Feet in the door: can training schemes dent adland’s diversity problem? Often criticized for a lack of diversity within their walls and in their boardrooms, the last year has forced ad agencies to reflect on their diversity and inclusion policies. With many ad shops hoping to tackle the issue through education and training schemes aimed at funneling in a new school of talent, we explore whether the strategy is working.
“Like most agencies, we hadn’t been doing enough,“ admits Camilla Kemp, chief exec of M&C Saatchi. Spurred on to respond to concerns raised by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement last July, her agency introduced Open House, an eight-week virtual training program made possible by lockdown and the industry s new remote way of working.