A Culture of Collaboration: Enhancing spaces to enhance marketing strategies
By Doug Eaddy | Brand Strategist + Consultant
Contributors:
Devin Lars | Founder and CEO of Kurieo
Blair Lee | Creative Strategist – Administrator – Professor
Derrick Whitfield Sr. | Graphic Designer
Kristopher Brazen | Sr. Art Director
Steven Shaw, M.S. | Regional Marketing Specialist
Shaunte Thomas M.S. | Marketing Professional
Yanyn San Luis | CEO + Educator
REAL RECOGNIZE REAL
As a Brand Strategist, and minority in the marketing and design industry, I’ve noticed a new renaissance of brands and agencies collaborating with minority designers and marketers. This is because brands and agencies realized that they’ve missed opportunities in their strategies to build trust and engagement by creating content that’s based off assumptions and stereotypes. Fast forward today, we are now seeing brands and agencies build teams that are finally showcasing a true reflection of society especially, within the minority communities. This move is to not only make better marketing strategies that resonate with targeted groups, but more accurate.
So, I reached out to a group of industry leaders in design and marketing to create a round table to ask this question “How does minority designers and marketers enhance the culture of agencies and how that culture enhances marketing strategies for targeted minority groups.” Here are their thoughts:
Devin Lars | linkedin.com/in/devinlars
Founder and CEO of KURIEO MEDIA©
“When it comes to minority designers and marketers, their impact on agencies goes beyond just diversity—it’s about perspective. Having a team made up of different backgrounds and experiences allows us to see things from angles others might miss.
In my experience, this isn’t just beneficial for creating marketing strategies that resonate with minority groups, but it’s also essential for crafting campaigns that feel genuine and deeply connected.
At KURIEO, we’ve seen firsthand how these diverse perspectives can drive creativity, innovation, and ultimately lead to better results for our clients, whether it’s a global brand like Amazon or a local startup. When you reflect the audience you’re speaking to, you build trust, and trust is the foundation of effective marketing.”
Blair Lee | linkedin.com/in/leeblairt
Award-Winning HigherEd Creative Strategist | Administrator | Professor
“We need more graphic designers and marketing leaders of color who bring unique perspectives, challenge the status quo, and craft messages that resonate across cultures. As a result we will see creatives bring fresh, diverse perspectives that inspire innovation, foster inclusivity, and connect with audiences in ways that resonate across cultures and experiences.”
Derrick Whitfield Sr. | linkedin.com/in/derrickwhitfield-sr-b046b01b7
Your “go-to” Graphic Designer for unconventional brands.
“I approach design like hip hop culture. What started as a trend has really evolved into a powerful force in every culture over the past 50 years. I draw on my experiences as an African American artist to create designs that resonate with a multicultural audience to try to have the same energy as hip hop.
I think minority designers and marketers bring so much to the table, we enrich agency culture and making marketing strategies way more effective for targeted minority groups because we speak those groups “language!”
Kristopher Brazen | linkedin.com/in/kris-bazen
Sr. Art Director
“I believe minorities enhance agency cultures by providing and sharing insights and perspectives that can oftentimes be overlooked and not accounted for. Otherwise, I find that companies without diversity can try to speak to diverse audiences, but their voice can often be perceived as inauthentic and tone deaf due to a true lack of understanding of what resonates / matters from a more global perspective.”
Steven Shaw, M.S. | linkedin.com/in/steven-shaw
Regional Marketing Specialist
“Being a minority in the sneaker industry, I’ve seen how groups struggled to market to smaller targeted groups. This is because marketing teams don’t have the appropriate representation to help with targeted marketing, especially during the brainstorming phase.”
Luckily, I’m able to bring my insights and experiences to my team. Also, being from the south where many trends are cultivated, one must have an ear to the streets to see what the culture is feeling or not. For example, no one can market better to Jordan obsessed sneaker heads in Memphis, TN better then someone that eat sleeps and lives that culture. Having this ability makes it easier to contribute and produce quality campaigns with purpose.
In all, I think minority designers can help these agencies because a lot of the time this isn’t something they see on TV or read about. It’s a life they’ve lived, and their work reflects it because they know what will resonate to their target audience.
Shaunte Thomas | linkedin.com/in/shaunte
Marketing Professional
“Minority designers can help agencies avoid cultural missteps and stereotypes in their marketing efforts. By having a diverse team that can provide feedback and perspective on campaigns, agencies to ensure that their messaging is respectful and resonates with the intended audience.”
Overall, the presence of minority designers in marketing agencies not only enhances the culture of the agency itself, but also leads to more successful and impactful marketing strategies for targeted minority groups. By embracing diversity and inclusion, agencies can create more meaningful connections with their audience and drive better results for their clients.
Yanyn San Luis | linkedin.com/in/yanynsanluis
CEO + Educator
“Culturally diverse designers and marketers bring invaluable perspectives that reflect the communities’ unique qualities, helping agencies create more authentic and resonant marketing strategies. This allows agencies to hyper-focus on localization and creating brand content that’s relevant and timely. Their presence enhances creativity and builds a deeper cultural understanding that drives successful engagement with minority audiences.”
REAL RECOGNIZE REAL
As one can see, there is a wide range of professional experiences from CEOs to Non-Profit. But this was to show that this conversation needs to continue because this is a growing issue across many industries and disciplines. Society is evolving and the spaces that we dwell in are as well. So, it’s time to embrace it. Because it’s not about just building nice campaigns, but building campaigns for an inclusive future.
ACTION ITEMS TO ENHANCE CREATIVE SPACES
We talked about the importance of enhancing creative spaces in design and marketing agencies, but I would like to leave with 5 unique actionable items to implement to make a more inclusive creative space.
- Host a “Design Lab or Marketing Lab” workshop: These labs can be short term workshops that can be led by minority designers and marketers to brainstorm new themes and concepts for clients. Also, this can be the place where new ideas, prototypes and skill enhancers can take place.
- Launch an in-house residence program: This program can be when an agency partners with rising stars or recent grads in the design and marketing areas. This program can be 6 months to 1 year to give minorities an opportunity to get a full experience of being in an agency. Also, this same program can help minorities who are already in agencies gain skills to move up in leadership roles.
- Create a mentorship program: This mentorship program can be solely exclusive to undeserved minority high school students who have an interest in design and marketing. A lot of these young adults are soon to be the next generation of designers and marketers so it’s best that they are exposed to the industry early on.
- Offer “Culture Reflection” Days: This is where minority designers and marketers can come in and talk about their stories and how design and marketing impacted it. This would also be an opportunity to bring in other minority guest speakers to help bring a fresh perspective to enhance the culture of that agency.
- Sponsor local design and marketing socials: There are so many designers and marketers who don’t have a space to socialize and network. This would be a great way to see what talent is around town and could be agencies’ future collaborators.
Culture of Collaboration
Ultimately, establishing a culture of collaboration that promotes an inclusive future truly gives brands and agencies the competitive edge that many desire. Also, there are levels of untapped innovation and creativity that humanity has never seen. It is my belief that the design and marketing industries are robbing themselves of the potential to create even more global impact in society. For me, I tell individuals that you can’t tell a story about someone if you don’t understand who they are. So, let’s not be blind to one’s existence, but establish a legacy to show generations to come the power of creating a culture of collaboration.