Let me digress a little. If we take a critical look at diversity officers hired in the wake of 2020, most have been fired or deployed to other departments due to lack of inadequate funding or lack of a long-term strategic goal. This simply means 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. Yet we see that Africa’s predicted GDP will increase from $2 trillion today to $29 trillion by 2050, which would mean that Africa will produce more GDP than the U.S. and Eurozone combined.
Because of the lack of diversity, we are not projecting growth like the tech firms and the potential of what is ahead results in low investments within the Black community. So, it’s a matter of knowing diversity is not about a good feeling but structuring it as a way for potential growth.
Getting Black at Cannes underway was to make brands and agencies understand what our goals were, which has been a hassle to date.
AW: What were the roles of those directly involved in making it happen?
PU: We tasked ourselves with finding the right Jurors, ensuring we had the right partnerships with brands and agencies whose goals were aligned with ours. Our roles were geared toward how we could achieve the change we needed in the industry.
AW: How involved did Cannes Lions actually get to support it?
PU: Simon Cook [CEO of Cannes Lions], Philp Thomas [CEO of owner Ascential Futures] and the Cannes Lion team were very welcoming to the idea we pitched back in 2020 during the lockdown, and we projected this idea of creating change with the infusion of suggesting more Black jurors and they were very supportive. When we thought of how we could honor Spike Lee, they applauded it by creating a new category called the Creative Maker of the Year. Spike received the maiden edition of it. This was a welcomed change and a path the industry should emulate.
The response
AW: What was the response like to the initiative for the first year?
PU: The response from the Black community was overwhelming as Black creatives had never seen so many of us at Cannes in our numbers.