Dive Brief:

• The Home Depot was 2023’s most inclusive marketer, followed by Unilever’s Dove and nonprofit the Ad Council, according to a report from the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) conducted with the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator (CIA).
• The home improvement retailer also ranked second in the report’s ad-effectiveness category, behind Lysol and in front of Procter & Gamble’s Tide. AIMM relied on CIA’s measurement methodology to analyze thousands of ads from 120 brands, along with collecting evaluation data from more than 80,000 consumers. 
• The findings come as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategies are under fire in the U.S. but can still resonate with different demographics when the execution reads as authentic. Brands with a positive consumer perception around DEI can achieve five-times higher purchase intent and foster stronger trust, according to AIMM. 

Dive Insight:

AIMM’s research seeks to celebrate brands that are getting DEI-minded marketing right. The group, which is a division of the Association of National Advertisers trade body, makes the case that a well-rounded approach to inclusion can not only drive loyalty with specific demographics, but also superior sales results. Making the business case for DEI arrives as marketers contend with intense pushback for campaigns that spotlight diversity, creating a chilling effect on the industry.    

The Home Depot stood as the most overall inclusive marketer of 2023. Ads from the retailer that debuted in December showcase how the company is balancing a purpose-led message with its core home improvement business, depicting a variety of people taking up trade jobs to address a growing labor gap. Unilever’s Dove also ranked highly as the personal care brand tackled complex issues like social media’s ability to harm kids’ self-esteem and teen girls dropping out of sports due to low confidence. 

Other marketers resonated particularly well with individual segments. McDonald’s was the favorite among Asian consumers, while LGBTQ audiences put Converse in the top spot. Dove led the pack among both Black and disabled consumers, according to AIMM. 

AIMM’s assessment relied on the CIA’s Cultural Insights Impact Measure, a methodology that ties positive DEI portrayals in ads to the potential to affect sales lift. Brands that were best-in-class with inclusion were able to grow purchase intent by 69% and affinity by 49%, the report said. Those figures may provide encouragement to marketers who are facing uncertainty amid a contentious election cycle.   

DEI is a subject that has been swept up in the culture wars, leading some companies to pump the brakes on their inclusion initiatives. The backlash, a reversal from recent years where DEI was on the rise, has appeared to impact marketing workforce diversity and also the willingness for brands to jump into thorny conversations about race and identity in their consumer-facing campaigns.       

That said, marketers as a whole are making some progress in their craft. AIMM and CIA’s research revealed that 55% of surveyed consumers saw stereotypes in ads last year versus 63% who said the same in 2022. Over one-third (38%) of respondents believed brands were accurate in depicting their culture, up from 31% two years ago. Thirty-six percent of consumers said they trust most or all brands versus 26% who held that view in 2022.