The partnership expanded Blackness in Full Bloom’s reach beyond Los Angeles and has provided Black Ambition’s founders with free training and resources. To date, Blackness in Full Bloom has helped over 30 Black-owned businesses continue to build their brands.
According to a recent Brookings study, creating and supporting more Black-owned businesses is one step to reducing the racial wealth gap in the U.S. Black-owned businesses drive the highest percentage increases in employees, revenue and payroll, but only make up 2.7% of employers. The more Black-owned businesses there are, the better it is for everyone.
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management’s Gather Against the Gap report found that “the racial wealth gap for Black Americans remains significant, with a direct impact on social and economic growth in the United States.” The median wealth for Black households is roughly $20,000 compared to about $180,000 for white households.
So while the number of Black-owned businesses grew between 2017 and 2021, the overall share remained disproportionately low relative to their share of the U.S. population.
The role of ad agencies
In addition to internal programs like Blackness in Full Bloom, advertising agencies can also provide support by:
- Evaluating supplier diversity: Create opportunities to support Black-owned businesses within procurement processes. Whether it’s as basic as coffee for the office or multi-pronged like allocating ad dollars with media companies, the intent shows a commitment to financial parity and equity. And the investment goes beyond promotion. This approach helps grow brands in a language that speaks to us all: dollars.
- Leveraging relationships: We all know someone who knows someone. It’s time we use our professional and personal resources to connect founders to key decision-makers who can help these businesses grow and thrive.
- Utilizing in-house resources: The most talented marketing professionals are housed within our agencies. It’s time we task small teams with implementing those brilliant yet shelved creative ideas in service of these businesses.
- Spreading the word: Use your agency’s social channels to spotlight some of your favorite businesses, help raise their visibility and provide free marketing, particularly since many have low or no marketing budgets.
Best-in-class
Despite the undoing of diversity initiatives in corporate settings and beyond, Google’s annual Black-owned Friday campaign is one example of how marketers leverage craft to support Black brands through culturally relevant content, marketing toolkits for businesses and technology (via shoppable content).