News highlights:

• Reports results of 2016/2017 diversity challenge: Significant progress made with women. Today, 61 percent of HP’s agency account teams and 51 percent of senior leadership are women; +5 percent and +4 percent over agency targets.
• Issues new 2018 global agency challenge: HP agencies to identify underrepresented groups by country and set specific goals, plans and measurement to increase diverse creative talent across HP account and senior leadership roles.  
• Establishes new partnerships to increase pipeline of talent from underrepresented groups: HP partnership with Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to develop program for underrepresented groups; HP grant to ADCOLOR to fund a program dedicated to supporting, nurturing and mentoring young professionals from underrepresented groups and diverse backgrounds.
• Expands partnerships to continue to increase women in creative and senior leadership roles: HP partnership with 3% Conference to livestream annual conference and renewal of its leadership support for Free the Bid to secure more women in director’s chairs.

NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Timed with Advertising Week New York 2017, HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) today reports the results of its diversity challenge issued to its global agencies - BBDO Worldwide, Fred & Farid, gyro, PHD and Edelman - last September. HP also announces a comprehensive platform to drive systemic industry change and outlines a new challenge for 2018 centered on increasing agency minority and underrepresented group representation around the world.

HP’s 2016/2017 assignment to its agencies was to set targets and diversify their ranks to improve the ratio of women and US minorities working on the HP account and in senior creative roles. Later today, HP will discuss the challenge’s results at its Business Powered by Diversity event featuring top leaders from each of its agencies partnered with influencers to highlight progress and learnings.

“Advancing diversity is a business imperative. It fuels our reinvention journey, helping drive transformation in marketing and beyond,” said Antonio Lucio, Global Chief Marketing & Communication Officer at HP. “HP is a stronger brand and better company because of it. We are proud of our agencies who took on this challenge. They’ve made great progress.”

Included in the event are fireside chats with:

• Andrew Robertson, President and CEO of BBDO and Kat Gordon, Founder of 3% Conference
• Farid Mokart, President and CEO of Fred & Farid and the Hon. Aida Alvarez, former Administrator of the US Small Business Administration and HP Inc. Board Member
• Christoph Becker, CEO of gyro and Keesha Jean-Baptiste, SVP/Talent, Engagement + Inclusion at American Association of Advertising Agencies
• Stacy DeRiso, COO of PHD and Colleen Soriano, head of US agency, Facebook
• Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman and Lauren Wilson, President of ColorComm Inc.
• Lisa Mehling, Owner of Chelsea Pictures and Emma Reeves, Executive Director of Free the Bid

Agency Scorecard Results
The HP agency 2016/2017 scorecard results can be found here. Highlights include:

• All agencies exceeded the goal for women representation on HP account teams by over 5 percent – today, 61 percent of HP’s worldwide agency account teams consist of women.
• All agencies exceeded the goal for women in senior roles by 4 percent. Today, 51 percent of HP’s agency account teams have women in senior roles.
• HP’s two lead creative agencies met targets for women in creative leadership; BBDO went from zero to 40 percent and Fred & Farid from zero to 55 percent. However, there is still opportunity for improvement overall.
• While progress has been made, particularly in the second half of 2017, work remains in advancing representation among US minorities. Three out of five agencies saw a positive, upward trend in minority representation. However, minority representation was still below target for 60 percent of HP’s global agencies.
• Overall, 8 percent of all employee growth across HP’s global agencies year-over-year were minorities.
• More than 15 new programs fueled the agencies’ diversity progress including recruiting processes, internal events and community outreach.

Driving Systemic Industry Change
To help accelerate industry transformation, HP is introducing a range of initiatives designed to reinvent diversity and inclusion in the global marketing industry.

Increasing representation of underrepresented groups

• HP Announces a New 2018 Global Agency Challenge – Agency partners to define specific underrepresented groups by country and set clear objectives, measurements and plans to increase diverse talent on HP business.
• HP Launches New Diversity Program with Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – New program will open the door to the Cannes Festival for underrepresented groups worldwide through an immersive experience to network, meet jurors and share creative. Similar to Cannes Lion See It Be It program, this new program will focus exclusively on underrepresented talent to provide a foot in the door to the creative community.
• HP Awards a Grant to ADCOLOR – The grant will fund a professional development solution for diverse talent focused on growing young talent in creative industries.

Maintaining progress with women

• HP Awards a Grant for 3% Conference – The grant will fund a 3% Conference livestream to support efforts to continue to advance opportunities for women in marketing and creative industries.
• HP Renews its Sponsorship for Free the Bid – HP became the first sponsor of Free the Bid to increase women in director’s chairs and is continuing to fund efforts to give women director’s equal opportunities to bid on commercial jobs in the global advertising industry.

“When it comes to driving diversity, we cannot slow down. Our updated, comprehensive platform will help drive long-term, sustainable, systemic change,” said Lucio.

HP is committed to setting new standards for diversity in marketing, focusing on new global goals for agencies, as well as deepened partnerships with strategic diversity and inclusion groups.

For more information about HP’s diversity programs, visit here. Join the conversation using #PoweredByDiversity.

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