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We’re committed to righting gender, race and ability imbalance behind the camera.

In 2022, as part of our goal to help reshape the advertising industry to better reflect culture, Martin committed to hiring a minimum of 50% creative talent from underrepresented groups with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, ability and LGBTQI+ for all video content production. With over $100M in client combined production spend annually, we want to leverage our influence to drive change in the ratio of underrepresented creators behind the camera. 

“We started with a goal of awarding a minimum 50% of all content production to creative talent (director or editor) from underrepresented groups.* We felt it was not only the right thing to do—it also matters to the success of what we do.”

Tasha Dean
Chief Revenue Officer
Martin

*based on self-reported data

Galvanized by the goal and buoyed by the support of our clients, we are exceeding our ambition by working with diverse directors (63%) and diverse editors (36%) in 2024, as of April 30.

Check out some of our recent work:

  • Old Navy’s Struttin’ spot from director Ace Norton

  • UPS’s Livewear launch featuring Awet Woldegebriel, from director Dumas Haddad and editor Bryan Reuben

  • UPS’s Two Dreams from director Haley Anderson

  • GEICO’s “Ease Specialist from editor Katie Cali

  • CarMax’s Unsettle from editor Tiffany Burchard

  • Hanes’ The Great Softening from director Joseph Kahn and editor Raj Ramnauth

  • TIAA’s Paper Rightspots and behind-the-scenes with Wyclef Jean from director Charles Todd and editor Jasmine “Mac” McCullough

  • The forthcoming short film “Lil’ Ruby Riding Hood,” a 9-minute film created in collaboration with Platige — part of award-winning storytelling series Now Upon A Time from co-director and Martin chief executive officer Danny Robinson

“For DoorDash, it’s simple. We serve an incredibly diverse group of audiences — across merchants, Dashers and consumers. And we believe that in order to connect with these audiences, we need to reflect their perspectives in our work. The best marketing always starts with a deep understanding of the customer, and the chances of getting to great increase exponentially if the people behind the camera bring that insight and nuance to the table.”

- Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, CMO at DoorDash

“To keep growing the GEICO brand, we know it is important for us to ensure that our content is representative of audiences from a myriad of identities, backgrounds and life experiences. We are driven to create work that resonates deeply, and we intend to do this by elevating new voices and perspectives in the production process. We’re creating entertainment that not only delights our audiences but also makes people feel seen, heard and, ultimately, invites them along in the work we do each day.”

- Damon Burrell, CMO at GEICO

We partner with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively on Group Effort Initiative (GEI), a program that strives to create a pipeline for members of underrepresented communities to get real experience toward lasting careers in the entertainment industry. As part of the partnership, we source underrepresented production assistants from GEI. Martin is also an inaugural sponsor of GEI’s production bootcamp and mentorship program.

“Our partnership with The Martin Agency will provide even more individuals from underserved communities with the opportunity to chase their dreams. We are grateful that Martin is taking tangible steps to ensure that commercial production represents the diversity of all of its viewers.”

- Sumi Parekh, executive director, Group Effort Initiative

“As an industry, we’ve grown numb. We need to do the work to break entrenched biases. We don’t want to be satisfied celebrating progress on screen while ignoring the glacially slow improvement in equity off-screen.”

Tasha Dean
Chief Revenue Officer
Martin

Katherine Sheehan
Email
804-698-8161

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