14765: Joe Alexander Wants His Name Back—Retail Value $25 Million.

Advertising Age reported ex-Martin Agency Chief Creative Officer Joe Alexander filed a lawsuit against Diet Madison Avenue, with plans to also sue his former White advertising agency and White holding company IPG. Gee, for an award-winning creative type, the move is not very original—it’s a copycat of the Ralph Watson campaign for justice. Alexander added a twist by also targeting Adweek and writer Patrick Coffee.

In a statement, Alexander wrote:

“My parents named me Joe Alexander. But that name no longer exists. It’s gone. My full identity was stolen. The thieves gave me a new name. Predator. They also like Creep. Misogynist. Or plain old Pig. Just look it up. They used every weapon imaginable to take my good name, reputation and career away.

Deception. Lies. Intimidation. Coercion. Smears. The amazing thing? It all happened in broad daylight, in front of millions. There was nothing I could do. No chance to defend myself. They hit me hard and left me for dead. Or at least they thought they did. Today, I start the due process to get my name back. Joe Alexander. The name my father and mother gave me. It’s mine. I own it. No one can take it away.”

Wow, that’s funnier than a GEICO commercial. Alexander is seeking over $25 million as compensation for the identity theft. If successful, he could rename himself Steve AustinX4.

Oh, and the DMA crew better restart its GoFundMe donation drive.

Former Martin Agency Exec Joe Alexander Sues Diet Madison Avenue And Adweek

Suit seeks $25 million; attorney says plaintiff plans to also take legal action against his former employer and parent Interpublic Group

By Ann-Christine Diaz

Nearly two years after he departed from The Martin Agency following allegations of sexual misconduct, former Chief Creative Officer Joe Alexander is suing anonymous social media account Diet Madison Avenue, along with industry publication Adweek and its former editor-at-large, Patrick Coffee.

Alexander and his attorney Steven Biss, who works out of his own firm based out of Charlottesville, Virginia, filed a complaint yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The complaint alleges that the defendants participated in defamatory and conspiratorial actions that “tortiously” interfered with Alexander’s business activities—that is, they intentionally aimed to harm his employment.

The suit claims that “false and defamatory accusations of sexual harassment and other misconduct” published by DMA on its social accounts and what it calls DMA Doe Defendants 1-17 “destroyed” everything Alexander had worked for throughout his career. The suit lists his various career accomplishments, including his work on the long-running Geico “Gecko” ads, as well as accolades at adfests such as the Cannes Lions, One Show and Clios.

The complaint also claims that Adweek and Coffee acted “in concert with or on behalf of DMA and the DMA Doe Defendants, published a damning indictment of Joe, citing unnamed ‘sources,’ anonymous ‘women,’ an unidentified ‘former executive,’ and unidentified ‘former employees’ and ‘former co-workers,’” referring to a December 2017 article repeatedly referred to in the suit as the “Adweek Hit Piece.”

Alexander is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to the tune of $25,350,000, along with additional fees, including those related to court costs and expenses. He’s seeking damages “for the extreme insult, pain, embarrassment, humiliation, mental suffering” and destruction of his career and reputation, as well as financial loss due to contract interference, “common law conspiracy,” defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, the suit says.

“My parents named me Joe Alexander. But that name no longer exists,” Alexander said in a statement. “It’s gone. My full identity was stolen. The thieves gave me a new name. Predator. They also like Creep. Misogynist. Or plain old Pig. Just look it up. They used every weapon imaginable to take my good name, reputation and career away.

Deception. Lies. Intimidation. Coercion. Smears. The amazing thing? It all happened in broad daylight, in front of millions. There was nothing I could do. No chance to defend myself. They hit me hard and left me for dead. Or at least they thought they did. Today, I start the due process to get my name back. Joe Alexander. The name my father and mother gave me. It’s mine. I own it. No one can take it away.”

Ad Age reached out to DMA's attorney A. Louis Dorny of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, as well as Adweek and Coffee, who is now employed by Business Insider. Dorny said that as of now he has no comment and said he has yet to see the complaint. Adweek and Coffee have not yet responded to multiple requests for comment.

Elaborating on the suit, Alexander’s attorney Biss said that “acting in concert with DMA and the DMA Does, Adweek and Coffee promoted the preconceived storyline and served as a megaphone to broadly publish the false narrative about Joe Alexander.”

The suit also mentions Interpublic Group of Cos., the holding company that owns The Martin Agency, which is part of the McCann Worldgroup network. It alleges that IPG ordered The Martin Agency to terminate Alexander following false statements made by DMA and DMA defendants in November 2017, “in the hopes that DMA would not look further into the cover-up of sexual harassment by the ‘C-suite’ and/or the handling of sexual harassment claims by IPG/Martin.”

When Ad Age asked Biss if there are any plans with regards to Alexander’s former employer, he said “IPG, The Martin Agency and others are not innocent bystanders,” and that Alexander “expects to take legal action within the next 30 days to fully address the harm caused by IPG, The Martin Agency and certain of their agents and employees.”

In response, IPG said in a statement, “We stand by our actions and processes in this case and would defend our position vigorously against a potential suit.”

Alexander left The Martin Agency in December 2017 following the shop’s internal investigation into sexual harassment allegations, prompted by posts that had surfaced on the anonymous social media account Diet Madison Avenue.

Alexander’s complaint summarizes what he alleges to be the defamatory portions of the Adweek story and links to the story. For the article, Adweek interviewed 10 women and one man, two of whom were named in the story—Sissy Estes, who worked at The Martin Agency from 2007 to 2012, and Senior Art Director Daniela Montañez, who worked there from 2007 to 2013. The story also said that the interviewees had reported concerns about Alexander’s behavior to the agency, with incidents dating back to the 1990s.

The complaint refers to the Adweek story at length and challenges multiple statements in the story. The Adweek story had reported that one woman said Alexander’s nickname in the 2000s was “HR Joe.” The trade pub also reported that one woman who worked in the creative department at The Martin Agency was fired by Alexander after she repeatedly rejected his advances. One employee’s complaint was settled in 2013 for an undisclosed sum, the Adweek story said. In the story, Adweek did report that Alexander denied the claims and said, “The allegations you are reporting on are false. All of them.”

The suit states that “virtually every article” published by Coffee for Adweek between December 2017 and July 2019 “contains provably false and defamatory statements about Joe.”

Adweek is owned by Canadian private-equity firm Beringer Capital.

At the time of his departure, Alexander told Ad Age in a statement that the decision to leave was his. “Rather than a drawn-out, hurtful investigation, resigning was the proper thing to do to protect my family and all the people I’ve worked so closely together with in my 26 wonderful years,” he said.

Days later, The Martin Agency then followed with a note to staff saying “The decision was ours” when it came to Alexander’s departure.

The suit filed yesterday, however, centers on the activities Alexander says led to his “termination” at the agency: “DMA and its agents and co-conspirators caused The Martin Agency to summarily terminate Joe’s employment without any due process or opportunity to be heard.”

When asked about the contradiction between what he previously told Ad Age and what’s stated in the complaint, Biss said, “Joe resigned to avoid the ignominy and to spare the agency, but he was given no real choice. IPG had its mind made up. It was a sham. Rather than face a kangaroo inquisition, Mr. Alexander left with his dignity and self-respect.”

“What happened to Joe Alexander was an egregious violation of fundamental principles of due process,” Biss added.

See a copy of the full complaint [at Advertising Age]

14764: Reports Claim We Are Unlimited Are Soon To Be DDB.

AgencySpy posted that Business Insider reported We Are Unlimited—or whatever is left of the White advertising agency—will be absorbed by DDB. If any minorities come with We Are Unlimited, Wendy Clark will probably count it as a diversity boost for the DDB franchise. Look for We Are Unlimited to soon pick up AOR duties on Propel.

Report: We Are Unlimited Will Be Folded Into DDB Chicago After McDonald’s Taps W+K

By Erik Oster

Less than a week after McDonald’s announced its new U.S. lead creative agency would be Wieden + Kennedy New York, it appears the once-dedicated agency Omnicom had created to service the chain will no longer stand on its own.

Citing anonymous sources, Business Insider today reported that We Are Unlimited will be folded into DDB Chicago at the beginning of next year. Sources told the publication that We Are Unlimited will retain its name but operate as part of DDB Chicago, while continuing to work on marketing for aspects of the McDonald’s business, including promoting the Happy Meal.

For now, DDB isn’t commenting, but the move certainly wouldn’t be the year’s most surprising. McDonald’s spent months undergoing a review of its U.S. agency model, with W+K New York eventually coming out as the big winner.

We Are Unlimited already had a round of layoffs earlier this month, attributed to changes to the McDonald’s account.

The move comes a week after McDonald’s selected W+K New York as its new U.S. lead creative agency, following a review of its U.S. agency model. It also follows a round of layoffs earlier this month attributed to changes to the account.

We Are Unlimited was created in 2016 after McDonald’s consolidated its creative account with Omnicom, ending its relationship with Publicis Groupe. The agency’s exclusive relationship with McDonald’s ended at the start of 2019 and the brand turned to TBWA/Chiat/Day to promote its McCafé house coffee line around a year ago, following a review limited to Omnicom agencies, which reportedly included We Are Unlimited.

Minda Smiley contributed reporting to this story.

14763: #SayNoToXenophobia And Zip It Up…?

This Nigerian advertisement seems to have mixed up its metaphors, as zippers and bridges make a clumsy intersection.

14762: ANA Cultural Relevance Survey Reveals Organization Is Culturally Clueless Confederacy Of Crap.

Adweek reported on an ANA study (actually conducted by the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, which appears to be an ANA minority subcommittee) revealing that culturally relevant advertising drives brand growth. Okay, but the ANA also has decades of data indicating non-White marketing is poorly supported by advertisers. Plus, the trade organization was quick to jump on the White women’s bandwagon, abandoning true diversity again. Sorry, but the ANA continues to completely lack cultural relevance—and the assholes display a total deficit of honesty and integrity too.

Culturally Relevant Ads Drive Brand Growth, ANA Study Finds

Survey kicks off the trade body’s #SeeAll movement

By Minda Smiley

It’s kind of a no-brainer, but now we have the data to back it up: When someone feels as though an ad they’ve seen accurately reflects culture, they’re more likely to buy products from the featured brand.

A new study by the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, an arm of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), recently surveyed 10,000 individuals from various racial backgrounds, as well as members of the LGBTQ+ and disabled communities.

Turns out, consumers who perceive ads as “culturally relevant” are 2.6 times more likely to find the brand relevant to them, and are 2.7 times more likely to purchase a brand for the first time. Additionally, they are 50% more likely to repurchase a brand they have bought in the past.

According to the ANA, the study was conducted using the Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIMM), a tool developed by the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing in partnership with member companies and NBCUniversal.

While it’s not exactly clear how CIIM works, the ANA said it “evaluates advertising creative in various categories and identifies the impact and effectiveness of cultural insights in ads and programming on increased brand relevance, ad relevance, purchase intent lift and loyalty.”

The ANA said that insights from CIIM will fuel the launch of #SeeAll, a movement to expand representation within advertising and illuminate growth opportunities for brands within multicultural segments.

“One of the cornerstones of ANA’s growth mission is measurement,” Bob Liodice, chief executive of the ANA, said in a statement. “The utilization of CIIM provides marketers and the industry with a powerful measurement tool that will enhance culturally relevant creative to engineer incremental brand and business growth.”

14761: In The Divertsity Era, All White Advertising Agencies Look Alike.

AgencySpy posted an internal email from Wieden + Kennedy leaders (depicted below) boasting about the White advertising agency’s Mickey D’s win while slamming ex-AOR We Are Unlimited. This is the equivalent of a professional athlete executing an end zone dance after posterizing a Special Olympian. The barbs included, “But in the end, WAU forgot the power of creativity (or arguably didn’t have much to offer).” Stay classy, W+K.

The truth is, W+K and WAU actually are very equal rivals in one key area. Both White advertising agencies are divertsity and divertisement deceivers. Indeed, the shitholes are run by White women—Colleen Decourcy and Wendy Clark—who talk the talk and walk away. These fools are only interested in promoting White women—especially themselves.

Decourcy and Clark are soul sisters in the Divertsity Era, perfectly representing the new racism exclusivity of the field.

14760: We Are Unlimited Rendered Limited By Mickey D’s—And Limited Talent.

Advertising Age reported Mickey D’s selected Wieden + Kennedy New York as its new White advertising agency, essentially deep-frying We Are Unlimited—its “dedicated” White advertising agency—in the process. The news—especially the demise of We Are Unlimited—is hardly news and clearly displays McDesperation and McBullshit on numerous levels.

First, Wieden + Kennedy presumably besting We Are Unlimited is a no-brainer—and it was probably no contest. In contrast to the recent self-promotion, We Are Unlimited churned out some of the worst campaigns in the fast feeder’s history. Even Omnicom likely questioned We Are Unlimited’s capabilities, as the White holding company reportedly added two sister shops—TBWA and Adam & Eve/DDB—to the shootout. Wouldn’t be surprised if Wendy Clark freelanced Ted Royer for the McContest.

Second, Mickey D’s ignoring Wieden + Kennedy’s relationship with KFC shows conflicts of interest might be a relic of the past. After all, Mickey D’s arguably competes directly with KFC, particularly when considering the many McChicken menu items. Wieden + Kennedy using its New York office to service the Golden Arches while its Portland office covers KFC is a pretty slick move too. Hey, the independent Wieden + Kennedy doesn’t have the ability offer a portfolio of White advertising agencies.

Third, another slick move involves Mickey D’s decision to shift business to an East Coast shop. The fast feeder is headquartered in Chicago and probably receives financial perks from the city and Illinois. To effectively put hundreds of Chicagoans out of work—from We Are Unlimited staffers to local vendors—is not nice from professional and political perspectives. Maybe this is why We Are Unlimited will stay on the roster to handle “operational excellence” for Mickey D’s. Right, let the creators of the worst McCrap ever handle the excellent operations.

Fourth, We Are Unlimited joins the junk heap of dead-dicated White advertising agencies including Team One, Team Detroit, Cavalry, Enfatico, et al. That’s quite a posse of poop piles.

McDonald’s picks Wieden & Kennedy New York as lead U.S. creative agency

Golden Arches turns to independent agency for a fresh approach three years after Omnicom Group won the business

By Jessica Wohl

McDonald’s has chosen Wieden & Kennedy, New York as its lead creative agency in the U.S., delivering a blow to Omnicom Group’s DDB three years after it emerged the victor in the chain’s creative shootout.

The move toward an independent creative agency is a major shift for the country’s largest restaurant chain, which has for decades worked with shops that are part of large holding companies. It also suggests that a bespoke agency model, hailed as the wave of the future when DDB created one for McDonald’s three years ago, may not be the definitive answer for major marketers when it comes to creative partners.

In August 2016, the Golden Arches named Omnicom Group the winner in a U.S. creative contest in which it fought against Publicis Groupe. Now We Are Unlimited, the Chicago-based agency that Omnicom’s DDB created to support McDonald’s, is taking a back seat to Wieden & Kennedy, New York.

We Are Unlimited will continue to work on the brand with a focus on what McDonald’s is calling “operational excellence.” We Are Unlimited’s scope includes Happy Meals and other assignments where there’s a steady volume of work to churn out, such as digital marketing, customer relationship management and work on the mobile app.

The move is a huge win for W&K. The U.S. is the Golden Arches’ biggest market with nearly 14,000 restaurants that bring in annual system-wide sales of more than $38 billion. Notably, McDonald’s does not see a conflict with KFC, for which Wieden & Kennedy, Portland has done award-winning work including creating a rotating cast of Colonel Sanders characters.

‘Getting the best work’

In an interview, McDonald’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Morgan Flatley said the Chicago-based restaurant chain spent time getting comfortable with the idea of working with an agency that works with another company in the fast-food industry. “At this point, it doesn’t concern us,” she said of W&K’s relationship with KFC. “We wanted to make the decision around getting the best work that this business deserves.”

McDonald’s also noted that the brands will be worked on from different offices, with different teams and IT safeguards will be put in place.

McDonald’s says it selected Wieden & Kennedy, New York for its blend of strategic and creative work. “Creative excellence is a huge passion point of mine,” says Flatley, noting that the W&K team understood “the heart and the soul of this brand.” The fast-feeder conducted the review internally and was seeking a more creative approach to help it build stronger connections with current customers and get those who don’t visit the restaurants to come in for the first time or return.

The review began about nine months ago with three agencies under consideration: Wieden & Kennedy, New York along with two Omnicom shops: TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles and Adam & Eve/DDB, Flatley said.

McDonald’s narrowed the field in May to W&K and TBWA, and those agencies began working on “business-critical briefs for 2020,” as Flatley described the process. The decision was made this week after both agencies delivered their final presentations on Tuesday. TBWA has worked globally with McDonald’s for more than three decades and had recently expanded its relationship with the company in the U.S., including for work on its McCafé coffee.

W&K will begin work on the brand in the next month to plan for 2020.

McDonald’s will now have a tag-team approach. “The challenge is balancing both world-class creative and also how you put data, insights, and speed in the center of everything you do,” says Flatley. McDonald’s pointed to W&K’s work for brands including Nike, Bud Light, Coca-Cola’s Sprite and Vitaminwater, and Delta.

Winning streak

This appointment marks another major brand win for W&K’s New York office. Once operating in the shadow of the agency’s Portland office, New York has added multiple blue-chip clients in recent years, including Bud Light and Ford, the latter of which came aboard late last year after the automaker demoted WPP’s GTB, a bespoke agency model that was relegated to lower-profile work.

“We’re incredibly excited and honored to be part of the McDonald’s team at this critical juncture in their business transformation,” Neal Arthur, managing director of Wieden & Kennedy, New York, said in a statement provided by the client. “McDonald’s has created some of the most iconic branding, advertising and marketing initiatives the world has ever known, and we look forward to working across the company and agency network to continue this rich tradition.”

We Are Unlimited, meanwhile, pointed to its continued relationship with the brand. “We remain a proud partner with McDonalds’s and are working closely across both the McDonald’s and We Are Unlimited teams to ensure we remain focused on our shared goals and priorities,” the agency said in a statement.

“It’s been a privilege to work with McDonald’s in the U.S., and we’re proud to continue working with them in many markets around the world,” TBWA CEO Troy Ruhanen said in a statement. “We love the brand and wish them every success.”

McDonald’s has been on a roll under the leadership of CEO Steve Easterbrook, posting 10 consecutive quarters of U.S. same-store sales growth and 16 consecutive quarters of global same-store sales growth. In the recent second quarter, U.S. same-store sales shot up 5.7 percent, growing at a faster clip than rivals Burger King and Wendy’s. McDonald’s has been improving its menu with the addition of fresh beef Quarter Pounder burgers and updated McCafé coffee, is renovating thousands of restaurants and has gotten a sales boost from the addition of delivery. Still, its franchisees began organizing in a bigger way, in a group called the National Owners Association, pushing for more of a say in how the company operates.

Flatley, who worked on brands including Gatorade before joining McDonald’s in May 2017, runs McDonald’s marketing in the U.S. Colin Mitchell, who was promoted to senior VP of global marketing in July, was also deeply involved in the domestic agency review.

“Globally, we are trying to evolve our creative, like the rest of the customer experience,” Mitchell said in a statement. “This move allows us to push our vision for modern marketing in this very important market.”

Still lovin’ it

Wieden & Kennedy, New York is expected to help McDonald’s U.S. communicate more consistently the optimistic tone of togetherness and community that the company tries to project globally, Flatley said. The “I’m lovin’ it” slogan, cooked up in 2003 by DDB’s Heye & Partner, of Germany, is sticking around. “You’ll see it and my expectation is it will start to have more meaning,” Flatley said.

Other U.S. agency relationships remain intact, including a mix of multicultural agencies, co-op relationships with various creative agencies for work at the local level, and media agency OMD.

We Are Unlimited was created in 2016 following an agency review and selection process led by Deborah Wahl, who was McDonald’s U.S. CMO at the time and then left the company in 2017. Omnicom won the McDonald’s account back then in a pitch led by Wendy Clark, who at that time was CEO of DDB North America and is now CEO of DDB Worldwide. We Are Unlimited officially began working on the account at the start of 2017.

We Are Unlimited debuted years after the demise of Element 79, a Chicago-based Omnicom agency created in 2001 to focus on PepsiCo that later lost clients including PepsiCo’s Tropicana, Gatorade and Quaker, and was absorbed by DDB Chicago in 2012.

McDonald’s is also beefing up its technology investments. On Sept. 10, it announced the plan to buy Apprente, a voice-based conversational technology company. Earlier this year, it invested in mobile app company Plexure and acquired Dynamic Yield, which is helping the chain make its digital billboards more personalized and more adaptable to changes such as the weather.

14759: The Vagina Monochromatic Monologues In India.

This gynecological health awareness advertisement from India is disturbing not just for its conceptual awfulness—which seemingly took inspiration from Summer’s Eve—but also for the decision to depict the Whitest skin possible. Hey, racism shouldn’t be taboo either.