Company directors add their voice to support Yes campaign

More than 1100 company directors from across the country have put their name to a campaign in support of the Indigenous voice to parliament.

Company director Ming Long is one of more than 1000 directors to put their name to the campaign in support of the voice to Parliament.

More than 1100 company directors from across the country have put their name to a campaign in support of the Indigenous voice to parliament, which first appeared as an advertisement in national newspapers and on social media platform LinkedIn last Monday.

The advertisement ran in the print editions of The Australian, The Australian Financial ­Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Courier Mail, The West Australian, The Advertiser, and The Mercury.

Since the campaign launched, LinkedIn news feeds have been awash with the distinctive advertisement, as directors who have pledged their support shared their reasons for joining the campaign, titled Directors for the Voice.

The directors whose names appear in the campaign, pledged their support for the voice to parliament in a personal capacity, rather than for the organisations with which they are associated.

Part of the advertisement states: “With conviction, we believe it is time to ­ensure Australia’s Indigenous people are recognised and heard.”

The directors named in the campaign include individuals who lead social enterprises, listed and private companies, large and small businesses, as well as not-for-profits. They also comprise Indigenous directors and reflect diversity across gender, race, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic background, geographic location and political leanings.

The campaign’s co-organiser and non-executive director Ming Long told The Growth Agenda: “Normally, directors actually don’t come out and get involved. It’s really rare. (But) you could see they really cared about this issue deeply. And they needed an avenue to get their voice out there.

“This is a very human question for all of us,” Ms Long added.

“This is a grassroots campaign. There’s no major corporate behind it. This is all of us individually jumping in wanting to help.”

Ms Long said a growing number of directors had expressed a desire to show their personal support for the voice.

Non-executive director Sunita Gloster, who led the advertising strategy, said: “This is a live conversation inside businesses and boardrooms across Australia.

Non-executive director Sunita Gloster AM led the advertising strategy for the campaign

“However, we know from the Edelman Trust Barometer that people – our customers and our employees – have heightened ­expectations for business to take a stand on social issues, to lead change, and to be visible in doing so.

“Ultimately, this is a people’s referendum. It’s an individual vote. Our campaign is about business leaders sharing their commitment with other people in their business networks and communities. The business community is powered by trusted relation­ships between people. It’s a powerful channel to stimulate knowledge sharing, conversation and consideration.”

A print advertisement with the names of hundreds of company directors pledging their support for the voice to parliament appeared in national newspapers last week

Advertising agency The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, produced the print and social media ads, while media buying agency Carat facilitated the purchase of the advertising in newspapers.

Public relations activity was undertaken by communications firm Sefiani. The campaign was developed by these agencies pro bono for the initiative.

Ms Gloster added: “Print was the best medium to reach the business community quickly and at scale. It was also the best medium to carry the message, the printing of 460 directors names, that were being added to right till the last minute.”

She said LinkedIn also helped grow the campaign – which, as the rising number of directors joining indicates, was effective.

“Our objective was also to stimulate informed conversations. LinkedIn is our professional marketplace for that. It’s designed to promote and encourage knowledge sharing and learning. So we had to be there,” Ms Gloster added.

“People are talking about the ad and the social posts; more people are coming into the conversation. That’s what advertising is meant to do. Seeing it posted over and over again – on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Threads and the subsequent engagement, comments and conversations – is a demonstration of the power of creativity.”