Wunderman Thompson: Creative that better reflects the world

Opportunity

Agencies often advise their clients on inclusive design and creative, but – given the volume of work and pace of production – it’s equally important for agencies to reflect on their own practices, and ensure work fairly represents the world around it. The BRiM initiative offers a framework for agencies to do so – and improve Black representation in front of the camera, behind the scenes, and across the industry.

Initiative

The BRiM framework shows there’s lots to do, but to make real impact Wunderman Thompson is focusing on a few key initiatives to start. Firstly, we focused on introducing the agency to BRiM through all agency meetings, outlining the role and responsibilities for all of us in being more inclusive and representative.  Next, we began auditing our work across top accounts to understand existing levels of Black representation and enabling us to set goals and benchmarks for improvement.  We’ve also introduced new proprietary technology that applies AI to analyse creative assets at scale through the lens of Black representation and are now piloting it on our largest client, assessing nearly 1000 assets to date.

The second stage is to optimise internal processes to ensure Black representation is considered in the development of work – from updating casting brief templates, to reviewing production partners, and exploring partnerships to attract Black talent.  To enable this, we’ve trained our 100+ strong account management team on how to leverage the BRiM framework and apply to here and now.

Impact

“We are beginning to see change on the back of our action, but whilst it won’t happen fully overnight, the BRiM initiative and framework are helping to amplify our efforts and accelerate progress. We’re now looking to expand awareness and usage of BRiM across the wider group and continue to elevate the importance of better Black representation with our clients.”

Caroline Foster Kenny, Wunderman Thompson Global Chief Client Officer

Return to the BRiM homepage here