We’re committed to righting gender, race and ability imbalance behind the camera.
As part of our goal to help reshape the advertising industry to better reflect culture, Martin is committed to hiring a minimum of 50% creative talent from underrepresented groups with regards to gender, race, ethnicity, ability and LGBTQI+ for all video content production. With over $100M in client combined production spend annually, we want to leverage our influence to drive change in the ratio of underrepresented creators behind the camera.
“We started the year with the goal to award a minimum 50% of all content production to creative talent (director or editor) from underrepresented groups.* We felt it was not only the right thing to do—it also matters to the success of what we do.”
Tasha Dean
Chief Revenue Officer
Martin
*based on self-reported data
Galvanized by the goal and buoyed by support of our clients, we are currently exceeding our ambition by producing 64% of our video content with underrepresented creative talent in 2022, including:
DoorDash, Neighborhood of Good, Imperial Woodpecker, directed by Lisa Gunning and edited by Paul Martinez
GEICO, Unsolicited Advice & I’ve Met The Gecko, Biscuit Filmworks, directed by Jocelyn and Dawn
UPS, Latinx-Owned, Stink, directed by Leo Aguirre and edited by Alex Dondero at Vapor Post
CarMax, Car Buying Reimagined, Biscuit, directed by Los Perez
Buffalo Wild Wings, NCAA March Madness, Hungry Man, directed by Amir Farhang with food styling shoot directed by Shanghoon at The Garage
The forthcoming short film by Platige, “Lil’ Ruby Riding Hood,” part of an award-winning storytelling series “Now Upon A Time,” co-directed by agency CCO Danny Robinson.
“For DoorDash, it’s simple. We serve an incredibly diverse group of audiences - across Merchants, Dashers, and Consumers. And we believe that in order to connect with these audiences, we need to reflect their perspectives in our work. The best marketing always starts with a deep understanding of the customer, and the chances of getting to great increase exponentially if the people behind the camera bring that insight and nuance to the table.”
- Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, CMO at DoorDash
“To keep growing the GEICO brand, we know it is important for us to ensure that our content is representative of audiences from a myriad of identities, backgrounds, and life experiences. We are driven to create work that resonates deeply, and we intend to do this by elevating new voices and perspectives in the production process. We’re creating entertainment that not only delights our audiences but also makes people feel seen, heard and—ultimately, invites them along in the work we do each day.”
- Damon Burrell, CMO at GEICO
To further the 50/50 mission moving forward, Martin has officially partnered with Group Effort Initiative (GEI), a program launched and financed by Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, that strives to create a pipeline for members of underrepresented communities to get real experience towards lasting careers within the entertainment industry. As part of the partnership, Martin will source eligible underrepresented production assistants from GEI. Martin will also participate in and sponsor GEI's inaugural production bootcamp and play an active role in GEI’s new mentorship program, launching in November 2022. “Our partnership with Martin Agency will provide even more individuals from underserved communities with the opportunity to chase their dreams," said Sumi Parekh, executive director at GEI. We are grateful that The Martin Agency is taking tangible steps to ensure that commercial production represents the diversity of all of its viewers.”
“As an industry, we’ve grown numb. We need to do the work to break entrenched biases. We don’t want to be satisfied celebrating progress on screen while ignoring the glacially slow improvement in equity off-screen.”
Tasha Dean
Chief Revenue Officer
Martin
Katherine Sheehan
Email
804-698-8161