Vendor diversity initiatives at ad agencies are beginning to pick up positive momentum, with shops such as GSD&M, Austin, Texas, actively seeking and in some cases hiring qualified minority and/or woman-owned production houses for select projects.
One of the architects of the GSD&M program is Anita Laney who served as that agency’s staff director of vendor program diversity for three-and-a-half years before opening in November 2005 her own Austin-based independent venture, Professional Partnering Solutions, which specializes in vendor diversity consultation to companies in different sectors, including the advertising industry. Among Professional Partnering Solutions’ clients are BBDO Detroit and GSD&M.
Based on the inquiries she’s received, Laney expects an increasing number of agencies to proactively pursue vendor diversity in the months ahead. Further underscoring this movement is last month’s Omnicom Diversity Summit at DDB New York, during which Laney made a wide-ranging presentation on the subject, addressing such areas as what clients look for and best practices.
“A big push in the advertising community for supplier diversity is developing,” related Laney who noted that in some respects the GSD&M approach could become, and in some instances is serving as, a template for other agencies.
A GSD&M outreach program to find out about minority and/or woman-owned production houses generated “an overwhelming response” from reps and companies, related Laney. Greg Lane, senior VP, director of media production at GSD&M, noted that as part of the creative/production department outreach, agency staffers attended industry confabs and events to get the word out that they were interested in minority/woman-controlled shops. The agency received and collected assorted production company reels, culling the field down, said Lane, to 16 houses with some 18 directors who were appropriate for GSD&M work.
This has translated into GSD&M collaborating with such production companies as women-owned Trio Films, Nonfiction Spots, Heather Levine Productions and Digital Voodoo, and minority-owned La Banda Films. Lane added that GSD&M is striving to uncover additional talent and companies, that the agency is committed to continuing to build its list of minority and woman-owned shops. He has found the process to be gratifying personally and professionally.
“We’re finding qualified companies that are minority or woman-owned–companies that in many cases we weren’t aware of before, thus adding to the resources we are able to tap into,” said Lane, who noted that the agency isn’t hiring some of these shops simply because they meet an ownership requirement but rather due to the fact that they have the talent and expertise necessary to deliver a high quality product that meets GSD&M’s standards.
According to GSD&M, its overall spending with “diversity partners” was greater in June 2006 than it was for the entire first year (’04-”05) of the program. Now GSD&M is in phase two, related Laney and Lane, looking to unearth minority and woman-owned editorial and music companies. Lane added that the agency is working with Fast Channel on a category database that identifies such production, post, music and other supplier companies so that these potential resources can be accessed by the industry at large.
CLIENT CATALYST Indeed broadening the base of minority and women vendor partners is a prime item on the agenda of many clients. Estimates are that some 90 percent of the major U.S. advertisers have formal supplier diversity programs. For example, GSD&M client AT&T has a longstanding supplier diversity program. But only recently have clients begun requesting that their suppliers–including ad agencies–look to increase diversity spending among their own vendors.
Laney recalled that an initial catalyst for GSD&M was a now former client, The Texas Lottery. GSD&M looked into vendor diversity in response to the Texas Lottery, then hired Laney in April ’02 and tackled the issue in earnest. She said the agency commitment to the program has been strong, with GSD&M’s broadcast and creative departments taking a lead role in identifying minorities and women who own at least a majority stake in industry supplier companies. Laney said it’s been her experience that there are fewer production companies owned by minorities than by women.
As for the aforementioned BBDO Detroit, its client Daimler Chrysler has instituted a business initiative to encourage vendor diversity. In turn the agency has sought outside suppliers in different disciplines. On the production side, for example, BBDO Detroit has connected with Quintessence Multimedia, an African-American-owned, Philadelphia-based house best known for its video production on regional commercials. BBDO Detroit, said Laney, is identifying appropriate projects for Quintessence, exposing that shop to national spot production and helping it to attract directorial talent that could lend itself to higher profile assignments.
CERTIFICATION Certification is often required to confirm that businesses are at least 51 percent owned by minorities and/or women. Two leading private organizations providing such certification are the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Individual states also offer certification.
Laney noted, for example, that Daimler Chrysler stipulates that suppliers have to be certified by the NMSDC in order to be included in the advertiser’s vendor diversity program. GSD&M’s Lane added that certification is important because it “prevents anyone from just setting up a shingle and saying ‘I’m minority owned.’ You need some proof in the form of paperwork which is subject to review.”
LOOKING WITHIN Meanwhile, as outside vendor opportunities open up, diversity within ad agencies has become a hot-button topic in some circles.
A nearly two-year-old Human Rights Commission investigation into agencies’ alleged poor track record in hiring African-Americans continues next month. Leading agency executives have been subpoenaed to testify during Human Rights Commission public hearings scheduled for Sept. 25-29 in New York. That’s the same time as Advertising Week, an annual New York event designed to celebrate the ad community’s achievements and its contributions to society.
