The International Advertising Association (IAA) launches ‘Come One,Come All’ campaign to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion across the advertising and marketing industry

• The ‘Come One, Come All’ campaign will increase understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion by putting forward the business case for greater DE&I to its members.
• The campaign is supported by IAA members such as Facebook, TikTok, Google, Nielsen, GALA, all of whom have come together to promote their own DE&I programmes. 
•  Comprises several initiatives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) aimed at promoting DE&I at a Board level and within IAA chapters globally, with a view to recruiting fresh, diverse talent to the advertising and marketing industry. 
•  The ‘Come One, Come All’ campaign launches at on 1 st November 2021.

LONDON, 1 st NOVEMBER 2021 – Advertising and Marketing companies must harness Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) as a strategic asset, and use it to drive innovation across their organisations. 

This is the message from Joel Nettey, the first African to be elected as World President and Chairman of the International Advertising Association (IAA) in its 83-year history, and Dagmara Szulce, its first female Managing Director, who are overseeing the rollout of the organisation’s ‘Come One, Come All’ campaign to its 4,000 members across 56 countries globally. 

The campaign aims to celebrate diversity amongst its members and to showcase the depth and breadth of talent across the advertising and marketing industry. 

As part of the campaign, the IAA has set up a Diversity Council to oversee the promotion and implementation of DE&I policies across the association and its constituent members and their organizations. 

The IAA has also developed a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which offer a constructive roadmap to achieving their DE&I goals, including:

• Encouraging greater diversity through webinars, training and workshops, 

• Undertaking research and discussions that are contextual to a specific country’s requirements and laws, 

• Sharing best practices across all sectors of the marketing and communications industries 

• Setting the ambitious target of employing at least 50% of their workforce from more diverse social, economic and geographic backgrounds within three years. 

The IAA believes the Diversity Council will be an effective tool to ignite change internally and to advocate for greater diversity to their membership globally. IAA’s Corporate Members will partner with IAA to drive transformation around the world. 

Commenting on the campaign launch, IAA Chairman Joel Nettey said: “Companies should embrace DE&I as a strategic tool and try to harness its potential to further their growth strategies. Once you see DE&I as an opportunity, then it becomes less of a challenge and more of a strategic asset that has to be developed and nurtured.” 

IAA Managing Director, Dagmara Szulce, added: “While some companies and organisations claim to be diverse, DIVERSITY has been IAA’s secret sauce for the last 83 years, due to its geographical reach. This campaign is about celebrating who we are as creative professionals, based on our unique experiences living and working in many different cultures around the world.”

As part of the global campaign, the IAA has also created a dedicated networking app to bring the IAA family together in a more connected way, allowing members to embrace diversity, to exchange ideas and to collaborate more freely. 

It will also showcase a diverse range of people from the IAA’s roster, including employees of Facebook, TikTok, Google and Nielsen to highlight the individual differences but also dramatize the diversity, equity and inclusion values that connect them all.

“We also want to attract fresh talent to the IAA and to the advertising industry, so this campaign is also a way for us to reach out to people from different backgrounds, cultures and life experiences who might be interested in starting a career in advertising. We want them to connect with us, hence ‘Come One, Come All,” said Dagmara. 

Although the advertising industry has not always been known for its diversity and inclusion, the IAA believes things are changing for the better, and it is keen to lead by example on an issue which is set to define the industry in the years ahead. 

“There is still more to be done but the industry is now more open, diverse, equitable and inclusive than it has ever been, but we all need to work harder to accelerate that change. At the IAA, we know that amazing things happen when different backgrounds come together. Whatever your creed, class, colour or gender – whoever you are, the IAA welcomes you,” said Joel.

The ‘Come One, Come All’ campaign is part of a broader campaign, the IAA Global North Star, which will showcase the IAA’s values to both its members and the wider advertising world. 

The IAA officially launches its ‘Come One, Come All’ campaign on 1 st November 2021.