• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 25, 2022

WPP and its agencies have partnered with The Black Equity Organization (BEO) – a group unveiled this week and founded to advance justice and equity for Black people in Britain.  

The support includes a range of pro bono work, with Landor & Fitch developing BEO’s brand, narrative and visual identity. H+K Strategies is providing communications and PR support and GroupM and Mindshare are advising on media strategy, planning and investment.

Ogilvy is providing creative direction and development for BEO’s launch film along with a forthcoming campaign and activation.

The partnership follows WPP’s set of anti-racism commitments and actions made in 2020, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Those commitments are designed to advance racial equity and support Black and minority ethnic talent.

BEO also received funding from the first round of selected applicants to WPP’s Racial Equity Program which forms part of a three-year $30 million commitment to fund inclusion programs within the company and to support external organizations.

WPP UK Country Manager and GroupM UK CEO Karen Blackett OBE is a founding trustee of BEO, alongside influential Black leaders in the UK including  McKinsey & Company’s Dame Vivian Hunt, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy MP, historian and presenter Professor David Olusoga, and artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE.

BEO will focus on six key areas where Black people face greatest inequity:

• Driving economic empowerment and equity of opportunity
• Addressing unequal education outcomes
• Combating sources of racial discrimination within justice, immigration and human rights
• Driving representation and respect across all sectors of society
• Working to improve health and care outcomes for Black people
• Ensuring that Black families can access good quality housing and our communities have access to good quality public services