Supplier Diversity Resources
Over recent years, there has been an increased commitment from marketers and agencies to support diverse suppliers — those businesses owned by groups historically left out of or under-represented in their supply chain.
Supplier diversity is a proactive business practice which encourages the use of women-owned, ethnic/minority-owned, veteran-owned, LGBTQ-owned, disability owned, and small businesses as suppliers.
Diverse suppliers in the advertising/marketing industry are in categories including agencies, media companies, production companies, and research suppliers.
The following provides an aggregation of ANA resources focused on supplier diversity.
"Supplier diversity in marketing/advertising is more important than ever. Investing in diverse suppliers helps a company’s supply base reflect the customer population being served. It increases customer insight and drives innovation. And it provides direct investment to local communities. Supplier diversity is good business!"
- Bill Duggan, Group Executive Vice President, ANA
Guidelines for Getting Started When Investing with Diverse Media Companies
The ANA and the 4A’s partnered on a new set of guidelines to help marketers increase their investments in diverse media companies. The guidelines are intended to help those marketers who are interested in supporting diverse suppliers but are still sitting on the sidelines and not sure where to begin. There are a total of 11 guidelines. (September 2023)
Finding Diverse Suppliers
Overcome a key challenge in supplier diversity.
Certified Diverse Suppliers Resource List
ANA/AIMM have curated a list of diverse suppliers that work in our industry and have been certified (primarily from NMSDC, WBENC, NGLCC, NVBDC, and Disability:IN). The list was first issued in July 2020 and is updated on a regular basis.
The MAVEN MC&I Media Ownership for Marketers Report from AIMM and Media Framework
This is a database of over 3,200 certified and classified multicultural and inclusive-owned media vendors.
Helping Buyers and Diverse Media Suppliers Work Together
The purpose of this guidance is to help buyers (agencies and marketers) and diverse media suppliers improve their ways of working together. This work was created by a cross-industry collaboration. The 4A's, the ANA, and AIMM, with input from our respective members, drafted the initial guidelines. We then reached out to diverse suppliers for input and improvement. While this guidance has been developed with diverse media suppliers specifically in mind, much of it is also relevant for diverse suppliers in marketing/advertising overall. There are two sets of guidelines – one for buyers and the other for diverse media suppliers.
Perspective from Diverse Suppliers
Two separate research initiatives took the pulse of the ANA database of certified diverse suppliers serving the marketing/advertising industry.
The Marketing Community’s Support of Diverse Suppliers: The Supplier Perspective
The focus was on how interest from the marketing/advertising community in supporting diverse suppliers changed in the past year; how investment changed in the past year and is expected to change in the next year; also, top challenges for diverse suppliers. (April 2023)
And Now a Word from the Diverse Suppliers: The Supplier Perspective on Certification
The focus was on certification, to understand its importance, benefits, challenges, ease/difficulty of the process, and more. (December 2021)
Understanding Supplier Diversity Programs
Proprietary deep dives into supplier diversity in marketing/advertising.
The Growth of Supplier Diversity
This report, based on both quantitative and qualitative research, provides a deep dive into supplier diversity in marketing/advertising, covering areas including benefits, challenges, spend, goals, and measurement. (May 2021)
The Power of Supplier Diversity
The purpose of this report was to gain an understanding of the overall incidence of supplier diversity programs as well as benefits, challenges, spend, goals, measurement, influence, and more. (May 2020)
Virtual Supplier Diversity Fairs
These virtual supplier diversity fairs are open to all (including nonmembers) and provide a forum to "get to know" diverse companies in the advertising/marketing industry.
Don’t miss our 2024 diversity fairs:
Presentations and videos from our previous diversity fairs are also available:
- Meet Asian-Owned Companies (December 1, 2023)
- Minority-Owned Production Companies (October 3, 2023)
- Hispanic-Owned Companies (August 3, 2023)
- Women-Owned Companies (June 1, 2023)
- Black-Owned Media Companies (April 18, 2023)
- LGBTQ+ Owned Companies (February 1, 2023)
- Veteran & People with Disabilities-Owned Companies (November 18, 2022)
- Minority-Owned Small Business Companies (October 4, 2022)
Perspectives from the Industry
Corporate America's Take on Supplier Diversity
This session featured supplier diversity leaders at national advertisers. Discussion covered topics including the benefits of supplier diversity, certification, identifying suppliers, the RFP process, diverse spend targets, measurement of performance, and more.
- Debra Quade, Supplier Diversity Manager, Kellogg Company
- Karen Tobler, Supplier Diversity Lead, Target
- Christina Tyson, Supplier Diversity Director, PepsiCo
- Bill Duggan, Group EVP. ANA (moderator)
From the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference (May 2022).
Everybody In — The General Motors Perspective
General Motors is dedicated to being the most inclusive company in the world. In this session, GM charted their journey this past year in the wake of social justice movements and public commitments to Black-owned and diverse-owned media. GM discussed their unified approach as they focused on equity, new ways of thinking, relationships, listening, and business development to create a stronger ecosystem for diverse-owned media.
- Heather Stewart, General Director, Global Media and Marketing Services, General Motors
- David Lai, SVP, Global Strategy & Insights, Carat
From the ANA Media Conference (March 2022)