“SPARK FOUNDRY
IS ON FIRE”
Not our words but the words of Campaign Magazine in their 2022 School Reports, reflecting the acceleration we’ve achieved over the last year, not only for our clients but for ourselves too.
We’ve gone from strength to strength, accelerating through an incredible amount of positive change and now achieving real momentum.
As we’re known for being the ‘Acceleration Agency’, we like to get to the point, so if there are just TWO things to remember about us; we’re proud to be the most diverse media agency in the UK, and we build products that change the industry for the better.
MOST DIVERSE MEDIA
AGENCY IN THE UK
Diversity has been a priority for several years, and we’re proud of what we achieved in 2021. Our outreach work with local schools has increased our intake of BAME candidates to 38%, but more importantly our senior staff sit at 18% (surpassing the IPA benchmarks). In total, 29% of our staff are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, making Spark Foundry the most diverse media agency in the UK (source: Campaign).
But diversity without inclusivity is nothing. This is why our D&I council, The Collective, meet with the board each month to make decisions about our agency future, from training and development, to hiring and promotions.
We created ‘anonymous voices’ for people to raise any concerns or questions. And everyone within the senior leadership has a reverse mentor from a different cultural background, who they meet with regularly to listen and learn from. We’re proud of our achievements and to be a D&I leader within the industry, but there’s much more to do before we achieve true equality in the workplace, and we’re not going to stop until we get there.
PRODUCTS THAT CHANGE
THE INDUSTRY
Diversity isn’t just an internal mission, it also shapes how we work with clients and build our services. In January 2022 we launched the Diverse and Inclusive Media Exchange (DIME). This is a programmatic solution to overcome the biases we see in media, especially within digital where negative keywords disproportionately effect minority groups.
DIME caused much needed debate in the industry when it launched and has been so positively received that it quickly moved from a Spark Foundry product to a Publicis Media service, helping hundreds of brands across all three agencies to be more inclusive with their marketing choices.
We’ve also had huge success through creative use of search data, leading to a number of unique tools, like Search Harmony, which has allowed our clients to radically change the way they approach paid search.
Both of these tools were built proactively by our people, demonstrating how they’re empowered and trusted to follow their passions. Expect to see more announcements on new tools soon…