Today is the International Day Against Racial Discrimination. This is another topic we take to heart in our Diversity Campaign. Our creative team carefully considered what message we wanted to send out and how we would do it. Since we are an advertising agency, we decided to use a well known medium to spread a message of awareness and an invitation to collectively do better, as well as celebrate what’s already great. The final result can be seen in the PUB magazine edition of March. We talk with two of our creatives about this process.
Hello Nathalie and Marc! I would like to know what you thought when you were asked to work on this topic?
We believed it was a challenge. The topic is deep, broad, important, divisive, sprawling, and very personal. So there is a sense of responsibility, but also a fear of offending communities through ignorance, or even misinformation. Especially today.
How did you go about this process?
Thanks to the diversity we have in the agency, we were able to work with all sensibilities. It was important for us to have a plural opinion so that everyone could find themselves in the agency's communication. The process was longer in terms of feedback because the subject is de facto complex, and it involves more people and more points of view. However, we all learned from the exchanges.
What was your creative process like?
Football seemed like an ideal playing field. Great teams are multicultural, even if in the stadiums and dressing rooms racism still exists and a knee can make people cringe. Great coaches look at the potential and talent of the players, how they can complement each other on the pitch. It doesn't matter what color, ethnicity, origin, religion. The coaches just want to get the best result. And in terms of image and commitment, every community can find itself. So we linked this universe to that of our sector by creating an FC Advertising imaginary, while respecting the graphic universe that we created in partnership with Volstok for this campaign, which runs since December 2021.
Were there any difficulties? What were the sensitivities regarding this topic? What does the final result mean to you?
Once again, we were able to take advantage of the diversity we have in-house. It was important that our teams felt in line with the agency's message. We were also able to raise some interesting questions. The very principle of a 'topical' on this particular day gave rise to discussions, as diversity should theoretically be celebrated every day. There was also some discussion about our speech; we want to take a stand for diversity at work and share these values with the whole sector. But our attention span is getting shorter. Our media (advert, banner, social media) are also limited in terms of the volume of information. The most sincere speech in the world can therefore very quickly appear superficial. This is a trap, and we had to both condense and clarify the idea and the message. We are aware that this ad is not going to change the world, nor our whole industry. But if it starts a conversation between two or more people, it would at least contribute to this major issue.
Thanks so much for your contribution!
