Diversity in Branding

A few weeks ago, the NY-based digital agency Phidel asked me to share my thoughts about diversity in marketing, both in the boardroom and in campaigns. As a French mixed-race woman working in the US, this question is always a bit unsettling to me. Not because I don't have an opinion, but because I can't see why it is even an issue. I can't help but question the relevance of a world without diversity. Why are we even considering the future as a homogenous world?

Nature’s default mode

I am, like everyone else, a witness to the racial, ethnic, religious, and political tensions throughout the world today. Yet when my gaze drifts away from humans and focuses on other forms of life, it is blatantly obvious that diversity is nature's default mode. All homogenous environments such as deserts are sterile, whereas all diverse environments such as the Amazon are thriving with life and growth.

And even throughout human history, all thriving regions and periods happened because of the brewing of cultures. From the Ancient world to the digital era we live in now, cultural and technological progress always happened when ideas are shared when people talk and when points of view collide. When we isolate ourselves, we don't grow or expand, restraining our perspective to what and who we already know, leads to comforting our viewpoint, not challenging ourselves, shrinking and retracting. Scarcity mindsets lead to obscurantism, war, science denial, and ultimately death. Most movies about a dystopian future depict uniform societies where freedom and creativity are annihilated to produce a dehumanized progress. Yet what invariably happens in those movies is the triumph of individuality, creativity, and freedom. From a purely Darwinian point of view, diversity is a matter of survival.

Thom Browne Fall 2009 - pitti uomo

Black Mirror

In a branding context, diversity is even more inevitable. Brands that don't embrace diversity in their leadership or campaigns will diminish their capacity to appeal to the market. It's hard to sustainably cater to what you don't understand. You can’t rely on reports and the occasional token consultant.

Today's society is diverse and will become increasingly so. Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) will be the most diverse and most educated cohort in the country's history. They're also born (for better or worse) with the Internet in their pocket and are very aware of environmental, political, social, and sanitary issues. they're engaged and hold governments and companies to high levels of scrutiny. They're attentive and have the means to access information. I can't imagine that brands resisting this generation's expectations and needs will last long. Long gone are the days of the WASPy advertising executives and their sales-y antics targeting a presumably homogenous market of American housewives. The uniform 1950s society ideal is over, the world today is too educated and too aware for that. We live in a complex society and we now know it. Gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, ability, size, education, nationality, ideology... these are all facets of humanity each of us carries within themselves and which play a role in our identities. For a brand to ignore this level of complexity is purely suicidal. But it is also hard to change deep habits like 'one size fits all', to stop, think and strategize around so much complexity. That said, the journey starts with common sense. A lot of insensitive and sometimes offensive marketing initiatives out there could be simply avoided if decision-makers were immersed in reality, the reality of a diverse society. That part is not hard, it only requires that boardrooms become less uniform.

From a Washington Post 2018 article with the following caption: Katharine Graham, first woman elected to the Associated Press's board of directors, is seated at left during a board meeting in New York City in 1975. More than 40 years later, many boards in America still look much like this. (AP)

Borrow but don’t commit

In 2017, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty with 50 shades of foundations with a striking visual campaign. Until then, the beauty industry giants typically carried around 20 shades, obviously ignoring a large market of more nuanced and darker skin tones. Why? I am not sure. Was it because they thought these customers didn't also need foundation? Or that they couldn't spend money in these categories? Or that they were already perfectly fine with the limited niche options on the market? Or more alarming, maybe they simply were not aware? Needless to say that after the success of Fenty Beauty's foundations, global makeup brands suddenly realized the revenue they were leaving on the table for so long. Had they been attentive to the market, had they included diverse leaders in their teams, this market would have been theirs, and they would have created value for their shareholders... At this point, it's an I.Q. test whether a brand thinks about diversity in its marketing initiatives.

In the retail industry, I have seen hesitations to onboard brands owned or operated by diverse designers and creators. There seems to be a deeply held belief that the quality isn't there... That even if they are good, they won't last the distance or that they can't possibly be professional enough to deliver. This voluntary blindness to talent is the real offense, especially when it comes to luxury brands in fashion and beauty that 'borrow' heavily on Black, Asian, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Queer cultures...

Organizations and brands that decide to ignore the world we live in will lose market share. it's as practical as that. The business case for this shift is so obvious, it is painful how oblivious certain companies are. Those who resist will disappear and those who embrace the world as it is will thrive. The only sure thing in this world is that change is inevitable.