Fairfield’s Haddad & Partners puts new focus on diversity in advertising
Anyone paying attention to television commercials or print ads recently may have noticed a greater level of diversity in the on-camera talent. But according to Nicolet Gatewood, director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Haddad & Partners in Fairfield, things are a bit different behind the camera.
“The advertising industry, historically, has been largely almost segregated,” she said. “As of 2020, African Americans represented about 13% of the U.S. population, but in advertising we”™re only about 5.8% ”” and for the manager roles we”™re less than 1%. It is the same with Latinos, who are 18% of the U.S. population, but only about 8% in advertising.
“The irony and the saddest part about it,” she said, “is that the industry largely co-opts our cultural creations ”” Black and Latino culture, we see this everywhere ”” but the people are kind of shut out of the industry, for lack of a better term.”
Within Haddad & Partners, a creative digital marketing agency, Gatewood is leading the effort to enact diversification change for the better. She joined the agency in 2019 as manager of engagement programs ”” she came to the agency with a background in social justice activities and Black diaspora history, but was “fascinated by advertising” and was impressed with Haddad & Partners”™ corporate culture.
In the wake of the unrest following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer, the agency created the division that Gatewood now heads, giving her the goal of not only expanding the racial and ethnic diversity but exploring more opportunities for other demographics that faced closed doors from the corporate world, including people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community.
Photo by Phil Hall.
In October, Gatewood”™s division will observe its first anniversary in operation and she is pleased with the results generated to date.
“In October 2020, there were 32.5% people of color in the organization,” she said, pointing out the international nature of Haddad & Partners, which has employees in 16 countries. “In less than a year, we’ve grown that to almost 40% people of color. Our African American representation has grown from 5.8% to 8.5%, which is much better than the industry standard, and our LGBTQ-plus population was at about 11.76% and now we’re at 13.6%. While we are pleased with diversity progress, we know we still have much more to make.”
Gatewood viewed the embrace of workplace diversity as enabling a richer creative environment, noting that the agency asks “people to bring their whole selves to work because we believe it fuels their creativity and it makes them more comfortable with us and vice versa. That”™s where innovation happens, when you”™re truly comfortable and collaborative.”
Furthermore, the agency did not want to limit this diversification to its U.S. operations ”” Gatewood noted that Haddad & Partners was eager to break down barriers related to tech opportunities and internship programs that have rarely welcomed diverse applicants.
“If you look at our website development team, it”™s predominantly Latin American-based women,” she said. “We also partnered with Howard University to help fuel our internship program ”” we”™ve partnered with their marketing department and we’ve had a flood of interns from Howard, a number of whom have actually made it to staffers now.”
Gatewood reported that Haddad & Partners”™ clients have been updated on these efforts, which also included pro bono work on behalf of diverse organizations, including the Fairfield County Community Foundation and New York City”™s Harlem Gateway Waterfront Initiative to increase economic development and tourism in Harlem. The agency also leveraged these initiatives to land a major consumer account with Eco Style, an African American haircare line that tapped Haddad & Partners to aid in its rebranding and website update.
Gatewood”™s agenda also focused on the agency”™s Summer Studio program, which sought to address the level of minority underrepresentation in the graphic design environment by breaking down the economic accessibility barriers to this profession. Partnering with Sacred Heart University and the American Institute of Graphic Arts CT, the Summer Studio program enabled 10 students from Bridgeport to learn the basics of graphic design software programs and receive insight from guest speakers in the profession.
At the end of the program, the agency provided the students with a Microsoft Surface Pro to keep plus a one-year Adobe Creative Cloud subscription to help them practice their craft.
“We did a graduation ceremony and closing exhibition and 100% of the students graduated,” she added. “It was amazing.”