agency plans to show this commitment is by hosting regular panels hosted by Graff where members of the community will join their team and help them with difficult conversations like racism and criminal justice reform. The agency will also host a Boston Globe Spotlight series on Racism in Boston. (The Globe's Spotlight team is known for its investigative reporting and for having uncovered the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal.) The panel will be hosted in partnership with inclusion firm Global View Communications. Ogilvy To honor the contributions of African-Americans and fueled by the tumultuous political climate, Ogilvy partnered with its professional network Black Diaspora to take a look at what needs to be done still in the U.S. to address diversity issues. Among their findings were that 77 percent of Americans think racial and ethnic inclusion is a necessity now more than ever, 82 percent would like to see a change from political leaders and 81 percent would like to see it from corporate leaders. Taking that a step further, 61 percent want to see more authenticity from brands, as they don't think that many are as inclusive as they could be. Thirty-nine percent said they've even stopped using a brand they felt wasn't inclusive enough. The agency uses Black History Month as a time to reflect on and commemorate contributions from African-Americans throughout U.S. history and today. Their goal is to "provide a voice to today's racial pressure and tension. ... There are more diverse faces than before, but the industry still has a way to go. Against this background, the efforts for a more inclusive workforce does not pause. Americans are expecting diverse representation in their political leaders, the brands they choose to consume and in their places of work," the agency said. IPG The agencies under holding company IPG are honoring Black History Month in a variety of ways, from hosting movie nights and panels and podcasts to bringing in guest speakers and showcasing artwork. IPG itself will release a Black History Month reading list and newsletter, and its Black Employee Network along with FCB will host a career insights podcast that features black executives. IPG Mediabrands will showcase a documentary that spotlights subway musician Bennie D with a panel on how black employees can bring their authentic selves to the workplace. MullenLowe Focusing more on the long-term, MullenLowe has an initiative in place called Black@Mullen to help create a more cohesively diverse workplace. It was created by "challengers within [the] agency" as a welcoming lunchtime space for new hires of color who are settling into the Boston office where they can share thoughts, food, music, books and more. "The focus on hiring people of color is good but is not enough," said president of MullenLowe Boston, Kelly Fredrickson. "We need to be equally focused on creating an environment where people can bring their full selves to work, where people want to stay because they feel comfortable. It takes a lot of energy to come to work and do your job well, [and] on top of that, people of color have to expend energy feeling like pioneers each day," expelling emotional labor to educate others. During Black History Month, Black@Mullen is only using black-owned restaurants to cater its meetings. "Everyone knows that diversity is good for business, that it’s good for creativity," said Fredrickson. "We are letting Black@Mullen lead us in how to make it real at MullenLowe." Goodby Silverstein & Partners GS&P is launching a platform for minority voices "to have raw and unfiltered discussions about life and work." The platform, called Talk Shop, comes from GS&P Voices, its diversity and inclusion initiative. In the first episode of its inaugural series, GS&P will celebrate Black History Month by creating a space for black employees to talk about what the word "woke" means to them. It will also look into the history of black folks working in advertising, "the heroes of today and ... our hopes for the industry tomorrow." [kickout id="10" label="GS&P"] “It’s important to carve spaces for people to have open and honest conversations about issues affecting diversity and inclusion. Talk Shop aims to normalize uncomfortable dialogue across a variety of topics,” said Crystal Thomas, account manager and co-founder of GS&P Voices. 72andSunny Across its New York and Los Angeles offices, 72and Sunny is commemorating the month in various ways. [kickout id="14" label="72andsunny3"] Both offices will host panels sponsored by the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media (New York's Feb. 20 panel is titled "Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made" and L.A.'s Feb. 13 panel was called "Gotta Keep on Tryin'"). Black employees at both offices will also share recommendations on books, articles, black-owned businesses to frequent and music with fellow colleagues via email. The New York office will replace the names of its 15 conference rooms with the names of prominent black figures with accompanying art installations of these figures and will have a portrait gallery of its black employees set up elsewhere in the office. Some examples to be seen in the conference rooms are Martin Luther King Jr., Audre Lorde, Miles Davis, Misty Copeland, and more. There will also be a happy hour at the end of the month with interactive artwork and live performances from musician Asase Yaa, the Brooklyn-based Fire Flame Steppers step team and Harlem-born artist Jay West. [kickout id="12" label="72andsunny1"] In the Los Angeles office, they'll have a screensaver takeover with quotes and photos of prominent black figures of today. They'll also have a VR experience of the Spike Jonze Millions March and will close out the month with a step performance and live painting from Blue the Great. Doug Zanger contributed reporting on this story.