‘Proactive and Not Reactive:’ How Charity NSPCC and Agencies Sustain Diversity Efforts

Deep in the lockdown era of the Covid-19 pandemic and shortly after police in Minneapolis murdered George Floyd—sparking global protests against systemic racism and police violence—creator Dan Mosaku received a package as part of a brand partnership that he’d been hired for.

Declining to name the brand onstage last week at Adweek’s Social Media Week Europe, Mosaku recounted a rather obvious oversight on the part of that brand, which he said had representatives seated in the audience. Inside the package was a bodysuit that Mosaku was instructed to don before creating content for the campaign. There was just one problem: Mosaku is Black, and the bodysuit had white skin.

“I was either going to be a Black person wearing a white bodysuit, or I was just going to do it naked, essentially,” Mosaku, known on Instagram as @danagram_, recounted. He opted for the second option. “I was just naked, which is fine, whatever. But I was blown away.”

DEI can’t be reactionary

Looking back on the surge—and then slump—of brand activity around diversity, equity and inclusion in 2020, it’s clear that a reactionary strategy doesn’t cut it.

Instead, diversity efforts must be well understood at the organizational level to avoid missteps like the one Mosaku experienced and to have any long-term staying power.

During a panel discussion led by Brittaney Kiefer, European creative editor at Adweek, Mosaku was joined by Courtney Zitola, strategic marketing manager for children’s rights organization NSPCC, and Serhat Ekinci, managing director of diversity-driven Omnicom agency UNITE.

Brands have a tendency to treat diversity and inclusion like any other trend, Zitola said. But to do it well, “it should come from within. So you need staff, customers and volunteers to hold your brand accountable so that you’re not waiting for other people to tell you to do something. You’re being proactive and not reactive.”

For agencies, Ekinci pointed out the importance of both identifying and defining a campaign’s audience from the beginning and having people of diverse backgrounds leading the projects rather than simply asking for the advice of Black or brown colleagues after the fact.

By allowing that specific audience to help shape the direction of the campaign, the work can be more appropriately tailored all the way through, he explained, and therefore more effective.

“The ‘conscious inclusion’ approach is all about defining your audience right from the beginning,” said Ekinci.