Wednesday, December 31, 2014

12351: Highlighting 14 In 2014.

It wasn’t easy to find 14 highlights in the advertising industry for 2014, but here goes (in no particular order):

1. Artist/Writer/Recovering Adman Lowell Thompson marched on.

2. The Marcus Graham Project Infographic exposed the exclusive state of affairs on Madison Avenue.

3. Pam El was drafted by the NBA as the league’s new CMO.

4. Dawn Hudson was drafted by the NFL as the league’s new CMO.

5. Jerry Seinfeld dissed the advertising industry at the CLIO Awards—unintentionally proving to be prophetic with his ultra-lame Acura campaign featuring a Black guy.

6. The Advertising Standards Council of India created mandates barring spots that portray dark-skinned people negatively.

7. Roy Eaton delivered the best 3.5 minutes you’ll spend all year.

8A and 8B. Issa Rae and Living a Creative Life enlivened Here Are All The Black People.

9. Commonground/MGS was unveiled as a new holding group comprised of eight independent, minority-owned agencies.

10. Ogilvy & Mather South Africa CEO Abey Mokgwatsane examined three macro drivers contributing towards a very vibrant South African ad industry: talent diversity, digital migration and the changing role of South Africa as a gateway to the rest of Africa.

11. MediaCom UK CEO Karen Blackett was named “most influential Black person in Britain” on the Powerlist 2015.

12. David&Goliath President Brian Dunbar declared, “L.A. is a very culturally diverse city and I think the cultural makeup of the agencies reflects that. It certainly does at David&Goliath. I see a lot more diversity here than I have at other agencies in my career and I think that helps make the work more interesting.”

13. Despite a rough year, Steve Stoute and Translation rebounded by winning the NBA shootout.

14. Team Epiphany may be the most diverse enterprise in the advertising industry.

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