October 23, 2018 — Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP,www.meredith.com), the leading media and marketing company reaching 175 million American consumers, including 80 percent of millennial women, is partnering with the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) #SeeHer initiative to increase accurate portrayal of women in advertising and media. This announcement will be made at the 2018 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference in Orlando, Florida, later this week.
The ANA launched #SeeHer at the United States of Women Summit in June 2016 to increase the accurate portrayal of women and girls in media. The goal is to improve the authentic representation of women by 2020, the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. To date more than 75 companies, with a collective U.S. spend of $50 billion dollars, have joined the movement. To track progress, #SeeHer developed a data-driven methodology called the Gender Equality Measure™ (GEM™) which identifies unconscious bias in advertising and programming. Since its launch, GEM™ has become the industry’s standard metric quantifying consumer reaction to the portrayal of women in advertising and programming.
Meredith brands are currently being reviewed for GEM™ certification. As part of the partnership, Meredith will put its vast resources and brand power behind the #SeeHer movement. Beginning in December and expanding in 2019, Meredith brands, including PEOPLE, InStyle, Better Homes & Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, and Parents, will promote the partnership across all platforms.
“Women influence or make 85 percent of all purchase decisions. As a company that connects and engages with 110 million American women, coming alongside #SeeHer is the right thing to do socially and for the bottom line,” said Alysia Borsa, chief marketing and data officer, Meredith Corporation.
“Meredith is a long-standing valued partner of the ANA, and we are delighted about its commitment to expand our #SeeHer movement’s message on such an enormous scale,” said Bob Liodice, chief executive officer, ANA. “We are excited about the potential and look forward to fully amplifying the reach in 2019.”
Lisa Schoder, U.S. media intelligence and strategic planning lead at Ford Motor Company, commented, “An early supporter of the #SeeHer initiative, the Ford Motor Company is committed to supporting the equitable portrayal of women in the media. We applaud Meredith for adding their empowering voice to inform women about this campaign and as a key element of our partnership, have sponsored “Firsts – Women Who Are Changing the World.”
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ABOUT MEREDITH CORPORATION
Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; meredith.com) has been committed to service journalism for more than 115 years. Today, Meredith uses multiple distribution platforms – including broadcast television, print, digital, mobile and video – to provide consumers with content they desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing partners.
Meredith’s National Media Group reaches more than 175 million unduplicated American consumers every month, including over 80 percent of U.S. millennial women. Meredith is a leader in creating content across media platforms and life stages in key consumer interest areas such as entertainment, food, lifestyle, parenting and home. Meredith is the No. 1 magazine operator in the U.S., and owner of the largest premium content digital network for American consumers. Meredith’s leading national brands include PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, InStyle, Allrecipes, REAL SIMPLE, Southern Living and Martha Stewart Living. Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the U.S. and at walmart.com. Meredith’s National Media Group also includes leading affinity marketer Synapse, and The Foundry, the company’s state-of-the-art creative lab and content studio.
ABOUT #SEEHER
Despite the strides made to accurately portray women and girls in media, an unconscious bias persists against women and girls in advertising, media, and programming. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) launched the #SeeHer initiative in June 2016 in a partnership with The Female Quotient (TFQ) at the United State of Women. #SeeHer’s mission is to increase the accurate portrayals of women and girls in media 20 percent by 2020, the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in the U.S. The group developed a Gender Equality Measure (GEM™) to track progress and the marketing effect of removing unconscious bias from ads and programming. High GEM™ scores directly correlate to improved ROI. GEM™ became the industry standard in the U.S. which led to a global rollout in mid-2018. For more information, visit www.SeeHer.com, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL ADVERTISERS (ANA)
The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) makes a difference for individuals, brands, and the industry by driving growth, advancing the interests of marketers, and promoting and protecting the well-being of the marketing community. Founded in 1910, the ANA provides leadership that advances marketing excellence and shapes the future of the industry. The ANA’s membership includes more than 1,000 companies with 15,000 brands that collectively spend or support more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually. The membership is comprised of more than 750 client-side marketers and 300 associate members, which includes leading agencies, law firms, suppliers, consultants, and vendors. Further enriching the ecosystem is the work of the nonprofit ANA Advertising Educational Foundation (AEF), which has the mission of enhancing the understanding of advertising and marketing within the academic and marketing communities. For more information, visit www.ana.net, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or join us on Facebook. For more information visit www.SeeHer.com.
CONTACTS
Jill Davison, Jill.Davison@Meredith.com, 917-280-0475
Amalia Carusone, Amalia.Carusone@Meredith.com, 212-522-0861
