• by Tanya Gazdik , August 22, 2022

Photo Credit: Tanya Gazdik/MediaPost

General Motors has selected Majority for a multi-year assignment as creative agency of record for branded diversity marketing initiatives.

“As GM strives to be the most inclusive company in the world and looks to its vision of an all-electric future with zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion, it is imperative to ensure authentic representation among current and future customers,” the company says, according to a release. 

Majority shares GM's belief that this is a cultural inflection point -- not just for EVs, but for multicultural marketing, says Tarshena Armstrong, GM director of diversity marketing and development. 

“It’s about authentic connection, community, and a commitment to drive cultural awareness through inclusive marketing practices that earn cultural capital for GM and our family of brands,”  Armstrong says in a release. 

GM has come under fire for gaps in its diversity efforts. The automaker said last year that it was making “significant changes” to its model for partnering with diverse media.

The changes address multiple aspects of the media ecosystem, including overall spend, spend distribution, measurement, deal structure and infrastructure development, according to the automaker. 

The new approach will apply to a broad range of diverse media and includes the goal of increasing spend with Black-owned media to 8% by 2025.

GM said it has increased its overall diverse media spend, including doubling its commitment for spending with Black-owned media to 2% in 2021 and 4% in 2022.

The Atlanta-based agency is its fourth diverse agency of record, GM says. The other three are Carol H. Williams Advertising, Spike DDB and Casanova INC.

“Investing in sustainable growth and fostering equitable representation extends our reach and strengthens the communities where our customers live and work to ensure education about the transition to EVs,” Armstrong says.

The diverse-owned agencies will work with existing GM media, marketing, and experiential agencies McCann/Commonwealth, Jack Morton and Carat to help increase EV adoption, amplify cultural moments and social justice, and elevate the GM brand, she says.

Consumers are still in the “infant stages” when it comes to a perception shift around EVs, says Brandon Butler, chief content officer, Majority.

"But we need to make the category more inclusive,” he says “That means multicultural marketing can’t just be an exercise in consulting, versioning and micro-targeting. It must be a leading conduit to the popular culture that transcends our differences and connects us all.”

Majority, co-founded in 2021 by Shaquille O’Neal and Omid Farhang, combines a multicultural talent model with general market capabilities, with the belief that diversity is the ultimate competitive advantage for ideas that land in culture, according to the agency.