Instacart announces $1M ad initiative to boost Black-owned brands

Dive Brief:

Instacart announced on Thursday that it is putting $1 million toward an advertising initiative to boost Black-owned brands.
With the new initiative, Instacart is offering Black-owned CPGs prominent advertising placement and giving eligible companies Instacart Ads credits for its featured product offerings, which allow for placement on the digital shelf with higher visibility, throughout 2021.
Instacart is also creating additional resources for brands, including a designated team focused on supporting participating brands and a monthly training series to help brands maximize the impact of their ad campaigns.

Dive Insight:

Instacart said the new initiative is its first to directly support Black-owned brands in its marketplace with advertising products and services. The e-commerce firm currently offers self-service and managed ad services for more than 2,500 brands.

As part of the launch, Instacart has partnered with rice and bean company A Dozen Cousins, mambo sauce maker Capital City, allergen-free cookie company Partake Foods and premium whiskey brand Uncle Nearest.

The initiative is “just a first step” for the company as it looks to offer “equitable outcomes for historically underrepresented entrepreneurs and brands and create more opportunities for more companies to flourish,” Seth Dallaire, Instacart’s chief revenue officer, said in a statement.

In the announcement, Instacart said the initiative furthers the company's diversity, equity and belonging efforts and also its commitment to stand up against anti-Blackness and systemic racism.

Recently, the grocery industry has taken more steps to boost minority-owned businesses. For example, Target has a digital tag indicating if a product is from a Black-owned or Black-founded brand. Giant Food has rolled out updated digital and in-store labels to highlight products from women- and minority-owned companies.

In its grocery trends report for 2021 published in December, Instacart said that 14% of shoppers have researched women- or minority-owned establishments.