{"id":8472,"date":"2025-05-13T01:35:43","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T05:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/2025\/05\/13\/lgbtq-progress-comes-from-agencies-and-brands-knowing-and-sharing-their-true-selves\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T08:27:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T12:27:07","slug":"lgbtq-progress-comes-from-agencies-and-brands-knowing-and-sharing-their-true-selves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advertisingweek.com\/aw360\/news\/lgbtq-progress-comes-from-agencies-and-brands-knowing-and-sharing-their-true-selves\/8472\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBTQ+ Progress Comes from Agencies and Brands Knowing and Sharing their True Selves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Graham Nolan, Co-Chair, Storytelling and Partnerships, Do the WeRQ<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Talking with agencies, brands and holding companies over the last five years, I find their LGBTQ+ employee resource groups share similar, broad goals: Recruit\/retain queer talent. Create Pride events. Develop internal programming. Craft campaigns, if they have bandwidth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Now consider that there are likely dozens \u2013 if not hundreds \u2013 of adland ERGs, all working on these same challenges, outside their standard marketing expertise, usually focused on improving only their own companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This industry approach leads to lost potential \u2013 if you understand that diversity and equity aren\u2019t areas where companies have to compete. The entire industry benefits when it\u2019s more inclusive. Being an agency with an inclusive culture, dress code and bathroom policies won\u2019t be the things that win your pitch, so when you have supportive practices \u2013 why not share them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Cornett sharing their dress code policy with the world doesn\u2019t dim the shine of their campaign<\/a>. Conversely, it doesn\u2019t hurt an agency to borrow another agency\u2019s policy. I can see why Holding Company A wouldn\u2019t publicly brag about borrowing queer-inclusive HR policy if Holding Company B shares that policy publicly, but why wouldn\u2019t A imitate it, and offer it to their network agencies as a framework for policy-building \u2013 versus starting from scratch to determine new policies themselves? Neither company would lose any money in the process of making life better for all ad talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The overall problem with everyone trying to fix all these broad problems, for all LGBTQ+ people, in their own overworked siloes, is the \u201cboil the ocean\u201d hassle of it all. And a lot of agencies and brands intent on supporting LGBTQ+ progress don\u2019t know where to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo I have a right to be in Pride?\u00a0 Is Pride the right focus? Would I receive backlash? If my company doesn\u2019t deliver DEI perfectly, can we jump in without having fixed all our policy imperfections? Is it a cultural fit for us to support trans people or drag queens, if we don\u2019t knowingly spend with those communities in our business operations?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The truth is: aggregate progress will boom when everyone does their part – taking incremental, specialized steps for the greater, non-competitive good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

For those ready to commit to progress \u2013 during a four-year period where it will be sorely needed \u2013 the most important thing you can do is determine what piece of collective progress you can own, then share it like never before. Doing so will actually advance your competitive position, btw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Here, steps you can take to shift from generalized, siloed effort towards specific, shared impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Build on What Your Brand Is<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Versus tackling the broadest challenges of the community, determine your position in the market and apply that<\/em> strength to incremental and achievable goals. I am picking agency brands at random for my hypotheticals, but:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n