Draftfcb Charters New Territory to Partner With Diverse and Small Businesses

Agency Hosts First In-House Small Business, Diversity Vendor and Supplier Relationship Conference

Today, Draftfcb hosts its 1st Small Business, Diversity Vendor and Supplier Relationship Conference at its New York office. The event provides small, minority and women-owned businesses a platform to showcase their talents to agency decision-makers and a possible opportunity to partner with Draftfcb.

Draftfcb is establishing its own supplier database so that it can work more closely with small and minority-owned businesses across more of its agency roster, which includes clients such as Kraft, Gerber, UHG as well as the U. S. Census and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Information for all attendees of the conference will be entered in a database and utilized for opportunities as they arise.

"This pioneering conference is one more important initiative that signals our continued determination to become a more inclusive and diverse organization. We are willing to stake out new territory to make this happen," stated Laurence Boschetto, president and chief operating officer of Draftfcb. "It is in keeping with our agency's aggressive diversity and inclusion strategy and recognizes the strong talent that exists in small businesses."

At the conference, participants present their capabilities to agency personnel including senior management and creative personnel, and then are given feedback as to whether their qualifications are in keeping with the agency's needs on client business.

According to Beverly Popielarz, Chief Talent Officer, "The conference is a pro-active way for us to establish productive dialogues with small, minority and women- owned businesses, which we can continue over time. As the advertising industry strives to become more inclusive, we believe this is an innovative way to foster important connections between agency decision-makers and the small business community."

Keisha Vaughn, Senior Director of Leadership Development and Diversity & Inclusion at Draftfcb, said, "To get started, we invited all of the small business representatives we have met at diversity conferences held over the past year, as well as all of the vendors that have expressed an interest in working with U.S. Census. Registration is closed for this conference as we're anticipating 130 guests with a maximum of two presenters per vendor. But we plan on hosting additional conferences down the road."

Other small and minority-owned businesses interested in working with Draftfcb should contact Nelson Panasis, at nelson.panasis@draftfcb.com, to outline the services they can provide. Based on qualifications, they will be considered for future projects.

Peter DeNunzio, President of Draftfcb New York, said, "One of our key financial people spent a lot of time at a number of diversity conferences around the country and talking to many small businesses, and it became clear to him that one of the roadblocks seems to be that agency decision-makers weren't attending and getting the chance to meet and evaluate the attendees. So, he proposed inviting small businesses in and allowing our people to meet their representatives face to face, we jumped on the idea. This will help us forge stronger connections that will allow us to meet our objectives for inclusion and the participants' objectives for business growth."

About Draftfcb

Launched in 2006, Draftfcb is a modern agency model for clients seeking creative, accountable marketing programs that build business and deliver a high Return on Ideas™. With more than 130 years of combined expertise, the company has its roots in both consumer advertising and behavioral, data-driven direct marketing. The agency is the first global, behavior-based, fully inclusive, highly creative and accountable marketing communications organization to operate against a single P&L. The Draftfcb network spans 97 countries, with more than 9,600 employees worldwide, and is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG). The agency's global corporate leadership team includes Howard Draft, chairman and CEO; Laurence Boschetto, president and COO; Jonathan Harries, worldwide chief creative officer; and Neil Miller, CFO. For more information, visit www.draftfcb.com.