15688: Arnold Worldwide’s ‘Strategery’ Is Comedic, Crafty Crap.

 

Adweek reported on the wondrous transformation happening at Arnold Worldwide, spotlighting how the White advertising agency hired “an empathy expert to help make the company’s work more inclusive while also encouraging the creative team to employ respect, diversity and empathetic leadership.” Delegating diversity to an empathetic consultant sounds, um, pathetic. Oh, and a peek at Arnold leadership shows the pseudo progressive stunt—like other mad experiments conducted to bring DE&I to the Boston-based firm—failed.

 

Free consultation to Arnold executives: If you really want to make the work more inclusive and the staff more diverse, hire more people of color. It’s that simple, you culturally clueless cretins.

 

How Arnold Worldwide Is Remaking Its Reputation Through Strategy

 

CEO George Sargent talks about big idea thinking, integration and empathy

 

By Kyle O’Brien

 

For Arnold Worldwide, the big idea is not dead. It just needs to be translated for the current era. After 75 years in business, Arnold is reimagining itself as a creative agency, but one now driven by strategy.

 

At the helm of that transformation is CEO George Sargent, who has been navigating Arnold’s path forward since December 2019. In those two years, Sargent has seen Arnold grow by 44%, winning eight pieces of business, including ADP, DuckDuckGo, Bob’s Discount Furniture, and signing Cox Communications last May. Arnold has also increased client satisfaction (NPS) by 10%, launched over 50 TV spots for Progressive insurance—one of the agency’s top clients—and is in the running to win KFC’s coveted creative account.

 

When Sargent took over, however, Boston-based Arnold was trending downward. The agency had lost key clients, including Hershey, Carnival and Angie’s List and had gone through a round of layoffs. Sargent chalks that up to too much executive turnover.

 

“There were five CEOs in the 2010s. There were five CCOs in the 2010s. There were five CSOs in the 2010s. The 2010s were unfriendly to the agency…we had experienced some client loss…There was just no stability at the agency,” Sargent told Adweek.

 

Sargent, who was with Havas Media before becoming CEO at Arnold, brought a media sales background to the creative agency, and his ability to implement strategy to the creative process has helped bring stability. He assembled a new leadership team and saw the need to integrate the separate teams and processes.

 

“The biggest thing that Arnold needed from a strategic standpoint was to take big human insights into big idea thinking and address the challenge of media fragmentation and address the complexity of the consumer journey,” Sargent said, adding that an additional challenge was to integrate the strategy team so that big ideas showed up in lots of different areas.

 

Adding empathy and comedy to the equation

 

Arnold took its communications strategy and made it an important part in how the agency approached creativity, bringing media fluency and a downstream approach to the creative process. Another key piece to changing the culture at the agency was to add a level of empathy. Arnold brought on an “entrepreneur in residence,” Michael Tennant, an empathy expert to help make the company’s work more inclusive while also encouraging the creative team to employ respect, diversity and empathetic leadership.

 

“We embedded him within the agency for nine months and made empathy, and all the things that are required in order to have an empathic culture, very central to how we work,” said Sargent. “We expect everyone to treat each other both as human beings and also as experts.”

 

Sargent said that the training has paid off, especially over the last nine months, and the agency is again winning new business with the right attitude.

 

“It’s just been incredibly rewarding to watch an agency embrace itself and embrace its people and use that in order to grow,” he said.

 

Another tactic Arnold has used to bolster the team is adding some laughs to the creative.

 

“On our creative team, we’re thinking really differently about how we attract people with totally different backgrounds. And one example we launched a few months ago was the Arnold Institute for the Comedically Gifted, which is about us finding comedic talent,” said Sargent.

 

He stated that comedy is central to the agency’s relationship with longtime client Progressive (with ads featuring the character Flo and sessions on not becoming your parents) and Sargent thinks that comedy is underserved as a tactic that brands can use to create engagement. The Comedically Gifted effort provides real working comedians with a steady paycheck to help solve brand problems.

 

That, combined with smart comms planning, gives the team clarity, breaks down silos and opens up new ways of reaching people through tactics like social media, influencer campaigns and the creator economy.

 

Utilizing Havas to get ahead

 

Arnold’s role is to play lead creative agency on its accounts for the most part, said Sargent, and that hasn’t changed as it has turned the ship around, but it is working with partner marketers and agencies to help fill in where it can’t. That involves utilizing the tools that parent company Havas has to offer, including embracing the network’s tech stack to identify fact-based consumer behavior and using the small data to drive the agency’s big ideas. That also means leaning on other Havas network agencies for customer experience, social, gaming and multicultural campaigns.

 

Sargent said that Arnold’s role for the next 20 years will be figuring out how to create big ideas without the same linear programming schedule that has been relied upon in the past.

 

“We’re taking an agency that for the last 75 years, has put creativity at the center of the table and used creativity to drive business results. We are modernizing that agency and we have a lot of momentum, and we have an incredible talent base,” Sargent said.

12221: Sprint Inking Deutsch Deal.

Adweek reported Deutsch LA is the last White advertising agency standing in the creative shootout for Sprint, and the agency and advertiser are now in advanced negotiations to handle the business—probably meaning that Sprint is haggling over how little Deutsch will accept to service the beleaguered brand. The best value in wireless is not exactly the best value for an advertising agency, as Deutsch can expect unlimited demands, unlimited talk-but-no-action and unlimited bureaucracy for the lowest billings possible. Meanwhile, the losing White agency—Arnold—just landed CenturyLink, a client claiming to be the third-largest telecom behind AT&T and Verizon. Somebody start a pool to guess which White advertising agency loses its new telecom account first.

Sprint Zeroes In on an Agency for Broadcast Ads

Deutsch L.A. in talks to help the brand battle AT&T, Verizon

By Andrew McMains

Sprint is close to naming a new agency to create broadcast ads at a crucial time in the company’s history.

Deutsch L.A. is in advanced negotiations to handle the assignment, which is worth more than $20 million in annual revenue, according to sources. In media, Sprint spends about $450 million annually on broadcast ads.

Sprint, which badly trails market leaders AT&T and Verizon, finds itself in battle with T-Mobile to become a viable alternative to the big boys. Sprint parent SoftBank, however, has deep pockets and the determination to shake up the U.S. market. And now, the company is getting a new agency to lead the charge.

Should Deutsch finalize a deal with Sprint, the agency would succeed New York startup Figliulo & Partners on the business.

The finalist emerged from a fast-track review, which began in September. Sprint executives subsequently met with five shops—Deutsch, Arnold, Saatchi & Saatchi, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners—before narrowing the field last month to Deutsch and Arnold, a unit of Havas. A final round of meetings took place last week, and Sprint has since told Arnold that it’s not getting the business.

Sprint would represent another demanding, sales-driven account for Deutsch L.A., which also handles the likes of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Volkswagen of America. The telco would also give the shop the chance to work directly with new Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, a hands-on leader who led the agency search. Mercer Island Group in Seattle helped manage the process.

Deutsch declined to comment, and Sprint could not immediately be reached. But with Arnold out of the picture, Deutsch appears to be the last remaining finalist. So, if the agency and telco can come to terms, Sprint will have found the creative help it needs.

12203: Shootouts Shat Out.

Adweek reported on a handful of brands up for review, and the listing shows the fucked-up state of the advertising industry.

As previously noted, Sprint has narrowed its competitors to Deutsch and Arnold, which is essentially a faceoff between Larry and Curly—where the winner will have to work for Moe.

Johnnie Walker is staging a showdown featuring incumbent Bartle Bogle Hegarty versus Anomaly, BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and Wieden + Kennedy. If Anomaly is victorious, every self-respecting adperson on the planet should shoot a bullet into his/her brain.

The NBA assembled a playoff series pitting incumbent Goodby Silverstein & Partners against R/GA and Translation. This is by far the most oddball battle out there. Translation allegedly dumped three key executives recently, including a president who was hired in February. Sure, the beleaguered agency provides some star-fucking power with its ties to Jay-Z and the Brooklyn Nets—plus, Translation worked for NBA CMO Pam El when she was with State Farm. But from a creative credentials perspective, Translation is the Philadelphia 76ers of Madison Avenue. Then again, unless the NBA plans to go completely digital with its advertising, R/GA is the Harlem Globetrotters. To complete the comparisons, GS&P looks like the Los Angeles Lakers, featuring one future Hall-of-Famer and a motley crew of losers. Expect a world-class laugher.

12194: Sprint Aggressively Failing.

Advertising Age reported Sprint intends to be “very aggressive” with its new White advertising agency—rumored to either be Deutsch or Arnold upon the completion of the currently running review. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said, “As we offer the best value in wireless, we’re going to offer consumers three things: value, clarity and simplicity.” Wow, that’s a novel idea for the communications sector. Actually, it’s what every carrier is offering. Except the others are able to deliver with superior networks, devices and service. As the CEO admitted, Sprint’s recent value messages were drowned out by competitors’ messages, which are backed by bigger media spends. Plus, Claure seems clueless to the reality that companies don’t define “the best value” in a category—consumers do. Right now, Sprint is offering the worst value to prospective White advertising agencies.

Sprint CEO Says ‘Very Aggressive’ Advertising On Its Way

Carrier Pledges Simplified Marketing Amid Agency Review

By Mark Bergen

Sprint is still stuck in a hole, but it is planning to dig out with advertising.

On Monday, the third-place U.S. wireless carrier reported its second quarter earnings, which fell short of expectations and sent its stock tumbling. Afterwards, on a call with investors, CEO Marcelo Claure laid out the case for “the new Sprint”—one that centers on a revamped marketing agenda.

“American consumers love their phones, but they have little love for the carriers,” he said. “Part of the reason for this is the way the industry communicates with customers. Marketing and advertising are overly complicated and create … confusion with customers.”

“We’re going to change that with the new Sprint,” he continued. “As we offer the best value in wireless, we’re going to offer consumers three things: value, clarity and simplicity.”

Since his appointment in August, Mr. Claure has been busy. He promptly ditched the carrier’s new ‘Framily’ offering—and its accompanying ad campaign—replacing it with a new Family data plan and a slew of pricing promotions. Mr. Claure also launched an ad agency review.

The agency review is still ongoing. Dave Mellin, a Sprint spokesman, said the simplified messaging in the carrier’s marketing will continue but declined to comment on the agency review.

On the call, Mr. Claure admitted that “consumers were a little confused by our Framily offering.” That ad campaign featured a multi-species, oddball family.

Starting with its recent iPhone offering, Sprint has ramped up its discounts, including its unlimited data and family plans. T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T have followed suit with rapid-fire promotions.

Last week, Sprint appointed a Softbank executive, Junichi Miyakawa, to lead its LTE network expansion. Mr. Claure said his company will roll out the technology in select markets in 2015, another reason for an advertising push. “This approach will allow us to begin marketing the network experience in those markets sooner,” he said.

Mr. Claure voiced frustration that as his bigger foes “spent billions of dollars advertising,” consumers remain unaware of Sprint’s offering. “[Most] consumers don’t know what a great value is, so you’re going to see us be very aggressive in terms of advertising,” he told investors.

In 2013, Sprint spent $1.6 billion in U.S. advertising, according to the Ad Age DataCenter. Both AT&T and Verizon outspent Sprint at $3.3 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively; T-Mobile, at $1.1 billion, spent less.

During the second quarter, Sprint reported an operating loss of $192 million amid a lengthy network overhaul. Another 500,000 customers deserted the carrier during the three months, marking its eleventh straight quarter of losing customers.

Sprint also announced it was eliminating 2,000 positions from the company, a move that it said would save $400 million annually. The company did not provide further detail on the layoffs.

11098: I’m Lovin’ Depression.

What’s actually most depressing is the number of people who do love Big Macs.

10265: Hasta La Vista, Totality.

Advertising Age reported Havas is shuttering multicultural unit Totality after less than a year of operation. According to “a source familiar with the effort,” Havas will simply integrate multicultural initiatives into White agencies including Euro RSCG and Arnold. Only in the advertising industry does integration mean internal segregation—or disintegration, if the multicultural projects are either handled by White staffers or outsourced. In this instance, no one bothered to say they would take a cross-cultural approach.

Not sure what to make of the scenario. Given the alleged rising interest in wooing Latino audiences, you’d think launching an enterprise like Totality would be a slam dunk—or easy goal, to use a fútbol term. Maybe it shows the difficulty of generating profit in the multicultural marketing arena. It’s tough to succeed without a major client from a major category serving as a cash cow. The problem is, while minority segments are growing in the U.S., advertisers are still not dedicating adequate resources to target the groups. Hell, most brands are not engaging multicultural shops at all. How many clients think multicultural marketing equals translating the White campaign and/or seeding colored people into the commercial casting? How many clients think multicultural marketing is a waste of time? And how many clients never even think of multicultural marketing?

It also doesn’t help when a multicultural unit is within or directly tied to a White agency, as White leaders remain culturally clueless and politically paranoid about losing billings to non-White efforts. In the end, it’s clear who has totality control in such matters.

Havas Closes Struggling Multicultural Unit Totality

Agencies Will Handle Own Multicultural Work; Leo Olper and Mauricio Galvan Seek New Opportunities

By Laurel Wentz

Havas is closing down Totality, the multicultural unit the company officially started in October 2011 and based at the New York office of Arnold Worldwide.

A source familiar with the effort said that after trying to create a broader multicultural offering, Havas decided it would be better to integrate multicultural work in operating companies such as Euro RSCG and Arnold rather than add another layer. The person pointed out that agencies are increasingly integrating what used to often be separate services, such as digital and shopper marketing, and now perhaps Hispanic.

Havas hired two Hispanic experts, Leo Olper and Mauricio Galvan, from Hispanic agencies Lapiz and Vidal Partnership, back in April 2010 to reinvent the company’s foundering Euro Latino unit. Not much happened for the next 18 months, and last October the company announced Totality as a branded, multicultural offering. Messrs. Olper and Galvan became CEO and chief creative officer, respectively, and were joined by Alicia De Armas, who worked on Hispanic business at Euro RSCG, and Reginald Osborne, to spearhead African-American initiatives. Mr. Osborne also continued his existing role as senior VP-director of multicultural marketing at Arnold, where he led multicultural efforts for McDonald’s.

Totality has won little in the way of new business. For Ad Age’s annual Agency Report, Totality reported winning five new accounts between May 2011 and January 2012. Three were pro bono efforts, and two were local McDonald’s assignments in Boston and Washington D.C.

Only about half a dozen people worked at Totality, including the original four employees. Havas is believed to be discussing possible opportunities for Mr. Olper and Mr. Galvan within the company’s agencies, but the pair are actively job hunting and hope to stay in New York and possibly join a new agency together.

The source familiar with the matter said Arnold already has about 20 people who do multicultural work for agency clients, including McDonald’s and Brown-Forman, and that a somewhat smaller number of people do multicultural work within Euro RSCG.

General-market agencies have a growing interest in capturing their clients’ Hispanic business, but often struggle, whether they try to set up a separate unit, as Havas did, or integrate the business within the agency, as Havas now intends to do. KBS&P tried to build up a separate multicultural unit called Ramona, but effectively closed it down in December 2012 after Ramona lost is main client, Tecate.

5495: Arnold Seeks To Diversify.

The story below appeared at Adweek.com. MultiCultClassics comments immediately follow…

Arnold Hires Multicultural Marketing Chief
Osborne joins Havas shop from Novartis

By Adweek Staff

BOSTON Havas’ Arnold said it has hired Reginald Osborne as svp, group director of multicultural marketing.

Reporting to evp Jon Tracosas, he will focus mainly on the shop’s McDonald’s business. The long-range goal, per Arnold, is to create an integrated capability for diversity marketing across all agency accounts.

“I am excited to be at an agency like Arnold that believes diversity is important culturally and as a resource to better serve clients and consumers in a multi-cultural marketing and communications world,” Osborne said in a statement.

Added Fran Kelly, Arnold’s CEO: “The world we live in and market in is growing increasingly diverse. He will be an enormous asset to Arnold and to our clients.”

Osborne joins from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as associate director of multicultural marketing. Prior to Novartis, he was at Spike DDB, where he worked on clients such as Jaguar, ExxonMobil, Foxwoods and State Farm Insurance. Other agency stops include Grey and Ted Bates.

Arnold has championed multiculturalism in the workplace. The Ad Club of Boston’s Arnold Rosoff Awards celebrating industry diversity are named for one of the agency’s founders.

The move is in keeping with industry trends, as agencies large and small have heightened their diversity efforts in the wake of continued criticism from some quarters that the ad business is too white and male-centric.

This story is unique on a few fronts.

First, it’s extraordinarily rare for Adweek to report on anything non-White. Although the byline seems to indicate it took the entire staff to figure out the brief news item.

Agency Spy’s superspy—who will soon leave that blog and probably take all interest with her—seemed perplexed over certain points. She observed, “…according to Adweek, [Osborne’s] goal will be to ‘create an integrated capability for diversity marketing across all agency accounts.’ So, what Arnold really means is they’re going to try and talk to people of color. Why they just can’t say that, I’ll never know. Never. According to Ad Age’s Report Cards, Arnold isn’t listed among the top 50 multicultural agencies in either the Hispanic, African American or Asian markets. Better get cracking, mister.”

Well, superspy, it’s unlikely Arnold will crack the top 50 anytime soon. If you closely inspect the Ad Age lists you referenced, you’ll see the overwhelming majority are minority-owned enterprises. Even the places “bought” by holding companies still keep minority-ownership status by retaining the necessary 51 percent share. This maneuver avoids upsetting clients who employ multicultural agencies to satisfy corporate diversity goals—that is, multicultural shops are viewed as minority vendors. It also means Arnold will have difficulty realizing its goals, especially if the Bostonians ever compete for business with typical multicultural shops.

Additionally, one could debate if the true objectives of diversity are being addressed when a general market agency hires minorities to focus on segregated initiatives. Or you could question why general market shops might be eligible to pursue multicultural assignments when multicultural shops are rarely allowed to pitch general market work. But those are the topics of future posts.

For now, let’s extend congratulations and best wishes to Reginald Osborne.