November 25, 2019


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In the coming months, we're taking you inside The Foggies, to learn more about the winners – what makes them tick, how their winning entry came about, how much work went into it, and more. Next up, please meet Diversity & Inclusion Campaign of the Year winner, Porter Novelli. We sat down with Vice President of HR, Kaye Monty for this Q&A.

 

1. Tell us more about you/your team.


Porter Novelli is a global purpose communications consultancy with more than 45 offices around the world. Porter Novelli exists to inspire companies, organizations and brands to make a positive impact by creating a collaborative, diverse and inclusive environment designed to drive innovation and liberate greatness in our people, clients and partners. In 2017 Brad McAfee, our CEO, promoted Soon Mee Kim, Chief Diversity Officer, to a direct report and a member of the Executive Committee to ensure that we put Diversity & Inclusion on top of our priorities and we’re thinking of Diversity & Inclusion in everything that Porter Novelli does. Since that moment, Porter Novelli has been recognized in different forums as a leader in this topic and as a company that is driving a culture of D&I both inside with our people and also outside with our clients and partners. Our Chief Diversity Officer has been recognized by her contributions and as a thought leader in this area.

2. Tell us about your winning campaign/entry. How did it come about, what were the highlights, how much work went into it, results, etc.

We launched “We Stand For Love,” an anti-hate campaign, on August 2018 to mark the one-year anniversary of the tragedy at Charlottesville’s Unite the Right protests. Using Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that,” PN asked its employees to stand up to hate by standing for love. The campaign exemplified one our five core values, “Stand Up For the Right Idea.”

“We Stand For Love” was designed to create awareness, build excitement and engage colleagues to participate and make a difference through words and actions. Ultimately, this campaign is about PN colleagues using our unique skills, talents and passions, contributing our ideas and stories, and taking action to make a difference.

We were challenged to listen & learn, build bridges and amplify the voices of the vulnerable. To share our stories; commit acts of kindness; share ideas on how to overcome hate; volunteer or donate resources.

The results:

  • 20 internal newsletters featuring 40 colleagues from around the world

  • 20,000 email opens in 25 countries across 6 continents

  • The campaign was so well received that we relaunched it on October 2019

  • Porter Novelli San Francisco was the winning office across all offices in terms of staff engagement, commitment and impact. We donated our prize to Children of Shelters. One of our colleagues, Kaye Monty, won an individual prize and donated her winnings to New Door Ventures. 

  • Here is a video with some highlights of our campaign:

    https://porternovelli.app.box.com/s/ne04hanezl7a6gd1hufs7rbhjbrwu061

  • Continued engagement long after the campaign both at the company or office level including

    pro-bono work, volunteering, training, political activation etc.

3. What does it mean to your team to take home this win? How will you celebrate?

Winning this award is very important for the team since it validates the importance of what we’re trying to accomplish not only within Porter Novelli and our clients but also what we hope to change in the world around us. We shared details of our award in the Porter Novelli intranet and toasted our win internally. As a result of this win, we kicked off our planning for the new year discussing how this initiative should look like to generate even more impact.

4. What should the Bay Area know about you/your team?

As part of a global purpose consultancy, the Porter Novelli San Francisco team is committed to continue growing our Purpose work in the different practices: Innovation & Impact, Food & Nutrition and Health & Wellness.

We are focused on driving Purpose and have the privilege of working on globally relevant work that is impacting whole sectors and helping to make the world a better place. We believe that organizations must find, live and tell their purpose in order to thrive.

Our team helps our clients drive value and innovation for social and environmental benefit. We recognize the power of leveraging technology as a platform for disruption and mobilization to help customers, investors, partners, communities, governments, and employees create a regenerative and equitable world.

Our entire organization from the CEO down are committed to ensuring that we practice what we preach. No matter where you are in the world, whether you are conservative or liberal, from the North or South, East or the West, and everything in between, what unites us as Porter Novelli colleagues is that we believe every person has value and deserves our respect, that no arbitrary designation makes someone superior to another.

People of every race, color, faith, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, age, cognitive style, physical ability, and military or veteran status are welcome at Porter Novelli.

5. Anything else to share?

A huge part of our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion was bringing together different agencies from Omnicom to march in the Pride Parade in June for the first time. We will continue driving tolerance and love and use our influence to make the world a better place.