Here are some highlights from the last day of the in-person return of Advertising Week New York.

Multi-dimensional DE&I in advertising

In the past year, brands have been more focused on diversity in their advertising and vocalizing support for marginalized communities than arguably ever before. And yet, the session titled “Lessons in Authentic DE&I: Thoughtfully Impacting Branding and Advertising from the Inside, Out” began by questioning why there is still so much work to be done in this space. 

A major conclusion from the panelists was that part of the problem is the failure to view people as multi-dimensional individuals.

People are not monoliths who represent their entire demographic. Therefore, representation cannot come across as one-tone or an oversimplification of people’s identity. Instead of creating an ad campaign to reach the LGBTQ+ community, focus on the transgender community or the non-binary community, said Jamie Tredwell, managing director of brand partnerships at Pride Media.

“It’s like we pretend that there are only certain types of people that exist and only certain types of diversity can be represented in our work. And that’s what burdens the media,” said Nikki Darden, head of global marketing integration, DEI brand strategy and international brand engagement at Citi.

Moving beyond celebrity and featuring personality

The panel that I moderated today was called “WWE Experiences a Pop Culture Takeover,” where I interviewed the wrestling organization’s svp and head of global sales and partnerships Claudine Lilien and WWE Superstar duo The Street Profits, who consists of Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford.

The WWE is unique in the sports organization space because it emphasises entertainment within the game — as told in their name — but because of that, the WWE Superstars are skilled actors, not just athletes. Hence why so many of them go on to become blockbuster movie stars, like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena. But the goal that Lilien was tasked with when she joined the WWE in April of this year was figuring out how break through the personas that were crafted for the ring and humanize the characters with their personal interests and families.

The Street Profits have been used to execute on this strategy by leaning into Ford’s marriage with WWE Superstar Bianca Belair and showing the couple buying Snickers for a house party. Ford said …read more

Source:: Digiday