Tuesday, March 14, 2017

13596: Advertising For Change…Or Crumbs?

Adweek reported four White advertising agencies in Atlanta—JWT Atlanta, 22squared, Fitzgerald & Co. and Moxie—joined together to launch the Advertising for Change coalition to promote diversity in the area. Not sure if “Change” refers to revolution or the amount of money behind the initiative. The first concept being executed by the coalition is—you guessed it—a minority internship program. What’s more, the shops turned to the 4As MAIP for direction and guidance; that is, they likely delegated diversity to the trade organization.

“We have as much responsibility to reflect our community as we do our clients’ brands and our own bottom lines,” stated JWT Atlanta CEO Spence Kramer. “Atlanta is one of the most diverse cities in the world, so it’s incumbent on us to attract and retain the best talent for the city. This isn’t about ‘making a number’ or reaching a goal. It’s about doing what’s best for our business.” Um, most sources show Blacks account for up to 54 percent of Atlanta’s population. So the Advertising for Change coalition has a looooooong way to go before their name has legitimate meaning—unless “Change” refers to the amount of money behind the initiative.

Oh, and the illustration accompanying the story (shown above) seems to indicate this is another diverted diversity deal, as the majority of depicted minorities are women.

These 4 Atlanta Agencies United to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in Their Hometown

Advertising for Change coalition wants to help the city stand out

By Erik Oster

Four Atlanta agencies have united to form the Advertising for Change coalition to promote diversity in their hometown.

JWT Atlanta, 22squared, Fitzgerald & Co. and Moxie make up the coalition, which launched today and promotes inclusion both as a better business practice and a way to help Atlanta stand apart as a destination for advertising talent.

“We have as much responsibility to reflect our community as we do our clients’ brands and our own bottom lines,” JWT Atlanta CEO Spence Kramer said in a statement. “Atlanta is one of the most diverse cities in the world, so it’s incumbent on us to attract and retain the best talent for the city. This isn’t about ‘making a number or reaching a goal. It’s about doing what’s best for our business.”

For its first initiative, Advertising for Change collaborated with the 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Intern Program, or MAIP, to promote the Atlanta advertising community to young talent. Each of 10 interns will be assigned to one of the four agencies and then rotate weekly meetings with the other three agencies, exposing them to several different agency cultures instead of just one.

“Advertising for Change worked with [MAIP] to select talented interns from across the country interested in seeing what Atlanta has to offer,” said Moxie president Solange Claudio.

In addition to daily responsibilities at their respective agencies, interns will split into two teams to craft a pitch for the Atlanta-based nonprofit of their choice. At the end of the summer, the two teams will face off and pitch against each other. At the conclusion of the program, one intern will receive competing job offers from all four AFC agencies.

“It’s a unique opportunity,” Fitzgerald & Co. chief talent officer Liza Ramos said. “Each agency will agree on the recipient and extend the intern the same offer. This empowers the AFC Scholar to pick the agency he or she wants to work with, and it upholds our goal of attracting and retaining the best diverse talent in the city of Atlanta—even if the choice is a friendly competitor.”

Planned initiatives from the Advertising for Change coalition include something it calls “portfolio boot camps” and affordable advertising courses designed to help creative professionals transition into advertising careers.

“The state of diversity in advertising has been less than satisfactory for a very, very long time,” said Singleton Beato, 4A’s executive vice president, diversity and inclusion strategy and talent development. “The AFC coalition is an outstanding example of how, by working together, our agencies can help drive the entire industry toward the type of change that can break down the systemic challenges of our past.”

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So a whopping four agencies are all getting mad press and publicity about this, which will result in...

ONE MINORITY INTERN getting hired?

One?

Well isn't that a win/win situation for these agencies. They can have MAIP interns, bragging rights, tell clients how "ceeply committed to diversity" they are, and only one out of three of the agencies has to do jack shit when push comes to shove.

Meanwhile, the white must-hires don't have to jump through the same hoops and, by virtue of being must-hires, get to waltz right into more job opportunities while the MAIP interns usually go back and spend years getting another foot in the door. Strange, that, right? That no one ever tracks what percentage of MAIP interns get full time jobs.

This college professor's thesis talks about the white must-hire phenomenon if you read all the way through. Advertising's dirty little hiring secret, that ONE MAIP HIRE IN A CITY THAT'S OVER 50% BLACK will not fix.

https://es.slideshare.net/chrisverite1/rebranding-diversity-colorblind-racism-inside-the-us-advertising-industry?nomobile=true&smtNoRedir=1



Anonymous said...

Screw MAIP, Screw Bootcamps,

These people and their propped up fake organizations backed by white agencies and their holding companies, have set black people back decades.

Its 2017 and black people are still fighting for 1 minority internship in atlanta, in predominately black market/city? Are you kidding me?

Meanwhile white women and fighting white men for ECD and CD level roles at agencies. Why do the the 1 or 2 color black diversity folk (singleton beato) that continue to co-sign and support these initiatives? Its like every major corporation hires these folk to keep the status quo. Nothing has changed for decades.

The majority of these head of inclusion or head of diversity are black,

https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/index/?keywords=head%20of%20inclusion
https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/index/?keywords=head%20of%20diversity

Anonymous said...

MAIP hire stats are actually on the MAIP website: maip.aaaa.org.

96% of eligible Fellows get full-time job offers within 9 months of graduating the program. With an average of 130 Fellows a year, that's more than any other program of its kind. This year is actually the largest year for MAIP with a total of 214 Fellows, which means 2017 will be the year that MAIP sends the most multicultural talent into the industry.

Not buying it. said...

The devil's in the statistical details, isn't it?

You can, for instance, say "96% of eligible MAIP Fellows get full-time job offers within 9 months of graduating the program" and obscure that not all of them are getting job offers from ad agencies. Getting a job offer from a local accounting firm would count as a success, as would getting a once-a-week freelance job offer from a temp agency.

"Job offer" does not equal "full-time job in an advertising agency." Much less "career."

Until MAIP releases those statistics, and shows what percentage of MAIP fellows are working in ad agencies 3 and 5 years out, and in what level positions, it's still a smokescreen like most diversity schemes in US advertising.

Anonymous said...

These numbers are weighing on me. There is NO WAY 96% of MAIP fellows have fulltime gigs in advertising. None.

I've spoken to so many former MAIP students who got locked out of the industry, are working other kinds of jobs, and had to watch as the white interns that were there at the same time as they were got offers and are well on their way to promotions and raises.

I am constantly hearing about and from MAIP fellows still looking for a break into the industry years out from when they were first inside an agency.

What is going on?