The agencies, representing a range of disciplines from advertising and sponsorship to PR and partnership marketing, were chosen following a four-month selection process run by Patricia Macauley, COI's black and minority ethnic communications manager.
The agencies are: Equality Foundation/Uproar, Focus Consultancy, Media Moguls, Media Reach Advertising, Tag Media, TMP Worldwide and The Watch-Men Agency.
The roster will be responsible for handling an estimated £8 million-worth of spending by COI in campaigns targeted at ethnic groups during the next four years.
Macauley said: "We have deliberately created a comprehensive roster in terms of services offered and the audiences reached. It's not just about knowing how to reach a particular ethnic group, it's also about understanding the methods need to be tailored for different generations."
She added: "Working in this area doesn't have to be complicated but you do need to have cultural insights."
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