The Shift 20 Initiative: Setting the standard for representation in advertising

What motivated you and your brand to get involved with the Shift 20 Initiative?

Dean Norbiato: "Simply put, our motivation was heavily influenced by Dylan Alcott, who has long been a Kia ambassador. He’s a tremendous human and we not only support him directly, but also partner with his Abilityfest music festival in Melbourne, so helping push the Shift 20 Initiative made perfect sense for us."

Anna Lam: "Here at P&G, we are committed to creating a more inclusive world for everyone – both inside and outside the walls of our company – to ensure our business, and our brands, are representative of the rich diversity of the consumers we serve.

"Oral-B and Pantene were so inspired when we first heard about the Shift 20 Initiative, we just knew it was something we needed to be a part of. I believe our brands have a responsibility to share true representation in our advertising and hearing the statistics was challenging. We knew we needed to be a part of making a lasting change for people with disabilities."

Andy Morley: "Hearing Dylan's story about the self-perception challenges he felt from never seeing anyone with a disability on TV was a good reminder to us of the significant impact advertising can have. It's a responsibility we don't take lightly, and we believe in celebrating all people through our communications, so when Dylan shared the idea we were immediately in. We're proud to join nine other high-profile brands in Australia to underline why representation matters."

Chris Donald: "Since Dylan was appointed as nib’s brand ambassador and Chief Motivation Officer in June, nib has been a proud partner on several initiatives in Dylan’s advocacy and disability work, to help improve our own workplace inclusion, advertising, and accessibility practices for people with disability. The Shift 20 initiative is one of them.

Normalising seeing and hearing people with disability on-screen and in advertising is important. And, we can’t underplay the positive benefits representation has on health and wellbeing, as well as other benefits, like job opportunities and inclusion in the workplace.

Has your brand's approach to advertising changed as a result of the Initiative?

Dean Norbiato: "Shift 20 has definitely opened our eyes to the underrepresentation of people with a disability in advertising. We are committed to using our new Seltos campaign as a catalyst for change and to be more inclusive in our future campaigns and communications."

Anna Lam: "Whilst we have always tried to ensure we take an inclusive approach to our advertising, the Shift 20 Initiative really did challenge our thinking on this. As one of the world’s biggest advertisers, we recognise our responsibility to drive meaningful, long-lasting change – and signing our latest ambassador for Oral-B represents the next step in our representation journey."

Andy Morley: "Not explicitly, diversity and representation are always key considerations for us at Uber, but this campaign has helped deepen our motivation to progress further, and advanced the conversation across the industry. We also believe the most interesting advertising comes from telling the most interesting stories, and often people with unique backgrounds or situations have some of the most interesting and inspiring stories to tell, so it makes for better advertising. I sincerely hope it will encourage other brands who are not foundational partners to think closely about why representation matters."

Chris Donald: "Our involvement in Shift 20 has only reaffirmed the importance of collaborating, listening, and learning from people with lived experience to ensure people with disability are appropriately represented in our advertising. It’s just the beginning, and we acknowledge we still have a way to go."

How will you be working to ensure disability representation in your advertising in the
long-term?

Dean Norbiato: "The first step is being aware of the underrepresentation, which, I hope, the Shift 20 initiative will do for not only our brand but other brands that are not part of the campaign. The second is turning this awareness into action and we are committed to increasing our disability representation well into the future. In turn, we hope this will also motivate more talent with a disability to seek careers in acting and production."

Anna Lam: "As two of our biggest brands, Oral-B and Pantene are leading the way and are working to ensure representation of people with disabilities is a part of our advertising inclusivity framework right across our other brands in Australia."

Andy Morley: "People with disability use our products every day and we know we can improve our product experience for this part of the community. Improving their product experience will always be our primary focus. Having the most accessible product is unapologetically our north star but just as we can continue to improve on our product, we can also continue to improve on representation in our marketing."

Chris Donald: "We’re committed to increasing disability visibility within our communications and advertising. Plans are already underway to include more talent with disability in our marketing materials, including planned content with our ambassador and Chief Motivation Officer, Dylan Alcott. We’ll also continue to feature Rae, the actress who featured in our ad campaign this month as part of the Shift 20 launch, in our TV ad rotation throughout the rest of the year."

What would your message be for other brands looking to join the Shift 20 initiative?

Dean Norbiato: "It’s never too late to be part of the solution."

Anna Lam: "Oral-B and Pantene are examples of how brands can partner and join the Shift 20 Initiative. When something is unknown, it can be daunting. I would encourage other brands to lean in, learn, and take the first step towards greater representation of people with disabilities by joining the Shift 20 Initiative."

Andy Morley: "This is a great moment for us all to drive enduring positive change... Get on board!"

Chris Donald: "I’d encourage all brands to consider joining Shift 20. With more than four million people living in Australia with disability, we have a responsibility as businesses who contribute to the advertising space to produce content that represents the whole community. It also just makes good business sense to create inclusive content for the very people who purchase our products."

For more information, head to the Shift 20 Initiative website.