Clear Channel backs the BBC’s Creative Allies Tool and supports its launch with a nationwide campaign

27 Nov 2020 / News, Campaigns

By Clear Channel UK

Night shot of BBC Creative Diversity campaign on Clear Channel Storm Cromination site.

The BBC’s Creative Diversity Unit, led by June Sarpong, has today launched the Creative Allies Initiative, which unites organisations inside and outside the creative industry to promote the concept of allyship. Clear Channel UK is one of the numerous organisations from sectors including business, media, fashion and the arts, who have signed up as Creative Ally Champions.

As a Creative Ally Champion, we have pledged to develop the next generation of creative leaders from backgrounds that are currently underrepresented, including:

Black, Asian and Minority ethnic talent
Disabled talent
Talent from low income backgrounds

We have pledged to demonstrating this commitment to inclusion through the promotion of allyship, which is where people – at any level in an organisation - can support colleagues who may have had fewer advantages than them in life. The ambition is that many more leaders within the creative industry and beyond will also sign up as allies.

To support the Creative Ally Champions the BBC Academy, in association with the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, led by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, has created The Ally Track - a free online education tool, which organisations and the public can use via the BBC Creative Diversity website. All of the Creative Ally Champions have committed to the use of the tool within their organisations.

Digital phone box showing BBC Creative Diversity campaign on a busy high street on a rainy day.

The Ally Tool helps the user think about their own background and how different experiences can lead to advantages and disadvantages in the workplace. It can also be used to identify an individual’s strengths and suggest how they might display allyship at their work. Based on Karen Catlin’s “Better Allies” process, the tool sets out seven types of ally – sponsor, champion, advocate, amplifier, scholar, upstander and confident. Users are invited to choose which type of ally they would like to be personally. Over a month the tool will then give practical exercises, tips and best practice on how to be that ally.

The campaign launches with a nationwide Out of Home campaign which takes inspiration from iconic BBC test cards, created for free by Havas, with media locations, including the Storm Cromination, donated by Clear Channel.

June Sarpong, Director of Creative Diversity at the BBC, says: "I am delighted that so many leaders have come on board to support our Creative Allies initiative, throughout my own career I have been lucky to find support from allies within my industry - it’s important that those with the most agency use that position to help level the playing field for diverse talent, we look forward to more organisations joining us."

Justin Cochrane, CEO of Clear Channel UK & Europe says: “At Clear Channel we realise just how important it is to help develop the next generation of creative leaders, especially during the current climate, and how it’s vital to make our industry more diverse and inclusive. I’m very proud to sign up as a Creative Ally Champion, and to commit to help drive forward and promote allyship, not just at Clear Channel, but throughout the advertising industry. We’re also proud to be further amplifying the Creative Allies campaign across our digital advertising sites nationwide.”