Bauer Media Outdoor backs Creative Allies Tool

Bauer Media Outdoor backs the BBC鈥檚 Creative Allies Tool and supports its launch with a nationwide campaign

27 Nov 2020 / News, Campaigns

By Emc易倍体育 UK

Night shot of BBC Creative Diversity campaign on Emc易倍体育 Storm Cromination site.

The BBC鈥檚 Creative Diversity Unit, led by June Sarpong, has today launched the Creative Allies Initiative, which unites organisations inside and outside the creative industry to promote the concept of allyship. Bauer Media Outdoor is one of the numerous organisations from sectors including business, media, fashion and the arts, who have signed up as Creative Ally Champions.

As a Creative Ally Champion, we have pledged to develop the next generation of creative leaders from backgrounds that are currently underrepresented, including:听

Black, Asian and Minority ethnic talent
Disabled talent
Talent from low-income backgrounds

We have pledged to demonstrate this commitment to inclusion through the promotion of allyship, which is where people, at any level in an organisation, can support colleagues who may have had fewer advantages than they in life. The ambition is that many more leaders within the creative industry and beyond will also sign up as allies.

To support the Creative Ally Champions, the BBC Academy, in association with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, led by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, has created The Ally Track听 - a free online education tool, which organisations and the public can use via the BBC Creative Diversity website. All of the Creative Ally Champions have committed to the use of the tool within their organisations.

Digital phone box showing BBC Creative Diversity campaign on a busy high street on a rainy day.

听The Ally Tool helps the user think about their own background and how different experiences can lead to advantages and disadvantages in the workplace. It can also be used to identify an individual鈥檚 strengths and suggest how they might display allyship at their work. Based on Karen Catlin鈥檚鈥淏etter Allies鈥� process, the tool sets out seven types of allies: sponsor, champion, advocate, amplifier, scholar, upstander and confident. Users are invited to choose which type of ally they would like to be personally. Over a month, the tool will then give practical exercises, tips and best practices on how to be that ally.

The campaign launches with a nationwide Out of Home campaign which takes inspiration from iconic BBC test cards, created for free by Havas, with media locations, including the Storm Cromination, donated by Bauer Media Outdoor.

June Sarpong, Director of Creative Diversity at the BBC, says: "I am delighted that so many leaders have come on board to support our Creative Allies initiative, throughout my own career I have been lucky to find support听from allies within my industry - it鈥檚 important that those with the most agency use that position to help level the playing听field for diverse talent, we look forward to more organisations joining us."

Justin Cochrane, CEO of Bauer Media Outdoor, says: 鈥�At Bauer Media Outdoor, we realise just how important it is to help develop the next generation of creative leaders, especially during the current climate, and how it鈥檚 vital to make our industry more diverse and inclusive. 听I鈥檓 very proud to sign up as a Creative Ally Champion and to commit to helping drive forward and promote allyship, not just at Bauer Media Outdoor, but throughout the advertising industry. We鈥檙e also proud to be further amplifying the Creative Allies campaign across our digital advertising sites nationwide.鈥�