My Voice Matters Inclusion Research

Study Background

The ANA Educational Foundation (AEF) published a study in 2019, “Bridging the Diversity Disconnect: Charting More Inclusive Pathways to Growth,” as part of its Talent Disconnect Series. This series examines the key disconnects across industry, academia, and talent, and then proposes programs and solutions to help bridge these gaps.

The key finding from the Diversity Disconnect study was clear: Both academia and industry demonstrated their commitment to diversity and inclusion. While progress has been made on more diverse talent entering the industry, there was agreement among all key stakeholders that inclusion was the crucial ingredient to help retain diverse talent once they entered the workforce.

We called this study My Voice Matters and looked at three key areas that linked to business performance: My Voice in the Room, My Voice in the Company, and My Voice in the Industry. The AEF collaborated with key stakeholders in the talent ecosystem – marketers, researchers, HR business partners, recruiters, DEI executives, agency leads, head strategists, and professors – to build out this inclusion framework. With this model, we then surveyed 268 industry professionals to quantify the level of inclusion across the marketing, media, and advertising industry.

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