Scotti: En Verizon consideramos que es nuestra responsabilidad dirigir la conversación sobre la diversidad
Verizon launched a fellowship program, Ad Fellows, to tackle the ad industry’s diversity problem, and aims at providing the participants valuable experience across the telecom company’s several marketing functions, from creative and media to public relations. “As one of the country’s top five advertisers, Verizon sees it as our responsibility to lead the conversation on diversity and take action to promote broader industry change” said Verizon’s Chief Marketing Officer, Diego Scotti. “We want our company, as well as our agency partners, to reflect our customers, and to make that happen we need a pipeline of diverse talent.” The initiative encompasses an eight month-long fellowship program, in which 20 college graduates with diverse backgrounds will rotate across different positions at both Verizon and a handful of its partner agencies. The idea behind this is to give the recent graduates a chance to explore different parts of the marketing and advertising business, and find the areas they are passionate about and excel in. The hope is that at the end of the program, 90% of the fellows will score full-time jobs at one of the six companies participating in Ad Fellows. This fellowship program is fully paid and covers housing and expenses for all of the 20 fellows, ensuring that people of all backgrounds have the chance to participate. Apart from Verizon, agencies including McCann, Momentum, Rauxa, Zenith and Weber Shandwick are also participating in the program.