In an upstairs room inside Manhattan’s New World Stages performing arts complex, marketers filed in to meet with Ice Cube. Seated next to his business partners, entertainment lawyer Jeff Kwatinetz and basketball player Nancy Lieberman, the rapper encouraged brand marketers to divert more investments into diverse-owned media properties—specifically into media opportunities with his three-on-three basketball league, Big3.

The rapper’s business team was one of many assembled over two days at Magna’s third annual Equity Upfront event—one of the few giving diverse-owned media suppliers the platform they need to connect with and pitch brand marketers. The suppliers took center stage inside an intimate theater that sat no more than a few hundred marketers. There, suppliers of color introduced themselves and their businesses, while showcasing their audience demographics and performance metrics.

Perched at the center of a complex and sprawling media ecosystem and wielding their clients’ millions (or sometimes billions) of dollars, holding companies like IPG are powerful. How they and their clients decide to invest their money can impact entire ecosystems. Investing in diverse-owned suppliers, as many at the event pointed out, can disperse wealth throughout communities of color and strengthen the overall economy.

The alternative, all too often, is burgeoning investments in behemoth digital media platforms like Facebook, Google and Amazon. Or, troublingly, accidental investments in fake news or far-right news sites. Magna negotiates with platforms on behalf of IPG’s media agencies and their clients, and as the organization responsible for facilitating partnerships, its efforts can make or break the holding company’s equity and inclusion goals. Namely, Mediabrands’ commitment to invest 5% of collective client dollars in minority-owned platforms by the end of this year.

Many brands are “not really holding each other accountable,” Ice Cube said. “They just hold each other’s hand.”

The rapper is right: 5% isn’t a lot, especially considering that approximately 13.6% of Americans are Black. But it is higher than the current industry standard, which by many estimates is a meager 2%.

The event helped marketers learn more about and expand their relationships with suppliers. Samantha Granberry, global senior manager in charge of multicultural partnerships, influenza engagement, and advancing health and Black equity at pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences, expanded the company’s existing relationship with Urban One after watching its presentation at last years’ Equity Upfront.

“We are so far away from where we want to be. Many commitments were made in 2020 around how much was going to be spent,” said Cavel Khan, chief commerce officer at media collective Group Black.

“It takes you,” he told the crowd. “You have outsized impact. You, as marketers, don’t just deliver against the short-term ROI—you have a broader impact on perception.”

Holding the holding companies accountable

Diverse suppliers at the event—The Africa Channel, Urban One Media, Group Black and more—told Adweek they were there largely to put themselves on the map. A few had specific monetary goals in mind.

Ryan Johnson, founder of gaming league Cxmmunity Media, told Adweek he hoped to raise $3 million to $5 million from partnerships struck at the event. It’s a crucial opportunity for Johnson, who partners with Twitch to host Cxmmunity’s gaming experience, and as a result loses a significant portion of ad revenue to the Amazon platform.

“For me, it’s not about necessarily how much we’re going to get,” Johnson said. “It was figuring out if we got anything at all. Are we ready, that next minute, to activate and execute?”

Diverse suppliers’ sales teams commend the event, but echo Johnson. Some challenges go unnoticed. “These upfronts are giving us that exposure, and we’re clearly seeing their results,” said Nikki Ambrifi, vp sales strategy and solutions at Big3. Less than a week after the event concluded, she’d already received several RFPs from attendees.

Ambrifi and her counterpart, Big3 svp of sales Brad Jacobs, find that workdays following events like these can be greatly challenging, forcing the duo to work overtime fielding marketers’ requests. The RFP overload has kept Ambrifi up until midnight. The pair’s experience is not unique among partners. Minority-owned suppliers often have smaller sales teams, compounding the problem.

“Now it’s up to Nikki and I to just hound everybody… and who knows who was there,” Jacobs said. The sales teams’ experience raise questions about how holding companies can continue supporting suppliers after hosting events that bring them together.

Despite these challenges, the event offers a meeting place where conversations begin. Recalling his ongoing partnership with the NFL, Ice Cube told Adweek, “I would love to do the same thing with these holding companies and figure out what’s the path to success.”

Diverse-owned suppliers speak out

Josh Rahmani, chief revenue officer of the audio division at Urban One, Radio One and Reach Media, and Tiffany Nasralla, chief revenue officer of Radio One subsidiary Interactive One, told Adweek they’re excited to see some marketers pivot away from “spot-and-dot” investments. Or, small investments that don’t lean into strategy.

The leaders hoped to encourage more brand marketers to work with them on thoughtful marketing strategies, as opposed to smaller projects that appear to check a box.

“We take the time—however much time we have—to try to educate [marketers] about our company, but also just about why it’s important to effectively reach and authentically connect with the Black community,” Rahmani said.

Echoing other suppliers who told Adweek it’s less about the event itself than what happens after everyone goes home, Ice Cube noted, “One day, we won’t have to do these kinds of special team events during Black History Month. It’s kind of all ‘checking the box,’ in a way.”