CorpComms Magazine

Several years ago, a food and drinks company launching a new product in three different flavours opted for a marketing campaign involving a trio of beautiful models. This may seem like a pretty innocuous move, but one of the flavours was liquorice, and the company chose a black model to represent it. After a huge outcry, the company was forced to apologise for the gaffe and redesign its marketing campaign.

As Zena Martin, managing director of diversity consultancy Acknowledge Communications, points out: 'If you are going to reach out to different parts of the community, you have to get it right.'

There is an increasing conviction within the public and private sector that attempting to appeal to different sections of the community is an important matter - not just because it demonstrates politically correct credentials, but because it makes sound business sense.

'From a commercial standpoint, research has shown that when you recognise a consumer group as being important, it inspires brand loyalty,' says Martin. 'A lot of gay people fly Virgin Atlantic, for instance, because it sponsors Gay Pride.' It is well known that the pink pound has huge commercial value, with a recent estimate suggesting the gay community earned more than £70 bn last year, but other 'minority' groups are also powerful. The senior market, known as the grey pound, is estimated to be worth around £280 bn, while the ethnic minority market, or brown pound, is worth approximately £35 bn.

Failing to acknowledge these communities can cut businesses out of lucrative earning opportunities - and as this issue is intimately linked to communications and public relations, diversity presents its own challenges to agency PRs and internal corporate communications directors. Experts believe that advisers need, first of all, to be able to guide clients on how best to appeal to a range of different groups. Secondly, they need to know which groups par ticular companies should or could focus on, and thirdly, they need to consider whether they should promote greater diversity within their own workplace.

Chris Genasi, chair of the diversity steering group for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), says: 'PR firms do not have to include members of particular minority groups to reach those groups, but their clients do. It can help, but it may not be practical to have every minority represented.'

A bigger tent

Nonetheless, many in the PR industry believe it should become more diverse and employ people from a wider range of communities. Rakhee Vithlani, head of multicultural communications at Weber Shandwick, says: 'It is important to have people from different backgrounds in this industry. We are communications professionals, and to communicate we need to have an understanding of other cultures ourselves in order to be able to advise our clients and deliver communications strategies that not only reach the right people but also avoid potential risks and unwanted controversy.'

Genasi may not feel that representation of every minority group is imperative, but he does believe that PRs have to be sensitive to the issues raised by an increasingly diverse UK society.

'Whether you are talking to clients or advising in-house, you have to make sure that you know which people a business should be reaching and you have to know how to target communications accordingly. You can bring in specialist expertise and you can go on training courses to improve your knowledge of a particular area, but the understanding has to be there one way or another,' he says.

The pitfalls of ignorance can be immense. Helene Martin Gee, founder of Hays INclusion Network and special adviser to Labour peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, cites one example. 'A footwear company brought out a new range of shoes and boots and used the names of Hindu gods for the products,' she recalls. 'It was horrific. The cow is sacred in the Hindu religion and these shoes and boots were made of leather. A PR or advertising team with a proper handle on diversity issues would never have let that happen.' Martin Gee believes that diversity should be an integral part of recruitment strategy for PR firms and the clients they advise. 'Historically, those doing the hiring would tend to pick employees from among the competition or choose people just like themselves,' she explains. 'Now there is an increasing recognition that people and organisations should reflect the communities they serve.

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