How much of a diversity issue does media strategy have?
Strategy Leaders
Greater diversity of thought is critical to the future of media strategy, warns Havas Media Group’s CSO.
In my two previous columns I have referenced diversity as an issue facing media strategy teams. In exploring what the future of media strategy might look like, it is worth examining this in more depth.
The question isn’t whether media strategy has a diversity issue, because like our entire industry of course it does. The question is how much of a diversity issue it has, what problems this causes, and how might we go about changing it moving forwards?
A typical way in
There is a very typical path into strategy in media agencies. Talent is usually employed in a client service or planning role for a number of years before transitioning into a strategy role.
I’m guilty of this, having started as a digital planner buyer, before moving quickly into planning. After eight years I made the leap into strategy.
And indeed, it should be said that I got a lucky break. The head of strategy who employed me at the time had told me there was nothing about my CV that suggested I’d be good at strategy, which goes to show the critical importance of the interview process.
While it was a truly brilliant strategy team, it was made up of four white, middle-class men and me. And while I could argue a few things about my background set me apart, I’m born and bred in the South-East and am disconnected from huge swathes of the UK.
If we are to design communication experiences for people from all walks of life, we need more representation across our strategy teams.
Seniority
Strategy teams are often account director level and up. Some (including Havas Media Group) have strategy managers, but the centre of gravity within the teams is that of people with over a decade’s experience.
Yes, experience is critical as an asset in any strategy team; but not to the exclusivity of fresh ideas, unbound by years of practicality. This is particularly important in terms of connecting with youth culture, where it is so easy to get it wrong.
We need to find a way to integrate younger people into strategy teams, where combined with the experience of older members, some magic just might be created.
Complexity
The third issue is that of the complexity of strategy these days, which I have written about previously.
I have to confess; I feel like a bit of a dinosaur when speaking to young entrants to our industry. Growing up as true digital natives, their understanding of the complexities of online journeys and customer experience is next level. This type of knowledge could be fantastically integrated with more traditional strategists, who are more often than not, comfortable further up the funnel.
Seek out new talent
What we need to do is abundantly clear. We require greater representation of the people we are trying to target. To do that we need to find a way to find and integrate people of different backgrounds.
I see that there are three things we need to do.
Apprenticeships, and preferably paid internships, are an obvious, although not always easy, way forward. Younger people from disadvantaged backgrounds still find it far harder to find a way into our industry (and that’s if they even know about it).
Brixton Finishing School, the outreach and training accelerator programme, is a great example of creating this type of change, but we need a lot more of these types of things.
At Havas, we have taken up the government’s Kickstart scheme, which offers six-month jobs for young people aged 16-to-24 who are currently claiming Universal Credit and are at risk of long-term unemployment.
We top up the scheme, and our strategy and insight team have just taken on a new intern as part of the initiative. This is a really exciting prospect, although it doesn’t go far enough.
We can all do better, and it is incumbent upon those of us in senior strategy roles to find ways to bring greater representation into our teams. There is such a clear benefit, not only to the individuals involved but also because young fresh ideas have significant commercial value, too.
Reverse the hiring process
This links to the second thing we need to do: change the recruitment process.
Typically, we advertise a role, receive a number of CVs, sift through those CVs, create a shortlist and then interview that shortlist. That’s a lot of time and effort before you get a feel for the actual candidates themselves. With strategy, the proof is always in the pudding. It is vital to understand how someone thinks and how they approach challenges to know if they would be a good fit for a team.
Why don’t we reverse the entire process? Throw out a challenge, don’t ask to see a CV, look for creative and alternative responses to that challenge, and then interview. (To be clear I’m not suggesting hours of work from prospective candidates – that would be unfair).
Broadening what our teams do
Finally, we should integrate more customer experience (CX) specialists into strategy teams.
The future of such teams has to be entirely full funnel in a world where there is no longer a distinction between media and distribution.
Many strategy teams are comfortable in the top- and mid-funnel and can just about make their way through the bottom of the funnel but are not truly integrating the whole consumer journey. Here again, there is an opportunity to bring in younger talent, which helps in other areas of diversity also.
Greater diversity of thought is critical to the future of media strategy. To be fit for purpose as we move forwards, we simply must have better representation.
Change doesn’t happen overnight, which makes it even more important we start now. It’s an incredibly exciting prospect, despite being long overdue.
Eva Grimmett is chief strategy officer at Havas Media Group
Strategy Leaders: Mediatel News’ weekly bulletin with thought leadership, news and analysis dedicated to excellence in commercial media strategy.
Sign up for free to ensure you stay up to date every Tuesday.