Advertising Age reported Publicis Media fabricated the Once & For All Coalition, connecting industry executives and minority suppliers to dream up long-term solutions to equitable representation in advertising. Of course they did. After all, delegating diversity and erecting heat shields is always easier than actually and actively making progress.
Publicis Media Launches The Once & For All Coalition In Pursuit Of A More ‘Equitable Ad Ecosystem’
The Publicis Groupe-owned company is uniting industry executives and minority suppliers to brainstorm long-term solutions to equitable representation in advertising
By Ethan Jakob Craft
In a bid to remove financial barriers and solve representation inequities in the advertising industry, Publicis Media has announced the creation of the Once & For All Coalition, a cross-section of marketing leaders tasked with creating a more equitable environment for minority suppliers and audiences.
Through what the Publicis Groupe-owned media firm calls a “cross-industry consortium” of agency executives, brand-side marketers and inventory suppliers, the coalition will focus on addressing three core missions: developing minority content and creators, pursuing sustainable infrastructure systems and fostering equitable investment in minority-owned and targeted media.
The coalition—which was launched with an inaugural meeting of more than 120 industry stakeholders—will be open to all Publicis Groupe clients and includes voices from at least two-dozen firms, including major industry groups such as the Association of National Advertisers’ Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing.
“We have spent many years working toward more inclusive investment and supplier diversity, but in order to drive true change we need all industry players working together,” said Lisa Torres, president of Publicis’ Cultural Quotient, adding that the Once & For All Coalition’s long-term goal is to help address “population change and fast-rising majority.”
As a complement to the coalition’s development and continued expansion, Publicis Media has pledged to invest $25 million in diverse content creation in conjunction with its minority- and women-focused APX Content Ventures.
Publicis Media and its client partners will also establish a multiyear commitment to increase investments in diverse media as well as research, measurement and other relevant streams within the space.
“There is a critical challenge in effectively reaching, engaging, and winning the hearts and minds of a highly valuable consumer segment of color and unique identity. We believe this collaborative approach is what is needed to truly deliver collective results, not just today, but for many years to come,” says Talia Raviv, CEO of Publicis Media Exchange.
The coalition, which is set to meet quarterly with data scientists, academics and more in pursuit of its industry-specific goals, will provide a year-end update and progress report in the fourth quarter of this year.
Let me explain in fine detail how this scam will work, based on how the diversity business scam is working and has traditionally worked at other agencies and holding companies.
ReplyDelete"Developing minority content and creators," means the holding company will ask brands for money, which they will give to white-owned and white-controlled business entities that magically turn out to drive funds back to the holding company or its affiliates/agencies. They'll toss some crumbs of that money to primarily white women ("minorities," you know), and a few Black and ethnic creators with large social media followings. There will be press releases. But the money stays in the holding company ecosystem.
"Pursuing sustainable infrastructure systems" means driving brands' cash to white-owned, white-controlled businesses, that will turn out to be owned in some large or small part by the holding company, and that make a vague promise to "be green." Sometimes this means hitting up brands for extra money to "green the process" (the process they already do and make money from, that is). But the money stays in the holding company ecosystem.
"Fostering equitable investment in minority-owned and targeted media" means that holding company-owned, white-owned, white-controlled media companies will suddenly specialize, or say they specialize, in targeting multicultural audiences. Money will be shifted their way. White women will be counted as a minority audience.
Look closely at "minority-owned AND targeted media" as a statement, because the vast bulk of the dollars will go to "targeted media," which always magically and of course entirely coincidentally ends up being owned by white guys, white wives of white guys who work for the holding company or its affiliate agencies (white women = minorities, of course), or Black, ethnic, disabled or minority "owners" who are owners on paper and in press releases, but if you dig even a tiny bit end up to be co-owning with the holding companies or their agencies. So the money stays in the holding company ecosystem.
In short, these splashy "diversity initiatives" aren't about god forbid driving business into BIPOC businesses, they're about clawing back any brands' money that might have been sent there, because brands are waking up to how lily white agencies are and wanting to invest elsewhere. Holding companies are gonna holding company and keep that brand cash through whatever means necessary, even if it means fudging who owns what business and relabeling existing affiliates as diverse when they never cared before, and never were.