Inclusion is a trust-building practice

Australia is one of the world’s most multicultural nations, yet its media and advertising often fail to reflect that diversity authentically. Too often, representation feels like a superficial gesture, rather than genuine inclusion.

This is where agencies like Brandable are leading change.

Brandable Founder Tess Palmyre helps organisations to embed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into all aspects of their brands.

She said when representation was done well, it would naturally resonate with people because it built trust.

However, this trust has to be earned and inclusion must be part of the brand’s DNA for it to work, according to Ms Palmyre.

“You can’t decide out of the blue that you’re going to do an inclusive campaign and expect it to just magically resonate or for people to jump on-board and trust your brand,” she said.

Representation is essential not just in front of the camera but also behind it.

As the DEI lead for Western Australian Marketing Association (WAMA), Ms Palmyre was part of the team which put together WAMA and Edith Cowan University (ECU)’s 2024 report A way to go, which discussed ECU’s DEI survey of the WA marketing and commercially creative industries.

The survey was produced to understand the state of inclusion in our marketing industry and, as the report’s title suggests, found there was still room for growth and transformation.

The report states diversity in itself is not enough – work environments should be inclusive with equitable pay and employees should feel their opinions are sought, heard and valued. Organisations must move past box ticking into long-term, authentic inclusion.

“Make sure the people making the decisions are also diverse and have the power to call things out without repercussions,” Ms Palmyre said.

DEI must be reflected in work environments, with Ms Palmyre saying there is still a tendency to talk about people, as opposed to creating with them when producing advertising content.

Loosening control, collaborating and giving consulted communities ownership over how they are represented makes a much better campaign.

Author: Caitlin Brown is a third-year Bachelor of Journalism and Broadcast Media at Edith Cowan University. Her passion for arts, culture and news inspires her to dig deeper and share meaningful stories.