SANTA BARBARA — UWG CEO Monique Nelson still sees plenty of growth opportunity ahead for the agency, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
UWG, which rebranded from UniWorld Group in 2014, is the leading full-service multicultural agency in the US. Nelson, who has led the company as chief executive since 2007, has helped to usher in new focus points for UWG, which launched in 1969 as the first advertising group to address African American customers following the passing of the Civil Rights Act. In a video interview with BeetTV at the 2019 Relevance Conference, Nelson says the agency has evolved to engage Hispanic, LGBTQ, millennial and women customers, “and everything in between.”
A willingness to address, understand and grow with diverse consumer groups, which have been historically underrepresented in mainstream media, is a strategy that will pay off, says Nelson. Clients like Colgate Palmolive and Ford Motor Company, which has been with UWG for 35 years, demonstrate the ability to drive business by including more customers in advertising strategies, which boosts the brands’ overall perceptions.
“Brand health is tied to these consumers and how they grow and mature in these marketplaces,” says Nelson.
One of those growth channels is advertising opportunity on premium television channels, where brands have the opportunity to reach more audiences. That’s given UWG, which is owned by WPP, a chance to hire more content creators to develop more stories to be distributed across new outlets.
“You have so many willing participants who are ready to tell these stories and make sure that these communities are empowered and they see themselves in every facet of society,” says Nelson.
Increased attention to diverse audience groups has given UWG a chance to expand its services. Global Reflections is an internal UWG consulting team that helps clients and potential clients develop perspective on diversity and minority groups internally in order to improve their messaging externally.
Ultimately, Nelson sees UWG in position to help brands lead clients for the next generation of advertising strategy. “As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t have a point of view on how growth audiences are impacting your brand, I don’t know what you think about the future,” says Nelson.
This video is from a series leading up to, and covering, the Xandr Relevance Conference in Santa Barbara. This Beet.TV series is sponsored by Xandr. Please visit this page to find more videos from the series.
