Diversity Marketing Consortium Expands to Offer $3 Million in Marketing and Legal Services and Announces First Program Participants

Distributed by Business Wire
14th October 2020

Clarity, Peppercomm, Praytell, and Racepoint Global Join Group Dedicated to Supporting Women and Minority-Led Startups with Additional Legal Support from Davis & Gilbert LLP

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, the Diversity Marketing Consortium (DMC) announced that, after launching in July 2020, the group has expanded in response to overwhelming demand and will now offer $3 million in pro bono marketing and legal services over the next two years. Integrated communications agency Clarity, purpose-driven communications and marketing agency Peppercomm, creative communications agency Praytell, and communications agency Racepoint Global, will work in tandem with SourceCode Communications, Cheer Partners, influencer agency Social Studies, and Superbolt, providing support to minority and women-led startups in the United States. Davis & Gilbert will also offer legal consultation to startups that work with the Diversity Marketing Consortium.

“Women and minority entrepreneurs continue to face inequality in the startup ecosystem and beyond. We started the Diversity Marketing Consortium with our industry peers to work toward tangible and meaningful change when it comes to the inequities these founders face,” said Greg Mondshein, founder of the Diversity Marketing Consortium and Managing Partner of SourceCode Communications. “We’re humbled by the interest we’ve received not only from startups, but from additional partners offering their services to the DMC. With these new partners, we’ll be able to expand to serve more founders and we’re excited to see what the future holds.”

The Diversity Marketing Consortium was formed in an effort to help offset systemic racial and gender-based inequity for underrepresented founders. In partnership with Harlem Capital, the Diversity Marketing Consortium’s mission is to help level the playing field for underrepresented founders by providing $3 million in pro bono marketing services over the course of two years.

As part of the first group of startups to be a part of the program, the Diversity Marketing Consortium will work with relationship intelligence CRM 4Degrees, perk management software Compt, commercial kitchen automation company Dexai Robotics, cardiac telehealth company Moving Analytics, and pet wellness company Wagmo. The companies will work with the DMC for a minimum of three months, after which, another group of founders will participate in the program. Participating startups include those in Harlem Capital’s portfolio, participants in Harlem Capital’s pitch competition on October 22, and startups that apply via the DMC’s website.

Sami McCabe, Founder & CEO of Clarity said, “It is an honor to join the Diversity Marketing Consortium and we are proud to work alongside leaders in our industry in creating meaningful systemic change around racial and gender-based inequality. At Clarity, we have always strived to work in an ethical, inclusive way and we recognize that it is our responsibility to take action in creating a more diverse and just startup ecosystem. We, along with our partners in the DMC, are committed to driving us towards that future by committing our resources, services and talents to create positive change.”

“At Peppercomm, we are proud and humbled to be part of the Diversity Marketing Consortium’s first cohort of member companies. As an organization, we are committed to contributing our voices and actions to effect change and build a more just society. Certainly, we don’t have all the answers, but we are determined to lead by example and be part of the long-term solution,” said Matt Purdue, Partner and Senior Vice President at Peppercomm. “Working alongside other like-minded companies in the DMC to serve women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color is an important step in how we can support creating a country, and a world, where every person is afforded the dignity and respect of an equal.”

“First and foremost, we recognize that without deploying capital to historically marginalized communities, we’ll never be able to build an equitable future. That’s why Praytell is committed to taking action and honored to join the Diversity Marketing Consortium – this partnership is one of many that will further empower our staff to actively address systemic inequality,” said Naria Frazer, Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Praytell. “It’s a privilege to work alongside organizations dedicated to diversifying economic systems and we look forward to supporting underrepresented business owners by amplifying their stories and helping them make the greatest impact possible.”

“As a communications agency focused on shaping the conversations that matter, we have a responsibility to do what we must, as fast as we are able, to help address systemic challenges for underserved and under-represented communities in the world of technology,” said Bob Osmond, President, Racepoint Global. “Participating as part of the Diversity Marketing Consortium is an important and productive way to channel our energies as an ally into the tangible actions that will drive real change for emerging businesses and leaders.”

For more information and to apply, please visit diversitymarketingconsortium.com.

ABOUT THE DIVERSITY MARKETING CONSORTIUM

Founded in 2020, the Diversity Marketing Consortium was formed in an effort to help offset systemic racial and gender-based inequity for women and minority founders. The Diversity Marketing Consortium’s mission is to help level the playing field for underrepresented founders by providing pro bono marketing services. For more information, please visit diversitymarketingconsortium.com.

ABOUT HARLEM CAPITAL

Harlem Capital is a New York based early-stage venture capital firm on a mission to change the face of entrepreneurship by investing in 1,000 diverse founders over the next 20 years. Please reach out if you are a founder seeking capital, and subscribe to the Road to 1,000 newsletter for monthly industry news and firm updates.

ABOUT SOURCECODE COMMUNICATIONS

SourceCode Communications is an award-winning communications marketing agency launched in 2017 by technology PR industry veterans Greg Mondshein and Rebecca Honeyman. Based in New York, the agency is focused on delivering measurable business impact to brands in five major sectors – Consumer & Lifestyle Technology, Financial Technology, Mobile, Cloud & Telecoms, Insights & Engagement, and Enterprise Technology. Recently shortlisted for PRWeek’s 2020 U.S. Awards shortlist for Outstanding Boutique Agency, SourceCode is the Holmes Report 2019 New Agency of the Year and PRNews’ Best Place to Work and Small Agency of the Year. For more information, please visit sourcecodecommunications.com.

ABOUT CLARITY

Clarity is a global integrated communications agency focused on telling the stories of the brands that are driving change through technology. Serving clients ranging from seed-funded startups to industry titans, Clarity brings together teams of experts who solve communications challenges and drive real business results using earned, paid, and owned strategies as well as proprietary technologies that push the industry forward. In addition to the company’s fast-growing offices in New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Benelux, Clarity maintains a network of partner firms for a global reach. For more information, visit www.clarity.pr.

ABOUT CHEER PARTNERS

Cheer Partners is a full-service employee experience agency providing customized solutions for attracting, engaging, and inspiring people with their three practice areas: Talent, HR Advisory and Employee Communications. Together, they create a powerful employee experience. Cheer Partners fosters an inclusive, diverse and remote workplace while promoting a connected culture. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

ABOUT DAVIS & GILBERT LLP

Davis & Gilbert LLP is a strategically focused, full-service mid-sized law firm of more than 130 lawyers. Founded over a century ago and located in New York City, the firm represents a wide array of clients – ranging from start-ups to some of the world’s largest public companies and financial institutions – throughout the United States and internationally. Davis & Gilbert is widely regarded as the #1 law firm for the marketing communications industry and has practices focusing on Advertising, Marketing & Promotions; Benefits & Compensation; Corporate; Digital Media, Technology & Privacy; Entertainment, Media & Sports; Insolvency, Creditors’ Rights & Financial Products; Intellectual Property; Labor & Employment; Litigation; Private Client Services; Real Estate and Taxation.

ABOUT PEPPERCOMM

Peppercomm is an award-winning strategic, integrated communications and marketing agency headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco and London. The firm combines 25 award-winning years of expertise serving blue chip and breakout clients with forward-thinking new service offerings and the freshness of a start-up. This unique mix of experience and energy enables the firm to attract and empower teams with a creative edge, drive and passion for promoting, protecting and connecting clients in a fast-changing marketplace. Founded in 1995, Peppercomm has received numerous accolades, including The Holmes Report’s North American Corporate/B2B Agency of the Year and Bulldog Reporter’s Midsized Agency of the Year. The agency has been listed as one of Fortune’s 10 Best Workplaces in Advertising and Marketing, 100 Best Workplaces for Women, 50 Best Small and Medium Workplaces and 50 Best Workplaces for New College Grads. For more information, visit www.peppercomm.com.

ABOUT PRAYTELL

Praytell is a creative communications agency headquartered in Brooklyn with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Austin, Chicago, and London. Our agency blends full-service earned, owned and paid media into one holistic offering to help our clients stand out in unexpected, culturally-relevant ways. From big creative campaigns to earned media launches that punch above their weight, Praytell supports a range of lifestyle, tech and greater good clients including Danone, Anheuser-Busch, and beyond. Praytell lives by our agency credo: “Do the right thing,” and spreads greater good through our Passion Project, offering $2 million of pro-bono work to nonprofits. We’re proud to be named PRWeek’s 2020 Agency of the Year. For more information, visit www.praytellagency.com.

ABOUT RACEPOINT GLOBAL

At Racepoint Global (RPG), our mission is simple: We help our clients navigate and succeed in the new communications landscape by shaping the conversations that matter. We live at the intersection of conversation and innovation and we serve clients with channel-agnostic communications strategies that engage their target audiences in authentic and meaningful ways. Our work with clients establishes competitive differentiation and drives business impact. For more information, visit www.racepointglobal.com.

ABOUT SOCIAL STUDIES

Social Studies is a five year old, Madison Avenue-based micro-influencer agency and proprietary technology created to inspire authentic conversations between the world’s best brands and emerging social content creators at scale, fostering next-generation partnerships that deliver meaningful results.

ABOUT SUPERBOLT

Superbolt partners with disruptive consumer brands to drive long-term growth. Based in New York, Los Angeles and Paris, our multinational team offers strategic and executional expertise to startups and established brands. We run paid social, paid search, display and email, in addition to offline channels like direct mail. Going beyond customer acquisition strategy, we also offer full-funnel services to help our clients optimize their sites, revamp their lifestyle marketing & more.