This article originally appeared Adweek on June 18, 2018
By Patrick Kulp
Bold Culture champions diversity in the industry
From Martin Luther King Jr. intoning over pickup trucks to Kendall Jenner defusing protests with Pepsi, one need not look far to see why an agency like Bold Culture is necessary in today’s advertising world.
The Black Paper took the ad industry to task for failing to market to diverse audiences.
The five-person communications firm specializes in helping agencies and brands reach diverse audiences in a way that doesn’t make their eyes roll: by working from a thorough understanding of different cultures rooted in diverse hiring and retention practices. Founder and CEO Darren Martin Jr. explained that these companies need Bold Culture because they “lack the talent or cultural insight and nuance within their own office,” describing the process as a “business transformation.”
Earlier this year, the agency—which has worked with Netflix on the marketing around Spike Lee’s show, She’s Gotta Have It, as well as ABC’s Freeform and TBS—published a widely read white paper called The Black Paper, which analyzed how brands are failing to reach black consumers. Next up, the Latinx community will get the same treatment. Martin says the approach encompasses everything from hiring and retaining diverse talent to public relations and marketing.
“We have to put the thought of diversity, inclusion and equity into the marketing campaign and into the hiring, sure, but also into how we train midlevel managers and senior-level managers,” Martin said.
