Alice Bravery
Account Director | London, UK
INvolve: Championing Diversity and Campaigning for Ethical Leadership
Introduction
Bringing out the Best in British Businesses
When global membership organisation INvolve first approached us in 2013 to help them champion diversity and inclusion in business, we knew this was no ordinary PR brief. With a mission to get UK business to clean up their act, we set about using insights and engaging with Government to create positive and sustainable industry change.
Our high-profile media relations campaign produced thousands of pieces of coverage across national, broadcast, business and trade publications in the UK and internationally. We are incredibly proud not only of the results, but also being able to support such a vital and worthwhile organisation.
The Challenge
Stereotyping and lack of diversity has long been a problem in business, leading to discrimination and talent drain within the workforce. INvolve needed help putting diversity and inclusion on a main stage, taking it from a legal requirement to an ethical must-have.
The Solution
We developed a four-pronged approach to our PR strategy, targeting businesses by engaging with them directly, as well as campaigning for diversity and inclusion to be put under Government spotlight.
Strategic Media Relations
Using research, we identified the key areas where companies are falling down, revealing the shocking statistic that there are more FTSE 100 CEOs named Steve and David than women and ethnic minority leaders combined. Not only did this receive blanket media coverage, our findings were quoted by business leaders, MPs, and celebrities as well as featuring in the book ‘How to Fail’ by Elizabeth Day.
B2B Engagement
On an annual basis, we helped celebrate leaders, future leaders, and allies across three main strands of diversity – gender, LGBT+, and ethnicity. For each list, we secured at least 50 pieces of coverage across nationals, broadcast, and trades both in the UK and internationally.
Ethical Campaigning
We publicly called on companies across the country to report their ethnic pay gap, with backing from the Bank of England, WPP, and Big Four. This campaign alone resulted in over 200 pieces of press coverage, including The Daily Telegraph, The I, City AM, Daily Mail, Quartz, and Verdict.
Topical News Jumping
Alongside our strategic media relations activity, we regularly jumped on diversity issues in the news, bolstering INvolve and its founder Suki Sandhu’s profile as diversity experts who ensure companies are making diverse hires and celebrating their diverse talent.
The Impact
INvolve became and remained at the forefront of the diversity debate.
Over the seven years we partnered with them, we kept INvolve at the forefront of the diversity debate, with a constant stream of multi-channel media coverage. Alongside mainstream awareness-raising, we helped build Suki Sandhu’s profile into the leading authority on diversity and inclusion, with him being awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List.