The ACT Framework has been developed by Flock Associates and is used to guide authentic representation strategies for advertisers. Flock Associates are a Marketing Transformation consultancy that work in association with ISBA and the WFA to drive industry change. Contact the teamto find out more information about their ACT Framework and thought leadership.
Photo by Alyza Enriquez for VICE Gender Spectrum CollectionLong-term accountability and progress within your organisation rely upon effective internal communication, training, resources and measurement. Technology and media capabilities are changing fast, and to continue progress you will need to ensure your teams stay up to date on the latest developments.
Beyond conducting your own research and reaching out to industry experts, it’s important to prioritise next level training for your team. This can include anything from the basics such as terminology to how to integrate, manage and cater for varying needs e.g., designing with contrasting colours, copywriting for blind and low vision audiences, to understanding changing trends and legal requirements in the industry. The industry is changing at such a speed that skills and capabilities in this area will need to be regularly assessed to address any gaps in your team.
While engaging with end users and specialists is a critical first step towards integrating accessibility into your campaigns, creating your own immersion centre can be a useful tool to experience your adverts from a different viewpoint.
Familiarise yourself with the range of accessible technologies out there and find ways to integrate these into your processes. For example, using automation tools to generate image descriptions, or contrast colour checking tools to check legibility.
Make sure both your teams and agencies are held accountable for delivering on your agreed accessibility strategy. Internally this could be through including accessibility-based objectives within personal development plans or this could be through including accessibility focused questions within annual appraisals.
“We have found it critical to engage with and learn from other industry changemakers on how to ensure our marketing is as accessible as possible, however it has also been important to consolidate our learning and articulate how we should approach Accessible Advertising at Diageo. We found creating our own Accessible Marketing Playbook a valuable tool to upskill our teams. Over the coming months, we are focused on rolling out the Accessible Marketing Playbook with our global brands and implementing accessibility features across our assets.”
Sarah Sorrenson, Global Head of Media, Diageo
Another way to embed sustainable change is through evolving your process and ways of working. We believe any efforts to be more inclusive drive creativity, innovation and ultimately result in better work. Some points to be reviewed / considered include:
Creative briefing process. Adjusting templates to involve accessibility from the start. Ideally, this should also include an option for subtitles and audio description to support these elements being integrated for every campaign. Where possible, conduct briefing sessions with an immersion element to encourage a different perspective / viewpoint.
Reviews and feedback. Adjusting templates to include accessibility, reviewing creative from an accessibility standpoint i.e., with no sound, audio only etc. testing ads with diverse audiences.
Production. Adding in suitable timings for richer descriptive audio, subtitles and sign language as standard. Start to ensure that two-track audio is included as part of any campaign development. What do we mean by two-track audio? This is the process of creating an accessible version of an audio track at the same time as the ‘default’ track is produced. The secondary, accessible track features a far richer descriptive audio that can be listened to without much use of visual aid (think of a radio advert), allowing audiences with visual impairments to select the appropriate track and giving them the means to access and understand the advert.
Measurement & KPIs. Adjusting short and long-term metrics to focus on Return on Inclusion and ensuring that all content is made accessible for people experiencing visual and hearing impairments.
End of project wash-ups. Reviewing and applying learnings around accessibility for future work.
Partnership manifesto. Creating (or adjusting if they already exist) clear principles and guidance of how to integrate accessibility with your agency partners.
Quarterly innovation sessions. Bringing together agency partners from across your ecosystem and inviting accessible audiences / experts to develop accessible ideas and initiatives.
Specialists. Identifying and integrating the use of accessibility advisors throughout your campaign development process.
1. Understand local market processes and workflows for creating and launching campaign assets.
Every business is different and it’s essential to understand how yours works to engineer a successful transformation.
2. Define the asset types that are being created in the market, the media placements where they will be distributed and what access services are needed for them.
Accessibility is a creative, production and media challenge, and it’s essential to understand how these interact and build the specs of exactly what’s needed for each campaign.
3. Search for and vet suppliers that can help deliver access services for the local market, ensuring high quality results that meet accessibility standards.
How each organisation works with partners is different, and if you haven’t got marketing accessibility expertise in the business already, you’ll need to start by working with an experienced supplier.
4. Choose a single point in the workflow with minimal stakeholders and points of approval as your starting point to implement.
Keep it simple to start with, the goal is to make progress with a simple intervention first.
5. Measure success and define next steps to optimise and improve.
Track your progress and share results with the wider business to enable innovation and improve the quality of the access services you deliver.
It’s important to examine your suppliers and the role they play in delivering accessible campaigns. Explore what you’re requiring of the partners that produce your campaigns and the media channels in which your campaigns reach consumers.
Work with your procurement team to understand when your contracts are up for renewal. This is a great opportunity to reset expectations and pave a new path for how you work together around the topic of diversity and inclusion.
If you decide to go to pitch, set clear expectations around how you expect the team to operate, the level of their skills and understanding around the topic of accessibility and your objectives for producing accessible work. This can be laid out as early as RFI stage so that you can properly vet their DEI policy, but also be included at RFP / brief stage to ensure that this is woven into their offering.
Major broadcasters such as ITV and Channel 4 in the UK provide accessible advertising services for their audiences, although this is not consistent across all broadcasters and platforms. We know it’s a journey and requires tech development, but with advertiser and consumer demand we endeavour to see this number grow.
Becoming a truly inclusive brand does not happen overnight. You might not get everything right straight away, but if as an industry we work together sharing our learnings, we can build experiences that are accessible to everyone.
There are 4 longer-term areas for advertisers to address:
PEOPLE
Ensure teams are properly trained and understand how to engage with audiences who have access needs. Include accessibility and disability inclusion specialists as well as people with disabilities in your campaign processes.
PARTNERS
Review and update processes and ways of working to include accessibility from the beginning with new templates, checkpoints and ways of immersing teams in accessibility requirements such as brand immersion centres, innovation days and more.
PROCESS
Talk to your agency partners to review your future strategy and plans to ensure there is ample budget and time for accessibility to always be part of the creative development process. If you are conducting a pitch, include accessibility in your RFI & RFP process, making it clear from the beginning that accessibility needs to be integrated into everything.
Photo by Jordan Nicholson for Disability:INPROCUREMENT
Seek to work with media owners who provide accessible adverts and programmes. Review contracts and update them to reflect DEI principles that encompass accessibility.