The advertising and communication world has paid a lot of attention to diversity and inclusion over the past year. Also at Steam, an Amsterdam-based advertising agency specialising in employer branding, had the topic high on its agenda. Hans Kroonen, director of Steam, not only wants to look at the extent to which Steam deals with diversity and inclusion internally, but also wants to start a movement within the entire industry.
“As an advertising agency, we believe it is our responsibility to create inclusive communications. That is why we have initiated a conversation by and for peers.” – Hans Kroonen, managing director Steam.
To mobilise other agencies, Steam organised a meeting for representatives from various agencies. Watch it back here. ADI lists the main points and conclusions for you in advance:
- As an image maker, it is especially important to radiate diversity through the content you create. This not only ensures recognition of your product or brand among minority groups, but also contributes to normalising a society in which everyone participates.
- For diversity and inclusion, you have to go the extra mile. After all, it doesn’t come naturally. And you may have to reinvent yourself.
- To make a sector more interesting to a particular target group, you have to actively go out into the open, perhaps even by already speaking in schools about what that sector can offer. An example. For customers, an equal male-female ratio within a company adds value. In certain sectors, achieving that equal ratio is a challenge. Say you want to hire more women. Áf there are already women working for you, they have to take the stage to do so. For example: if a woman gives a guest lecture, other women are more likely to think: “Hey, I want that too; I want to work there too!”.
- You need to be able to advise clients well on representation. This goes better if you are diverse yourself. If your team is sensitive to diversity, it is better to avoid pitfalls. Because if, for instance, you put a clear stereotype in your product, you will stumble not only as an agency, but also as a client.
- Sometimes it is uncomfortable to talk about diversity, but as an image maker, you can still make great conversation starters. An example is an advertisement from Starbucks, in which the transgender protagonist is finally called by his correct name, James, after being called Jemma all day long. This commercial was very well received, partly because, as a viewer, you really empathise with James and you clearly get the message that Starbucks is doing ’the right thing’. So as an advertiser, whatever the brand or whoever the client is, you can always consciously choose to include statements about diversity and inclusion in the content you create.