6751: CEA Needs CashCall.com…?

Just wanted to quickly comment about the Advertising Age story on the Center for Advertising Excellence at Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications.

The CEA requires a $1 million annual budget to execute its goals. The 4As pledged financial support to the tune of $250,000 per year—and emotional support in the efforts to raise the additional $750,000 annually. However, the 4As payments are contingent upon the CEA’s success in collecting $750k yearly. To date, the CEA has netted over $270,000, spiked by a $100,000 donation from Wieden + Kennedy.

As always, any contribution made toward creating a more inclusive industry is commendable. Yet we can’t help but think the scenario is another symbol of Madison Avenue’s penchant for delegating diversity—and displaying a lack of true commitment to progress.

For starters, the CEA appears to be a collaborative initiative between the 4As and Howard University, but it really isn’t. Sources claim officials from the historically-Black institution hatched the idea and sold it to former 4As honcho O. Burtch Drake. So it sorta looks like outsiders developed a solution and must also act as fundraisers to make it happen.

That aside, the struggle to acquire $750,000 is disturbing, even in these lousy economic times. Indeed, it’s pretty outrageous when considering the following factoids:

• Omnicom leader John Wren—who allegedly demanded his agencies come into compliance with the pacts signed with New York City’s Commission on Human Rights—recently nabbed a bonus of $25 million. Incidentally, Wren’s agencies failed to meet his mandate, and the shops boast the worst hiring records of the bunch.

• IPG leader Michael Roth enjoyed a 21 percent increase in his over $11 million annual salary. And his cronies grabbed wads of loot too.

• Doner in Detroit supposedly owes ex-employee John DeCerchio $55 million.

• Leo Burnett paid $15.5 million to settle a lawsuit charging the shop overbilled the U.S. Army.

Meanwhile, the industry pours money into spectacles such as the irrelevant CLIO Awards, handing trophies to Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and NBA bad boy Mark Cuban. And how much cash will be burned at the Cannes International Advertising Festival?

Agencies nationwide allocate serious resources to boost digital capabilities, while offering mere shillings to boost diversity. Why?

Hell, Dan Wieden coughed up $100,000, and he’s neither a 4As cardholder or among the 16 agencies working with the NYCCHR.

Madison Avenue recruits other people to fix its exclusivity problems, then ducks out when the freelancers’ bill arrives. Expect the next player in this continuing drama to be Gary Coleman.

6748: Center For Advertising Excellence Hype.

From AdAge.com…

Howard, 4A’s Kick Off Fundraising Efforts for New Center
Center for Excellence in Advertising Launches First Classes This Fall

By Marissa Miley

Diversifying the agency world is the common goal, but what the Madison Avenue Project is doing with legal threats, the Center for Advertising Excellence at Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications is doing by collaboration. As the CEA celebrated its inaugural major fundraising event yesterday in Manhattan, it demonstrated its focus on building partnerships with advertising execs, not bulldozing ahead with potential lawsuits.

“I hope the CEA is the last diversity initiative to be created,” said newly appointed executive director Adrianne Smith, a 15-year veteran of the industry. “This should be the last stop.”

The CEA was co-founded last year by Howard University and the 4A’s to increase the numbers of African-Americans at advertising agencies, particularly in middle- and high-ranking roles. It was a vision years in the making, said Jannette L. Dates, dean of the Johnson School of Communications. The 4A’s approved its funding for the CEA in February 2008, and the program officially launched last September.

The 4A’s pledged $250,000 to the CEA for the next five years to get the program off the ground and vowed to work with the organization to raise an additional $750,000 each year. (The 4A’s continued support is contingent upon the CEA’s ability to meet the rest of its $1 million annual budget.) So far this year, the CEA has reached over $270,000 of this fundraising goal, said Ms. Smith, thanks to a $100,000 donation made by Wieden & Kennedy announced yesterday, and additional support from over 20 agencies and companies.

In its first year in operation, the CEA fleshed out its professional education program and hired Ms. Smith, who came on board in March. It plans to kick off its first academic modules this fall. Among the pilot programs: “Moving up in Advertising,” “Building Diverse Management Teams,” and “Making a Lateral Move in Advertising.” While the program is based on Howard’s campus in Washington, modules will be held around the country from Los Angeles to New York, depending on “what makes sense,” Ms. Dates said.

“This year we want to get more legs under us, get the modules up and running, and bring on more partners,” she said.

With those goals in mind, the CEA is taking cues from Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” presidential campaign—quite literally. At yesterday’s fundraising event, Mr. Obama’s 2008 chief campaign manager, David Plouffe, shared how he relied on a diverse team to lead an unprecedented political effort.

The crowd—a blend of folks from general agencies, multicultural agencies and Howard University—seemed optimistic and lively.

David Prince, VP-talent management at the 4A’s, said the CEA was not out to point fingers about past discrimination but to “hold up those who are doing things right” and work with these agents of change to “push diversification forward.”