ANA, AIMM & SeeHer report: Ethnic diversity of the advertising & marketing industry took a step backwards in 2023

The overall ethnic skew declined from 32.3 percent in 2022 to 30.8 percent in 2023, and is now back to 2021 levels, according to the most recent report from ANA in partnership with ANA divisions AIMM and SeeHer. “This raises concerns that diversity, a proven growth driver per McKinsey, may be slipping in strategic importance for some brands”.

One of the most affected groups is Hispanic/Latino, with a drastic overall decrease from 10.9% to 9.5% between 2022 and 2023. In the case of African Americans, it remained stable at 7.2%, and in the case of Asian Americans, it had a slight increase from 10.2% to 10.3% for the same period.

There were declines for Hispanics/Latinos at most job levels. “The decline among the Entry-Level Professional (from 11.8 percent to 10.0 percent) was especially disappointing since the Hispanic/Latino segment skews younger than the general population and we would have expected an increase here. Instead, the industry experienced a decline.”

Two studies provide a measure of ethnicity for the top marketing jobs: In the study of ANA board of directors and select member companies, the senior level is defined as “The highest level within the marketing team, likely 5 to 10 percent of total.” In 2023, this level increased to 27.9 percent (from 27.4 percent), the second highest percentage of ethnic diversity over the six-year study period. In the study of ANA member CMOs, there was 17.3 percent ethnic diversity (up from 14.6 percent), the highest in the six-year study period.Hispanics/Latinos comprise 4.6 percent of ANA member company CMOs, but are 18.7 percent of the total population.

“The 30.8% ethnic diversity of the advertising and marketing industry remains below the 42.2% diversity of the total US population. And after the gains in 2022, the drop in 2023 is very disappointing. And it is particularly poor for the African American and Hispanic/Latino segments.” A particularly problematic finding is the decline in ethnic diversity among entry-level professionals: from 34.2% in 2022 to 31.3% in 2023.

Regarding gender, female representation at the senior leadership level is 57.7 percent according to the ANA board of directors and select member companies diversity benchmark and 59.9 percent in the analysis of the ANA member CMOs. “Both are at the highest levels in the six-year history of the study.”

Women comprise the majority of the marketing industry’s workforce: 67.2 percent according to the ANA board of directors and select member companies’ diversity benchmark and 69.5 percent in the analysis of the ANA overall membership. Per the former study, the gender of entry-level professional staff is also majority female (68.9 percent).

As pointed out in prior reports, for true equality the industry needs to recruit more young men to enter (and remain in) the advertising/marketing industry to reflect a more balanced gender representation.

“Although one year does not make a trend, it could represent a tipping point where the industry gives up some of its hard-earned gains from the last few years. Buffering some of these concerns were improvements in the “rolling three-year diversity trend” (in a separate study of the ANA overall membership), gender diversity strength, and a robust improvement in the number of diverse senior-level marketers and CMOs in particular,” said Bob Liodice, CEO of ANA.

View ANA’s Diversity in the Advertising and Marketing Industry report