Reflecting on 2024 and our goals for 2025
January 7, 2025
As I reflect on 2024, I am humbled at what BRIDGE has accomplished in just our second year and am motivated, with courage and determination, to meet the moment for what is to come in 2025.
Here are some of our accomplishments from 2024 and a look forward to our goals for 2025:
The BRIDGE Board of Directors: We've built an incredible board with leaders at the intersection of DEI, Marketing, and Business with the most diverse representation of any industry trade group. After two years of service from our first board chair Jonita Wilson, we announced industry OG, Sandra Sims-Williams, Chief Business Inclusion, Impact, and Belonging Officer at Nielsen to take the helm. And the board has voted to expand the number of members from 27 to 35.
BRIDGE24: Inclusion is Good for Business: We held our second annual retreat May 5-7 in La Jolla, California. It was an honor to host "I Have A Dream" Co-Speechwriter Dr. Clarence B. Jones, Former CDO; U.S. House Of Representatives Dr. Sesha Joi Moon; and Best-Selling Author Dr. Bertice Berry, among others. Thanks to the incredible feedback we received, we are holding strong at an NPS of over 90 and are getting ready for BRIDGE25: FORWARD - which we have committed will be unapologetically indelible, audacious and determined.
A highlight of each month is our Community Call, held on the last Thursday. During these calls, we came together as a resolute community to discuss the most pressing issues facing our industry from the overturning of affirmative action to how to leverage the Hispanic Market for growth as well as how to support employees during and post the election. And when the need arose, we created a safe space to come together to support and feel supported. I have learned so much from each call and value the time we spend together.
BRIDGE IMAX - Inclusion Maturity Assessment and Capability Building - was featured in an HBR article on How Brands Can Fuel Inclusive Growth authored by our academic partners Dr. Omar Rodríguez Vilá, Dr. Sundar Bharadwaj, and Dr. Dionne Nickerson. You will be hearing a lot more from us in 2025 as we bring IMAX to the marketplace. For the very first time brands will be able to measure their inclusion maturity with a framework across the workplace and marketplace that turns inclusion into a business practice for growth.
One of the key gaps IMAX has identified is around the practice of inclusive marketing. To address this, we launched a consortium of over 40 brands, agencies and media companies. This cross-industry group has been hard at work identifying and rethinking the current structures in place that are preventing a effective and efficient inclusive media ecosystem. Our first project is to redefine the key terminology that is critical to reframing the way we think about reaching growth markets and our approach to media investment.
We launched research conducted in partnership with our academic team on the use cases analyzing the impact of inclusion on brand awareness, engagement, and purchase intent which shows significant results on par with the effect of pricing strategies. More to come on this in 2025.
At the request of the industry, BRIDGE published two resources on Project 2025 to help provide education on its contents and potential implications to employees and business: Project 2025 Quick Read and Project 2025 Primer. As we head into 2025, our work has become all the more important. We intend to take back the narrative on DEI reiterating our position that the continued and anticipated attacks against and the politicization of DEI are misrepresented and ultimately irrelevant to its business potential. The real danger behind these attacks, notwithstanding the impact on historically under-recognized communities, is the tacit interference in innovation and the stifling of transformational business growth.
And as such, immediately after the election, we announced the formation of Project FORWARD - a cross-industry, board-led initiative to ensure our DEI work continues. Our goal is to collectively define the future aligned to our mission - inclusion is good for business. We hope to bring consistency to language, terminology and approach and equip, educate and empower DEI, business and marketing leaders to respond in these changing times, while protecting their opportunities for growth.