GroupM Canada Announces 2+% Black and Diverse Media Pledge To Support and Grow Black and Diverse Media and Creators in Canada

 TORONTO, CANADA (February 28, 2022) — GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, today announced their plans to launch a Black and Diverse media commitment that endeavors to have their clients pledge 2+% of their media budgets to Black and diverse media platforms, creators, and audiences in Canada. A similar pledge launched in the U.S. just last year and the company saw tremendous interest support from their client base with 20+ clients signing on out of the gate and more committing since. 

The timing of this announcement is more than intentional, says GroupM Canada CEO, Kevin Johnson. “This is an important initiative to kick-off as we close out Black History Month in our continued efforts to demonstrate intentional support of the diversification of the ecosystem outside of this month alone. We must dedicate investment to diverse and Black media to create a Canadian media ecosystem that more accurately reflects the community in which we live and operate. And that needs to happen for more than one month a year.” 

The “2+% Pledge” invites GroupM Canada clients to commit to allocating at least two percent (2%) of their total annual media budgets toward Black and diverse media and audiences. A formative piece of that intention is creating partnerships that actively channel spend directly into the pockets of BIPOC content creators. This, along with actively shifting spend to our existing GroupM multicultural marketplaces and PMPs is a crucial step forward in their endeavour to drive purposeful investment towards diverse platforms and creators. 

Over the next few weeks, GroupM Canada Chief Investment Officer Lindsey Talbot will be sitting down with GroupM Canada clients to present the opportunity to make the pledge with activation projected in the next 12 months. 

“The Media Inclusion Initiative is an opportunity for us to work with our clients to drive purposeful channel investment toward diverse creators and audiences,” says Lindsey Talbot, GroupM Canada Chief Investment Officer. “Our goal over the next several years is to spend a minimum of 2% of our investment supporting this initiative with a goal of continued growth as we seek additional opportunities to support. We are confident our clients will support this initiative using their media dollars as a force for good and in a way to bring meaningful change.” 

The diverse media pledge sits within GroupM’s Responsible Investment framework and further reinforces GroupM’s critical stand over the last several years to invest and support supplier diversity and efforts that improve the industry’s ecosystem and drive positive cultural influence. Among these is the New Majority Ready Coalition, launched in 2019—with support from partners—to recognize the population growth of ethnically and racially diverse under 18-year-olds to 52 percent in the United States. Additionally, in July 2020, GroupM launched the GroupM Multicultural Marketplace, which is currently live with 300 publishers, representing a comprehensive—and growing—list of Black- and Hispanic-owned and/or focused publishers that create, curate, and distribute content specifically for these audiences. 

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