• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 14, 2020

Interpublic Group did something this week that the City of New York has tried to get all holding companies to do for a decade or more — release detailed data about the racial makeup of the firms’ leadership ranks in the U.S.

Back in the aughts, NYC held hearings on the ad industry’s lack of diversity. In 2012 and 2013, the city’s Office of the Comptroller submitted shareholder proposals at the annual meetings of Omnicom and Interpublic that would have mandated the release of the data IPG released Friday. Disclosure, the city argued, would inform the public regarding how the industry is progressing in its efforts to diversify its workforce.

Both companies opposed the city’s effort, arguing the data does not consider specific industry factors and that disclosing it would not help diversity efforts. The proposals were voted down by shareholders at both companies.

The data is collected every year (except 2020 due to COVID-19) as required by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, but in the U.S., companies are not required to disclose it publicly. I don’t know why, but it’s no secret that companies generally aren’t in the habit of releasing sensitive data they aren’t legally obligated to. Maybe they ought to be required to do so in this case.

IPG’s decision to release the data came amid a global outcry over social and racial injustice in the wake of the murder of African-American George Floyd at the hands of white police in Minneapolis.

It also followed a plea by 600 African American advertising professionals demanding (among other things) that the industry be more transparent about minority employment figures. And that’s how IPG CEO Michael Roth framed the reasoning behind the company’s decision — a ratcheting up in the company’s effort to be more transparent.

I never really understood the holding company rationale for not releasing the data in the past. It may not be a complete report card on industry efforts to diversify, but it does help measure progress or the lack of it.

And, as Roth has said on more than one occasion, the industry has made progress but not enough. As he noted in a company memo Friday: “We can all agree that we MUST do better.”

Kudos to him for taking this meaningful step.