• by Larissa Faw , April 6, 2017

Adland needs less talking the talk and more walking the walk to solve its big diversity problem.

That was the message from 72andSunny CEO Matt Jarvis and COO Evin Shutt at a 4As conference session where they discussed actions they are taking to make their agency significantly more diverse.  

"Don't be afraid of quota conversations," says Jarvis. "Diversity doesn't advance without purpose. Unset goals never get met." To that end, 72andSunny mandated that its next 100 people need to come solely from diverse hires. This may make finding talent longer and harder, he says, “but we feel this is an important step in our progress by stating explicit goals.”

"Access to the future isn't equal," added Shutt. "That is unacceptable."

The tendency for those in advertising is to find a secret and keep it, said Jarvis. "We are not going to play that card today," he added.  “We need to scale change to make a movement."

It's important to empower everyone.

"Make diversity a company initiative not a leadership initiative," says Jarvis. 72andSunny tells its staff that "we need help, come to us with ideas on how to advance this. Then if they see a problem, they will want to do something about it."

It's also critical to try different things, some of which may not work out. "This is a work in progress," says Jarvis, who added he prefers to see steady advancement over perfection. "Reserve the right to change your mind. We are going to mess this up. Try different initiatives." The overriding factor should be having the right intentions.

And don't try to reinvent the wheel. He recommends borrowing from the best ideas and customizing them for their companies. 72andSunny, for instance, is introducing the “Returnship” program aimed at women who took time off and want to return to the workforce. “We didn't invent this idea," adds Shutt.

Next, the agency is looking at childcare programs to better serve its parents. It has also formed a partnership with LA's DaVinci charter schools to better prepare students for tomorrow's careers.