News from AAF

Washington DC: MediaVillage and AdvancingDiversity.org have joined forces with the American Advertising Federation (AAF) to expand AAF’s programs focused on advancing advertising as a career opportunity for diverse high school and college students. AAF will be among the companies and organizations being inducted into the Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors at an immersive virtual event in the fall, which will help fund the AAF’s successful investments in diversity and inclusion as drivers of business growth.

“This generous support from AdvancingDiversity.org will go a long way towards building more awareness of the AAF’s world-class Diversity, Equity & Inclusion programs that work hand in hand with our Education efforts across North America,” said Steve Pacheco, President and CEO of the American Advertising Federation. “Specifically, they will help the AAF grow and expand our popular AdCamps—immersive five-day learning labs for high school students who have interest in Advertising, Marketing and Media careers.”

AAF will also benefit from a $1 million+ OOH and radio campaign inviting HBCU educators and students to explore media, advertising, and marketing careers. This fall, AdvancingDiversity.org will host the media and advertising community’s inaugural Advancing Diversity Week. This year’s Advancing Diversity Week theme is “Advancing from Inclusion to Belonging,” with a focus on diverse talent retention.

“With support from agencies, marketers and media companies, AdvancingDiversity.org is focused on reaching groups underrepresented in our community and on better preparing them as they enter the job market and begin their career journey,” explained Jack Myers, founder of MediaVillage and AdvancingDiversity.org. “The industry’s failure to build a diverse workforce and prepare them for leadership roles can no longer be tolerated,” Myers emphasized. In 2011, MediaVillage launched WomenAdvancing.org, the first of several diversity initiatives that have been combined under AdvancingDiversity.org and lead the industry’s collective focus on advancing diversity from advocacy to activism.

The marketing campaign, debuting in April in partnership with Outfront, Clear Channel, Intersection and Audacy, will promote MeetingPrep.com, launched last year by MediaVillage and AdvancingDiversity.org. Meeting Prep is a media, marketing and advertising industry-specific search and content recommendation engine that curates and optimizes educational resources from more than 150 media and advertising companies, organizations, trade associations, and subject matter experts, all organized at the MediaVillage Knowledge Exchange.

“MeetingPrep.com has been in development for over two years to provide easy access to on-demand knowledge about our industry and the opportunities we offer to both students and professionals early in their careers who are eager to learn. We’re proud to partner with AAF to expand our outreach,” Myers added.

The media industry’s need for MeetingPrep.com evolved from a decade-long $20 million study funded by MediaVillage and AdvancingDiversity.org that identified investments in diversity and education as primary drivers of business growth. “Traditional search engines offer a scourge of commoditized information that has become a form of garbage, barely useful for preparing for the most basic meeting,” Myers added. “MeetingPrep.com solves that problem for students, marketers, educators, and diversity professionals.”

About the American Advertising Federation
Established in 1905, the American Advertising Federation (AAF), acts as the “Unifying Voice for Advertising.” Its membership is comprised of more than 50 corporate members made up of the nation’s leading advertisers, agencies, and media companies; a national network of nearly 164 local clubs representing 30,000 advertising professionals; and 170+ college chapters with 4,000 student members. The AAF operates a host of programs and initiatives, including Advertising Day on the Hill, the Advertising Hall of Fame, the Advertising Hall of Achievement, the American Advertising Awards, the National Student Advertising Competition, the Mosaic Awards, the Most Promising Multicultural Students Program and AdCamp for high school students. Follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About MediaVillage
At MediaVillage + AdvancingDiversity.org, we’ve built the most sophisticated platform for B2B marketing, focused on advancing revenue growth through education (stakeholder and team) and diversity. Our proven platform is enabling more than 100 leading companies, organizations, and non-profits to reinvent their B2B investments, generating measurably increased effectiveness and improved cost efficiencies. In a turn-key fully integrated model dedicated to activating results, we optimize our members’ investments in earned media, paid media, digital advertising, social media, perceptions research, market intelligence, programming/content promotion and diverse talent advancement. We’ve identified and removed B2B marketers’ pain points, many of which have been exacerbated by Covid-19. Our membership model empowers activation at levels appropriate to each members’ B2B goals. Underpinned by SaaS technology, MediaVillage Knowledge Exchange, AdvancingDiversity.org, Watch Listen & Learn, TV/Video Download, MeetingPrep.com and The Myers Report enable your teams to integrate across responsibilities, break down time-wasting silos, and bring B2B marketing into a modern, multi-modal, cross platform, cost efficient, and future-facing platform. Become a MediaVillage subscriber here and learn more about us at www.AboutMediaVillage.com. Follow @mediavillagecom @advdiversity @jackmyersbiz

About AdvancingDiversity.org
MediaVillage founder Jack Myers launched AdvancingDiversity.org to advance diversity from advocacy to activism in media, marketing, and advertising. For more than a decade, the industry leader has focused on guiding its members to achieve important goals for diverse talent acquisition and retention, while also demonstrating that diversity, equity, and inclusion are positive forces for business growth. Programs and initiatives include The Pool, a podcast series hosted by Philip McKenzie; the annual Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors launched in 2017; 1stFive, begun in 2014 to focus on helping young people navigate the first years of their careers; WomenAdvancing.org, a dual mentoring program started in 2011; The Age of Aging, featuring expert insights on targeting an under-leveraged audience; and Future of Men, about the state of gender relationships and fathering. For “The Case for Education & Diversity as Tools for Business Growth in Marketing & Media,” download the White Paper here. For more information visit www.AdvancingDiversity.org and follow on @AdvDiversity and @WomenAdvancing.