As the 2020 Upfronts conclude, we will explore where we are as an industry in addressing the issue of systemic racism in the advertising space.

Fourth Quarter in Covid-19: This year has become a transformative time throughout America, and this includes the $20 billion advertising industry, which is in the process of evolving its planning process to include Black-owned media.

Cynopsis, together with Byron Allen, owner of THE WEATHER CHANNEL & ALLEN MEDIA GROUP and TheGrio’s Natasha Alford, are presenting a new chapter in the ongoing conversation around stopping the racism that has plagued the advertising world in this ‘Black Owned Media Matters’ discussion.

"I want everybody to succeed" comments Byron Allen. “African American consumers are no different from other audience groups. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘We won’t survive as two Americas.’ We need one America.’

“Our industry must have true economic inclusion, and this can only start when agency planners guide their clients to include black owned-media in their annual budgets,” continues Allen. “Thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement, for the very first time in our business, there is real accountability.”

Specifically, Allen will go beyond comments he’s made thus far on this subject to spotlight next steps on how we can collectively effect change in our business:

-How to introduce the conversation to management, colleagues, and the people who work for you
-How to overcome the common obstacles to accessing capital: inherent bias and exclusionary communities
-How to educate business leaders and improve awareness on a short term and long term basis