Oregon’s School of Journalism Researched Ad Agency Diversity and the Numbers Are Bleak

Over the summer, the advertising industry was forced to confront its own shortcomings about race. Most notably, 600 & Rising's founding aggressively refocused the mission to bring more diverse talent into advertising and marketing. In a short period this summer, agencies and holding companies began proactively trickling out their diversity numbers. Some used EEOC data, while others went deeper. While inconsistent data can be troublesome, even getting some perspective on where the industry sits remains a positive. 600 & Rising will be critical in the drive for greater understanding and progress, as will the 4A's and others looking to positively impact change. Today, the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communications (SOJC) published the data from its research of close to 1,800 agencies in 65 U.S. locations, representing more than 20,000 employees. This research, which the SOJC claims is the “largest database quantifying the diversity of advertising agencies across the United States,” was researched by eight students (seven from diverse backgrounds) and faculty members. (Disclosure: Doug Zanger is an instructor and advisory board member of the University of Oregon’s Master’s in Advertising and Brand Responsibility.) The results focused on three areas: the number of non-white employees, women employees and non-white women employees. The methodology uses publicly available information on agency websites and what’s called “standard social scientific coding procedures.” In its shortest form, teams of two looked at photos and names on websites to make judgments on gender and whether or not someone was non-white. Nearly 62% of agencies are less than 50% women, almost 75% of agencies are less than 25% non-white and over 90% of agencies are less than 25% non-white women, based on the research. The project was funded by Oregon alum and retired agency executive Colleen McCloud, who was at Foote, Cone & Belding in Los Angeles for 25 years, exiting as evp, creative media director at the agency in 1992. “We see this project as a much-needed resource for the advertising and marketing industry,” she said. "Diversity, especially in today's world, is one of the key elements in recognizing the power of ‘we.’ You must know where you are to get where you are going.” An open conversation and opportunity for change Dave Markowitz, assistant professor at the SOJC who led the project with Dave Koranda, a professor of practice, noted that other aspects of diversity, such as sexual orientation, were not pursued due to the methodology. Starting with gender and race are more inferable from pictures on agency websites, according to Markowitz. While the method has limitations, the goal was to build a starting point to work from. “We want to collect the data in a social scientific way and have a conversation with the industry,” Markowitz said. “If there’s a discrepancy, let’s talk about it, rather than relying on the data that [agencies] give us. What we see is exactly what prospective employees see, so that’s the representation [in the industry].” The project's methodology. "There’s no question that there may be people who feel they may have been misrepresented,” Koranda said. “The opportunity is to show us where we were wrong, and let’s have a discussion to work on changing it.” Critical to the research's efficacy is having more than one set of eyes on each photo, and two people must agree on its rating. Markowitz said the student researchers—known as coders—came to an agreement 80% to 90% of the time. Having seven of the eight researchers coming from diverse backgrounds was another essential component of the project. Kelly Kondo, who is Asian American, and Fars Woldai, whose family emigrated to the U.S. from Eritrea, were part of the student research team, said that at first, they needed to get used to the idea of categorizing people through photos. Over time, they realized that with multiple rounds of discussion between teams, they were comfortable with how the methodology played out. Three of the eight students involved in the project's research. “There will always be a margin of error,” Kondo said. “But getting a general sense and feel for overall diversity in agencies is important.” Woldai went into the project assuming that the data would indicate low diversity numbers but said he was “still shocked at what I was finding.” “I could count on one hand how many people of color [were at agencies],” he said. Despite the grim numbers, Koranda and Markowitz said that on the positive side, students were energized and motivated to make changes for the future. “It shows you what the industry could look like,” Markowitz said. “And if we influence eight people to be change leaders, it makes this work worth it.”