Lela Coffey On Multiculturism, Diversity and the Empowerment of Black Communities

Lela Coffey is Procter & Gamble’s Beauty’s Vice President for North America Hair Care, which includes brands like Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Aussie, and Herbal Essences, as well as multicultural brands Gold Series and Royal Oils.

She also serves as the Brand Principal at Walker and Co., the line of ethnic hair care and beauty products—including Bevel and Form—launched by the young African American innovator Tristan Walker and acquired by the consumer products giant in 2018.

Coffey is a game-changing veteran in the field, with a career marked by brand-building experience spanning more than 20 years. She broadened the appeal of P&G brands among multicultural consumers, with equity and inclusion as the central focus.

In her role, Coffey created the industry-leading branding approach known as the “4R-Framework” comprised of Reach, Representation, Relevance, and Resonance. It’s a tool to enable brand managers, internal and external to the company, to re-evaluate product positioning on their inclusivity journey to resonate with people of color and engage in the next steps.

Coffey explains that Reach, the first R, emphasizes that the message connects with the consumer the way you intended. For example, she asks marketers whether they use Black-owned and -operated media to get the word out.

The second R, Representation, involves providing inspirational messages and images to consumers. Much of the media portrays diverse consumers negatively or stereotypically. Coffey says that to “represent” those consumers, you must ensure that you are working with agencies with diverse staff and team members that understand what inclusiveness and diversity look like to that segment.

The third R, Relevance, communicates how the benefits of your product appeal to the consumer. You must research to gain valuable consumer insights and fully understand their needs. You have people in your R&D department who represent the diverse consumers you want to serve. The process includes the creation of pertinent messaging as well as the development of relevant products.

And finally, the fourth R, Resonance, is the most essential aspect and hardest to achieve. Coffey shares how resonance means doing things that support the community and taking action to improve lives—not just describing issues.

Asserts Coffey: “It’s not really about saying, ‘Hey, you are not doing enough,’ or ‘Hey, you are not where you need to be.’ It’s giving companies a very simple, but very comprehensive way to look at ‘Hey, am I doing what I need to be doing for diverse consumers?’”

Coffey believes that self-awareness will motivate companies to intentionally change their messaging and portray Black consumers in ways that create stronger, positive, and authentic connections with the Black community.

For instance, Coffey cites the My Black is Beautiful brand as a textbook example of how P&G applied self-awareness to produce a successful product line. P&G partnered with Sally Beauty Supply, one of the largest retailers of salon-quality beauty products, to launch the brand. The two companies collaborated in the lab, reviewing ingredient stories and other elements to ensure their products would be superior to everything else in the market. They also engaged the My Black is Beautiful community to learn what consumers wanted in Black haircare products.

Coffey told BLACK ENTERPRISE: “It was a community effort of all of the Black women we have in the My Black is Beautiful community.” They could get these resolute customers to communicate what was missing and needed in Black haircare “and used that information as we formulated the products.”

P&G and Sally Beauty learned that Black women were concerned about dry, brittle hair. This important discovery led to the origination of the “Golden Milk” collection of haircare products specifically designed to add extra moisture and hydration to Black hair, along with other enhancements.

Coffey views every aspect of corporate operations through an economic empowerment lens as an enthusiastic advocate for equity and inclusion. By doing so, she ensures the company is doing right by consumers in the communities it serves. One example of this approach is how the P&G supplier diversity program closely monitors sourcing decisions at every level to expand its diverse pool of vendors and economically empower Black communities.

The recent article,” Doing the Right Thing with Our Supply Chain,” reveals that P&G has spent nearly $3 billion on women-owned and women-led suppliers in the fiscal year 2020 to 2021 alone. P&G strives to provide equitable access, using its story as an inclusive model for other brands.

And then there is the newly launched Gold Series line, New Lengths, which highlights another cooperative effort between P&G and Black women to introduce top-quality products for an underserved market.

The line was initiated by genuinely understanding that Black women’s “Holy Grail” has always been growing longer hair. By hiring a multicultural team of scientists, product testers, and brand agents, P&G learned there are two ways to help Black women with this challenge. First, help them develop healthier scalps and ensure long hair will not break off prematurely.

Thanks to gaining such insights from this critical market segment, the Gold Series team developed a collection of Black hair products that enhances Black hair.

Another P&G initiative near and dear to Coffey is the “Widen The Screen” campaign, a program designed to expand content creation by talented Black creators and enable them to “share the full richness of the Black experience.” By using print, video, broadcast television, radio, and social media platforms, the content unveils “the talk,” “the look,” and “the choice” designed to open the minds, hearts, and eyes of the public to the vast lived experiences of Black people – and not the negative portrayals of the past.

Coffey is no stranger to the demeaning effects of Black stereotypes in mainstream media. Adopted as a child by two white parents, she grew up on a farm in the northwest corner of Iowa, where Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota intersect. It was a part of the country where diversity was not in plentiful supply. Consequently, she grew up watching a range of harmful television content about people of color, and she seeks to have the “Widen the Screen” campaign change that imagery.

Nevertheless, the married mother of two daughters residing in Cincinnati is thankful for her upbringing, which fueled her determination to develop a positive self-image. Coffey has excelled in life, breaking every barrier, and committing herself to improving the lives of young Black women through her mentorship and example.