The CW places diversity at the center of a new autumn marketing campaign

The CW is putting diversity in the forefront of its planned launch campaign this fall. The network is about to launch "#CWOpenToAll," a new branding campaign that highlights its progress in advocacy and inclusion.

The campaign will air early in its fall calendar and will also be broadcast on digital and social platforms, as well as through ad purchases at major print shops, including USA Today, the New York Times , the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Hollywood crafts.

This makes the CW one of the most visible media for making diversity a key part of its marketing. Brands are increasingly incorporating inclusion messages into their campaigns – including the recent Nike "Believe in Something" campaign centered on Colin Kaepernick.

As Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins wrote last month about the Kaepernick campaign, 44% of millennials (aged 22 to 37) are non-white and this demo is scheduled for next year to surpass the baby boomer generation as the largest generation of living adults in the United States. "If you do not have a multicultural strategy, you will not have a growth strategy," said Nielsen senior vice president of global communications, Andrew McCaskill.

This generation, of course, is at the center of the CW's concerns, which is by far the youngest channel bias. Extending inclusion – whether multicultural, sexual orientation or gender identity – is a logical choice for the CW, in addition to highlighting the progress made by the network. on the screen. The "CW Open to All" campaign comes as diversity remains a crucial topic for media companies and gives CW a way to showcase its progress against its competitors. Last week, for example, the Directors Guild of America released a new study pointing out that progress remains slow in finding more people of color guiding episodes of television series.

At the CW, the network notes that this year, 63% of directors, executive producers, writers and directors of its scripted rate are women or people of color, against 53% last year. Of the regulars in the series, 49% are people of color. And the network also made the headlines by making Nicole Maines the first transgender superhero ("Dreamer") in "Supergirl" and developing "Batwoman" with the main character as the first openly gay superhero, played by Ruby Rose .

The "The CW is Open to All" campaign features various stars from the network, including Gina Rodriguez and Justin Baldoni ("Jane the Virgin"), Jared Padalecki ("Supernatural"), Daniel Ezra and Taye Diggs ("All Americans"), Grant Gustin. and Candice Patton ("The Flash"), Rachel Bloom and Pete Gardner ("Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"), China Anne McClain and Marvin Jones III ("Black Lightning"), and many others, touting the idea of inclusion and representation – and the CW as a facilitator of this type of change.

"We believe this campaign truly reflects the spirit and mission of the CW and the reason our fans come to us," said CW President Mark Pedowitz. "We are committed to ensuring that our viewers are represented on the screen and that different voices are heard behind the camera. In fact, 12 of our 17 series this season are created by an executive or produced by women or people of color. We are proud of the progress we have made and continue to make. #CWOpenToAll is a reflection of this and helps convey the message that we want to be recognized as a place where everyone is welcome and everyone is invited to watch. "

The campaign is an offshoot of CW's "CW Good" public service initiative, a platform used to highlight the charitable causes supported by CW's stars and broadcasts.

Here's a preview of CW's "Open to All" campaign:

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