Reality Check – All together, now: building a better, brighter, and more inclusive future

Getting closer to the lives of diverse, unrepresented audiences in the UK 

The disruption and frustrations of the past few years have reshaped society, our behaviours and our values.  

We’ve seen movements such as the global 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) spark a rethink around equality and representation, as brands and individuals reflected on their own unconscious bias. The BLM movement came at a time when COVID-19 was exposing inequalities such as deprivation, low income, and poor housing – factors that interconnect with, and disproportionally affected people depending on race, gender, geography, age, and disability.  

This was shortly followed by price rises as the cost of living skyrocketed, adding new layers of instability to our post-pandemic futures. 

A deep dive into post-pandemic mindsets  

At Mindshare UK, we recently launched our latest Reality Check report ‘All Together Now’ in partnership with the Diversity Standards Collective (DSC) at an event at our London offices - as well as virtually for those who couldn’t join us in person.  

Reality Check allows us to keep a finger on the pulse of the nation, capturing the shifting dynamics of daily life and guiding brands through the key mindsets and moments shaping us all. 

Our brilliant insights team and panel took a deep dive into post-pandemic mindsets from underrepresented audiences in the UK, with our research suggesting that minority groups are still struggling to rediscover their identities after damage to morale and its negative effect on community spirit.  

Rich Miles, CEO and Co-Founder of the DSC and his panel delved further into what’s really going on behind the data from the perspective of black, South Asian, and disabled communities, and offered guidance to brands to think and act more inclusively and ensure better representation in their advertising.  

Media as a force for good: the role of brands, telcos and tech platforms  

We’ve seen first-hand that the media landscape has changed and the huge opportunity this presents for our clients in creating targeted messages that will resonate with different groups in different spaces. 

For instance, being cut off from our loves ones, our friends and our communities has led to rising levels of isolation for many. In particular our research found that almost half (48%) of people in LGBTQIA+ groups that Mindshare spoke to, say they have forgotten how to socialise because of the pandemic – twelve percentage points higher than the general UK adult population (36%).  

We believe that understanding these mindsets through intersectionality of people’s different identities helps us to engage with and reflect the rich diversity and culture of modern Britain for our clients. We found that brands, media, telco and tech platforms can play a key role in helping minority groups reconnect with their peers and wider communities as tough times continue. 

At Mindshare, the work that we do is rooted in understanding people and putting them at the heart of everything we do. Our partnership with the DSC has helped us to create our own inclusive planning offering for our clients, helping us move closer to a place where we can tell universal stories in a way that everyone can identify with, transcending differences.  

If you missed our event and want to watch the session in full and also download the Reality Check ‘All Together Now’ report, you can do so here.