How should we portray different communities in campaign creative?

Inclusive advertising is strongest when different communities inform the campaign rather than appear only in its final imagery. Start with audience research that reflects the people a brand wants to reach, then involve a range of perspectives in the strategy, creative development and review process. Representation in advertising includes the stories told, the people depicted, the authors and voices selected, and the assumptions built into the brief.

Lived experience helps a creative team identify the nuances of a target audience and find a more credible angle for the work. Diversity of thought also reduces shared blind spots, particularly when a campaign addresses communities not fully represented within the team. Meaningful representation should show people as valued participants with varied roles and experiences, rather than treating identity as a visual shortcut.

Culturally responsive campaigns need a clear connection between the community portrayed, the message being made and the way the organisation behaves. Diverse casting alone can feel tokenistic when the work relies on stereotypes, presents a narrow version of a community or uses inclusion as a cynical sales device. Teams should challenge whether a creative choice would still work if it centred a different demographic, and whether the portrayal gives people agency rather than assigning them a fixed role.

Before approval, review language, imagery, roles and interactions for harm and offence. Advertising rules in the UK prohibit gender stereotypes likely to cause harm or serious or widespread offence, while racial or ethnic portrayals linked to discrimination, superiority or inferiority are unacceptable. Accessible communications and representative creative testing help identify problems that an internal review may miss.

We believe inclusive campaign creative requires equal attention to who shapes the work, whose experiences are heard and how people are portrayed. A suitable partner should be able to connect audience insight, messaging, design and feedback throughout development, while challenging assumptions that can reduce communities to stereotypes. We have embedded diversity considerations across work ranging from research and brand strategy to image selection, authorship and campaign design. For IBM's diversity and inclusion campaign, we created work designed to celebrate employees by capturing IBMers speaking directly about their experiences of inclusion, the difficulties they had faced and their hopes for the future. We see authenticity and humility as essential to creating work that can resonate with people.