16639: Nissan Driven To New Multicultural Agency.

 

Advertising Age reported on Nissan and Infiniti shifting its non-White marketing duties to a new multicultural agency—sans a formal review.

 

Third Ear—formerly known as LatinWorks—replaced fluent360, who had serviced the Nissan brand for 15 years. Both shops are minority-owned by Omnicom, so the move is likely another example of Corporate Cultural Collusion orchestrated by the White holding company. Omnicom is adept at shuffling accounts between White advertising agencies in its network, so it’s not surprising the company would do likewise with non-White firms.

 

The Ad Age headline for the report read: Nissan And Infiniti Make Multicultural Agency Change—What It Means For Black And Hispanic Advertising. Um, it means non-White shops 49%-owned by White holding companies can expect to stay in segregated silos, collect crumbs, and get shifted/shafted at the “minority” owners’ whim.

 

Nissan And Infiniti Make Multicultural Agency Change—What It Means For Black And Hispanic Advertising

 

Behind the ‘identities-led’ approach of Third Ear, which replaces Fluent360 on the accounts

 

By E.J. Schultz

 

When luxury automaker Infiniti begins advertising its redesigned QX80 premium SUV next month, it will move beyond its marketing comfort zone. Pricing for the vehicle tops $100,000. But rather than targeting households with incomes of at least $100,000, like it normally would do, it lowered the threshold for its media plan to $75,000.

 

The change was spurred by advice from Infiniti’s new multicultural agency, Third Ear, which has also begun working on sibling brand Nissan.

 

“They came to us and said, you’re gonna miss the mark if you set your household incomes too high because these audiences will do whatever they can to get the kind of vehicles that they want. And so don’t let that hold you back,” said Shelley Pratt, director of marketing communications and media for Infiniti USA.

 

The approach is a preview of what’s to come from Austin, Texas-based Third Ear, which focuses on subtleties within multicultural communities that it believes can make a big difference when it comes to branding.

 

Third Ear, which is 49% owned by Omnicom, won the Nissan and Infiniti accounts in April and will handle Black and Hispanic marketing. The incumbent was Fluent360, which is minority-owned by Omnicom. For Nissan, Third Ear will collaborate with Nissan United, Omnicom’s dedicated Nissan creative and media agency. For Infiniti, it will work with Publicis Groupe, which has handled the brand’s global creative since 2021.

 

There was not a formal agency review.

 

“We looked at Omnicom to provide us a great solution for multicultural,” said Nissan U.S. Chief Marketing Officer and VP Marisstella Marinkovic. “And so they connected us with Third Ear and we had deep conversations. We gave them an assignment. And we decided to move forward with the relationship.”

 

Fluent360 Founder and CEO Danielle Austen in a statement said the agency is “proud of our fifteen years leading the multicultural business for Nissan North America. We wish both Infiniti and Nissan the best in their pursuits to win with these vital audience segments.”

 

Not a monolith

 

While Nissan and Infiniti have invested significantly in multicultural marketing in recent years—Nissan in February ran a Super Bowl ad on Univision’s Spanish-language broadcast—the hiring of Third Ear signals a possible shift in creative approach.

 

The agency, formerly known as LatinWorks, rebranded in 2019 in an effort to grow beyond its pure-play Hispanic agency roots. It took the name Third Ear as a signal that it listens to the nuances that make people different. It has since refined its approach to become what it describes as an “identities-led creative agency,” with a philosophy that takes ethnicity into account in multicultural marketing but goes further to recognize that individuals within a certain ethnic group can be very different.

 

“We think that identity transcends ethnicity,” Third Ear Chief Strategy Officer Ed Castillo said in an interview this week. “Endemic factors, like the language you speak, and the food you eat, will always have a meaningful effect,” he said. But “eventually, you will go into the world and you will proclaim a certain identity … I’m a gamer, metalhead, whatever the case might be.”

 

So marketing should not treat groups as a monolith, according to an agency. “One of the standard assumptions about Hispanic audiences is that they are completely focused on the family,” Castillo said. While that might be the case for some, through consumer research, “we found examples of younger, ambitious Hispanics who … will be the first to raise their hand and say, I’m willing to sacrifice time with my family to get further in my career.”

 

“If you show up to multicultural marketing with certain monolithic assumptions, you will miss nuance,” he added.

 

While it is too soon to tell how this approach will show up in Nissan and Infiniti marketing, one possibility is that it could be used to produce work that appeals equally to Black and Hispanic audiences, rather than siloing it.

 

“We have to find some commonalities. And those commonalities are very powerful,” said Third Ear Chief Creative Officer Serge Flores.

 

Growing market

 

The agency change comes as multicultural marketing rises in importance for automotive brands, which increasingly view multicultural audiences as a source of sales growth. General Motors, Hyundai and Stellantis are among the automakers that in recent years have added agencies dedicated to boosting affinity with Black and Hispanic audiences.

 

Nissan and Infiniti already over-index with Black and Hispanic consumers: Nissan is ranked eighth when it comes to sales with all consumers, but has a fifth-place ranking for both Hispanic and Black buyers, according to business intelligence firm S&P Global. Infiniti does not crack the top 10 in total sales, but comes in eighth and ninth, with Black and Hispanic buyers, respectively.

 

The QX80 launch will be one of the first big tests for Third Ear. “We need a partner that’s going to help us authentically show up in social with our influencers, and how we buy media to make sure that that we're relevant in this consumer base that we already overindex with,” Pratt said.

 

As for Nissan, the brand has been increasing its multicultural marketing budget by 25% year over year, and “we’re going to continue to increase year over year,” Marinkovic said. Nissan wants to “make sure that we’re authentically connecting not only with with that specific customer, but with culture as well, and with their interests. So in order to connect and really build your brand, you have to go beyond just your sort of basics.”

 

She pointed to Nissan’s recent reveal of the 2025 Nissan Kicks subcompact crossover as an example of what’s to come. In March, the brand staged an “unboxing” of the vehicle in Brooklyn outside the Barclays Center during opening round play of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The event, which featured a “virtual” reveal of the model using a 3D digital “shoebox” was intended to play into sneaker, basketball and music culture.

16638: Is Stagwell At The Intersection Of Advertising Campaigns & Political Campaigns…?

 

Mediapsssst at MediaPost recently spotlighted Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn’s political ties, notably to No Labels, an organization where Penn’s wife is the Founder and CEO. To complicate matters, No Labels utilizes insight and data from The Harris Poll, a subsidiary of Stagwell.

 

Not sure why anyone would be surprised by the revelations, given Penn’s background as a pollster, political strategist, and lobbyist is public knowledge.

 

Yet it does raise questions around the true DEIBA+ commitment and dedication of an advertising enterprise reflecting—and professionally supporting—the political platforms of former President Donald Trump. Clearly, Stagwell has the cunning capabilities to take performative PR to the highest level.

 

Mark Penn, No Labels And The 2024 Election

 

By Richard Whitman, Columnist

 

It was about a month ago that the Lincoln Project issued a statement about what it called No Labels’ “idiotic decision” to continue looking for a slate of candidates to put up in November’s presidential election.

 

Well idiotic or not, the so-called “unity” group announced today an about face, abandoning the effort to put up a ticket. Apparently it couldn’t find anyone with an iota of credibility to accept the challenge.

 

The LP statement concluded that “A vote for No Labels is a vote for Donald Trump. Nancy Jacobson and Mark Penn’s plan is clear: help Donald Trump win a second term.”

 

Nancy Jacobson is CEO of No Labels and her husband Mark Penn is founder and CEO of Stagwell, the advertising and marketing holding group. It does market research and political polling through its subsidiary Harris Poll.

 

Penn has denied any and all connection to his wife’s organization “real or imagined,” as he told the New Republic last summer. That didn’t stop the publication from talking to a number of democrats who were a bit skeptical.

 

Democratic strategist Joe Trippi suggested that No Labels’ conclusion that its potential ticket could have a chance at winning was based on a Harris poll that it could win Biden’s home state of Delaware.

 

“And what’s it all based on?” Trippi was quoted as saying. “It’s all based on the polling and the interviews of Mark Penn. That’s it. Other than that, there’s no other polls that show this. None.”

 

The article also reports that Penn has opined, based on Harris polls that Trump would beat Biden in a rematch given the state of the economy, immigration and crime.

 

Hmmm, I thought the economy was doing relatively well, despite all the doom-and-gloomers who have been predicting a recession for the last two years.

 

Despite problems at the border, immigration isn’t the “blood bath” that Trump claims it to be.

 

And while Trump said the other day that crime statistics are going up in this country, preliminary FBI statistics for 2023 suggest otherwise.

 

But as the politically astute Penn knows, perception counts a lot more in politics than reality.

16637: Leftover Things Go Better With Pepsi…?

 

This Pepsi campaign from MullenLoweSSP3 in Colombia feels like a leftover idea for Coca-Cola.

16636: Oh! Ah! Meh.

This Ottawa Tourism campaign from Rethink in Canada should be sent on a trip—to the nearest trash dumpster.

16635: Taking Stock Of Adland.

Bondo Advisors Managing Partner Joshua Novick compared Publicis Groupe and Omnicom, ranking the White holding companies in first and second place among competitors, respectively.

 

The report underscores the devolution, degeneration, and degradation of Adland, where corporate values are now defined by stock value. Gone are the days of iconic White men with revolutionary spirits who set the standards for creative excellence.

 

Not surprisingly, such examinations rarely include even mentions of DEIBA+ figures, despite industry leaders’ contentions that equality and fair representation are business imperatives.

 

Call it the Age of Market Performance & Performative PR. Although one might have difficulty assigning ratings in the latter category, as all the holding companies are comparatively consistent with concealing systemic racism.

16634: Wasting Minutes On Hourglasses.

This Nacional Seguros campaign from Athos in Bolivia is described as follows:

 

Most people are reactive when it comes to taking care of their health. We only worry when something happens to us.

 

Many people are unaware of the importance of disease prevention through a medical checkup, since diseases such as cancer, when detected early, have a solution.

 

Time is a determining factor in the cure of many diseases.

 

As an insurance company, Nacional Seguros, wants to be close to its customers and the general public with a message that represents the urgency of having a medical checkup and the importance of doing it frequently, because if we let time pass, in this race against the clock, it may be too late.

 

A timely medical checkup could save your life.

 

We created an hourglass in the shape of some of the most frequent organs where cancer can be activated (the lungs, the liver and the cervix).

 

We also represented the fragility of the human body through a crystal that allows us to see how the sand of the clock advances, implying that every day we let go by counts.

 

Geez, somebody should have put a stopwatch to the verbose descriptor. Viewers will want the precious minutes wasted reading it returned to their lives.

16633: Strategic Storytelling Certifiably Stupid.

Cornell University offers a Strategic Storytelling Certificate through its online programs. Hey, it sure would be helpful if strategists at White advertising agencies could draw storyboards, as most of them aren’t providing strategic value.

16632: Delayed WTF 59—Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré On AI, DEIBA+, And BS.

 

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

 

The following Cannes interview is about a year old—and a companion to the WPP CEO Mark Read performative PR covering the same AI and DEIBA+ topics—yet warrants color commentary too.

 

Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré—poster child for nepotism in Adland—delivers another monologue that feels AI-generated and Chief Diversity Officer-delegated.

 

Bolloré’s DEIBA+ dedication is declared via heat shields advocating for girls with autism and people with disabilities, worthy causes that represent divertsity vs diversity—and Eurocentric divertsity to boot.

 

Contrary to their canned contentions, the CEOs of holding companies—especially those like Read and Bolloré, who are White male multimillionaires leading lives of extraordinary privilege—might be least capable of grasping the imperatives for authentic diversity. Hell, their true understanding of AI is probably equally uniformed.

 

The result is a mindless merger of corporate cluelessness and cultural cluelessness, rivalling the clumsy combinations of White advertising agencies routinely orchestrated by White holding company leaders.

 

Holding company chiefs on AI and inclusion: Yannick Bolloré

 

In the first in a series of interviews with the holding company chiefs ahead of Cannes, Havas’ Yannick Bolloré answers questions about the role of both in his business

 

By Yannick Bolloré

 

With the Cannes Lions festival about to celebrate its seventieth anniversary, and with pressure from both within and outside holding companies for demonstrable change, we asked the holding company chiefs to talk about the role of diversity — and how AI could impact upon it.

 

As CEO of Havas, what lessons have you learned about the role of diversity in the success of your business, and the work you do for your clients?

 

Diversity is paramount to us at Havas, as our business relies on individual talent, vision, and creativity. We would not even exist without all the different backgrounds, cultures, and languages that fill our offices around the world, and work together to achieve better outcomes than they would alone.

 

We believe it is crucial to include a diversity of voices within our agencies, leveraging different perspectives to constantly push us forward. That is why we are committed to building an inclusive culture where everybody feels they belong, can be themselves and thrive. We have made it a priority to increase the diversity of our teams and ensure that inclusive thinking is at every stage of the strategy ideation process so that perspectives are integrated from the beginning to the end, to inform how the work gets created.

 

We also help brands better engage with their communities through authentic messages and experiences, by using the power of our creative ideas to drive meaningful change in the world we live in. Our recent campaigns “Me, my autism and I” for Vanish, which aims at giving a voice to young girls with autism, and “Paris Anne de Gaulle airport”, raising the visibility of disability in our society, are great examples of this ambition.

 

Critics say that AI is already reinforcing and exacerbating many challenges already faced by society, such as bias, discrimination and misinformation. How do you think this is going to impact the use of AI in advertising and marketing?

 

The development of generative AI is a revolution and there is no doubt that AI will play an increasingly important role in our industry. While exploring its fast-growing potential and using it as a source of inspiration and acceleration for all our areas of expertise, it is crucial for us to be very cautious about its legal implications, as well as its limitations in terms of inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and inherent biases.

 

It is our collective role and responsibility to focus on how AI can assist us and our creative minds in the development of our work, not the other way around, and continue making a meaningful difference to society as a whole.

16631: Delayed WTF 58—WPP CEO Mark Read On AI, DEIBA+, And BS.

 

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

 

The following Cannes interview is about a year old, yet it’s still topical and warrants color commentary. WPP CEO Mark Read discussed AI and DEIBA+ with all the warmth and compassion of, well, a White male multimillionaire.

 

The comments feel AI-generated and Chief Diversity Officer-delegated. Call it ShatGPT, as the bullshit is devoid of authenticity, empathy, and humanity.

 

“My ambition is to get meaningfully closer to a workforce that represents our societies and a culture where people feel they belong,” claimed Read. “Diversity is not only a moral imperative but also a powerful business opportunity and it will continue to be a key priority for us.”

 

Given the White holding company’s financial struggles, it appears the powerful business opportunity isn’t paying off. Or maybe Read’s rhetoric doesn’t reflect reality, but rather, systemic racism. It’s a safe bet that the corporation’s AI budget completely dwarfs the diversity budget.

 

The CEO even referenced George Floyd and Karen Blackett, both of whom are no longer living in Read’s exclusive universe. Read also promoted heat shields by highlighting a program designed to recruit midlife White women into the field. Perfect.

 

Finally, the portrait accompanying the piece (depicted above)—with Read sitting in his cushy corner C-suite—looks like it was generated by an AI platform.  

 

Holding company chiefs on AI and inclusion: Mark Read

 

The WPP chief executive tells us his thoughts on inclusion at his company and how AI could impact upon it

 

By Mark Read

 

In the second of our Q&As with the holding company chiefs ahead of Cannes, Mark Read talks to us about WPP’s DE&I initiatives and the potential threat of AI bias:

 

As CEO of WPP, what lessons have you learned about the role of diversity in the success of your business, and the work you do for your clients?

 

Creativity thrives in a diverse culture. That’s one of the reasons why we make it our business to encourage and inspire a diversity of talent throughout WPP. By embracing different perspectives, we not only deliver extraordinary work for our clients that authentically reflects the diverse world we live in, but we also attract and retain the best talent.

 

What are your ambitions around diversity over the next five years?

 

My ambition is to get meaningfully closer to a workforce that represents our societies and a culture where people feel they belong. Diversity is not only a moral imperative but also a powerful business opportunity and it will continue to be a key priority for us. What this means in practice is that we will continue to invest in diversity initiatives that not only build a talent pipeline for WPP, but for our industry as a whole. Two examples bring this ambition to life. We’ve launched Visible Start, a programme with the Uninvisibility Project and Brixton Finishing School to get more midlife women into our industry; this year we have 320 participants, and 19 of the first cohort were employed across WPP agencies. We’ve also backed ONE School UK, a One Club for Creativity initiative helping more Black creatives build top careers in advertising.

 

Are there any areas of DE&I that you think the industry has not started to address properly?

 

While solid progress has been made to advance racial equity, there is still a lot to do and progress requires continued attention. To mark the three-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death last month, we published a series of reflections on what’s changed in the last three years, and where we need more focus. Karen Blackett OBE, President of our UK business, explained why racial equity is crucial to the future of our industry, and what we’ve learned through initiatives such as WPP’s Consumer Equality Equation Report — a ground-breaking study that shattered misconceptions about minority ethnic audiences in the UK. Pedro Reiss, CEO of Wunderman Thompson in Brazil, passionately sets out the case for allyship, demonstrating what can happen when an organisation makes a collective effort to transform its culture and practices. And LJ Louis, our Chief Talent and Inclusion Officer, reminds us that while we’ve achieved “solid early returns”, we’re only just getting started.

 

Critics say that AI is already reinforcing and exacerbating many challenges already faced by society, such as bias, discrimination and misinformation. How do you think this is going to impact the use of AI in advertising and marketing?

 

There are some well-publicised biases in AI, not just in how the models work, but also in the underlying datasets and how they are applied. All of this means greater vigilance is needed. We’ve rolled out a set of principles, guidance and legal advice internally to help our 115,000 people across the world navigate these challenges and we’re consulting to clients to help them as well. Ultimately, there will be regulation in various forms to provide the right guardrails — and beyond this the smart combination of AI and people to make sure we can identify the pitfalls as well as the opportunities.