Last week I had the pleasure of joining MEFA’s panel at Advertising Week Europe 2026, and I’m still buzzing. I spoke alongside Sangeetha Mahadevan from Unite and Ella Hassall from Virgin Media O2, talking through the work behind our Gold win for Inclusive Media Strategy at last year’s Media Week Awards. While I can’t do the full conversation justice here, I wanted to share 5 key takeaways that will help you on your inclusive planning journey.
- Mainstream media plans have a reach (and resonance) problem
I think most Marketers are aware that many media plans aren’t reaching diverse audiences efficiently. And the ones that are, could still be missing crucial opportunities for connection.
Whether it’s lower affinity with mainstream channels among multicultural communities, or keyword filters that inadvertently block safe and celebratory LGBTQIA+ content, there are real structural barriers that are preventing a brand from growing. So it’s worth understanding and doing something about.
For the Databank campaign, we worked with Unite to hand-pick over 6,000 spots across 37 community stations, ran audio through host-read ads, and adapted creative end frames to feel native to each environment. That one shift delivered 250,000 incremental people we otherwise wouldn’t have reached, and shifted brand metrics amongst untapped communities.
In short: Not only can an inclusive approach connect brands with new audiences, but also connect them where diverse audiences feel most safe.
- The assumptions in your brief are already holding you back
You know what they say about assumptions, they make an…you know the rest. The same applies in your planning. When it comes to connecting with diverse audiences, or any new audience, the most valuable thing you can do is lean in with genuine curiosity, rather than assumptions.
For the Databank campaign, we layered socio-economic indicators, cultural insights, PAYG usage patterns, and employment and housing data to understand who was most affected by data poverty and why. That process led us to a far more precise and human understanding of our audiences, from Black heritage, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities to C2DE migrant workers, older multicultural women, and refugees. There is a System1 study that captures this beautifully, exploring the additional impact that comes when brands take the time to understand the fabric of a community, the culture, the food, the inside jokes.
That level of understanding is what separates work that truly connects from the work that simply appears, and it starts with being willing to learn. The quality of your audience understanding determines everything downstream.
- Inclusion isn’t just right. It’s good for business
For too long, inclusivity has been seen as a compromise. Something to tick off in the planning process, but that way of thinking is costing business growth, as well as just being plain wrong.
One of the things I try to get across whenever I talk about inclusive planning, is that an inclusive strategy is a commercial opportunity.
A University of Oxford study I come back to regularly shows that brands with genuinely inclusive approaches see uplifts in short and long-term sales, higher purchase intent – particularly among younger audiences – stronger loyalty, and a greater likelihood of being first choice. That’s a growth argument.
The VMO2 journey since Databank reflected this in practice. Conscious inclusion has been embedded in every media plan, and the brand has seen consistent uplifts in consideration, ad awareness, and cultural relevance as a result. When you show up for diverse audiences with authenticity and consistency, it drives incremental growth.
If that case isn’t already being made in your client conversations, it’s the most obvious gap in your effectiveness story.
- Consistency turns a campaign into genuine trust
They say actions speak louder than words, and if a brand is seen to run an inclusive campaign once, or irregularly, their intentions (or lack thereof) are clear. Trust is built through showing up repeatedly, in the right environments, with messaging that reflects real lived experiences rather than a brand narrative.
Diverse audiences are thoughtful about the brands they engage with, and rightly so. What I am most proud of with the VMO2 work is not just the Databank campaign itself, but the commitment it sparked. Databank was the beginning of an always-on approach to inclusive planning, one that now runs across every brief, and that consistency matters enormously.
Sustained, intentional presence is what builds that kind of relationship over time, and inclusivity is not a one-off solution.
- The next generation of talent is our greatest opportunity
This is the one that excited me most. The audience in the room at Advertising Week Europe were warm, engaged, and full of people who are clearly invested in doing this well. When you look at the landscape more broadly, the momentum is real. Over 1 in 4 adults in the UK are multicultural, as is more than half of London. The LGBTQIA+ community has doubled in size over the last eight years. 1 in 7 adults are neurodiverse. The next wave of marketeers coming into our industry are the most diverse yet, and that is something to be genuinely excited about.
These marketeers are the ones who can bring lived understanding of communities; the ones that brands are actively trying to reach.
Our role is to create environments where that knowledge is valued, shapes strategy, and where inclusive planning feels less like a specialism and more like second nature. The foundations are there, the talent is here, and there has never been a better moment to lean in.
Jordan Golding is Planning Business Director, DEI, at MG OMD. The O2 National Databank campaign won Gold for Inclusive Media Strategy at the Media Week Awards 2025.