13670: Hilltop View.

Campaign reported on 4As President and CEO Nancy Hill’s farewell address delivered at the 2017 Transformation Conference, where the outgoing leader offered accolades and affirmations to the advertising community. Stressing that the industry should not be branded by the “alleged bad behavior we read about in the headlines,” Hill declared, “We are better than that. You are better than that.” Okay, but how much better?

Hill admitted that when assuming her 4As role in 2008, “We were already behind in technology, we were already behind in media and, we were clearly behind in taking a leadership role in the growing discussion on diversity and gender equality.” But she countered the confessions by claiming, “We have taken a front-and-center position on diversity and gender equality. We have built a media practice that benefits all of our members and has allowed us to take a stance on issues as wide ranging as trust and transparency, measurement standards, privacy, fraud and ad blocking. As well as SAG/AFTRA negotiations & patent trolling. And, we have become digitally centered with a mobile-first approach on every new product we develop.”

Really? Even the statement about becoming “digitally centered with a mobile-first approach on every new product we develop” is debatable—simply attempt to navigate the 4As website on any mobile device, and it will underscore that most advertising people have as long a way to go with digital as they do with diversity.

And as diversity remains a major concern for this blog, MultiCultClassics will critique Hill’s contentions on the topic.

First of all, despite anything that follows in this post, MultiCultClassics salutes Hill for having attempted to bring about change in the area of diversity. Unfortunately, a trade organization does not have the power and authority to mandate—or for that matter, even influence—new industry practices, attitudes or behaviors. Regardless, Hill took on the challenges better than her predecessor, O. Burtch Drake—although that’s like saying Lloyd Christmas is smarter than Harry Dunne. In short, Hill cannot force anyone to change, especially when the people who must change have steadfastly refused to do so for over 60 years.

Hill believes, “We have taken a front-and-center position on diversity and gender equality.” Around 2008, the New York City Commission on Human Rights, Sanford Moore and Cyrus Mehri were speaking out, condemning the discriminatory conditions that persist on Madison Avenue. Today, the protestors are virtually invisible, as White women have leapfrogged over racial and ethnic minorities to take a front-and-center position in the diversity discussion. The 4As jumped on the gender bandwagon with the rest of the industry too.

Since 2008, the advertising industry has made little progress in the area of diversity, and it’s actually regressed with certain segments. There’s little evidence of anything being better—except perhaps the smokescreens and shields created to conceal the truth.

Nancy Hill’s farewell: ‘We’re better than that’

By Douglas Quenqua

In a tearful address, the departing 4A’s president urged the agency community to look beyond salacious headlines and focus on progress.

Nancy Hill, the departing president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, delivered a tearful farewell address at the group’s 2017 Transformation conference in Los Angeles on Monday, assuring the agency community that it is not defined by the “alleged bad behavior we read about in the headlines.”

“We are better than that,” she said to applause. “You are better than that.”

Which is not to say Hill doubted the behavior exists.

“I know that sexual harassment happens,” she said. “I know that racism and sexism both exist. I know that there are probably some bad actors out there that maybe aren’t as forthright with their clients as we’d like them to be.”

But the agency world has much to be proud of, including “talent that creates work that moves brands, moves markets and moves perceptions,” and “work that influences culture, shapes the conversations and changes lives,” she said.

Hill, who was elected president in 2008, has overseen a tumultuous era in the agency business that’s included the Great Recession, existential challenges to the agency business model, a number of high-profile sexual harassment scandals, the erosion of trust between agencies and brands, and accusations of dirty dealing among media agencies.

But rather than taking the tough love approach, as she did at least year’s conference, Hill used her opening remarks on Monday to reminisce about her journey in the industry and encourage its members to focus on the progress they’ve made.

“Thirty-five years ago, when I started as a traffic coordinate at W.B. Doner in Baltimore, I would have never, ever imagined myself up on this stage in front of all of you,” Hill began, pausing midway to joke about the tears she was already shedding.

“The odds on when this was going to happen were not this early,” she said.

Though the 4A’s faced intimidating challenges when she took the job in 2008—“We were already behind in technology, we were already behind in media and, we were clearly behind in taking a leadership role in the growing discussion on diversity and gender equality”—the organization and its members have come a long way in addressing them, said Hill.

“We have taken a front-and-center position on diversity and gender equality,” she said. “We have built a media practice that benefits all of our members and has allowed us to take a stance on issues as wide ranging as trust and transparency, measurement standards, privacy, fraud and ad blocking. As well as SAG/AFTRA negotiations & patent trolling. And, we have become digitally centered with a mobile-first approach on every new product we develop.”

Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of MEC North America, will assume the presidency when Hill steps down in June.

Before taking the position in 2008, Hill served as CEO of Lowe New York and EVP and managing director for BBDO New York after working at Doner, TBWA/Chiat/Day and Goldberg Moser O’Neill, which became Hill Holiday in 2001.

Hill plans to consult and spend more time in Ecuador, where she volunteers and teaches, after she steps down in June.

“Thank you for letting me represent you for just a little while,” Hill said on Monday. “It’s been an honor and a privilege. Thank you.”

Kaplowitz is slated to take the stage at Transformation later on Monday, when she will share her vision for the future of the 4A’s in an interview with Bill Koenigsberg, Chairman of the 4A’s Board of Directors and President, CEO and Founder of Horizon Media.