Erwin-Penland Launches Wide-Reaching Diversity Initiative

July 18, 2007

Effort seeks to impact workforce, business partners, community engagement

GREENVILLE, S.C., July 18, 2007 Erwin-Penland, one of the Southeast's largest full-service marketing and communications firms, has launched a comprehensive diversity program that seeks to provide more opportunities for minority professionals, vendors and the community at large.

"We take very seriously our responsibility to understand and address the needs of the diverse communities our clients serve," said Joe Erwin, president of the Greenville, S.C., shop that is part of Interpublic Group's Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos. "Our diversity initiative isn't about quotas and social engineering; it's about understanding and embracing other cultures so we can be better marketers, better citizens, and better role models for future generations." The agency's first step is the formation of a Diversity Council comprised of a broad spectrum of employees - men and women, seasoned and inexperienced, black and white. The group has formed action teams to address such diversity opportunities as minority recruitment and retention, partnering with minority-owned businesses and supporting community-based diversity initiatives. Among the group's early initiatives is a recruiting tour to historically black colleges and universities in the region, including South Carolina State University and Claflin University, both in Orangeburg, S.C. The company is also auditing and setting benchmarks for the amount of business it does with minority businesses, and has committed to use its talents and other resources to help promote Greenville's MLK Dream Weekend, one of the nation's largest celebrations of Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy.

Erwin said the inspiration to begin a diversity initiative came from two sources: recent national media coverage showcasing the challenges even the largest ad agencies in the country face when it comes to diversity; and the energy of an African-American EP employee who sensed an opportunity for the agency to take a leading role in addressing the issue. "Nika White, an account supervisor who's been here for several years now, came to me and suggested we take a hard look at this," said Erwin, who estimates roughly 10 percent of the agency's employers are minorities. "Our track record on minority hiring and vendor partnerships is pretty good, but we recognized an opportunity to do even better and really be leaders on this issue." White, who served on the committee that created the MLK Dream Weekend a few years ago, will lead the agency's diversity efforts while continuing to oversee such EP accounts as Advance America and Wachovia. She and another EP employee, senior art director Gray Taylor, will be attending the American Advertising Agency Association's Multicultural Advertising Internship Program Career Fair in New York next month to recruit some of the leading minority students looking to break into the ad industry. "Much of the debate around diversity in the ad industry has centered around the big New York agencies," said White. "But small and mid-sized shops like Erwin-Penland have just as much responsibility - and perhaps an even better opportunity - to revisit their approach and make a change for the better."