Powering up careers with Google, dealing with backlash and inclusion clinics: get it all in the September issue
A Game-changer with Google
Our North Star? To leave a legacy through driving a diverse, equitable and inclusive society. Google's North Star? To significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible.
So we came together to create the Creative Equals x Google Career Certificate Scholarship Programme, aimed at those from underrepresented, vulnerable and other marginalised group. The goal: to equip people with tools, knowledge and mentor support to help them find employment.
The partnership has resulted in an initial cohort of 15 people, who will take up a training course of their choice in one of eight areas: UX design, digital marketing and ecommerce, project management, data analytics, advanced data analytics, business intelligence, IT support and cybersecurity.
Mentors from Creative Equals will provide one-on-one support for each participant, while mentors from Google will give subject-specific support, with technical support provided by specialist teams.
While this programme is full, we have 500 unsupported programmes to give away. You’ll need to be UK based, be able to provide ID and commit to completing your chosen course (which may take 3-6 months to do, at around 10 hours a week).
Nishma Robb, pictured left, Google UK's senior director brand and reputation marketing, says: "At Google, we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to succeed in the digital economy.'
A massive shout out to Calvin Lau, Marketing at Google UK and our own Communities Director Emma Murphy for making this happen. Like to apply or know some who would? Hit the link.
For more, read in Campaign.
A world-defining moment
We have watched the drama unfold as Jennifer Hermoso has faced an unprecedented amount of publicity following a nonconsensual kiss by the president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, who has now (finally) resigned. From his mother's hunger strike, to law suits (and dropped law suits), from players going on strike, this was Spain's #MeToo moment. And made one of the biggest events in women’s football all about one man.
This was the tip of a sexual harassment iceberg. In our sector, there are countless stories of sexual and other harassment women, minorities, and men too, experience working within the advertising industry. This is why we worked with a group of industry inclusion advocates to make NDAs fair. NDAs can be used to silence victims of sexual abuse and prevent them from speaking about their experiences, even to their family.
Together, our make NDAs Fair campaign hopes to achieve two key goals:
1. To educate around this misuse of NDAs so that more people within the industry are aware of it and in a position to challenge it. That includes better knowing your own rights, being able to support friends or colleagues in this situation, or for leaders to drive fundamental change in their organisations.
2. To publicly call on marketing organisations to include a Fair NDA clause visibly within their internal policies. As part of making a Fair NDA commitment they should communicate this clause to all existing and future employees and sign-post basic training resources.
We encourage all those affected by this subject to use the resources offered by timeTo and NABS, including confidential 1:1 support where required through the NABS Advice Line: 0800 707 6607/support@nabs.org.uk.
The fear of every advertiser: campaign backlash and negative brand equity
In such a divided world, backlash has never been more fierce, hateful and soul-destroying for brands and marketers and the communities they support.
We're hosting a (free!) webinar, BACKLASH to building robust and inclusive post campaign strategies.
We'll look at what happens when brands get it ‘wrong’ and why this happens. We’ll dig into examples and case studies to understand what the 'backlash' was, how the brand responded and what they could have done differently.
When: Thurs 28 September, 3pm - 4pm BST
Where: Online Webinar (Zoom!)
Cost: Free!
DEI Consulting: it makes the work... excellent, particularly for those it serves
Yes, we worked behind-the-scenes on that multi-award-wining campaign, 'Me, My Autism and I' for Vanish. Creative Equals consulted on the experiential design, the PR and press to ensure it reflected the campaign goal: to show how extending the life of familiar clothing can help autistic people thrive. We worked on all the big and little picture details, from the brand strategy, to the sound to lighting, staffing recruitment and selection, staff training, floor plan, signage (clarity of text/colours) and throughout the end-to-end experience.
This was part of a partnership with Vanish and other Reckitt brands, who are trailblazing the way as one of the most forward-thinking companies harnessing the power of DEI Marketing Excellence. Together, we made sure the campaign was the most inclusive it could be.
If you'd like help ensuring your campaigns, digital and in person events are inclusive, get in touch. What we know is DEI makes the work better, more likely to win awards and be more effective.
This is what inclusive design looks like.
Yes Lego! Lego are introducing bricks coded with braille to help vision-impaired children read. Even better, the braille bricks were tested and developed in partnership with blind organisations around the world, free of charge to a selection of schools and services catering for vision-impaired children since 2020.
The specialist bricks, will have studs corresponding to the braille version of numbers and letters with a printed version of the symbol or letter below, to use at home. Lego hopes the initiative will help parents and siblings share in learning braille, and the packs will include ideas for a range of educational games that families can play together.
Lego says the move is part of efforts to make its products more inclusive. Rasmus Løgstrup, the Lego Group lead designer on braille bricks, said the company had been “inundated with thousands of requests to make [the bricks] more widely available”. He said: “We know this is a strong platform for social inclusion and can’t wait to see families get creative and have fun playing with braille together.”