13764: Talk The Talk…

Advertising Age spotlighted “The Talk”—a campaign featuring a video depicting Black parents discussing the thorns and threats of racism with their children. The work falls under Procter & Gamble’s “My Black Is Beautiful” initiative. What makes the latest project downright outrageous? The video was created by White advertising agency BBDO New York. First of all, there’s something very familiar about the concept, but MultiCultClassics can’t immediately identify the “inspiration” for the video. Second, they should have included a parent warning their kid about encountering blatant racism—by pursuing a job at BBDO or any other White advertising agency in America. The saddest part is, BBDO CCO David Lubars will probably nab an ADCOLOR® Award for the hypocritical bullshit. This mess is a shining example of talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

Procter & Gamble is both “Proud Sponsor of Moms” and supporter of African-American women, with its ongoing “My Black Is Beautiful” campaign. These concerns merge in the marketer’s heart-rending film about the unique challenges African-American mothers have in raising kids—in decades past, and continuing today.

Scenes that take place over different eras depict moms consoling and educating their children after they encounter racism: one daughter receives a compliment that she’s pretty—“for a black girl,” a boy gets called the n-word while another has faced discrimination on the sports field.

The mothers encourage their kids to endure and hold their heads up high, no matter what the challenges. One mom tells her daughter she’ll do fine at science camp, but she’ll have to “work twice as hard and be twice as smart,” and the mother with the “pretty” daughter drives home that she’s “beautiful, period.”

But there are other fears as well, ones that the women may have little control over. One mom insists that her son take his ID with him to music practice, because it will be late when he returns home. Then a young woman at the steering wheel tells her mother she need not worry because she’s a “good driver,” but that’s not what Mom’s real concern is.

Unlike many other socially-conscious ads, the film, entitled “The Talk,” doesn’t sugarcoat with assurances that things will only get better. It’s inspiring yet filled with an unsettling uncertainty—a thoughtful marketing approach that’s sure to promote real conversation.

BBDO New York created the ad, and Malik Vitthal of The Corner Shop directed.

P&G introduced the “My Black Is Beautiful” campaign a decade ago, with the goal of helping black women and girls feel confident about themselves, and in the process, develop a stronger bond with black consumers. The marketer intends this latest ad to open about a broader discussion about discrimination among a spectrum of communities. Further films on the accompanying website for “The Talk” show how real people have dealt with negative bias in their everyday lives.

“We know that bias is not just an African American issue,” said Damon Jones, director of global company communications of Procter & Gamble in a statement. “It’s an issue that takes on many shapes and forms, across gender, race, age, weight, sexual orientation, and more. Our goal with ‘The Talk’ is to help raise awareness about the impact of bias. We are also hopeful that we can make progress toward a less biased future by recognizing the power of people of all backgrounds and races showing up for one another.”

13731: BBDO’s Latest Smokescreen.

Campaign reported on the BBDO New York Creative Residency Program, explaining its origin as follows:

The program grew out of a desire to increase black representation at the agency. In 2014, [BBDO Worldwide Chief Creative Officer David Lubars] received a request from the One Club to send a creative to its long-running “Here Are All the Black People” multicultural career fair, then in its fifth year. “So I sent myself,” he recalled.

During a panel at the event, a question from the audience asked what black and minority creative should do to get their foot in the door at an agency. “Some of the people on the stage weren’t in the position that I was in” to make hires, Lubars said. So he decided on the spot to hire five people of color and tasked [BBDO New York EVP Director of Creative Engineering and Director of Diversity Jd Michaels] with selecting them. “It’s not that hard, it’s just deciding to. I just wish we’d done it earlier,” he said.

Gee, Lubars “decided on the spot to hire five people of color”—yet delegated diversity by ordering someone else to do it. “It’s not that hard,” admitted Lubars. “I just wish we’d done it earlier.” Hey, 2006 would have been nice. Given that Lubars made the decision at an event dubbed “A Multicultural Creative Career Fair,” he probably could have satisfied his impromptu quota without leaving the stage.

Additionally, Lubars’ magnanimous gesture feels disgusting for at least three reasons:

1. The underrepresentation of Blacks at White advertising agencies like BBDO has been a chronic problem for over 60 years; hence, adding five people of color (which technically goes beyond Blacks) is a pathetic and grossly insufficient “solution” to tout. If a creative director reporting to Lubars presented equally lazy answers to marketing challenges, would the CCO tolerate such meager, half-assed executions? Then again, Lubars will undoubtedly nab an ADCOLOR® Award for his Black brainstorm.

2. The promotion of the BBDO New York Creative Residency Program seems like preparatory propaganda for sharing “all of the numbers”—per HP CMO Antonio Lucio, who promised to create a “White” paper detailing the results of his White advertising agencies’ diversity efforts.

3. Omnicom CEO John Wren pledged to double the number of female creative leaders at BBDO in one year. It’s already been shown that these diverted diversity schemes are only benefiting White women and dissing women of color. In short, BBDO will significantly boost White women while offering a “low five” to Blacks.

BBDO New York’s creative residency program goes nationwide

By I-Hsien Sherwood

In its third year, the program expands its reach, as well as the definition of agency diversity.

There’s a well-worn path to becoming an ad agency creative. Undergrad, portfolio school, internship, entry-level—deviate and the industry becomes much more difficult to break into.

But for the past three years, BBDO New York has been quietly running an innovative program to recruit talent from beyond the usual pipelines. Initially conceived as a diversity program, the Creative Residency has expanded its purview to cover diversity of thought and experience—DJs, science fiction writers or creatives who had never considered advertising as a career— while shepherding 12 people into full-time jobs. And this year, the program is going national.

“Traditionally, we’re only looking for people in advertising schools,” said Jd Michaels, EVP, director of creative engineering and director of diversity at BBDO New York. “Were not going to people who are in radio or in television or people who are actors. You do that when you’re looking for people to be planners, but you never hear anything about that with creative.”

This year’s residents include Raymond Li, a painter and photographer who’s worked on new business accounts at MediaCom, and Storm Smith, a deaf filmmaker and motivational speaker. The third resident, Andy Deaza, has a more traditional advertising background, with experience at Miami Ad School and agencies like JWT, FCB, McCann and SpikeDDB.

“For me personally, I was nervous, because I think I’m the only deaf person in this company, ever,” Smith said. “I knew it was a fast pace. The other two have more experience [in the industry] than I do. It’s a totally different world to survive in.” The three residents ease communication with a smartphone app that transcribes speech for Smith to read, and Deaza and Li are learning sign language.

The Creative Residency program is officially in its third year, but it’s difficult to distinguish former residents from current—except for a single member who was poached by Apple, they all still work at the agency. It’s meant to be a simple transition; while the residencies last for a year, the purpose is to funnel talented creative into the agency, “a pipeline for great talent that nobody else is tapping yet,” according to David Lubars, chief creative officer for BBDO Worldwide.

The program grew out of a desire to increase black representation at the agency. In 2014, Lubars received a request from the One Club to send a creative to its long-running “Here Are All the Black People” multicultural career fair, then in its fifth year. “So I sent myself,” he recalled.

During a panel at the event, a question from the audience asked what black and minority creative should do to get their foot in the door at an agency. “Some of the people on the stage weren’t in the position that I was in” to make hires, Lubars said. So he decided on the spot to hire five people of color and tasked Michaels with selecting them. “It’s not that hard, it’s just deciding to. I just wish we’d done it earlier,” he said.

If the residents themselves are nontraditional agency folk, the recruitment method is even more so. Rather than conduct interviews, Michaels and Karla Mayers, EVP, director of diversity and supplier diversity at BBDO New York, identify potential candidates they meet through networking or industry events and monitor their projects and success for as much as a year, sometimes even longer. Amy Lai had been on Michaels’ radar for the initial class of residents, “but we kind of lost touch,” she said. “He found me again when I won MAIP Intern of the Year. ‘We’ve been looking for you!’” Lai joined BBDO as a resident in the program’s second year and now works as a junior art director at the agency.

“It’s the friendliest kind of stalking,” Michaels said. “At the end of this process, we cold called them at their job, asked what they were doing, and told them that they should quit and come work here because they have a job here now.” With only one exception, they all did.

“Out of the gate, we’re providing a full-year commitment and a full-time job with unwavering support from the agency, quickly leading to real work for some of our biggest clients,” said John Osborn, CEO of BBDO New York. “Most importantly, the program is working. Residents are converting to ongoing copywriter and art director positions in the agency, and so the benefits of the program are enduring. And it’s focused purely on creatives, which is the area of the business that the industry and BBDO needs to most keenly address with regard to finding, cultivating and maintaining diverse talent.”

Now that BBDO New York’s Creative Residency program has matured, it’s expanding to BBDO’s other offices in the US. “We wanted to make sure we had this down, that it was successful,” Mayers said. “We felt it was a good time to make that transition.”

The other offices will be able to lean on New York for guidance, but each location will be responsible for determining exactly how the residencies will play out. “They have different cultures. They’re not New York,” Michaels said. “They don’t have the exact same rhythm and style that we do, so they have to find people who match who they are.”

Each office will have at least two residents so newcomers have a partner. “I was delighted when David came up with this program,” said Debbie Lindner, EVP, chief people officer at BBDO Atlanta. “It’s interesting how you invigorate and plant seeds of change in an organization.”

Atlanta is still working out the exact budget for the residencies, which will determine how many people they’re able to hire this year. “We want to make certain we find the right talent,” Lindner said. “They’ll tend more to be junior to mid-level and focused on digital capability.”

As in New York, the recruitment process will be long-term. It will begin this summer, so Atlanta expects to start making offers early next year. Once the North American offices have their Creative Residencies firmly in place, Lubars expects the program to go global.

As for Michaels, he’d be happy to see it expand beyond even BBDO Worldwide. “Our greatest hope,” he said, “is that people rip off this program and do it everywhere.”

13336: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 47.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this semi-regular blog series.)

The Advertising Age story about HP Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Antonio Lucio mandating diverted diversity for his White advertising agencies featured the following excerpt:

BBDO Worldwide President and CEO Andrew Robertson expressed his commitment to the idea saying, “the pursuit of gender equality is something Antonio and I have discussed a lot over the years, and not just because of business. I have two daughters and he has five. He knows about BBDO’s commitment to double the number of female senior creative leaders we have in one year and obviously supports it. His initiative to formalize an action plan on his business is something we welcome.”

Sorry, but Robertson is a culturally clueless liar and fucking moron.

First of all, Robertson is supposed to be focused on true diversity versus promoting White women, as his agency and Omnicom promised to address the chronic exclusivity 10 years ago. To date, BBDO’s greatest accomplishments in the area involve smokescreens like a Diversity Development Advisory Committee, a comic book and sending Chief Creative Officer David Lubars to Here Are All The Black People events. The actual results of these half-assed efforts are unknown, as Omnicom refuses to share its EEO-1 data. For Robertson to position himself and BBDO as genuinely concerned and committed to progress demonstrates dishonesty, hypocrisy and idiocy of the highest order.

C’MON WHITE MAN!

13236: The Scambags At BBDO.

Adweek reported BBDO has withdrawn all Brazilian Bayer ads after a scam ad won a Bronze Lion in the Cannes competition. “I learned last night that one of our very own agencies had a pretty scammy ad in the festival, and it won a Lion,” said BBDO Global Creative Chief David Lubars. “I told them to return it. Because I don’t want that kind of Lion. BBDO doesn’t want that kind of Lion.” Um, there was nothing “scammy” about it. It was a scam ad—pure and simple—as the Brazilian BBDO shop created it exclusively for the award show; plus, the agency paid for the media placement. Cannes has specific policies forbidding the entry and awarding of scam ads, including fuzzy penalties that read as follows:

We believe that banning agencies from entering on a wholesale basis is unfair on blameless individuals. There are many people who work in agencies who may not be involved with an erroneous entry and therefore should not be penalised. Our policy will be to ban the individuals named on the credit list if a scam is discovered.

The length and nature of the ban will be decided based on the seriousness of the case involved. We take the view that not all issues are the same and each case should be dealt with on its own merits.

Of course, the profit-generating machine called Cannes is not about to ban the entire BBDO universe, as it would lead to serious revenue losses. So far, there have been no reports on the banning of a handful of BBDO Brazilians—who were probably surprised to hear from Lubars too. Was it the first time they had ever connected? Did anyone from BBDO have to call the Bayer brass and explain the PR mess was the work of rogue Brazilians? Regardless, it’s funny how the culturally clueless nature of the scam ad is apparently more heinous than the fraudulent factor. An opportunity to promote diverted diversity trumps integrity—both of which trump diversity. Oh, and BBDO probably counts the Brazilians as evidence of its commitment to diversity.

BBDO Withdraws All Brazilian Bayer Ads From Cannes With Apology to Festival and Client

Lubars says AlmapBBDO work was ‘scammy’

By Kristina Monllos, Tim Nudd

CANNES, France—AlmapBBDO, facing criticism for questionable wins at this week’s Cannes Lions, has withdrawn all its Bayer work from the festival at the request of BBDO global creative chief David Lubars.

“I learned last night that one of our very own agencies had a pretty scammy ad in the festival, and it won a Lion,” said Lubars, from the stage of the Debussy Theatre during BBDO’s Cannes Lions session today. “I told them to return it. Because I don’t want that kind of Lion. BBDO doesn’t want that kind of Lion.”

This follows the agency’s apology for its bronze Lion-winning work, which was accused of being sexist, and—per the client’s own description—appears to have been created solely to win awards for the agency.

“All Bayer work created by AlmapBBDO has been withdrawn from the Festival,” a BBDO network spokesman said in a statement. “The work was approved by the local client to be run in Brazil. However, the media was paid for by AlmapBBDO, which contravenes the Cannes entry regulations.”

The spokesman added: “We regret this and apologize to the festival organizers and our client for any embarrassment caused.”

Work for Bayer from the agency included the “.MOV” ad which was one of three ads in a campaign that won a bronze Lion in Outdoor. The agency also submitted a separate campaign that won a bronze Lion in the Print & Publishing category.

12862: Lubars On Hiring Whites.

BU Today interviewed BBDO CCO David Lubars—who made such a great impression at the annual “Where Are All The Black People?” soiree—and asked him for insight on hiring:

What qualities do you look for in people you hire?

I’m looking for people sort of like me: people who think their work is never good enough, that it can always be better; they’re driven, crazy, insecure. It’s tough skin to live in, but the best people are that way. The old saying is true: “The best people are always terrified they’re about to be fired while the mediocre ones are always shocked when they are.”

Yep, Lubars looks for (White) people like him with tough (White) skin.