What started at Advertising Week last year\u2014a movement called Creative Spirit that helps people with intellectual or developmental disabilities enter the advertising and marketing workforce\u2014moves to the main stage at this year\u2019s Cannes International Festival of Creativity. As Creative Spirit\u2019s Co-Founder and President, OMD CMO Laurel Rossi sees the move to Cannes as a sign of real action rather than just more talk about workplace diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do talk as an industry a lot about what it means to have diverse kinds of thinking in our organizations. But the actual action of bringing people with diverse thought to the table is really what I\u2019m hoping comes to light,\u201d Rossi says in this interview with Beet.TV.<\/p>\n

On Thursday June 21, Rossi<\/a> will take to the Palais 1 dais along with two beneficiaries of Creative Spirit<\/a> so they can explain how they were recruited and hired into positions that leverage their oft-hidden talents, and how they approach briefs and challenges in a different way. The session is titled How Different Can Change The World.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are about 10 million people in the States alone who have an intellectual and developmental disability who are in the hiring age frame. And those people by and large are not employed,\u201d says Rossi, placing the jobless rate at 85%. \u201cWe know that neuro-diverse thinkers have the opportunity to help companies grow their return three and four fold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though progress has been made in diversifying the makeup of the advertising and marketing world, the major exception has been people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, according to Rossi.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s been a passion point for me to reality think about neuro diversity, not just diversity as a topic, because we\u2019re in the thinking business. When I look at folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities, they really do bring a different strain of creativity to our business.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the heels of a pilot program in Australia, Creative Spirit was unveiled in the U.S. at Advertising Week 2017. On stage were young adults in a number of disciplines\u2014from coders to art directors, writers to receptionists\u2014who had not had the opportunity interview for advertising or marketing jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that moment, we received a groundswell from both clients and agencies around how I can bring that creative thinking to my organization,\u201d Rossi says. \u201cI set out with some partners on a mission to really bring that kind of neuro diversity to the marketing and advertising business, which is now expanding beyond to technology and other organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s hoping the conversation in Cannes<\/a> is eclipsed by action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see more sponsors and more organizations signing on and I also hope that our candidates have an opportunity to have the main stage for once.\u201d<\/p>\n

This video is part of The Road to Cannes, a preview of topics to be addressed at Cannes Lions. The series is presented by the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video<\/a>. For more videos from the series, please visit this page<\/a>. FreeWheel is a Comcast company.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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