It’s impossible to put a price on the value of partnerships – it would be too great as they are integral to We Rise’s success………however it is very easy to showcase the incredible value they provide for the young people we support – it’s one of the main reasons why our partners want to work with us.
We have a long and fruitful relationship with global advertising agency Leo Burnett and we are feeling in a reflective mood having recently reconnected with Stella – one of our Leo Burnett x We Rise Driving Diversity project Alumni – now with a first class degree in marketing and advertising under her belt……..
It was in 2018 that we first reached out to Leo Burnett. It was early days for We Rise and they generously sent one of their senior creative duos, including the wonderful Steve Robertson to support our young work ex team as they brainstormed and wrote an advert for Age UK’s Handy Fix service. Opening their eyes to creative careers and how adverts go from brief to concept was a powerful experience.
Then came the biggie…..
It must have incubated throughout lockdown because as we were returning to relative normality in 2021, Steve reached out to ask if we could help him and Hayley Power at Leo Burnet design and deliver a professional advert to help drive diversity in the advertising sector. It had to:
- appeal to a young diverse audience
- be co-written by a group of under represented young people
- run as a We Rise work experience project to benefit a group of young diverse talent who want a career in the sector – providing that important value, by showing young people like Stella, the industry and unique insights from those who work in it.
A professional film wasn’t the project’s only legacy as we worked together to map out the existing barriers young BAME people face to a career in the industry and what the solutions could be, in order to plan a campaign to implement them.
It was a dream project as it put under-represented young people at its heart and gave them a platform to share their views and creativity while upskilling them through the process.
From concept to script
We recruited a team of young people aged 16-17 from under-represented backgrounds, who were interested in the creative industries, for our paid work experience team. Over a series of collaborative workshops we researched, brainstormed and wrote the film concept, script and creative storyboard.
We started with a youth insights workshop held at the Brixton Windmill community space where we heard from the young work ex-team about the barriers there are to choosing a future creative career, including:
- Lack of knowledge and information
- Not knowing the benefits of working in the sector including salaries
- Parents not thinking creative careers are secure and professional compared to more traditional ones
Then it was over to Leo Burnett’s high spec Chancery Lane offices to work together to formulate the key message the advert needed to deliver and the questions it needed to answer.
It triggered honest and serious discussions including:
- Why does the advertising industry need to diversify?
- What’s the motivation behind it?
- The industry needs to hear ideas from diverse cultures if they are going to create adverts that appeal to those cultures
- How does it come across as being genuine and not tokenistic?
- Only people who experience the culture can really represent it
- It needs to be more culturally relevant and not just have a diverse cast
Turning an idea into reality
The end result was the advert tag line:
‘Be the change you want to see – be Authentic’
As Haley moved the project closer to the filming day, the young team were consulted at all stages of the scripting, the creative treatment workshops and the finessing of the production ready advert for the filming day.
And what a day to count towards your work experience! Working with professional production company Missing Link and their Bafta award winning director Ashley Francis- Roy, we spent a full day at a London studio with a full production team bringing our advert to life.
We are extremely proud of the impact taking part in the project has had on the participants as well as its impressive output and continuing legacy.
‘I enjoyed the group discussions and pitching potential ideas to overcome the issues.’ – Crystal, Work Ex Participant.
‘I really enjoyed being able to go to the Leo Burnett offices and work with everyone to come up with two great advert ideas. I learnt more about the different roles in the industry and the different ways someone could get into it.’ – Shamanie, Work Ex Participant.
The project’s success was down to the individuals at Leo Burnett like Haley and Steve who’s care and compassion made it happen. Their investment in wanting to create change and drive diversity established a sense of belonging for everyone and demonstrated empathetic leadership. For real change to happen, every individual leader needs to buy into the value of belonging – both intellectually and emotionally.
Forget ‘fit’, the focus must be on helping individuals thrive, maximizing joy and connection, whilst minimizing fear.
The film was just one piece of an incredibly productive partnership we have had with Leo Burnett that’s included:
‘Instagram Take Over’
Our work ex team took over Leo Burnett’s company instagram account creating and sharing with their followers insights into the purpose of the ‘driving diversity’ campaign, why they took part and what they learnt from it.
Mentoring
The impact the Leo Burnett team had on our work experience cohort continued well beyond the workshops with 7 of them joining our careers mentoring programme to support the young people who took part. This included Stella who’s just gained the first – her mentor Steve supported her to apply for the university place in Marketing and Advertising.
Youth Insights
We have recruited further work experience teams and run workshops collaboratively to help feedback youth insights into mainstream national advertising campaigns for Leo Burnett creative teams.
‘It was such a pleasure to have the We Rise students with us getting stuck into one of our live client briefs as well as getting the opportunity to show them the vast array of different career opportunities in the advertising industry. We were really impressed with the ideas that they came up with and how confidently they were able to present back in such a short space of time and will definitely be looking to run more workshops for our clients in the future’ – Ali Aarnold-Jones, Senior Strategist at Leo Burnett
As Leo Burnett has demonstrated, driving diversity is about organisational culture, climate and values. If you want more background information on why DE&I is essential for business success try this CIO article and tips for how to do it in this CIPD article.
“We see the work with diversity and inclusion as a transformation that’s required here. It’s not just an initiative or a program; it requires investment from the very senior-most folks to the newest person in the door, and it requires real behavior change. It’s about how the entire company operates and the individual ways of working, communicating, contributing and even just being in the world.”
If you want to work with us to help create a diverse talent pipeline to your sector please send a message to polly@werise.org.uk