The UK Chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance is launching a new co-mentoring programme to bring brands, agencies and community media together.

The new Community Media Partner Lab aims to build partnerships which are ‘culturally intelligent, commercially effective and genuinely equitable.'

The initiative connects senior brand and media agency leaders with founders and leaders of established community media platforms. 

Built on a reciprocal model, the Lab creates space for strategic and cultural exchange: brands and agencies bring commercial and planning expertise while community media leaders share deep audience insight, trust and cultural fluency.

The goal is to build more inclusive media approaches that drive brand performance and enable community media to scale sustainably. 

The pilot cohort launched at the start of this year with eight leaders, including Tom Chard, Media Planning Lead at Tesco, Marketa Kristlova, Marketing Manager at Mondelez, Natasha Murray, Chief Client Officer at UM, Claire McAlpine, Strategy Lead at Publicis, Nafisa Bakkar, CEO and Creative Director of Amaliah, Tobi Oredein, CEO of Black Ballad, Roxy Bourdillon, Editor-in-Chief of Diva and Solomon Thomson, Managing Director of Gay Times.

Melda Simon, UK Chapter Lead of the Unstereotype Alliance, explained: “We know inclusive advertising drives better business outcomes - but what we say is only half the story. Where brands show up matters just as much.”

She continued: “Community media are among the most trusted voices in people’s lives, yet remain structurally excluded from mainstream media planning. This Lab is about bringing two worlds together to learn from one another and to build partnerships that unlock growth, trust and cultural relevance.”

To this end, the Lab has clear goals to elevate community media as essential partners in modern media planning and to equip brands and agencies with deeper cultural intelligence.

The Lab also aims to strengthen the commercial and operational capabilities of community publishers and foster long-term partnership models that move beyond one-off activations.

The Community Media Partner Lab sits within a wider programme of action to shift how media is planned and bought. Alongside the Lab, the Unstereotype Alliance has developed the 3Bs Playbook - a practical framework for inclusive media planning. 

Together with ISBA, it will build an open-sourced Inclusive Media Directory to make community platforms more visible and accessible as well as run a series of in-person ‘speed-dating’ events that connect brands and media owners in real life.

Marketa Kristlova, Marketing Manager at Mondelez, added: “I am very excited to be part of this Lab. I believe it creates a rare opportunity for mutual learnings and potential win-win partnerships. These long-term partnerships can drive both brands and community platforms growth through more inclusive media planning while staying true to brands DNA and community platform audiences”.

The Unstereotype Alliance, which is convened by UN Women, has a strong track record in proving the link between inclusive advertising and effectiveness.