How BECA Is Paving the Way for Future Black Marketing Leaders

For veteran marketer Jerri DeVard and many of her fellow Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA) members, the annual pilgrimage to Cannes Lions is one that, in the past, felt like it was missing something.

“Cannes is like our Super Bowl, our Davos, our Allen & Co.,” DeVard said. “Whatever you think about as the ultimate summit, that’s what Cannes is for creatives. And so, when you think about how organizations are changing and examining and interrogating their results around representation, that is showing up in Cannes.”

The annual festival’s historic lack of diversity was just one of many reasons why the former evp and chief customer officer of Office Depot—who previously served as its CMO, and whose 30+ year career also includes leadership roles at ADT, Nokia, Verizon, Citibank and other blue-chip corporations—founded BECA in April 2021.

Another was the tragic murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020, a tipping point that began a new era of reckoning for brands and led to a seismic shift in attitudes toward DEI across the globe. It also birthed a movement of Black leaders and creators proactively taking the reins to enact change once the novelty of performative allyship wore off.

“I don’t think the George Floyd family will ever truly understand the depths to which he changed the world,” DeVard told Adweek.

BECA’s first order of business was the launch of The BECA Playbook, a two-year program designed to develop mid-level managers, called Future Leaders, based on the organization’s core pillars: “To share, learn, elevate and pay it forward.”

The Future Leaders of BECA and Cannes

BECA now includes 38 Black C-suite executives from companies including Mars Wrigley, Unilever, Marriott and Progressive. Eighteen members will be in Cannes this year, joined by eight Future Leaders who will present at various venues including the Palais Forum, Cannes Can: Diversity Collective’s Inkwell Beach, Stagwell’s Sport Beach, MediaLink Beach and The Female Quotient Equality Lounge.

It is a proven fact: More diverse organizations lead to better business outcomes.

Kenny Mitchell, CMO, Levi’s

BECA, along with its corporate partners, fully sponsored the trips—including airfare, hotel, registration and meals—for the group, who bested 21 fellow program participants in a competition.

“I just want to take it all in,” said Amanda Mitchell, one of the winning Future Leaders. “You see the pictures. You read about it. It’s hard to understand exactly just what you’re going to experience when you get there,” added Mitchell, who is director of wireless growth at AT&T and was nominated by AT&T CMO Kellyn Smith Kenny.

Mitchell’s presentation will explore AI and the quantification of Black creativity. She hopes it encourages brands to take more risks.

“We feel like brands are really nervous about offending,” she told Adweek. “And sometimes [they] make horrible missteps. But you want to do more than ‘not offend.’ You want to connect. [Our presentation touches on] not making some horrible mistake that will damage your brand, and then also [ensuring] you are resonating with the group that you want to speak to, and then also make money.”

Mitchell’s mentor, newly appointed Levi’s CMO Kenny Mitchell (no relation), will be on hand supporting her and all of the Future Leaders. It’s an experience he called “amazing” for building important relationships.

“There are many people that I’ve actually met during my many adventures in Cannes that have become business partners, co-workers [and] collaborators,” the former Snap CMO told Adweek, citing other benefits such as learning from leaders in the industry and taking those learnings back to their organizations to “better the work that you’re doing.”

The Black at Cannes Experience

Both DeVard and Kenny Mitchell acknowledge that in recent years, strides have been made to make Cannes a more inclusive experience, with activations such as Inkwell Beach, started by Cannes Can: Diversity Collective founder Adrianne Smith, and organizations such as Black at Cannes, founded by Peter Ukhurebor and Rich Dennis’ Group Black, which hosted a concert with Nas and a party with DJ D-Nice last year with plans to host similar events this year.

“Last year felt palpably different from years past attending as a person of color,” said Mitchell. “I think—for the first time—it felt like a bit of a critical mass of Black and brown folks, and hopefully we can continue to contribute to that.”

“Lizzo is performing at MediaLink Beach. Spike Lee will be there. Spike is getting a first-time award. BECA is having a one-on-one conversation with Spike that we’re excited about. Michael Johnson, the Olympian, will be there. [Author and National Youth Poet Laureate] Amanda Gorman will be there. So there is representation in ways that make us all proud. So, it has changed.”

She credits Smith for doing an “amazing job” of championing the DEI conversation abroad and strengthening the Black presence at Cannes in the seven years since launching CC: DC to address the lack of diversity in the advertising and marketing industry.

“When you go to Inkwell … you see all kinds of people there,” said DeVard, when asked about the possibility of some attendees seeing the space as exclusionary.

“It’s a total 360 experience. The food we eat. The music that’s played. The conversations that are had. [A] week of people hugging each other because they haven’t seen each other. If anyone has something against that, they don’t understand what the spirit is of what’s being done.”

An uplifting legacy

While BECA and its Future Leaders are excited about the week ahead, they stress that they will remain “undaunted” by what comes next: ensuring the next generation of Black marketers continues to get seats at the table.

“We will continue to advocate aggressively for diversity and representation in our organizations, in our work: who shows up on screen, who is behind the camera, who gets an ability to showcase their talent and creativity,” said Kenny Mitchell, adding, “It is a proven fact: More diverse organizations, more diversity of thought, more diverse leadership lead to better business outcomes.”

“One of the things that [is] profound about the BECA membership is that they are proven business leaders,” said Kenny Mitchell.

For Amanda Mitchell, who has another 18 months to go in the program, it’s already been “transformative.”

“To be in a room with people who have basically walked your same path and who are along that same path with you, and who are three, four steps ahead of you is absolutely incredible,” she said. “I’ve made lifelong friends with my teammates.”

“BECA has been the manifestation of legacy and impact and meaning and purpose—in life, really,” added DeVard. “When you can open people’s eyes to what it truly takes to be successful, and if they can hear it from people that look like them, then the confidence and the ability to achieve what you know you can is a beautiful thing.”