Leveraging Inclusion = Income: Practical steps to drive inclusive advertising and realise commercial growth

Creative Storytelling and Inclusive Practices

• Inclusion begins at the strategy level, not during casting or execution. Deep consumer listening, auditing processes, and challenging biases in marketing systems were highlighted as essential starting points.
• Ecosystem-level collaboration (e.g., cultural consultants, training with agencies) helps ensure the authenticity of representation and content. 

Media Planning and Target Audiences

• When considering inclusive media buying practices, try to reframe ‘brand safety’ as ‘brand responsibility’ - this goes beyond risks to open possibilities around reaching new audiences. 
• Brands hold enormous power and should hold their agencies to account. Think relevancy, not just reach, and remember that community media can often work harder. 

Cultural Relevance, Bravery and Preparedness

• Fear of backlash often inhibits progress. Brands shared the importance of preparedness and courage as critical drivers of change, with a need to embrace potential failures as learning opportunities.
• Follow the framework and advice outlined in Creative Bravery Beyond the Backlash

Commitments and Accountability 

• Create campaign standards and benchmarks together and set expectations from the most senior level of organisations. 
• Benchmarks combined with joint brand and agency training can supercharge the journey to inclusive advertising and accelerate progress.

Organizational buy-in and long-term cultural change

• Fostering organisation-wide inclusivity requires cultural shifts embedded in organisational processes, ongoing training, and leadership commitment.

Data and Measurement

• Tools like the Gender Unstereotype Metric and the Progressive Unstereotype Metrics demonstrate the importance of using robust, globally validated data to track progress and impact.

The Inclusion=Income report empirically proves the financial benefits of inclusive advertising. The Unstereotype Alliance urges brands and agencies to confidently emphasise the business advantage of inclusivity.