The way we need to grow from now on needs to be different to the way we grew in the 20th century. We need new knowledge, we need new questions, we need to understand the structures at play not just internally but in the marketplace. We need to see how discrimination happens as a result of how we segment markets and study markets and then we need to identify practices that eliminate this.

Dr. Omar Rodriguez Vila
Associate Professor in the Practice of Marketing
Emory University - Goizueta Business School

Voices of Inclusion Research

The proprietary Voices of Inclusion research is focused on uncovering the inequities that show up in the marketplace for underrepresented communities including pricing, product availability and services.

Given the critical role that brands play in influencing cultural change, there is a heightened awareness and motivation among business leaders to expand opportunities to advance diversity, inclusion and equity in their organizations and in their marketplace actions. However, the lack of measurable standards can result in brand leaders feeling compelled to act but unclear or unable to proceed in authentic and impactful ways.

This unique approach will help guide leaders on what actions and practices are needed in their specific context to make real progress towards sustainable racial equity.

Many marketers are unaware of how prolific discrimination shows up in their own brands. For example, over the past 112 years a well-known CPG brand has been making razors for men. From 1996-2012, they and others decided to add more blades – razors went from one to two to three and up to as many as five. Nobody realized that they were making it worse for men with coarse and curly hair, primarily Black men, until in 2013 Tristan Walker launched Bevel. When Tristan talks about why he started Bevel, he talks about the issue of equity, the issue of representation. He talks about how Black men should not have to shop in the ethnic aisle - with bad products - and about how he deserves more options and how his products should be in the same aisle.

The Voices of Inclusion research is being conducted In partnership with an Academic Team from Emory University, Indiana University and the University of Georgia.

As an outcome of the research BRIDGE will create an industry assessment tool to be used by organizations to help determine their own gaps.

The Learning Agenda

Uncover the brand, talent, and community management systems at play that prevent progress in racial equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Identify successful policies, practices, and procedures that could be applied to change the traditional (or established) system and advance a brand’s BRIDGE agenda.
Make the practices and policies available in ways that enable brand leaders to assess their current brand performance, formulate strategies and plans to advance their BRIDGE practices and measure progress.
Measure the level of BRIDGE practices across brands and understand its impact on key performance indicators such as growth, customer relations, and brand equity.