Essay Two

Making Multiculturalism Work in the Marketplace was the theme of a September 2004 AAF Forum. That’s a pretty lofty goal for an industry failing to make multiculturalism work in the workplace.

The gala featured an event titled: Strategies for Creating Successful Partnerships with Ethnic Advertising Agencies. Scheduled to present the strategies were IPG Chairman David Bell, Leo Burnett CEO Tom Bernardin, DDB Chairman & CEO Keith Reinhard and BBDO Chairman & CEO Allen Rosenshine. Based on the photographs in the AAF’s promotional materials, these leaders appeared to be Old White Men.

Did AAF officials consider including leaders from ethnic advertising agencies? Perhaps invitations were extended and politely declined. Nonetheless, it seemed odd to discuss partnerships without equal representation from the partners.

Anyone who has worked at an ethnic advertising agency will attest—albeit behind closed doors and off the record—that the partners are rarely equal when agencies team up. Mass market advertising agencies often assume dominating roles in these relationships, controlling the concepts, schedules and budgets. Indeed, one continuing challenge for all ethnic agencies involves creating work that rivals the quality of mass market agencies’ efforts—and do it with less time, staff and money. The truth is, most people employed at mass market agencies wouldn’t survive at ethnic shops. The job demands would be more than they could ever handle.

Some might argue that mass market agencies should lead the charge when teaming up with ethnic agencies. But most ethnic shops usually discover mass market agencies’ campaigns rarely recognize multicultural consumers, employing taglines that don’t translate or imagery that won’t relate to all segments. Rather than producing messages that truly target audiences, ethnic shops must often force fit their contributions.

Most would agree that advertisers benefit from a unified brand personality. But who is most qualified to play the role of inventor? More importantly, how should the experiments be conducted?

Procter & Gamble recently launched an initiative to better distribute assignments across all its agencies. At a kick-off gathering, multicultural advertising icon Thomas Burrell insisted that the client should be responsible for managing the integrated brainstorm. Burrell recognized that in today’s arena, ethnic agencies and mass market agencies are direct competitors. And if mass market agencies continued to enjoy majority rule, the initiative would not realize its potential. Only time will tell if the P&G gambit generates meaningful progress.

In the past decade, mass market advertising agencies have attempted to increase their multicultural capabilities, usually by buying ethnic shops. But like most mergers, the inevitable culture shock associated with these alliances creates even greater segregation. However, the merger-related issues are rarely based on ethnicity; rather, it’s all about economics. Most mass market shops generate revenue a lot differently than their ethnic counterparts, so the parent company ultimately struggles to make a profit. Plus, political issues may surface if ethnic shops lose minority-ownership status.

With all of this in mind, one can only wonder what strategies Bell, Bernardin, Reinhard and Rosenshine offered on September 22. Clients should pay close attention, and critically analyze the implications and responsibilities before allowing anyone to execute new directives. And hopefully, ethnic agencies will be true partners in developing the strategies.

And here’s a final, bonus rant. The AAF Forum also featured an event titled: Return on Investment from Incorporating Multiculturalism into Marketing Strategies. Ethnic advertising agencies have existed for over 40 years, yet people still must make cases for multiculturalism?

In the words of Marvin Gaye, What’s going on?