In
October 2023, The
Drum published a
story on the “highest internal priority” at MullenLowe: to promote more people of color to positions of power.
The “solution” involved
a standard heat
shield designed to provide junior and mid-level non-Whites
with special guidance for advancing in a predominately White workplace.
A MullenLowe mouthpiece dubbed the initiative a sponsorship program versus a
mentorship stunt, as if there’s a discernable difference between faux sponsors,
pseudo mentors, or embryo facilitators.
In
April 2024, Advertising
Age reported new hires at MullenLowe West resulted
in a very diverse leadership team—although the content did not connect the
moves with the “highest internal priority” mentioned in the previous performative
PR.
In
June 2024, Mediapsssst at MediaPost reported IPG nixed an offer from a Russian advertising agency executive
seeking to acquire MullenLowe. So, it looks like a historically White advertising agency
embraced diversity—and IPG considered sending the culturally competent crew to Siberia…?
Content from The
Drum:
MullenLowe U.S. Hopes a New Take on
Career Paths Can Put More People of Color in Charge
The agency’s newly appointed chief
culture officer walks us through the plan to upend the structural prejudice
that plagues US advertising agencies.
By Sam Bradley
US agencies don’t promote enough
people of color into positions of power. Research published recently by the
4A’s found that the proportion of agency leaders identifying as white increased
to 90%, compared with 73% in 2021.
According to Kelly Fredrickson, the
agency’s newly appointed US chief culture officer, promoting more staff of
color is the agency’s highest internal priority.
“Jobs that have been created in the US
since the social justice movement following George Floyd’s murder have been
predominantly filled by people of color,” she explains. “But we realized we’re
hiring in the junior and mid-levels. What we need to do now is promote and
create opportunities for people to develop.”
To achieve that goal, Fredrickson says
the agency must “unlearn” practices that uphold structural prejudice inside the
business and create means of developing and promoting staff hired into
lower-level positions.
This week, it’s set to launch a pilot
‘sponsorship’ scheme developed between management and staff-run employee
resource groups (ERGs). The program lasts a year and will take six candidates
from across MullenLowe’s US business and train them for future leadership and
management roles. Each ‘protégé’ is paired with a senior sponsor who helps
forge connections within the company, increase the candidate’s profile at
MullenLowe and “personally invest in the advancement of their career,”
according to Jacqueleen Johnson, development and inclusion director at
MullenLowe US.
Fredrickson says it’ll mean the agency
is more active in career progression than usual. “We’re specifically calling it
a sponsorship program, not a mentorship program. A sponsor is somebody who can
advocate for you in the rooms that you’re not in, who can actively help your
career move forward,” she says.
The scheme is also intended to boost
MullenLowe’s own staff retention rate. She says she’s witnessed Black
colleagues leave the agency in the past when faced with a shortage of
progression opportunities. “One of our most talented strategists left the agency
because she got a call from a Black female president. She said, ‘I’ve got to go
– when am I going to get this call again.’”
She reasons that if staff in junior
and mid-level roles see that there are chances to move into higher positions
down the line – even if it might take years to get there – they’re more likely
to stick around.
“That intentionality from leaders is
going to make the difference for people of color in the ad industry,” she adds.
Fredrickson previously served as
president of MullenLowe Boston, after rising through the ranks at both brands
and agencies. She began her career as a ‘floater’ providing vacation cover for
any position going before working as a producer for the best part of a decade.
She shifted into management when family responsibilities began to curtail the
constant travel associated with shoots.
“The things you learn as a producer
have served me so well. Bringing teams together toward a common goal or helping
people to stay on track, on budget and on time. Managing through the
mini-crises of production helped me manage through real ones as a leader later
on.”
That experience – and the memory of
how teams actually gel on the ground – means she expects to spend time
listening to staff concerns and working with ERGs rather than “approaching from
the heights.”
“Culture isn’t in the handbook; it’s
in the employee making the right decision when nobody’s watching. It’s in the
1,000 decisions everybody makes every single day,” she says.
MullenLowe’s ERGs – the agency boasts
five, run independently from management – were major partners in designing the
new sponsorship scheme. Fredrickson says: “It sounds so trite, but it is really
about being open. I think the listening part of my job is probably the most
important part.”
Despite the creeping return among
agency competitors towards mandatory office presence, she says MullenLowe
doesn’t plan to roll back its current flexible policy.
“We need to stay open to it. People
have set up their lives since the pandemic,” she says. “The fastest way to
create a culture is to hire really smart, curious people that share your
values. With people who share your values, you know, you can trust that they’re
going to get their work done.
“When we have a new business pitch
that requires people to come in and work together, they do. Or if there’s a
client presentation or something, they come in. We don’t have to tell them.”
Corporate fears that remote working is
too generous are unfounded, she says. “It’s a rare, rare person – I’ve yet to
find them – who would abuse the privilege of having a hybrid work arrangement.”
Content
from Advertising Age:
MullenLowe West Shakeup—new President Named And Creative
Leaders Exit
Jenn Wong joins as president from SoundCloud in one of the
first big moves made by MullenLowe U.S. CEO
By Brian Bonilla
Major executive changes are underway at MullenLowe West as
the Interpublic Group of Cos. agency installs a new president and seeks a new
top creative team.
The shifts mark one of the first big moves made by
MullenLowe U.S. CEO Frank Cartagena, who took on the role in
November.
Jenn Wong has been appointed president of the West region,
which consists of MullenLowe’s Los Angeles office, after most recently serving
as the head of global brand marketing at SoundCloud. Wong has also held lead
marketing roles at Curaleaf, Beats by Dre and Gap, and worked at agencies
including TBWA\Chiat\Day and Wieden+Kennedy.
She replaces Javier Passerieu, who had been promoted to the
role from managing director in September of last year. Passerieu did not
respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, the office’s two executive creative
directors, Carlos Alija and Laura Sampedro, resigned and will depart in
May “to ensure a smooth transition,” said Sampedro.
The search for a new creative leader is ongoing and
Cartagena will fill those roles as needed in the interim.
Wong was hired to help the Los Angeles office become more
of a “modern marketer” for its clients, said Cartagena. While the agency has
strong capabilities in PR and design, Cartagena is hoping to work more on
social and digital offerings for clients for the office, which he felt had
“pigeonholed” itself into doing more TV advertising.
“I saw us in danger of becoming one-dimensional, and that’s
the worst place to be,” Cartagena said. “The reason I brought Jenn in is
because she speaks two languages. She speaks client and she speaks agency. So
she’s going to be able to come in with both perspectives … and help dive in
with me to create a situation for our current clients and future clients that
brings the best possible creative solution to their business problem that’s
beyond TV, and we do TV really well.”
Cartagena said the goal isn’t just to do more digital work
but also to explore experiential and AI solutions. He pointed to MullenLowe’s
recent campaign for Change the Ref which utilized AI to create deepfake voices
of gun victims, as an example of the type of modern work he wants the agency to
put out.
“One area that I’m looking towards is how we tackle some of
the innovations that are happening right now,” Cartagena said. “That’s my next
order of business is how do we use AI to optimize, and I don’t mean optimize
operationally,” he said. Rather the focus is on, “How do we use AI to help us
out with ideas or help us make the best creative ideas in the industry?”
In the U.S. MullenLowe also has offices in Boston (its
largest office) and New York (its third largest behind Los Angeles) The U.S.
network overall has about 400 employees. MullenLowe West clients include Acura,
Corona, Grey Goose, Patron, Hawaiian Airlines and Ghirardelli,
which it won in December.
The Ghirardelli win is part of an ongoing strategy to
have both offices involved in more pitches. Previously “[MullenLowe West]
focused on solidifying the clients that we had, making sure they were happy and
making sure that they were growing organically so while there hasn’t been an
external growth our clients have grown internally,” said Cartagena. “Now we’re
in phase two and we’re actively pitching from both regions.”
While the East and West regions will remain as is,
Cartagena is also looking to have the different offices work closer together in
the future.
“What I don’t want to do is change any of the culture”
between the offices, Cartagena said. “What I want to do is open up for clients
the ability to pull the good that’s happening in all the different offices and
flex up and down for them and really use our full offering. It’s not for
everybody at all times, but more so when they need it.”
MullenLowe East’s president is Jordan Muse, the son of
advertising legend Jo Muse, who led the multicultural
marketing movement. Between Cartagena, Wong, and Muse, MullenLowe’s U.S.
executive team has become significantly more diverse in a short amount of time.
Cartagena touted MullenLowe West’s diversity and highlighted its multicultural work for Corona as an example of the
“diversity of thought” the office has available.
Content
from MediaPost:
Report: IPG Says ‘Nyet’ To MullenLowe Sale
By
Richard Whitman
Interpublic
was reportedly approached about its interest in selling its global creative
agency network MullenLowe.
But
according to a report by Campaign, the holding company has no interest in
selling the network and turned down the offer.
The
publication indicated that the offer came from a Russian agency executive who
previously served at a long-time joint venture partner of the holding
company in Russia. IPG pulled out of the operation shortly after the Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine.
Word
of MullenLowe approach surfaced within days of a Wall Street Journal report
that IPG is interested in selling its pioneering digital agency and design
consultant R/GA and that Tata Consulting Services may be the buyer.
IPG
doesn’t comment on what it calls rumors or speculation about it in the press.
