How Sundial Media Group CEO Kirk McDonald is navigating the DEI backlash

The “diversity” portion of diversity, equity and inclusion has become divisive, impacting multicultural marketing agencies, Black-owned brands and diverse publications. And they’re starting to feel the ripple effects, according to Kirk McDonald, CEO of Sundial Media Group, holding company for brands like Essence magazine, Afropunk festival and Refinery29.

Although, he said, it’s too early to tell the full impact DEI’s retooling (or rebrand) will have on the industry in terms of media spend, marketing budgets or consumer habits. 

McDonald recently sat down with the Digiday Podcast to talk about how Sundial’s diverse publications, geared toward women and other historically marginalized communities, are navigating the pushback. 

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

The new general market

Brands today, regardless of who you are, have to recognize that the current general market is not the old general market. The new general market is actually made up of a bunch of different communities. Its complexion has changed. It is in control of how it is perceived. Its genders aren’t binary anymore, and that new general market that has said, “These are the ways that I show up,” [and] will insist to brands, “If you want my dollars, you’re gonna actually have to actually speak to me in my language and in a place, and in a way that I trust you.”

DEI: Rebrand or retool?

Right now, we’re going through a moment where we’re trying to pretend that the programs that have been branded DEI, all of them were feel-good moments, and not recognizing that they really were opportunities about making commerce happen for the companies that were looking to meet the needs of communities uniquely going forward. 

Impacts on budgets and revenue

The reality is that we don’t know yet. There’s a lot of press announcements. All the press announcements have not actually gotten themselves all the way down to, “We’re going to stop spending this way and spend another way.” 

We’ve now put a lot more effort, and we will continue to do this, in supporting that we sit in a place where we can bring unique insights into how our audiences behave. They speak differently because we speak their language, and I will bring that to brands and they will use that to activate, so we will continue doing that going forward.