CASE STUDY
Social
impact
marketing
Taking a stand and building a brand
Reshaping perceptionsof accounting
According to the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, only 2% of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) are Black and 5% are Hispanic/Latinx—a striking disparity versus the US population overall. Deloitte is committed to generating more advisory, auditing, and tax career opportunities and leadership pathways for the next generation of CPAs. More importantly, Deloitte is focused on taking action—which in turn led to the creation of Deloitte's MADE (Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable) commitment.
Challenge
Kick-starting our commitment
Addressing this underrepresentation in the accounting profession is a critical priority for Deloitte leaders. To achieve our organization’s diversity goals, nothing short of a transformation of the accounting profession is needed—from the inside out. After all, this issue with underrepresentation is the product of long-standing systemic issues. So, we asked ourselves: how can Deloitte fuel greater racial and ethnic diversity in accounting and tax, and how can marketing allow us to extend this reach?
Discovery
Strengthening DEI in accounting
Tackling such a big challenge takes an equally large amount of collaboration.
- In early summer of 2020, Deloitte formed the Black Action Council (BAC) in direct response to the inequities and violence that plague our Black communities. The BAC worked to architect and implement Deloitte’s long-term strategy to advance our Black colleagues and communities.
- The influences of the BAC and learnings from the Deloitte DEI Transparency Report made it clear that there were huge disparities in the accounting profession when it comes to Black and Hispanic/Latinx individuals.
- With the support of leadership, Deloitte made a commitment to address these disparities, and it created an integrated marketing program to reach the audiences it had committed to serve.
Solution
Making key commitments
In June 2021, Deloitte announced MADE—Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable—a $75 million commitment and bold vision for the accounting profession, both in terms of increasing racial and ethnic diversity, and helping students see and realize their future in business through the prism and possibilities of accounting. This profession-leading effort needed a comprehensive and integrated marketing, public relations, and internal communications campaign to elevate MADE with multiple target audiences, ranging from middle and high school students to mid-level accounting and tax professionals.
Visual identity
We developed a MADE visual identity, showcasing seven Deloitte professionals and their journeys.
Making accounting diverse and equitable
Collateral
We developed these pieces to reach a wide audience thatincluded school counselors, Deloitte professionals, andtomorrow’s accountants.
Events
Our visual identity helped strengthen ourpresence at in-person gatherings.
Digital
Public relations support secured more
than 35 media placements that drove
awareness of the MADE commitment.
Impact
-
21%
Increase in engagement onthe MADE Deloitte.com page after incorporating the new visual identity -
19K+
Total webpage visits to MADE -
447
Program leads/inquiries -
5.6K
Total engagements on webpage -
1K
University students reachedthrough MADE marketing and programming efforts -
17K
High school students reachedthrough MADE marketing and programming efforts
Social
on all social media channels.#DeloitteMADE—with a total social
reach of more than 950,000—is leveraged
on all social media channels.
Instagram posts