Horizon Media, the largest U.S. media agency according to Ad Age Data Center 2023, delivers data-driven business outcomes for some of the most innovative and ambitious brands. Founded in 1989, headquartered in New York, and with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto, the company employs 2,400 people and has media investments of more than $8.5 billion. Horizon Media’s fundamental belief is that business is personal, which drives its approach to connecting brands with their customers and engaging with its own employees resulting in industry-leading workplace satisfaction levels (Glassdoor). The company is consistently recognized by independent media outlets for its client excellence and has earned several “Best Workplaces” awards reflecting its commitment to DEI and the life and well-being of everyone at Horizon Media.
Horizon’s Innovative “Marketing & Equity” Business Function
As an evolution of Horizon’s DEI practice and commitment to being an Agency of Belonging, Horizon Media has expanded its DEI focus beyond traditional talent and cultural programs to create a new model designed to embed DEI into full business operations. This fundamental refocus is more than an initiative; it is now the way Horizon approaches business and culture, believing DEI must be positioned and implemented differently to realize its greatest potential. The approach is guided by the creation of Horizon’s Marketing & Equity function, led by the industry’s first Chief Marketing & Equity Officer, Latraviette Smith-Wilson. As Horizon continues its Agency of Belonging journey, DEI has been shifted out of HR as a primary talent and culture function and placed under Marketing as an enterprise-wide business function — one that drives innovation, client solutions, product development, and more.
DEI as a Core Business Function
DEI remains an essential partner to Horizon’s HR Center of Excellence, a cross-functional talent and culture leadership team. The vision and strategy for DEI are led by Horizon’s core DEI team, but the implementation responsibility has expanded to everyone across the organization. Systems are currently being built and implemented to ensure everyone throughout the business, no matter their function, understands the role of DEI in their day-to-day responsibilities and how to apply it, whether they are on client teams, finance, legal, IT, or any other function.
Benchmarking and Assessments
Since the inception of Horizon’s Marketing & Equity function, significant benchmarking, policy and culture audits, employee engagement activities, and departmental assessments have been completed across the full ecosystem. This includes the continued evolution of cultural celebrations and engagement, learning and development, external community engagement, and a thriving organizational community of “Belonging Champions,” including Horizon’s six executive-sponsored Employee Impact Groups (EIGs), commonly referred to as ERGs or BRGs in other organizations.
Performance Evaluation and Competency Framework
One of the 2023 program highlights was the integration of DEI into Horizon’s performance evaluation process. For the first time, employees could highlight their participation in Horizon’s Agency of Belonging culture as a key component of their self-evaluation. Consistent with the goal of incorporating DEI into every aspect of Horizon’s organization, every employee was given the opportunity to share existing and future opportunities to include DEI in their day-to-day job functions. These responses, collected through January 2024, supported business unit-specific DEI embed work across the organization.
Additionally, 2023 saw the introduction of Horizon’s first organization-wide competency-based goal-setting framework, providing a refreshed, objective, and equitable competency framework for employees across all professional levels to base their annual career goals and performance expectations.
Collaboration with Diversio
Another notable achievement was the successful completion of a thorough DEI benchmarking assessment with Diversio, including a custom DEI business integration assessment, employee inclusion survey, and a full HR and policy audit. This three-part engagement provided a depth and breadth of data-based insights to inform Horizon’s DEI & Belonging strategy at both the enterprise and business unit levels. The assessment confirmed that employees value DEI but need guidance on incorporating it into their day-to-day roles. This insight drives the subsequent phase of ensuring employees are equipped to implement DEI principles and practices daily.
Impact and Achievements
Horizon has experienced impactful changes in employee experience. In 2023, talent retention and the rate of promotions among POC increased by 4.5%. Additionally, 100% of Horizon’s 2023 performance review-eligible population (employees tenured at least six months) engaged with the updated DEI-inclusive performance evaluation experience. These data points demonstrate Horizon’s commitment to scaling the impact of DEI on both culture and enterprise business operations, resulting in increased success and retention of existing employees.
Future Outlook
The formation of Horizon’s Marketing & Equity function and the refocus of DEI’s role within the business and culture have created significant impact. While proud of the achievements thus far, Horizon Media is excitedly forging ahead to continue the impact in 2024 and beyond. The 2023 benchmarking efforts quantitatively demonstrated that 92% of survey respondents understand the value of incorporating DEI into their daily roles, confirming the importance of ongoing DEI initiatives.
Collectively, these efforts reflect Horizon Media’s commitment to ensuring employees not only value DEI but are also equipped to implement it from wherever they sit. Transformation begins with a single step, and with this approach, Horizon Media has advanced its outcomes by leaps and bounds, setting a precedent for DEI integration in the media industry.
