Diversity PR: For diverse campaigns, your team has to be diverse and your client must see the money

A couple of days ago I attended CIPR’s seminar on cross cultural PR and diversity. The presentation (which you can find below) was given by two very knowledgeable PR professionals Silvia Cambié from Chanda Communications and Bieneosa Ebite from Bright Star PR. I quite liked a quote Silvia had on one her first slides:

“The business secret of the future will be about including and inspiring people who in the past we thought did not belong.” Annette Verschuren, President and CEO, The Home Depot,
Canada & Asia

The above quote and the presentation got me thinking. Here are some of the main points from the CIPR seminar and a few of my thoughts:

• Oftentimes we are aware of diverse groups, but we don’t think of them when planning our campaigns. For many, it is just matter of keeping these groups on top of mind when we begin our planning process.
• Purchasing power of minorities is growing. Those who ignore them now will be missing out, those who ignore them tomorrow will become irrelevant.
• For now, getting attention of minorities is easier, because not that many brands are targeting these groups. In many industries companies calculate how much it costs them to acquire one customer. This number should be lower among minority groups.
• Cross cultural and diversity PR won’t succeed as one time thing. Companies need to dedicate resources to continue the dialogue.
• To create effective diversity PR campaigns, agencies need to have diverse teams who understand different cultures and the ways they interact with brands and consume news.
• Innovation is driven by diversity. Different cultures -> different points of view -> new ideas