The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity draws the best and brightest from the worlds of advertising, media and communications. Amongst all the awards and global brands, one initiative stands out for its impactful mission and transformative vision: the Cannes Can: Diversity Collective (CC:DC). Created in 2018 due to the lack of diversity in the advertising, marketing, communications and creative industries, CC:DC has taken the initiative to increase the representation of talented people of color at some of the largest marketing events in the world. FleishmanHillard is in its second year of partnership with CC:DC through its global pro bono and volunteer initiative, FH4Inclusion.

A highlight of the festival is its captivating panels. FleishmanHillard helped bring diversity to the CC:DC stage this year with two thought-provoking sessions. Our “Creativity Doesn’t Have an Age Limit” panel tackled the issue of ageism in the creative field, a topic especially pertinent as five generations collaborate in the workplace for the first time in history. It was moderated by our Colleen McTaggart, global executive creative director, and featured an inspiring lineup of powerful women — Angela Guidry, Karen Blanchard (KarenBritChick™), Kimfer Flanery-Rye and Shannae Ingleton-Smith. Adding to the excitement, Jacob Porpossian, global executive creative director in Health and Life Sciences for FleishmanHillard, moderated “Creativity for Health: Why Harnessing the Power of Creativity is Critical to Engaging Multicultural Communities” featuring our client, Yvonne Bryant, executive director, U.S. Marketing, Novo Nordisk, and the phenomenal Queen Latifah.

“Getting to moderate a panel and then watching our Novo Nordisk client and the iconic Queen Latifah speak about the FH and Novo Nordisk ‘It’s Bigger Than Me’ campaign on the main stage of the festival was a dream come true. It made me extremely proud to be an FH-er and was a wonderful way to recognize the incredible amount of work that was strategically led and creatively executed by the Novo Nordisk team and our agency,” shared Porpossian.

FleishmanHillard also made an appearance on the main stage, where Adrianne C. Smith, our chief diversity and inclusion officer, discussed the topic “DE&I Will Never DIE.” Smith shared her thoughts on the state of DE&I and addressed the myth that DE&I efforts are obsolete, explaining why they’re more vital than ever.

This year was also historic for media coverage of CC:DC, with the FH4Inclusion team securing more than 20 media placements highlighting stories of legacy and growth within the organization. Leading up to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, media outlets such as Time, Ad Age and PRWeek shared the amazing work CC:DC brought to the Palais. Being on the ground at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity also provided Chelsie Kumar, CC:DC Ambassador and a vice president at FleishmanHillard, with the opportunity to build relationships with journalists.

“Attending Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity was a great opportunity to secure face time with journalists from top-tier publications. Events hosted by news outlets (such as AXIOS, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg) were particularly helpful for these networking opportunities, and the sessions tended to have a more communications and earned media focus,” said Kumar.

CC:DC’s annual AYA Inclusion Awards were another point of inspiration at the festival. These awards were the first diversity-based awards on the ground at the festival and in the spirit of inclusion are made free to enter. This year’s submissions demonstrated that DE&I will endure despite challenges, with agencies across the globe submitting inspiring work challenging the status quo.

“Working on the AYA Inclusion Awards was an honor. And I believe every year, they will keep growing. I thought last year’s submissions were amazing, but this year, every single submission deserved an award. The jury did an amazing job picking a winner, and in my eyes, any of the submissions could have won,” shared Mirella Lopez, FleishmanHillard assistant account executive and CC:DC Ambassador.

“It’s incredibly refreshing to see work that genuinely celebrates cultural identity and is rooted in unique behaviors and authentic insights. This is the true essence of diversity. We’ve come a long way from the tokenism of the past, rooted in diverse cast and call-it-a-day. While there’s still work to be done, I’m optimistic about the direction we’re heading,” commented Geraldine Szabo, FleishmanHillard senior vice president – strategy and AYA Inclusion Awards judge.

As CC:DC continues to expand, so does FleishmanHillard’s commitment to DE&I, providing a wealth of opportunities for creatives and industry leaders. This dedication to fostering growth and development within the industry is a source of optimism for the future of diversity and inclusion in the communications and advertising fields.

“How do I get promoted?” is a question that most people ask themselves at least once throughout their careers. For participants of the Alfred Fleishman Diversity Fellowship, the answer is not far away. The Fellowship Alumni class is a beacon of success, with numerous talented PR and communications leaders from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences flourishing today. They’re at the forefront of client work, spearheading innovative campaigns and consistently making it to the firm’s promotion list year after year. We spoke to some of our recently promoted former Fellows to learn more about their path at FleishmanHillard and the factors that lead to their continued success.

“Do good work and let the work shine.”

How Gracey Wallace connected the right dots.

Beginning her Fellowship in 2020, Gracey Wallace, an account supervisor, has earned three promotions and now helps hire and manage the same Fellowship class she once belonged to. Her journey has been a testament to the power of continuous learning and personal growth. Although she previously studied liberal arts, she now leads campaigns for some of the biggest names in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. From managing patient recruitment and video shoots for one client to creating and broadening awareness of stigmatized conditions for another, her work shines bright.

As a Fellow, she remembers learning a lot and was initially discouraged by the number of edits she received on first drafts.  Still, she persisted. She learned how to take feedback and learn from it without taking it personally. She stayed curious and open – always looking for the broader context that would help her connect the dots. She credits these traits, along with being responsive, communicative and visible, for helping her to stand apart as she earned her first promotion. For her subsequent promotions, she credits relationship building and forming connections with people who are in the rooms she’s not in. “I’ve been collecting a group of people that are my cheerleaders. Communicating what I want and where I want to grow.” 

“See growth as a ramp, rather than a series of steps.”

For Elizabeth Comtois, asking the right questions is a must.

Elizabeth began her Fellowship in 2018 and has since earned four promotions. As a managing supervisor, she balances a variety of clients from the healthcare, technology and consumer goods industries and philanthropic and social impact foundations. In college, Elizabeth was always passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion but worried that she wouldn’t be able to integrate it with her desire to work at a large agency. At FleishmanHillard, she found a way to do both. As a Fellow, she strengthened her ability to lead discussions on vulnerable topics while growing her responsibilities on key accounts. Her first promotion was a “blur,” as she calls it, but some of her memories have stuck. Starting with the system she created to help manage her tasks and communicate with her team. Another core memory she shared was all about the messages she told herself. “I can do this. I can insert my perspective.” These words helped boost her confidence and made her less reactive and more proactive. In time, her team took notice of her contributions, and her first promotion was in the bag.

For promotions two, three and four, she used similar tactics. Each step along the way, she took on more responsibilities and ownership of her work. She asked questions about each project: “What are the client’s business goals? Why does the work matter? And how can I deliver impact for my client?” As she learned to think broadly about her work, her confidence grew, and soon, she began to ask a new set of questions. “Who can I support? What are the team’s skills, and how can I leverage them? What are my strengths and passions, and how can I align my work to meet them? Little by little, question by question, this ramp led her forward.

“Openly voice your goals, opportunities and challenges.”

Ana Hernandez Quiros sends a message with her words — and actions.

Ana joined the Fellowship program in 2020. By 2023, she’d moved into an account supervisor role, her third promotion. She found that what she enjoys most is telling the bigger story and helping the brands she supports live up to it. She’s supported clients across multiple industries and areas of expertise, and today focuses on the public, financial and professional services sectors. Soon after she began, she found a role on the FleishmanHillard Hispania team. As she put her multicultural marketing skills to work, she embraced the opportunity for ownership, partnering with accounts outside of her local office and helping lead client relations even as a Fellow. “My first promotion felt natural because I was already playing a higher role.”

Like Gracey, Ana found the power in letting her work speak for itself and used her voice as well. Ana regularly communicated with her manager and informed her of her progress and challenges. This gave her manager the tools they needed to advocate for her promotion. She shared, “It was less about seeking the role but excelling in the role I was in. I embraced the work to help find opportunities for organic growth and build trust with clients.  Meanwhile, I had ongoing conversations with my manager and account leads about my short and long-term goals.”

Gracey’s, Elizabeth’s and Ana’s stories are powerful, but they represent just 15% of the total number of former Fellows who received a promotion in 2023. We have more of these stories. Their success and the success of the Fellows who follow them is more than an incident—it is a pattern that we want to keep repeating.

The Alfred Fleishman Diversity Fellowship Program is a North America-based internship where talent from diverse backgrounds can combine their PR, Communications and Media talents with their passion for diversity and inclusion. Our teams across the United States and Canada hire, mentor and prepare Fellows for entry-level roles at FleishmanHillard. If you want to start your career with us, you can learn more about openings by visiting our Join Us page.  

The power of the collective.

For too long, agencies have been pitted against each other and tension in communications to capture attention has been taught, but as I listened to people from all walks of life at the recent Unstereotype Alliance Global Member Summit, the message was clear: let’s do this together.

I was honoured to be provided with the opportunity to talk amongst such esteemed company at the annual event. The Unstereotype Alliance is an initiative convened by the UN to unite advertising industry leaders, decision makers and creatives to end harmful stereotypes in advertising. My panel discussed the perils of saying and doing nothing for the communities who brands wish to speak to and how brands can be brave and shift out of arrested development. The following is a summary of my key points.

Examine and act on your core values. Often, brands look to avoid reputational loss —  but they miss the reputational gain also. A lot of the time we need to look at our core values; for most humans that’s a challenge, let alone brands with multiple layers of approvals.  Reflective change can feel nearly impossible, but for people to buy into you, they need to know where you’re coming from, which might mean you need to stop thinking about being right for the moment and evolve for the longer term.

Bring everyone to the table. Creating that internal culture of change will allow you to start to feel brave when talking to the outside world and when you’re being brave, you’re taking an element of risk, and that’s OK — you just want to have confidence to take the right risk and that’s where you need to add the EQ to the IQ. Adding that emotionally intelligent person to the table, the person who is culturally connected and who’s a part of the communities you wish to speak to, or curious about them, will give you the confidence to be bold.

That emotional intelligence has layers and is intuitive, and unlike AI, is better at predicting the unpredictability of humans. These people can assess campaigns through what we coin here at FleishmanHillard as our cultural mapping approach — the three E’s: Empathy, Earnestness and Empowerment. It’s a powerful lens for your brand and bottom line. 

Think about the long game. Marketing professions are familiar with the concept of pace. When piggy-backing, news-hijacking and jumping on trend bandwagons, the need to have sincerity when dealing with communities is often unconsidered. Culture has roots and longevity. A brand’s integrity when mapping to culture is more important than the speed. As June Ambrose, renowned creative director, said at the summit — impact takes intention.

Be brave. There’s a rising amongst the youth that feel there’s a lack of originality out there — as famed record producer Mark Ronson suggested, part of originality is just evolving the story for the next generation. Does the current state of affairs and the frozen position many brands find themselves in attribute to the bland over the bold? By brands shifting their mindsets from talking about their own benefits to being an activist for others, they can have the full force of youth on their side.

In closing, keep in mind that to have a platform is a privilege. Sima Bahous, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and executive director of UN Women, made the following suggestions:

Invest in gender equality and you accelerate progress

Highlight the youthful voices

Commit to accountability

It sounds simple but too often forgotten and with the power of our communications, we can be bold and push the agenda for others and our clients – a win-win!