Your Black Employees Are Hurting. They Do Not Want a Tweet. They Want Real Inclusion

Some courageous brands stepped up to bring a voice and take a stand in the face of injustice. Ulta Beauty announced a donation to the Equal Justice Initiative. Nike and Adidas, in a groundbreaking move, stood together in solidarity sharing Nike’s “Don’t Do It” creative. YouTube pledged $1 million in support of efforts to address social injustice while a myriad of other brands put out statements in support of racial equality. My company is also committing an additional $10 million to groups working on racial justice.

As a marketing practitioner who led multicultural marketing at two Fortune 500 companies for a significant portion of my career, I have been contemplating whether these actions are truly impactful in driving forward true justice, or is there something more meaningful, more impactful that we can do to truly drive change?

As an Afro-Latina and the mother of a Black son, I am personally hurt and enraged by not only the recent events, but the history that has brought us to this breaking point. I will not allow myself to just sit in that anger, but my hope is to mobilize the industry into true impactful action.

We, as a marketing community, have stood at the forefront of bringing forward perceptions of diverse people since the days of Mad Men. We are the storytellers; we literally hold the pen to craft the story of how the rest of the country sees Black culture. As we embark on yet another ugly chapter in our country’s history being written, it is our responsibility do more. We must do more than release a statement, make a donation or craft a beautifully written tweet. This is our moment to drive true change for a consumer base that has served as the muse for aspirational culture for decades. From music to food to clothing, brand advertising has rested and built its success on Black culture and, in return, Black people have demonstrated their commitment to our brands.

How do we move from making this a moment-in-time donation or a public statement to real sustainable commitment to diverse consumers? There are three clear actions we should all be taking within our respective organizations right now if we really want to declare that #BlackLivesMatter:

1. Commit to hiring, retaining and advancing diverse talent across the organizations that are responsible for bringing this work forward. Commit to bringing in agencies that understand and reflect the dimensions of culture. Diverse insights and resonant work come from those who can connect with the very consumers who are the curators of culture. I have spent my entire career climbing the ranks of corporate America, often one of the most senior brown people in many a boardroom. Your Black employees are hurting. They want advancement opportunities, mentorship, promotions, support, visibility and real inclusion. A real commitment is reflected in the diverse talent pool at your organization.

2. Commit to really understand and reflect these audiences through best-in-class work that elevates diverse communities. This includes investing in meaningful consumer research and going beyond surface-level insights to develop work that is truly resonant. For far too long we have rested on the same superficial insights that are reflected in the work—a portrait of Black families around a dinner table, a Latina mom doting over her multiple children, the cool brothers spot chatting it up at a barber shop or basketball court. Get into your diverse consumers’ homes with detailed ethnographies, spend the resources to get a statistically significant sample on your next brand equity study and develop multidimensional knowledge of diverse people the way you do for your other segments. A real commitment is reflected in robust research budgets which leverage targeted quantitative and qualitative insights that develop depth of diverse consumer understanding.

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