One year after Responsible Marketing Action Plan, Verizon delivers meaningful DE&I results
June 02 2022 - 10:30AM
Today, Verizon published results from the first year of its
Responsible Marketing Action Plan, part of the company’s long-term
commitment to supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
(DE&I). The plan set ambitious goals around the creative supply
chain, talent, bias in advertising and media, and content policies
– all of which were exceeded for 2021. To continue driving progress
and lasting impact, Verizon is introducing a new set of clear,
measurable goals for 2022.
Verizon’s Responsible Marketing Action Plan addresses four
primary areas within the company and its agency partners:
1. Increase diversity and equity
across the creative supply chain: Verizon set a goal to
spend over 30% of its video, experiential and print production
budget with diverse companies in 2021. The company has exceeded its
goals across the board:
- Video: Verizon spent 65% with diverse-owned
video production companies; additionally, 49% of video productions
used diverse directors..
- Experiential: The company spent 46% with
diverse-owned experiential production companies.
- Print: The company spent 45% with
diverse-owned print production companies.
For 2022, Verizon is increasing its overall goals across video,
experiential, and print from 30% to 40% to continue driving
momentum and maintain steady progress.
2. Build an inclusive work environment and retain
diverse talent: Verizon made progress in its efforts to
build diverse teams. By year end 2021:
- People of color made up 39.3% of the combined Verizon marketing
and agency team, an increase from 37.1% at year end 2020.
- Women made up 51.7% of the combined Verizon marketing and
agency teams, an increase from 50.9% at year end 2020.
3. Fight racism and eliminate bias in advertising,
content and media: As part of Verizon’s ongoing efforts to
keep their creative free from racism, bias, and stereotypes, 100%
of Verizon’s advertising goes through gender and cultural bias
testing. Verizon uses SeeHer’s Gender Equity Measure (GEM), a
research methodology that quantifies gender bias, and achieved an
above average GEM score of 99. Verizon also uses Diversity
Inclusion & Equality Measure (DIEM), a proprietary tool that
vets the representation of race, gender, ethnicity and identity. In
addition, all Verizon marketers and agency partners have completed
agency anti-racism and bias training to help identify bias
throughout the creative process from research to production, and
Verizon will continue to require training for new
hires.4. Responsible Content Policies:
Through Verizon’s continued participation with the World Federation
of Advertiser’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media, the company
achieved a 99.4% rating within the Integral Ad Science Brand Safety
measure that counts the percentage of media placements that do not
violate brand safety threshold.“Marketing has so much power to
influence society and culture. As marketers, we have a
responsibility to hold ourselves accountable and be part of the
solution - not contribute to the problem,” said Diego Scotti, Chief
Marketing Officer at Verizon. “By now we’re all impatient with lip
service being paid to DE&I, and want to see action,
transparency, and results. That’s why Verizon set clear, actionable
goals for the year, and has delivered on that commitment. I’m proud
that we exceeded all of the goals laid out in this first year of
our Responsible Marketing Action Plan, and we will continue to push
for more progress.”
To help other companies implement the responsible marketing
practices outlined in their plan, Verizon created the Responsible
Marketing Action Blueprint, a set of free online tools that
packages together the learnings from Verizon’s work around
DE&I, to help other marketers identify where they can make an
impact and take measurable actions to get there.
This is the latest example of Verizon’s industry leadership
around DE&I. In May 2022, Verizon and its partners celebrated
five successful years of Verizon’s adfellows program, which fosters
the next generation of diverse marketing leaders through rotations
within client and agency marketing teams that provide real-world
experience to various career paths in marketing. Positions are
fully paid, and cover living expenses, to ensure accessibility.
Upon celebrating adfellow’s fifth graduating class, the program
boasts an impressive 98% placement rate into full-time marketing
positions, and 95% retention rate within the industry following
program completion. With the support of long-term partners IPG,
Publicis Groupe, and Accenture Song, Verizon recently announced its
goal to expand the program to eight times its current size - from
providing opportunities for 30 fellows per year, to 250 per year,
by 2026.
Building off the success of adfellows, Verizon is continuing the
AdDisruptors program, which focuses on tackling mid-level agency
talent retention. The 6-8 month program provides access to speakers
and one-on-one mentoring from thought leaders throughout the
industry to diverse mid-level talent. The goal of the program is to
inspire the next generation of marketing leaders and retain the
diverse talent working on Verizon’s agency teams.
Collectively, Verizon’s commitments to DE&I are part of its
approach to Responsible Business: the company’s long-term corporate
business strategy that leverages technology, innovation, and people
on a mission to help solve some of the biggest challenges impacting
underrepresented populations, with a focus on climate protection,
human prosperity, and digital inclusion.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) was formed on
June 30, 2000 and is one of the world’s leading providers of
technology and communications services. Headquartered in New York
City and with a presence around the world, Verizon generated
revenues of $133.6 billion in 2021. The company offers data, video
and voice services and solutions on its award-winning networks and
platforms, delivering on customers’ demand for mobility, reliable
network connectivity, security and control.
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Media contact:Katrina
CabreraKatrina.Cabrera@Verizon.comElizabeth
AngleyElizabeth.Angley@verizon.com
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