The World Federation of Advertisers has issued a guide addressing diversity and representation issues within the media planning and buying process.
Developed by the WFA Diversity Task Force with the support of GARM – the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, the report highlights areas where bias can occur and proposes solutions.
Topics addressed include:
Inclusive audience planning, which offers advice for ensuring audiences are diverse and inclusive at the planning stage.
Supporting diverse voices, which illustrates ways to make deliberate decisions on inclusive media spending and building partnerships with media owners to help activate those decisions.
Balancing brand safety with diversity to consciously manage brand suitability and safety alongside inclusion.
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Measuring all audiences fairly and investing in research.
The guide presents case studies and includes campaigns and resources from WFA and GARM members, such as Bayer, Diageo, GSK, Reckitt, Ebiquity, Google, Meta and Twitter.
The new document is a follow-up to a similar effort issued last year that focused on the creative process and can be downloaded from WFA’s Diversity & Inclusion Hub.
Isabel Massey, global media director at spirits marketer Diageo and newly named co-chair of the WFA’s Media Forum and global media board, stated" “It is our responsibility to not only create content that is reflective of today’s society, but for it to appear in media that is diverse and inclusive, too.”
She noted that Diageo has committed to a substantial global investment over the next two years to media platforms and publishers working to make mainstream media more diverse and inclusive.
“There is still so much more progress to make, and we need to work together with other brands, media owners and agencies to drive industrywide change,” Massey said.