Earlier this year, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) released its second global diversity, equity and inclusion census, which discovered that despite all of the pledges made across the industry in the two years since the previous census was run, little-to-no progress had been made within workplaces.

There has often been criticism of the accessibility of advertising’s premier annual event, the Cannes Lions of Creativity Festival. It’s been described over the years as being inaccessible to younger ad professionals and being largely white and middle class, which is the main demographic of the industry.

In an attempt to improve the representation of Black professionals, an initiative began this year, run by Peter Ukhurebor, a former managing director of multicultural marketing and advertising agency UniWorld Group. Black at Cannes was introduced with the aim of becoming a staple of the event moving forward.

With plans to expand the movement, Ukhurebor spoke about the need for the movement at the festival as well as the challenges faced in bringing it about and the achievements it has already delivered. He also revealed the plan for a new name and introducing a digital platform to help connect the Black creative community.

Making it happen

Adweek: Why was it necessary to introduce Black at Cannes for the ad sector in the first place? 

Peter Ukhurebor: In 2020, Black representation in advertising was at 6.6% in America, falling short of the 12% Black representation in the population, with leadership at some holding companies at 2.6% who identify as Black, while white executives were at 86%. This was our motivation.

With the passing of George Floyd, there was a call to action in the industry. Having conversations with leaders who wanted this change in the industry, like Mark Read, the CEO of WPP, we were focused on creating a pipeline system to infuse more senior executives by bringing them to the forefront of the industry. We created a road map of how to locate Black talent, get them hired and give opportunities to those already at agencies on the biggest stage in the industry, “Cannes Lion Festival.”

We approached the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity to make suggestions of industry leaders who were Black to increase the representation of Black Jurors on the biggest stage of advertising. This was well received.

Some agencies are looking at diversity from their corporate social responsibility rather than sustainability or growth strategies. So, the need to continue this path is not sustainable.

Peter Ukhurebor, founder of Black at Cannes

AW: Can you outline the work that getting Black at Cannes underway and what it involved? 

PU: It was not easy as we had loads of push backs and there was a lack of support from the industry, which saw us as another diversity initiative and not an organization interested in bringing sustainability and equity into the industry for the brands and agencies with a progression of infusing a culture centered ideology.

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