SOme virtue signal,
we VIRTUE DO.
Inspire is responsible for the strategic and creative advertising for Kia’s DEI platform. The agency created work for Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Native American Heritage Month under the umbrella “The Mic is Yours”, purposefully removing Kia from the conversation to shine a light on diverse individuals.
For 2023, we had a sharp shift in our strategy. We understood the scrutiny brands were subject to when it comes to DEI. If we wanted to truly embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion, we couldn’t fall into only virtue signaling, we had to start virtue doing.
To do so we pushed the client beyond just featuring diverse stories during the celebration months, we featured diverse businesses to amplify by essentially giving them their own commercial.
We dedicated ad space dollars to promote these small, minority-owned businesses using our far-reaching social platforms. They were car ads without any cars in sight, keeping the brand role as a sponsor only.
We highlighted diverse unexpected businesses like black eye-care professional groups and black children’s book authors. We showcased a gay men’s choir and queer filmmakers. We told stories about female stand-up comedy coaches and women in aviation. We supported Latina entrepreneurs and educators fighting against inequities. We highlighted Native American Skateboard designers and storytellers. All on our own social channels with paid support behind them.
The results were unprecedented for Kia and the small businesses it partnered with. We helped individual small businesses who would otherwise not have a platform of this magnitude to over 64 million impressions, almost 25 million engagements, and over 22 million video views with up to 92% engagement rate. At the end of the day, handing the mic over to minority owned business proved to be a great way to promote diversity.
And months after showcasing them, we reached out to understand how their businesses have grown. We are seeing a record number of women signing up for comedy classes, more black eye-care professionals’ groups, Latina educators having more sponsorships and Native American skateboard designers hosting skate competitions on tribal lands. This is the true impact of virtue-doing.
