People have diverse experiences, perspectives and backgrounds. There isn't just one thing that defines a person or their story, and showing stereotypes or generalized behaviors can really backfire. Rather than having a checkbox for diversity, start by centering your marketing in real customer stories, use cases and what's authentic to your product. When creating campaigns, do a check on your marketing brief for any assumptions or stereotypes. When you're casting talent or identifying partners to work with- do you have diversity in demographics, body types, abilities, and perspectives reflected there? When it comes time to review storyboards or assets - run it by people across teams to ensure it's not being created in a vacuum.

One word - authenticity. All too often corporations over-index when it comes to representation. Consumers are much more sophisticated than that. Start by identify your core audience and ensure your campaigns reflect that appropriately. The prime example is if your product is NOT geared towards Millennials, than they should NOT be depicted in your collateral. In addition, to avoid being offensive, you should leverage racial and gender ratios that exemplified your target market. Again over indexing on a specific race or gender will come across as contrived. Organic, accurate, and appropriate inclusion is always the best strategy and will help you avoid tokenism.

Tokenism in hiring masks shallow progress. True diversity values varied perspectives that enrich organizations, not quotas. ~Create inclusive processes to uncover diverse talent naturally: ~Use "blind" initial screenings to focus on skills, reducing bias. ~Implement work-simulating assessments to evaluate actual abilities. ~Prioritize transferable skills over specific industry experience. ~Value lived experiences alongside formal qualifications. This builds diverse teams based on competencies and potential contributions, avoiding tokenism while fostering innovation and adaptability.

Think of it like building a relationship—true inclusion comes from genuine engagement, not just ticking boxes. The goal isn’t to “look” diverse but to be diverse in a meaningful, impactful way. Striving for diverse representation without falling into tokenism is like making a great dish—you need authentic ingredients, not just a sprinkle of garnish for show. Start by ensuring diversity is baked into the core of your brand, not just added for appearances. Collaborate with people from underrepresented communities at every stage—from concept to execution. Tell real stories, not stereotypes, and focus on shared human experiences while respecting cultural nuances.

A good brand tends to be a representation of its customer base. Because they understand the customer, their challenges, and how to solve them. So. start with your people.