Publicis Media Launches Once & For All Coalition to Build More Equitable Ad Ecosystem

July 7, 2021, New York – Publicis Media today announced that it is embarking on a multi-year, industrywide initiative to remove industry barriers to equitable financial opportunity and representation of underserved and ethnically-diverse suppliers, ultimately helping marketers uncover opportunities that more closely mirror their brand values and drive growth with audiences in a multicultural world. Through a cross-industry consortium called the Once & For All Coalition, purpose-driven brands; collaborative, diverse and general market suppliers; and multi-practice agency executives will join forces to focus on creating solutions in three core areas:

• Establishing Equitable Investment with Minority Owned and Targeted Media Supply
• Development of Minority Creators, Content and Media
• Advancing Sustainable Infrastructure Requirements and Best Practices

Coalition membership is open to all Publicis Groupe clients and 21 companies from across the organization’s client roster have signed onto its first wave of participation. They join 23 leading minority owned and targeted suppliers from both traditional and emerging content credibility, with an early focus on Black and Hispanic. The Coalition also includes industry groups such as the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) and will continue to expand to include more members over time.

More than 120 leaders gathered for a kick-off meeting with category experts that included Lawrance Lee Evans Jr, Managing Director, US Government Accountability Office; Dr. Jisu Huh, Ph.D, professor and advertising scholar; and Jaemie L. Neely, supplier diversity expert. Together, they participated in a candid group discussion, dedicated panel and breakout sessions, as well as an economist review of spend benchmarking against minority owned media suppliers. Participants discussed possible solutions within the three primary focus areas, as well as shared accountabilities for moving the Coalition forward.

This Coalition will continue to meet quarterly with leading economists, data scientists, academics and other external thought leaders to explore diverse, global and game-changing solutions that contribute to the greater good. The output of this group’s efforts will be open-source for the entire industry – not just active participants.

As part of this collective effort, Publicis Media and client participants will make a firm and multi-year commitment to increasing investment against minority owned and targeted media, as well as a financial commitment to fund research, measurement, content creation and evolving infrastructure solutions as deemed necessary by the Coalition. Publicis Media will also invest $25MM into diverse content creation via its APX Content Ventures offering, which is dedicated to finding, funding and elevating partners and properties that amplify diverse voices, empower women and build community, connection and trust.

“True equity requires sustainability and our goal with the Once & For All Coalition is to take a long-term approach, consistent with the population change and fast-rising majority,” said Lisa Torres, President, Cultural Quotient, Publicis Media. “We have spent many years working toward more inclusive investment and supplier diversity, but in order to drive true change we need all industry players working together.”

“We’ve worked hard to help CMOs and their teams rise above challenges blocking them from realizing their full multicultural market growth potential,” said Lisette Arsuaga, Co-Founder of AIMM. ”The Once & For All Coalition complements the work we’re doing in the space. We are happy to represent the collective perspective of AIMM and ANA members and work in partnership with our industry peers to start to break down those barriers and further elevate multicultural and inclusive marketing.”

"Nielsen is committed to a better media future for all people. We’re honored to work with this coalition, and help lead the way in driving real progress in cross-media measurement and performance," said David Kenny, CEO, Nielsen.

“We’ve chosen an open source approach as a reflection of the scale and importance of solving a critical challenge that has held back the exponential growth of brands and marketers for far too long,” said Talia Raviv, CEO, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX). “A challenge in effectively reaching, engaging, and winning the hearts and minds of a highly valuable consumer segment of color and unique identity.  We believe this collaborative approach is what is needed to truly deliver collective results, not just today, but for many years to come”.

The Once & For All Coalition is one of many initiatives Publicis Media has championed for its clients over the years as a way to enhance inclusive investment and create more diverse supply in the marketplace. The Coalition will provide a year-end summary and progress report in Q4 2021.