Wunderman Thompson Brazil: Racial Equity Week and Black Acceleration Program

In 2017, JWT Brazil (now merged with Wunderman to create Wunderman Thompson), held a key event to disseminate the importance of racial diversity, delve into the challenges and opportunities that the deconstruction of unequal structures brings, and promote effective measures to ensure racial equity in the agency’s strategic teams. 

This annual event,  Equity Week, started the 20/20 Program, a partnership with HR consultant, EmpregueAfro, that aimed to have 20% of the agency’s staff filled with Black talent by the end of 2020.  This commitment was achieved in June 2020 with 24.2% of Black professionals in the now Wunderman Thompson Brazil. 

Due to the global pandemic in 2020, the annual event launched a fully digital format. This event was open to the public with a qualified team of speakers discussing ways to accelerate the presence of Black people in leadership positions in the industry. 

The team achieved over 400 in attendance and had over 1,000 views on YouTube for Day One.  In 2021, as a result of subsequent events with the pandemic, racial injustice and social unrest, the goal is to focus internally to support our Black talent at Wunderman Thompson with the launch of the Black Leadership Acceleration Program.  We strive to be leaders in supporting the acceleration of developing, hiring, and advancing Black talent in our industry.  

We will broadcast Racial Equity Week across the LATAM region and discuss, with the help of guest speakers specialised in the subject, how we can accelerate racial equity in advertising. During the Racial Equity Week, we’ll launch the Black Leadership Acceleration Program at WT Brazil. We will accomplish this by using the pillars: People, Creative Work, and Culture as well as leveraging our successful strategy that led to us exceeding our Black talent hiring goal.