I remember flipping the pages of a science textbook many years ago, studying the procedures for run-of-the-mill lab experiments. Behind me, my daughter’s voice piped up: “Have you ever noticed that the illustrations all show only white men’s hands?” she asked. I had not. The oversight might have been too subtle for me to miss, but not for my Gen-Z daughter, who’s part of a generation that’s keenly aware of how representation, no matter what form it takes, plays out—everywhere.

The United States is becoming more ethnically and racially diverse, especially in the 18-39 age bracket. And Gen Z is not only the most diverse generation yet but also one that values diversity and inclusivity in all its forms. Indeed, a whopping 81 percent of Gen Zers and 72 percent of Millennials say that multicultural and diverse consumers have a big impact on their brand choices.

Given that a picture speaks a thousand words, marketers need to pay especially close attention to the ones they pick for their ongoing branding campaigns. Not factoring in diverse stock photos might lead to campaigns missing the boat at best or seriously damaging their reputation at worst. Eighty-eight percent of U.S. marketers believe that “using more diverse images helps a brand’s reputation,” according to Censuswide research.

How to choose diverse stock photos

If the argument for using diverse stock photography is a no-brainer, exactly how does one go about finding the best stock photography images for their brands?

For best results when using mainstream sites such as Adobe, iStock, or Shutterstock, filter the images using detailed prompts with keywords and related terms, advises Crystal Kendrick, president of marketing firm The Voice of Your Customer.

Instead of only looking for “X” demographic, search by lifestyle, location, or activity, advises Maria Lobo, founder and CEO of Planet Lobo, a brand design studio. When targeting a younger audience, for example, Lobo might use the search term “skateboarding” rather than “diverse young fit models in the city.” Such searches will surface diversity in action instead of awkwardly posed shots. “The approach helps narrow down the search to images that naturally fit the desired aesthetic,” Lobo says.

Laying some groundwork before going fishing in image repositories helps. “Doing concept and strategy work for the image collection before browsing stock libraries helps you get a clear idea of the style and content you want, allowing you to stay discerning,” Lobo says.

What to avoid when picking from the best stock photography images

Dodge the most downloaded

Niche sites might make a better fit for content creators, but mainstream ones will do in a pinch. In such a case, make sure to avoid diverse stock photos with many downloads. “The last thing I want is to design a killer ad and then see the same image used by another company,” Lobo says.

Make intersectionality intentional

Remember that diversity includes gender, race, ethnicity, neurodiversity, people with disabilities and a diversity of ideas, experiences and backgrounds. Intersectionality matters. “Many brands concentrate on a single dimension of diversity like race or gender, forgetting about intersections within identities. Ensure your visuals depict real people’s lives from various angles, considering aspects such as age, disability and socioeconomic status, among others,” says Gordon Hwa, founder of Khepri Digital, a digital marketing group.

Baggu, a manufacturer of reusable bags and accessories, for example, features inclusive images and a really diverse age range that resonates. “It’s a brand that feels like it’s for everyone, no matter where you come from or where you’re headed,” Lobo says.

Avoid tokenism

When I was pursuing graduate studies, a university photographer wanted me and the one other woman in our large engineering school to participate in a photo shoot for the bulletin. “Isn’t it amazing how it seems like the whole school is full of women?” my friend asked, tongue firmly in cheek, when we later saw the end result. Focusing on diversity is a good idea, but avoid tokenism.

Steer clear of stereotypes or cultural appropriation

“When using culture-specific images, it’s important to understand the cultural symbols and practices represented by such images and provide adequate context so as not to misrepresent them,” Hwa says.

While the list of don’ts might make you feel like you’re treading on eggshells, getting it right is about being inclusive of everyone equally and of every aspect of true diversity. And the results are memorable.

Lobo, for example, remembers the Savage X by Fenty brand from Rihanna. “It’s one of the first places I saw ‘normal’ bodies—plus-size, non-traditionally model-looking, models with mobility and accessibility differences,” she says.

When content is done well with diverse stock images or user-generated content, it sticks. And attention-grabbing, knock-your-socks-off branding can be yours for the taking.

Ask the Content Strategist: FAQs about diverse stock photos

How can brands ensure that their efforts to use diverse stock photos resonate authentically with their audience?

Brands can ensure authenticity by conducting thorough research on the cultures, communities, and identities they want to represent, involving individuals from those backgrounds in the creative process to source inclusive images. They could also hire a freelance photographer to capture their own diverse branded marketing stock photography. Brands should also prioritize storytelling and contextual relevance to avoid superficial depictions.

What are some of the specific visual cues that indicate tokenism in branding campaigns?

Tokenism often appears in the form of a single minority individual being prominently featured but without any real context or meaningful representation of their community. It also manifests when diverse stock photos seem forced or they exist only in surface-level portrayals without acknowledging deeper layers of culture or identity.

What role does user-generated content play in helping brands achieve diversity in their visuals?

User-generated content allows brands to showcase real customers from diverse backgrounds, providing an organic and authentic reflection of their audience. By encouraging their community to share their own experiences, brands can foster inclusivity in a more genuine and engaging way.

For more tips on choosing the best creative talent and approaches to your marketing strategy, subscribe to The Content Strategist.

The post Diverse Stock Photos Done Right appeared first on Contently.

I experienced just one “You Matter Day” during my time at Ogilvy, when I was a strategist on the IKEA account. A few days earlier, our team released a national commercial we’d worked on for months. The public deemed it racist, and IKEA decided to immediately pull it from air. Thus on “You Matter Day,” I mattered for a greater purpose: scrubbing the ad’s existence from the internet.

IKEA and Ogilvy are both large corporations filled with many smart people. From the first creative briefs to production of the final commercial, we went through rounds of focus groups, concept testing, collaborative meetings, and edits. In deciding to pull the problematic ad, IKEA’s head of U.S. marketing voiced that if a single person could feel offended by the commercial, that was one too many. I agreed with her stance and personally felt the ad was offensive. How did I, or anyone else on the Ogilvy or IKEA teams, fail to prevent this?

From experience, the answer lies in the political hierarchy and siloed nature of agency life. I was a strategic planner on the IKEA account, teamed up with a senior planner and strategy director. The three of us formed one-third of the IKEA account at Ogilvy, alongside five dedicated members of account management and three art directors and copywriters in the creative department. Much like the U.S. government, our three branches were meant to check and balance each other. Much like the U.S. government, that never happened.

Breaking bureaucracy

Ogilvy and IKEA often clashed on ideas and executions. Since the client pays the bills, this meant our team had to figure out where we went wrong. Strategy would blame creative for going off-brief. Creative would blame strategy for writing a bad brief that all but forced them to ad-lib. The senior members of each Ogilvy department were engaged in a constant race to pass the buck, with junior members caught in the crosshairs and nodding along when called upon.

When an agency pitches a client to make a national ad campaign, there is no guarantee the client will approve any of the creative concepts. Fortunately, IKEA bought one of our ideas. It focused on the kitchen and the changing archetype of the American family. Gone are the cookie-cutter days of mom, dad, two kids, and a dog. Modern families more closely resemble the TV show—an amalgam of cousins, friends, and neighbors sitting around the table as one unit.

Our commercial played on this theme, with a mom calling upstairs for everyone to come down for dinner. Only instead of two or three names, she calls down a dozen people—her kids, her kids’ friends, and other members of their extended family. The script was funny; bodies pile out of bedrooms like clowns stuffed in a tiny car. The concept performed well in focus groups, so we moved to filming and production, some of the final steps before an ad goes to air.

In casting the commercial, Ogilvy chose a middle-aged Latina woman to play the mother. When the first cut arrived at the office, I had two initial thoughts:

1. This captures the concept well.

2. This makes me feel uncomfortable. People may find this culturally insensitive and suggest that IKEA thinks Latino families birth more children.

But when an ad sells and moves through the full process, you better have a good reason to derail the train, cost the agency money, and risk alienating every senior manager. In retrospect, I think this is why I didn’t say anything, even as I cringed watching the actress call everyone for dinner.

That’s no excuse for my lack of action. I wish I had seen the forest for the trees and spoken up while I could. For those still in the agency business, I really hope they feel empowered to do the right thing, even if it pisses off the powers that be. Agencies need to break down the walls that separate internal departments and implement initiatives that create a flatter organization.

Addressing diversity issues

Pepsi famously made a similar gaffe two years ago with a commercial starring supermodel Kendall Jenner. The ad depicts Jenner joining a protest rally and walking to the front lines, confronting a white police officer on duty. She hands him a Pepsi, and he breaks into a smile. The brand surely thought it was being woke. Instead, this problematic ad seems to imply that Kendall Jenner can cure racial and political unrest with soda. The backlash was immediate and severe. Pepsi pulled the ad after one day.

Beyond structural issues within ad agencies, a glaring hole in these two cases was a lack of diversity. Agencies tend to exist on the coasts, staffed with largely white, affluent, liberal employees who create ads for the whole country even though they only make up a small slice of the American pie.

Starting in 2015, the #OscarsSoWhite movement shined a light on lack of diversity within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a failure on the Academy’s part to nominate people of color. Prominent black actors and directors, including Will Smith and Spike Lee, skipped the ceremony in 2016, the second straight year that all 20 lead and supporting actor nominations were white. In response, the Academy unanimously voted a week after the 2016 nominations to double its number of female and minority members by 2020.

I think a comparable approach could go a long way to helping fix the ad world. We need to implement programs that boost minority interviews and hires. Most importantly, this has to be done at a senior level. That way, groups that are misrepresented can take a stand to confront these problems from within.

According to a 2019 survey by Adobe/CMO.com, “sixty-six percent of African-Americans said they feel their ethnic identity is often portrayed stereotypically [in advertising], a sentiment shared by 53% of Latino/Hispanic Americans.” It’s crucial that multiple members of every race, creed, color, gender, or religion pictured in an ad can view it and offer opinions before any campaign is released.

If we can’t trust agencies to fix themselves, an industry-wide initiative would be beneficial. Independent ad review boards should be constructed and ideally, all ad agencies would see the immense value (and optics) of joining. Money talks in advertising and often leads to bad decisions. Setting up a third-party review step could help eliminate the financial incentive agencies face to proceed with problematic ads that cost months of time and thousands of dollars.

It’s time for a change. Ad agencies need to unite for a “You Matter Day” that honors every person impacted by their work, not just some.

The post How Problematic Ads Get Approved (And Ways We Can Prevent Them) appeared first on Contently.

Content marketing may be known primarily for lead generation and sales enablement, but it can also be a huge asset for human resources and recruitment. Companies create HR content to attract capable new hires with great resumes, and those same assets can be leveraged to keep employees happy during their tenure.

Since many of us spend more than 40 hours a week working in a single location—or with a specific team—it behooves a brand to educate professionals on what that experience is like. Plus, at larger companies with thousands of employees, HR content gives employees a central location to see what others are up to, learn about new policies, and find the latest news.

Here are five companies that have figured out how to blend culture, messaging, and human resources.

Microsoft Life

Microsoft is one of the largest companies on earth, rivaling Apple, Alphabet and Amazon, which means its human resources content is delivered to 131,000 people—that’s more people than the entire population of New Haven, Connecticut. So how does the brand keep all those employees informed, comfortable, engaged and on board? Through content, of course.

Microsoft Life, the company’s hub for HR-related content, posts video interviews with employees, outlines internal initiatives, offers resources like a guide to LGBT allyship at work, and publishes features like “Engineering training for women, by women.”

Washington University in St. Louis

Colleges and universities are typically effective at content marketing because they have a deep well of stories to draw from that don’t have to include explicit promotion for the school. Student, faculty, post-docs, fellows, and staff members rely on independent research and academic rigor.

Washington University in St. Louis stands out by aiming some of its content at employees rather than investing solely in a student body. The internal blog is an unusually candid look at their methods of employment. As a result, the whole brand comes off more trustworthy and detail-oriented.

Pepsico Jobs

Pepsico has an entire social media channel dedicated to prospective employees. This isn’t unheard of for global companies that have thousands of employees. But where Pepsico stands out is showcasing the breadth of smaller brands that exist under the main corporate umbrella. The content emphasizes health-conscious beverages, which might seem strange if you think about Pepsi’s sugar content—but keep in mind the corporation also owns Quaker Oats, Naked, Tropicana, Sabra, Stacy’s, and Gatorade.

The jobs Twitter account regularly posts spotlight content on employees and “how it’s made” style videos. For the finishing touch, the account often retweets CEO Indra Nooyi as she blogs and visits company offices around the world.

https://twitter.com/IndraNooyi/status/1036626287450882048

Google Diversity

Google has been in the news quite a bit for diversity over the last few years, and not always for good reasons. In order to get ahead of that potentially bad PR, Google has been carefully publishing content on diversity, including updated run-downs of the company’s hiring strategies and videos of Google employees talking with high-profile POC about their attempts to widen their net.

That means employees and curious consumers alike get a unique look inside the company’s structure, one based on data as opposed to promotional language. Google’s diversity content helps the brand to present the challenges—and failures—on its own terms, which means any mainstream publication that covers Google’s annual diversity report is always the second source to the story.

Starbucks

Starbucks HR content tends to skew a little more promotional than the other sources on the list, but its News and Features page is still a top example of how to manage internal content. Stories that other brands might limit to a press release get feature treatment. You can explore Starbucks expanding into Italy and Shanghai through feature writing, docuseries, and photo galleries.

By publishing prime quality HR content, Starbucks creates a chain reaction of positivity with its employees that eventually reaches its customer base. The brand even gets to sound off on subjects seemingly unconnected to coffee because of their internal stats; 2017’s guide to supporting those with military spouses deployed overseas points out that many Starbucks employees live this exact scenario.

The company keeps its employee benefits and healthy professional culture at the forefront of everyone’s minds, making employees feel secure in their positions. When you buy into a brand that treats its people well, you’re associating yourself with it. At the center of that feel-good process, of course, is effective HR content.

The post 5 Companies Creating Purposeful & Engaging HR Content appeared first on Contently.

While it seems like Americans have become more open-minded on race and gender over time, it’s clear that not everyone likes to see different types of people in commercials. However, a new study suggests that the younger you are, the more receptive you’ll be to diversity in ads.

According to a September 2016 survey by Barkley and Futurecast, more than two-thirds of U.S. internet users like ads that show “real people,” not just gender stereotypes from the past. While 60 percent of Gen Z believes progressive gender norms make it easier for people to be themselves, only 52 percent of the baby boomer population feels the same way. And the majority of boomers do not like seeing ads that show diverse types of families.

This demographic split goes beyond just advertising. A July 2016 Harris Poll found that 68 percent of millennials said they prefer watching movies and TV shows with multicultural casts, and 65 percent would shop more at a retailer offering a wide selection of multicultural products. Those figures dipped to 44 and 32 percent, respectively, for respondents at least 65 years old.

“We’re seeing a more diverse and open society, especially among millennials,” Quim Gil, head brand planner at ad agency Richards/Lerma, said in an interview with eMarketer. “We know that these new, modern consumers share an endless curiosity and openness to new cultures, no matter what their skin color. They want to learn new languages and hear different opinions—they don’t want to be siloed.”

Accepting cultural differences has somehow become a polarizing topic. But as younger generations demonstrate, marketers should not view it as an optional ad tactic. Instead, they should be excited to celebrate diversity as something fundamentally American.

The post Less Than Half of Baby Boomers Like Seeing Diversity in Ads appeared first on Contently.