Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accountability is not just a strategic imperative at BCW, it is fundamental to our company’s philosophy.
It guides how we interact with our colleagues across the agency, our relationship with our clients and our campaigns.
BCW’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accountability employee resource group, otherwise known as the BCW IDEA Collective, provides regular workshops, training and events to help employees develop a full and rounded appreciation of why embracing DE&I matters.
We have partnered with The Taylor Bennet Foundation to redesign BCW Propel, our entry-level programme aimed at hiring more young people from diverse backgrounds. Under the programme, applicants are hired on potential alone. Propellers receive an intensive period of training free from any client responsibilities, plus support from line managers, a buddy, and a specially trained mentor.
BCW is a member of Inclusive Employers, a membership association for companies looking to build inclusive workplaces, and we work with Back2Businessship, an initiative designed to support communications professionals who have taken time away from their careers due to caring responsibilities, return to work.
We have a Young Ambassador, who is part of a UK wide programme that reaches over 2,000 17–25-year-olds and raises awareness about careers in communications.
Several of our pro bono campaigns promote greater equity in society:
In 2023 we supported the Stephen Lawrence Foundation Day on the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s death. Working as part of a WPP team, BCW created the campaign platform – #ExtraordinaryOrdinary- to celebrate
Stephen’s legacy and to demonstrate how young people can fulfil their potential if given the chance. BCW produced the creative for the TV ad and Out-Of-Home (OOH) Advertising campaign. The TV creative featured a stirring poem, written by BCW and voiced by Baroness Lawrence and TV presenter and radio host Clara Amfo. It ran on Sky and Channel 4 and several other national channels. The OOH campaign ran across circa £1million worth of free media nationwide (secured by WPP’s media intelligence agencies) and was voted PRWeek’s campaign of the month in April 2023.
Our work with Pride to support the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march in 2022 helped transform the organisation’s negative media narrative to positive by acknowledging past challenges and sharing steps organisers were taking to make it and society more inclusive. The resulting campaign - #AllOurPride -drove more than 1,000 pieces of coverage with a record 1.5m people turning up for the march and the organisation being awarded a new five-year contact to host the event. #AllOurPride | Pride in London 2022 - YouTube.
Our Purpose Work for clients promotes improving equity in society.
The discovery that one in 17 British children don’t own a book – a problem exacerbated by the pandemic and one that disproportionately impacts disadvantaged children – inspired our “My Reading Journey” campaign for Aldi. The emotive campaign not only raised awareness of the issue by driving it to the top of the news agenda, it also moved the public to donate. This resulted in more than 100,000 disadvantaged children being gifted their first book and a 119% increase in awareness of the issue, with 92% of people feeling more positive about the Aldi brand.