13 top consultants and experts helping advertisers address their longstanding diversity problems

The advertising industry, which influences global purchasing decisions and is vital for companies trying to reach diverse audiences, has been confronting its diversity and inequity issues since the Black Lives Matter protests last June.

Ad agencies have committed to do more diversity training, eliminate pay gaps among underrepresented groups, and diversify their staffs, especially in the C-suite.

Still, ad and marketing industry leaders are overwhelmingly white. Holding companies WPP and Publicis, for example, reported about 81% of their US senior or executive-level managers were white in 2020. And an 2020 ANA report also found only 3% of 870 chief marketing officers were Black, 5% were Asian, and 4% were Hispanic.

Insider identified 13 leading DEI experts and consultants that top agencies and marketers including Procter & Gamble, T-Mobile, and WPP are turning to to improve their cultures and diversify their staff.