Jeff McFarland, director of
business-marketing communications
for Verizon and executive adviser for
CITE, notes that employees usually
learn about a new campaign after it
is developed. The results of such an
approach may mean “sometimes
seeing folks in ad campaigns who
really don’t represent your market.”
making process of a major advertising campaign underscores the key
role employee-resource groups play
in increasing profit and market
share. Verizon has nine other
employee-resource groups: Asian
Pacific Employees for eXcellence;
Disabilities Issues Awareness
Leaders; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
the company’s business mission.
“We want to convey to people
that these groups are a valuable
resource to the company,” says
Rosalind Cox, director of diversity
and worklife at Ford.
The biggest testament that
Ford’s employee-resource group is
making a real financial impact is its
Friends and
Neighbors Program.
In 2004, employees
were responsible for
$100 million in
vehicle sales
through referrals.
Since the program
began in 2003, total
vehicle sales
through employee-resource groups
have been $260 million.
Ford has 10 employee resource
groups: Ford African Ancestry
Network; Ford Hispanic Network
Group; Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual &
Transgendered Employees; Middle
Eastern Community Ford; Ford
Asian Indian Association; Ford
Chinese Association; Ford Employees
Dealing With DisAbilities; Ford
Interfaith Network; Professional
Women’s Network; and Ford
Parenting Network.
The Comerica African-American
Network (CAAN) started in 1991
at the bank as a way to expand market opportunities in the black community. About six years ago, CAAN
decided to focus on the black business market with the support of former chairman Eugene A. Miller and
current chairman Ralph W. Babb Jr.
“We established what we call
today the African-American
Business Initiative, which is focused
on African-American small businesses and their owners, in terms of providing financial services,” says Linda
Forte, senior vice president of business affairs at Comerica.
“What is truly different
about this is [we are] part of those market-
ing meetings. We are not an afterthought,
we are truly a partner.”
Jeff McFarland, Verizon
For the “Realize” campaign, his
group sat at the table in deciding
the best way to reach customers.
“We are African-American
employees, but also African-American customers, so we are part
of that target market,” McFarland
says, calling CITE members
“ambassadors” to the community.
“What is truly different about this is
[that CITE is] part of those marketing meetings. We are not an afterthought, we are truly a partner.”
The “Realize” campaign was
designed to convince black entrepreneurs and community-service
leaders of how broadband service
can further their goals. CITE
members traveled with a “Realize”
mobile unit to company-sponsored
community events in Washington,
D.C., and Philadelphia and showed
consumers how to use the company’s broadband services. Verizon
worked with Burrell Communications, a leading black-owned
advertising agency, in developing
the campaign.
Verizon’s willingness to include
its own employees in the decision-
and Transgender Employees of
Verizon and Their Allies; Hispanic
Support Organization; National
Jewish Cultural Resource Group;
Native American People of
Verizon; South-Asian Professionals
Inspiring Cultural Enrichment;
Veterans Advisory Board of
Verizon; and Women’s Association
of Verizon Employees.
A major reason Verizon (No. 9)
made The DiversityInc Top 50
Companies for Diversity list in
2005 is its recognition of employees
as a valuable resource. Comerica
Bank (No. 34), Ford Motor Co.
(No. 11) and General Motors (No.
48) also discovered the real impact
their employee-resource groups had
on the companies’ performance.
Employee Resource
or Affinity?
For Ford, there are important differences when looking at employee-resource groups versus affinity
groups. While some companies may
use the two terms interchangeably,
Ford finds employee-resource groups
imply a more direct connection to
