Six agencies form multicultural, LGBTQ network

The article was written on June 13, 2019, by Thomas Moore, a contributor to PR Week, a trade magazine for the public relations industry, and his article discusses the forming of an agency network called “The Change Agencies”.  He explains, “the development of the agency will focus on the Black, Asian-American, Hispanic, and LGBTQ communities” (Moore, 2019).  The agency itself was an idea of RenewPR president, Ben Finzel, and is formed by six independent PR shops (Chino Chapa Communications, MuchPR, PRecise Communications, RenewPR, Mahogany Xan Communications, and Storieology Communications), which are based all over the United States, in cities such as, Dallas, New York, Atlanta, Miami, Washington DC, Phoenix, Maui, and San Francisco).

The goal of the network is to provide PR services that are difficult to find, or not provided at all.  Moore (2019) quotes Alexis Davis Smith, president and CEO of PRecise Communications regarding this, she says, “There are a lot of players in the cultural space, and we see a lot of major agencies and international firms saying they are offering these services.  What happens, more often than not, is they only have one person, or two people focused on multiculturalism, inclusion, and diversity.”

In addition, Smith continues describing the need for the agency as well by saying, “When it comes to the smaller shops, the benefit of the network is that while most of us say we do multicultural comms, most are specialists in one specific area.  My firm is one of the few traditional PR firms that has offered services focused on African-Americans and U.S. Hispanics from the very beginning.”

Moore’s (2019) article concludes with the discussion of network capabilities and expansion down the road.  He paraphrases Finzel’s and Smith’s comments by saying that they are starting with four key sectors (LGBTQ, Black, Hispanic, and Asian) and member agencies will reach out to current and past clients to educate them on the network capabilities.

The reason I chose this article is that it highlights very relevant topics discussed in the class so far such as communication gaffes, buying power, and minority group representation.  We have discussed the importance of understanding each group and how to communicate effectively with them.  This is brought up in the article by Latricia Woods, founder of Mahogany Xan Communications, when she says, “It seems that a new story hits every couple of weeks that focuses on a company making a communications faux pas that has negatively impacted a diverse segment of the population.”  We have also discussed how these groups have extremely viable buying power in the economy.  Woods is quoted in the Moore (2019) article about this topic as well, “As a business owner, I want companies to understand the economic power of diverse communities and how that power will continue to increase in the coming year.  That power has a voice and that voice is screaming to be heard and recognized by mainstream society.”

Personally, I find it very encouraging that PR leaders in the United States are leading the charge in the empowerment of underrepresented groups, however, I would like to see the agency expand in the coming years in both agencies involved and groups represented.

Please visit the full article here and feel free to comment on my post to add to the discussion!

Sincerely,

Stephen Watts

@jaylee4515

#COMM837S19