{"id":23520,"date":"2022-12-14T21:46:04","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T21:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/rhonesha-byng-lisa-torres-making-equitable-media-landscapes\/"},"modified":"2022-12-14T21:46:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T21:46:04","slug":"rhonesha-byng-lisa-torres-making-equitable-media-landscapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/rhonesha-byng-lisa-torres-making-equitable-media-landscapes\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhonesha Byng, Lisa Torres: Making Equitable Media Landscapes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Marketers have pledged billions of dollars<\/a> over the past couple of years to fund minority-owned media. But delivering on those promises has been harder than flipping a switch. Rhonesha Byng, founder and chief executive officer at Her Agenda, and Lisa Torres, president of Cultural Quotient at Publicis Media<\/a>, took the stage at Adweek\u2019s NexTech Summit to share how they\u2019re exploring the new companies and collectives helping to spur this progress, plus what more needs to be done.<\/p>\n

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Going beyond the pledge<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While Byng appreciates the intention behind recent high-dollar pledges from industry behemoths to fund minority-owned media, she said she\u2019s yet to see these pledges actually come to fruition and do what they\u2019re intended to.<\/p>\n

\u201cPledges really don\u2019t mean anything to Black-owned media<\/a>, especially when those dollars are tied to performance-based advertising campaigns,\u201d she said. \u201cThe reason for that is because Black-owned media has been left out of deal flow for years, and they\u2019ve been operating off crumbs\u2014if they\u2019ve been invited to the table for a plate at all. You\u2019re left with an industry where you only have a short list of media companies that can even operate and deliver in full on even a $1 million deal. You have to look at actually pivoting those dollars to direct investment in order to move the needle forward. That\u2019s something that, up to a year ago and today, I haven\u2019t really seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming a broken system<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Torres added that the legacy metrics currently at play are broken, and something must be done to fix them before equity can be achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no interest in being part of the commitment Olympics, as I call it,\u201d she said. \u201cWho wins in that type of thing? The infrastructure is not there to support that level of investment, and the system is broken\u2014it is full of biases<\/a>. This is an ecosystem that\u2019s built on scale and efficiency. That doesn\u2019t necessarily work when you look at partners that are niche or are directed to a specific cohort or audience. They have to be measured differently, but our current measurement doesn\u2019t even see them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torres said to overcome these legacy barriers, the industry must work collectively\u2014across all sides\u2014and funnel more spend and opportunity to diverse suppliers.<\/p>\n

Disrupting the landscape<\/strong><\/h4>\n

According to Byng, the only way to create an equitable media landscape is through disruption, not trying to force solutions to work with the status quo.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo create true equity, agencies and brands must be willing to disrupt and ultimately create new systems instead of trying to fit Black-owned media into what has always existed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The duo agrees that creating an equitable media landscape must be a collective effort, starting with taking a look at how brands are investing their money.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to understand the contribution to your sales and then invest accordingly,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that innately is going to change your dynamic in terms of how you invest your dollars. Everybody\u2019s dollar is green, but where the green is coming from is radically changing in this country. If you don\u2019t really pay attention to that, you are going to be on the losing side of an equation you are not going to be able to fix.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n