P&G's Marc Pritchard on Brands as a Force for Good, and Personal Goals

As a role model for the media community Marc points to PampampG39s growing relationship with National Geographicamp160 quotThe Nat Geo mission is to make the world a better place with a focus on reducing plastics improving the environment gender and racial equality among other effortsquot he saysamp160 quotWe39re creating content that integrates how our brands are making a differenceamp160 They39re great stories and our brands are part of the story in an authentic way rather than a commercial sponsor of the storyamp160 We39re exploring similar opportunities with multiple companies where we have common values and interestsquotBoth in his PampampG leadership role and as Chairman of the Association of National Advertisers ANA Marc has been the industry39s leading evangelist for advancing diversity and inclusionamp160 quotThere39s a heightened awareness and desire to make a difference in the areas of equality gender race LGBTQ people with disabilities religious economic and culturalquot he saysamp160 quotBut while expectations are high progress is somewhat glacialamp160 We need to hold ourselves accountable and we should hold ourselves to a higher standardamp160 We cannot lose sight of our progress especially on closing the gaps in gender equality but much more needs to be doneamp160 For example numerous studies indicate women are still paid an average of 20 less than men worse if you39re a woman of coloramp160 Twentynine percent of advertising still inaccurately or negatively portrays womenamp160 Fewer than fivepercent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women less than onethird of CSuite and chief creative officers in the advertising agency business are women only 10 of commercials are directed by womenamp160 Among marketing companies only 6 of the leadership is Black 8 Latino 10 Asian well under the actual populationamp160 Among agencies only 4 are Black 5 Latino 10 Asianamp160 Among the LGBTQ community there are still those who are concerned their career will be negatively impacted if they selfidentifyquotWe39re at an important tipping pointquot Marc continuesamp160 quotGreater diversity has been proven to build businessamp160 There are multiple layers of evidence that diverse teams achieve greater successamp160 PampampG and the people we work with are passionate about making more progressamp160 The people we serve expect more from brands and companies to do more for society as well as their businessesamp160 Nine out of ten consumers make purchase decisions based on shared beliefsamp160 Other studies indicate that over twothirds of Millennials and Gen Z plus majorities of Gen Y and even Boomers expect brands to take standsquotMarc highlighted a new campaign for the Always brand that personifies how social good and good business can intersectamp160 quotThe Always campaign LikeAGirlamp160took on adolescent girls39 drop in selfconfidence and contributed to brand growth providing a foundation for PampampG39s recently launched Always campaign EndPeriodPovertyamp160 Twenty percent of high school age girls are skipping school because they can39t afford feminine protection so Always has committed to helping quotEndPeriodPovertyquotamp160 In total Always is committed to donating 165 million products in the US and Canada through schools that participate in the Always Puberty and Confidence Education Program amp160Marc also points to Olay39s campaign in China promoting the idea that age is not based on a number of years but rather on a number of experiencesamp160 quotWe39ve taken on norms of what age means and what it looks like in Chinaquot he says quotIn the US Olay defies the myths that women are 39too ambitious39 39too emotional39 or 39too anything39 with its FaceAnythingamp160campaignquotMarc believes quotwhat39s good for society can be good for business but purpose needs to be connected to business resultsamp160 Just as a focus on better quality leads to better business results we39ve learned that genderequal advertising performs better in driving sales and profitsamp160 For example brands adopting the SeeHeramp160commitment to accurately and positively portray women in their advertising messages perform 10 higher in trust and up to 26 higher in sales growth amp160Being a force for good is a force for business growth when it makes sense to consumers and to our partnersquotAs Marc looks to the future he quothopes to see a broader range of intersectional diversityamp160 We want to include all groupsamp160 The world today is attuned to gender race LGBTQ culture economicamp160and religious diversity and inclusionamp160 What39s next is pushing on broadening the definitions thinking in an intersectional way and holding ourselves accountablequotMarc advocates for two things that he believes will be helpful to move diversity and inclusion forwardamp160 quotFirst is deeply understanding why it matters which requires educationquot he saysamp160 quotPeople we serve expect more from usamp160 They want to know our point of view and they expect us to take actions We need to make the business case that diversity can have a positive impact on their market and profitabilityamp160 I advocate for business leaders testing diversity initiatives and seeing how their brands can make a difference and be more successfulquotamp160 As he looks to the nearterm future Marc recognizes the important and widening role of men stepping up in next 12 monthsamp160 quotIt will be a very important change more men involved in advancing the diversity and inclusion agenda as well as a growing focus on equipping men to have emotional intelligence and in many cases having the courage to take actionquotSecond Marc suggests that brand marketers media executives and agency professionals join one of the industry efforts and learn from othersamp160 quotWe constantly encourage marketers to join the SeeHer movementamp160 Companies have joined together to encourage an accurate portrayal of women and provide gender scores to measure performancequotamp160 He39s an active supporter of FreetheBid which along with its founder Alma Har39el will also be inducted into the Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors on January 9amp160from 47 pm at CES amp160FreetheBid assures that one female director is included in bid requests for television commercial productionsamp160 Another initiative led by the ANA is the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing AIMM which uses the SeeHer quotplaybookquot to provide a performance score measuring employment advances across a spectrum of underserved communitiesOn a personal note Marc shared his daily goal quotI ask for strength every day to be useful to whomever I speak or engage withamp160 I39m privileged to be with a company as great as PampampG that has made a commitment to use our reach and voice as a force for goodamp160 My goal is to shine a light on bias advance diversity and inclusion and do good for our businessamp160 I39ve had many moments of truth in the past 20 years and I39m convinced the path I39m destined to take is to use my privilege and position to make a positive contributionamp160 I39m very grateful for having that opportunityquotOn January 9amp160at the ARIA Conference Center PampampG and Marc will be inducted into the 2nd Diversity Hall of Honors along with the ANA and its president Bob Liodice the 3 Movement Kat Gordon the NBA Pam El FreetheBid Alma Harel Budweiser Ricardo Marques Verizon Diego Scotti and Madonna Badger Badger ampamp Wintersamp160 The Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors is being underwritten by more than 30 media advertising and marketing companies under the auspices of AdvancingDiversityorg and MediaVillageamp160 At the event Sundance Institute will curate the industry39s first Creative Tension an immersive and engaging audience experienceamp160 More than 12 companies will also host an Inclusive Job Fair welcoming CES attendees to learn about career opportunities in media advertising and marketingamp160 Details for Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors and Inclusive Job Fair are available at AdvancingDiversityorg and by contacting karlamediavillagecomClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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P&G's Marc Pritchard on Brands as a Force for Good, and Personal Goals

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