Page 15 - BEQ Magazine Iss 20 Fall 2021 WebRev09272021
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BEHIND THE PR single year, and we noticed this consistent trend
among these four metrics, that among members of
the BIPOC community, all of them dropped,” Fran-
cis said. “They dropped just a little bit, but the drop
is statistically significant. It’s not just by chance,
or it’s not just how the sampling played out. It’s
CURTAIN is low; around 5% of the US currently know what supplier beyond the margin of error. And then the consis-
tency across metrics was notable to us. If we just
saw it in one metric, that would be something that
we could easily dismiss or just say was a fluke, but
diversity is, but they’re over twice as likely to vote with
seeing it across four metrics and seeing it, again,
their wallets once they do know. But it’s not just about
consistently in that three to five percentage point
supplier diversity, it’s about ensuring that there’s change
range was notable.”
in our country and in the world, and also within corpo-
Francis and her team of analysts and research-
rations. And so in addition to being able to measure the
impact of supplier diversity on purchases, it’s important ers decided to perform an additional qualitative
study with members of BIPOC communities to
to note that once consumers perceive a brand as valuing understand the “why” behind these decreases. The
diversity, separate from supplier diversity, they’re three additional study focused on the following topics:
times as likely to think favorably about that brand than
those who don’t perceive that brand as valuing diversity. Perceptions around the corporate response to
So there’s a justifiable business case, not just for supplier George Floyd’s murder
diversity, but for doing the things that authentically help Ways corporations are or are not getting diver-
your brand be seen as one that values diversity.” sity “right”
With the study conducted in March each year, Hootol- Thoughts as to why these 2021 diversity metrics
ogy was in a remarkable position to measure consumer dropped
responses before and after what turned out to be a crucial Hope and direction for the future
12-month period in our collective history. Data for the 2020
CDI was gathered just before the coronavirus pandemic The study identified five themes that contrib-
arrived in the United States, uted to the drop in those key metrics.
“Once people are aware and shortly before social
justice became a national
Corporate responses to George Floyd’s murder
of a supplier diversity conversation. When the in May 2020 brought relief and then doubt.
initiative, they’re twice as team conducted research While participants were hopeful that the ter-
likely to use the products for the 2021 report, which rible incident brought race conversations to the
corporate
included
50
and services of that par- brands, the data reflected forefront in the United States and in corporations,
there was overall suspicion and doubt about the
ticular corporation.” the impact of the past year corporate response to George Floyd’s murder.
on corporate diversity met- “When we note ‘relief’ here, that had nothing
rics and perception. to do with the passing of George Floyd, but it was
The 2021 CDI revealed a consistent drop in certain key this sense of relief that corporations finally were
diversity and supplier diversity metrics among members at least doing something,” Francis said. “It was
of BIPOC communities compared to prior years. Specifi- a part of the conversation and granted it came
cally, the study showed a 3-5% drop in the general impor- on very quickly and it came on in a way that too
tance of diversity, the importance that corporations value many felt inauthentic, but it was sort of like a
diversity, the importance of hiring diverse people and the shoulder-shrugging, ‘Okay, finally, it’s being talked
importance of supplier diversity. about.’ But then pretty quickly, there was this belief
“These are high-level metrics that we track every of, oh, this is just being done to ensure that profits
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