16894: Big Food, Big Tobacco, Big Trouble.

 

Advertising Age reported on a lawsuit charging big food companies emulate Big Tobacco; that is, packaged food corporations deliberately make addictive products promoted by marketing campaigns targeting children and minorities.

 

Not sure why the lawsuit is only attacking packaged food manufacturers versus also going after brands like Mickey D’s. After all, it could be argued McNuggets and McRibs are the equivalent of menthol cigarettes.

 

Lawsuit alleges major food makers knowingly used Big Tobacco tactics

 

The makers of Oreo, Pop-Tarts, Slim Jim and other products face a lawsuit over childhood disease

 

By Ally Marotti

 

Packaged food giants face a lawsuit alleging that they knowingly make addictive products that cause illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and target children with those products.

 

Food and beverage marketers named in the lawsuit include Coca-Cola Co., Conagra Brands, General Mills, Kellanova, Kraft Heinz, Mars, Mondelēz International, Nestlé USA, PepsiCo, Post Holdings and WK Kellogg Co.

 

Pennsylvania resident Bryce Martinez filed the lawsuit on Dec. 10 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. The lawsuit alleges that Martinez developed type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease when he was 16 because he frequently ate the companies’ products.

 

Martinez “is one of many casualties of defendants’ predatory profiteering,” the complaint says. “(He) is now suffering from these devastating diseases, and will continue to suffer for the rest of his life.”

 

The lawsuit comes as the spotlight is turning upon the ingredients in some of the country’s most popular packaged food brands. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has broadly critiqued processed foods. He has vowed to remove them from school lunch programs and disallow them from being bought with food stamps.

 

Kennedy has specifically discussed the harms of high-fructose corn syrup and processed grains. If his nomination is approved, he will oversee a department that has partial oversight of Americans’ diet through the Food and Drug Administration.

 

The lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania earlier this month targets ultra-processed foods, which it says are “industrially produced edible substances that are imitations of food.” They contain little to no whole food, and have come to dominate the American diet since the 1980s, the lawsuit says. On average, children now derive two-thirds of their energy from ultra-processed foods.

 

The lawsuit points to the rise of type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease, which “had been largely confined to elderly alcoholics,” in children. It ties the increasing prevalence of such diseases to the 1980s, when tobacco companies bought major U.S. food companies. For example, tobacco company Philip Morris bought Kraft Foods in 1988.

 

The tobacco companies then “used their cigarette playbook to fill our food environment with addictive substances that are aggressively marketed to children and minorities,” according to the lawsuit.

 

The lawsuit alleges that the companies that make ultra-processed foods are “well aware of the harms they are causing and (have) known it for decades. But they continue to inflict massive harm on society in a reckless pursuit of profits.”

 

Representatives from each company did not respond to a request for comment. The exception was Conagra: Its spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation.

 

The Consumer Brands Association, a trade association that represents many of the country’s packaged food companies, said in a statement that such companies adhere to FDA standards and “deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers depend on every day.”

 

“Americans deserve facts based on sound science in order to make the best choices for their health. There is currently no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods,” Sarah Gallo, senior VP of Product Policy, said in a statement. “Attempting to classify foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed, or demonizing food by ignoring its full nutrient content, misleads consumers and exacerbates health disparities.”

 

At its heart, this lawsuit is a product liability case, said R. Mark McCareins, a clinical professor of business law at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“The cost of doing business in the U.S., with our civil justice system, are suits like this,” he said. “The fact that somebody filed a lawsuit does not mean that … the companies did anything wrong, and they are more than free to defend themselves.”

 

In such cases, attorneys typically must prove causation—in this case, did the ultra-processed foods cause the diseases—and that the companies knew about the harm. Typically, expert testimony is vital.

16577: General Mills Says, “Cheerio, White Advertising Agencies!”

 

Advertising Age reported General Mills is staging a global creative shootout across its portfolio of products, featuring up to 100 brands including Annie’s, Cheerios, and Fiber One—the latter being appropriately highlighted, as the impending review is sure to be a shitshow.

 

A General Mills statement declared: “As we continue to build iconic brands, we are always looking at our internal and partner capabilities. We are in the early stages to kick off a review of our creative capabilities, including our project-based agency roster.”

 

The General Mills corporate speak could be translated as follows: “We’re gonna dump as much work as possible into our in-house outhouses. Then we’ll divvy up major projects to an exclusive stable of White advertising agencies, awarding stuff to the lowest bidders. All White women celebrations—eg, Women’s History Month, International Women’s Day, Equal Pay Day, Menopause Awareness, etc—will receive generous marketing budgets and be handled by the White advertising agencies too. We’ll proudly and performatively allocate cautious consideration and cash for the LGBTQIA+ community. Finally, we’ll toss crumbs to minority firms for one-offs of color—like Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and Native American Heritage Month.”

 

As the industry continues to devolve into a cage fight for the right to participate on tactical initiatives, AOR has come to mean Assignee Of Record—emphasis on Ass.

 

General Mills launches global creative review

 

Marketer of brands including Annie’s, Cheerios and Fiber One named UM media agency of record last October

 

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

 

General Mills has launched a global creative agency review across its portfolio of 100 brands, which include Annie’s, Cheerios and Fiber One.

 

The review will be handled by consultancy R3, which declined comment.

 

Last October, General Mills named a new global media agency of record, Interpublic Group of Cos.’ UM, which took that account from WPP’s Mindshare, following a review led by Mediasense.

 

“As we continue to build iconic brands, we are always looking at our internal and partner capabilities,” a General Mills spokesperson said in a statement. “We are in the early stages to kick off a review of our creative capabilities, including our project-based agency roster.”

 

The company currently works with different agencies on different brands. For example, Stagwell-owned Anomaly works on creative for brands including Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reese’s Puffs and Honey Nut Cheerios, while Pereira O’Dell has done work for Annie’s. Specialty food marketing shop Ingredient is the company’s content marketing agency of record. Independent shop Erich and Kallman is also on the roster.

 

It’s unclear if General Mills is looking to consolidate its account with one agency, or which shops are pitching.

 

General Mills spent $810 million on worldwide advertising and media in its fiscal year 2023, which ended in May, according to its annual regulatory filing. The Minneapolis-based food company spent $657 million on measured media in the U.S. in 2023, up from $507 million in 2022, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics.

 

Analysts will get their next look at General Mills’ financials on March 20, when it reports fiscal third-quarter results. The company reported lower volume sales, which contributed to net sales falling 2% to $5.1 billion, in its second fiscal quarter ended in November. General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening cited “a continued challenging consumer landscape.” By comparison, cereal rival WK Kellogg Co.’s sales were down 3.7% to nearly $651 million in its fourth quarter.

 

General Mills has recently been trying to find new, younger audiences for some of its household food brands. It’s done so with a new emerging brand partnerships approach that’s seen collaborations between FaZe Clan and Totinos and Betty Crocker and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” among others. The company also introduced last month a “Loaded” cereal lineup, with vanilla creme-filled versions of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Puffs, among others, in its attempts to attract more Gen Z consumers.

 

Contributing: Erika Wheless

14614: General Mills Run-Of-The-Mill Bullshit.

Advertising Age reported General Mills pulled AOR status from 72andSunny in a move designed to create a project-based model for the cereal maker. Maybe the White advertising agency should spend less time fabricating diversity playbooks and more time focusing on brand playbooks. Expect future shootouts on projects to feature lots of client-appeasing concepts starring Gracie.

General Mills strips 72andSunny of agency of record title

MDC Partners agency continues to work with brands including Cheerios alongside other roster shops

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

General Mills has stripped MDC Partners shop 72andSunny of its agency of record title as it shifts to a project-based model.

The agency, in partnership with Redscout, won lead U.S. creative duties in 2016 for some of the company’s larger brands including Cheerios, Nature Valley and Yoplait. People close to the situation told Ad Age that 72andSunny will continue to work on certain projects for Cheerios but that it was taken off the Yoplait and Nature Valley accounts.

“We do not have a creative agency of record,” a General Mills spokesman confirmed in an email to Ad Age. “We have a portfolio of agencies that our brands can use based on their current needs.”

The spokesman declined to comment further so it is unclear exactly when this change took effect.

A spokeswoman for 72andSunny declined to comment.

Independent agencies Erich & Kallman, Pereira O’Dell and Joan (which recently rebranded from Joan Creative) are also on General Mills’ roster, working with various of its brands on a project basis. Erich & Kallman, for example, produced a Gen Z-friendly ad for Reese’s Puffs in February that highlighted the woes of prom dress shopping.

Erich & Kallman, Pereira O’Dell and Joan were all selected to handle certain projects as a result of the larger 2016 creative review, as was indie shop The Community, which told Ad Age it has since parted ways with General Mills.

While 72andSunny categorized it as a restructuring move at the time, one person close to the situation said the agency’s layoffs in March, which trimmed five percent of its staff in New York and Los Angeles, may have been related to the loss of General Mills. The Los Angeles office had handled Cheerios and will continue to do so.

Losing AOR status on Cheerios surely comes as a blow to 72andSunny, which last year lost the Nissan Infiniti account; clients Coors Light and Johnnie Walker have been placed into review. The agency declined to defend Coors Light. Late last year, the shop lost MillerCoors’ Coors Banquet to Mekanism.

General Mills’ U.S. measured media spending declined 9.2 percent to $644 million in 2017, according to the Ad Age Datacenter. Cheerios’ 2017 spending fell 31.9 percent from 2018 to $99 million, Nature Valley’s grew 12.6 percent to $59.9 million and Yoplait’s was trimmed 43.2 percent to $59.9 million, Ad Age’s data shows.

13892: Remaking Exclusivity.

Adweek published a report titled, “Agencies Are Remaking Themselves to Satisfy Client Demands”—detailing how “up-and-coming shops” are creating fresh business models. The story makes no mention of diversity, despite the alleged client demands for inclusion at White advertising agencies. Plus, the accompanying illustration (depicted above) features no clear diversity. Brilliant.

13595: #BringBackTheBlacks With Cheerios.

Advertising Age reported General Mills produced a stunt “to highlight the dwindling number of bees” by removing the Honey Nut Cheerios BuzzBee character from cereal boxes. If only General Mills had put as much effort into its stunt to highlight the dwindling number of Blacks in advertising agencies.

Honey Nut Cheerios Mascot BuzzBee Disappears From Box to Highlight Endangered Pollinators

General Mills Brand Is Encouraging Consumers to Plant Wildflowers

By Alexandra Jardine

Honey Nut Cheerios has removed its bee mascot BuzzBee from cereal boxes in the U.S. and Canada, in order to highlight the dwindling numbers of bees.

The General Mills-owned brand is using the blank space where the bee should be to encourage consumers to plant over 100 million wildflowers this year, in order to ensure a more bee-friendly world. The campaign, #BringBackTheBees, invites families to order and plant free seeds from Vesey’s Seeds by visiting the campaign website.

The brand points out that bees have experienced an unprecedented scale of habitat loss, with more than nine million acres of grass and prairie land converted to crop land since 2008. Approximately 30 percent of all ingredients in General Mills’ products rely on pollination.

Susanne Prucha, director of marketing for Cheerios, said in a statement: “As a General Mills cereal built around nutrition, helping pollinators get the key nutrition they need through fun, family-friendly activities like planting wildflowers is a natural fit.”

13516: Dance, Daddy, Dance!

This Honey Nut Cheerios commercial is cloying and annoying. Cheerios has gone from Black dads to gay dads to douche dads to dancing dads. In the Cheerios bizarro universe, there are no moms or sons. Look for a pool-out starring Nelly and his daughter soon. And while General Mills appears to love seeing Black men in its advertising, the cereal maker doesn’t seem to love seeing Black men in its advertising agencies, despite the bullshit mandates for diversity.

13482: CMOs Want Whiteness…?

At Advertising Age’s Small Agency Diary, PJA Advertising & Marketing Executive VP-Planning Hugh Kennedy presented “Five Things CMOs Want in 2017.” Not on the list: Diversity—despite the faux concern from brands including PepsiCo, General Mills, HP and Visa. This is good news for PJA Advertising & Marketing, especially given the racial and ethnic makeup of its predominately White executive leadership.

13479: Erin Johnson’s Essential Bullshit.

Campaign placed JWT Chief Communications Officer and Discrimination Whistleblower Erin Johnson at the No. 1 spot on “The 10 Essential Advertising People of the Year.” Gee, Johnson has become the Rosa Parks of diverted diversity in the advertising industry. According to Campaign, “The ad industry thought it had come a long way since the days of ‘Mad Men.’ But an explosive discrimination suit filed against one agency’s global CEO blew that pretty presumption out of the water this year and dragged an ugly truth out of shadows—the agency world can still be a very unfriendly place for women and minorities.” It’s amazing that Campaign considers itself a legitimate trade journal, as the average informed person recognizes quite clearly that the ad industry has not evolved much since the “Mad Men” era—and Madison Avenue is still chronically unfriendly to minorities. Sorry, but the discrimination that White women allegedly face is a veritable country club experience compared to the bullshit that minorities have endured. Yet Campaign—mirroring the rest of adland—has been quick to jump on the White women bandwagon, pushing true diversity to the back of the bus. Which sorta makes Johnson more like James F. Blake than Parks.

Campaign also claimed Johnson’s lawsuit created “ripple effects” including the dubious demands from General Mills and HP, as well as the launch of Free The Bid and the downfalls of Kevin Roberts and Alexei Orlov. Wow, Johnson is definitely a candidate for an ADCOLOR® Award. It’s a wonder her mighty efforts weren’t enough to catapult Hillary Clinton into the White House.

Of course, diverted diversity diva Cindy Gallop threw in her two cents, for which she’ll receive no compensation: “Erin Johnson’s outstanding bravery in filing a lawsuit against JWT when every other recourse had failed, emboldened women and people of color to speak up about the ingrained sexism and racism that has been holding our industry back for far too long. Our clients miss out on our best work when they miss out on the talent and creativity of women and POC. I hope this lawsuit changes that forever.” Well, bigger legal actions than this have failed to put a dent in diversity. And to be accurate, Johnson has not “emboldened…people of color to speak up” about anything—except to complain that true diversity is being ignored in favor of promoting White women.

The 10 Essential Advertising People of the Year: No. 1 Erin Johnson

Her explosive discrimination suit against JWT and its former CEO cracked open the conversation on gender bias and harassment.

By Eleftheria Parpis

For better or worse, 2016 was a landmark year in advertising. To mark its conclusion, Campaign US is highlighting 10 people we believe are essential to understanding how it all went down. Click here to see the list.

The ad industry thought it had come a long way since the days of “Mad Men.” But an explosive discrimination suit filed against one agency’s global CEO blew that pretty presumption out of the water this year and dragged an ugly truth out of shadows—the agency world can still be a very unfriendly place for women and minorities.

In March, Erin Johnson, an 11-year veteran of J. Walter Thompson and the agency’s chief communications officer, hit Gustavo Martinez, JWT and its holding company, WPP, with a bombshell lawsuit claiming the former CEO had “subjected Johnson and other employees to an unending stream of racist and sexist comments as well as unwanted touching and other unlawful conduct.” According to the complaint, Martinez routinely made references to rape in the office, directed at Johnson and other female staffers. And a video recording of Martinez, who resigned a week after the case was filed, was submitted to the court showing the executive making a joke about being raped “not in a nice way” at a company meeting.

The suit painted a picture of an agency leader who was openly hostile toward women, alleging that during a meeting Martinez once told an employee that a female executive needed to be “hogtied” and “raped into submission.” But it wasn’t only “bossy boss” women like Johnson who were on the receiving end of Martinez’s bad behavior, charged the suit. It was “black monkeys” and “fucking Jews,” too. As head of PR, Johnson had found it impossible to do her job, argued her lawyers. His repeated jokes about rape and his racist remarks were indicative of a hostile work environment, they argued, and it was also a potential PR nightmare that Johnson had attempted to avert by alerting company management, including the agency’s head of talent. And the agency failed to respond, they said.

With a 30-page suit filed in Manhattan federal court, Johnson threw the industry’s gender and diversity issues into stark relief and kick-started an industry-wide conversation that was long overdue. The fact that there aren’t enough women in leadership positions had been safely debated in recent years, but sexual harassment and discrimination was still a subject relegated to hallway whispers and locked behind closed doors.

There wasn’t an industry event in 2016 that didn’t address the subject of women in the workplace, noted Nancy Hill, president and CEO of the 4A’s. “The level of discourse this year increased tenfold,” she said. “There were several incidents that took place. Right, wrong, or indifferent, in terms of how you feel about them, they elevated the number of people who were willing to say what is going on in the industry isn’t right.”

Hill declined to specifically discuss Johnson or JWT, but she did take one holding company executive to task about the subject at the 4A’s Transformation conference in March. When asked on stage whether he believed the JWT case had exposed a larger industry problem, Maurice Levy, the CEO of Publicis Groupe, characterized it as an isolated mistake and Hill, following his appearance, made it clear she did not agree. “It’s one of the reason’s we did the study we did,” said Hill. “So nobody can point to any one incident and say it is an isolated incident. The feeling of the women in the industry is that it happens on a pretty regular basis.”

The study to which Hill refers found that more than 50 percent of women at ad agencies reported being sexually harassed at least once in their careers, and 58 percent of female creatives reported they experience sexual harassment “often.”

The conversations sparked by the Johnson case is a “silver lining,” said JWT New York CEO Lynn Power, during an Advertising Week panel about creative diversity programs. “This conversation that needs to happen. It’s a good thing that we’re talking about it.”

The ripple effects from Johnson’s filing reverberated throughout 2016. Diversity became the year’s dominant issue, with General Mills and HP, among others, eventually demanding that their agencies make more female and diversity hires. “Free the Bid” mobilized support behind female directorial and production talent. In July, Kevin Roberts’ career ended just days after he made controversial comments about women in the press, showing just how low tolerance on the issue had become. And at least one other discrimination lawsuit was filed against one more agency leader accused of atrocious behavior: In May, Greg Anderson filed a discrimination suit against former RAPP global CEO Alexei Orlov, claiming he was fired after he complained about the CEO’s racist and sexist conduct.

Nine months after Johnson filed her suit, her case is making its way through the federal legal system. Martinez, who denies the allegations, has moved back to Europe and continues to be employed by WPP. And Johnson, back at work at the agency after a leave of absence, has filed a motion for a temporary injunction, claiming she is suffering “highly visible punishment” in the office. While the judge, J. Paul Oetken, has yet to make a ruling as to whether to issue the order, he has denied WPP’s motion to dismiss and has moved the case on to the discovery phase in preparation for a trial.

Whichever way the case ends, one thing is clear: 2016 will be remembered as a pivotal year for women in advertising. “I have had more than one man say to me ‘I had no idea until this year how bad it was’ and ‘it’s opened my eyes,’” says Hill. “I’m hoping it’s gotten people to wake up and look around.”

Cindy Gallop, former agency executive and diversity champion, is hopeful that Johnson’s actions will have lasting impact. “Erin Johnson’s outstanding bravery in filing a lawsuit against JWT when every other recourse had failed, emboldened women and people of color to speak up about the ingrained sexism and racism that has been holding our industry back for far too long,” said Gallop, in an email. “Our clients miss out on our best work when they miss out on the talent and creativity of women and POC. I hope this lawsuit changes that forever.”

13455: General Mills Internal Review…?

Advertising Age reported General Mills is losing Chief Marketing Officer Ann Simonds amid a global structural rejiggering. Gee, that must be comfortable for the White advertising agencies and diversity shops Simonds just hired. And will Simonds’ departure upset the gender equality at General Mills? Oh, the humanity!

General Mills CMO Simonds Out Amid Overhaul and Job Cuts

By Jessica Wohl

General Mills is laying out a new global structure including a new global chief marketing officer, and said CMO Ann Simonds would leave at the end of the year.

Along with the CMO shakeup, the company said the overhaul of its global structure includes four group presidents and plans to eliminate hundreds of positions.

The changes announced Monday come after President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Harmening took on global operations responsibilities in July, reporting to Chairman and CEO Ken Powell.

General Mills said it is eliminating the position of international chief operating officer. That role was previously held by Chris O’Leary. In all, the company said the new structure would impact about 400 to 600 positions globally.

The maker of Cheerios said it plans to name a new global CMO/marketing innovation leader who will report to Mr. Harmening.

“Ann Simonds, SVP Chief Marketing Officer for General Mills U.S. business has announced her intention to leave the company at the end of the year,” General Mills said in a statement. “We have made no further announcements regarding leadership changes.”

Ms. Simonds, who was named CMO in 2014, has been with General Mills since 1995.

Ms. Simonds and Chief Creative Officer Michael Fanuele led the company’s search for new U.S. creative partners this year.

General Mills said it wants to enhance its capabilities in areas including strategic revenue management, e-commerce, and marketing innovation, “and intends to augment its current talent with external expertise in these areas over the next several months.”

The changes come two months after General Mills reported a 7% sales decline in the fiscal first quarter, or a decline of 4% excluding the impact of certain items such as its sale of the Green Giant business in North America. During that quarter, General Mills saw strength in U.S. natural and organic brands and in its emerging markets, but struggled in other areas.

In October, General Mills named 72andSunny and Redscout as its lead creative agencies for its U.S. business. Just last week, it rounded out that U.S. creative roster, naming Joan Creative, Erich & Kallman and The Community to work on projects across its portfolio of brands.

As of Jan. 1, four groups will report directly to Mr. Harmening, each led by its own group president. Jon Nudi will oversee North America retail, including U.S. retail and Canada; Bethany Quam will run Europe and Australia; Christina Law will oversee Asia and Latin America; and Shawn O’Grady will run the convenience stores & foodservice unit.

The company’s dairy strategic brand unit, based in France, will be another part of the new global structure. Olivier Faujour will run that unit, reporting to Mr. Harmening, and will work with the four group presidents to find more ways to drive the global dairy business. General Mills currently has No. 2 global positions in yogurt and super-premium ice cream, with brands including Yoplait and Häagen-Dazs.

A new global revenue development group, which includes strategic revenue management and e-commerce, will report to Mr. O’Grady, who along with the role of group president, convenience stores and foodservice, will also be senior VP-global revenue development.

Operations functions including innovation, technology and quality and supply chain will still report to Mr. Harmening. Corporate functions including external relations, finance, human resources and legal will still report to Mr. Powell.

13454: Run-Of-The-Mill General Mills.

Adweek reported General Mills wrapped up its U.S. creative shootout by tapping three agencies for project-based work. Is the foodmaker compensating for hiring White advertising agencies—essentially fudging on its demand for diversity—by signing up a few “diverse” shops? Technically, only two of the three firms qualify as diversity hires: White-women-infused Joan and Latino-infused The Community. In contrast, Erich & Kallman is a relatively new White advertising agency. About the trio of additional shops, a General Mills representative said, “They have all exhibited a strong commitment to diversity. The objective remains having meaningful conversations with our partners to ensure they understand the importance of embracing this ongoing commitment to diversity.” Um, the advertising industry has been having “meaningful conversations” about diversity for over 60 years. However, meaningful conversations have not led to measurable results. General Mills’ diversity dreams have turned out to be meaningless bullshit.

General Mills Concludes Its U.S. Creative Review by Naming 3 Agencies for Project-Based Work

Joan, Erich & Kallman and The Community get the nod

By Patrick Coffee

General Mills concluded the closed creative review it launched this summer by naming three agencies to handle project-based work for its extensive brand lineup.

Joan, Erich & Kallman and The Community will now join 72andSunny and Redscout on General Mills’ agency roster. The latter two MDC Partners shops joined forces to win the U.S. agency of record review in late October. Joanne Davis Consulting led both review processes.

Moving forward, the 72andSunny/Redscout partnership will focus on large brands like Cheerios and Nature Valley while the just-announced trio will “work across General Mills’ portfolio of brands as needs arise.” All five roster shops will collaborate with the client’s in-house unit, The Bellshop, as well as its media agency of record, Mindshare.

General Mills, which is one of America’s largest advertisers, follows other major corporate entities like P&G in consolidating most of its account with one holding company and picking a diverse lineup of smaller shops to handle assorted projects.

“In looking to round-out our roster, we met with dozens of interesting agencies and were wildly impressed by the breadth of talent out there,” said General Mills vp and chief creative officer Michael Fanuele, a veteran of Fallon. “The industry is teeming with small agencies of every variety doing really powerful work. We’re very excited to work with these three agencies. We’re confident they’ll help us crack great creative work for our brands, and they’ll do so with ambition and generosity.”

General Mills also earned attention in August for releasing a statement in which it indicated that future agency partners’ creative departments must include 50 percent women and 20 percent people of color. Regarding its new agencies, a company representative said, “They have all exhibited a strong commitment to diversity. The objective remains having meaningful conversations with our partners to ensure they understand the importance of embracing this ongoing commitment to diversity.”

Joan and Erich & Kallman are newly-operational indie shops, while Miami-based multicultural agency The Community — which was formerly known as la comunidad and has an office in Buenos Aires — was bought by SapientNitro in 2014 prior to that network’s 2015 acquisition by Publicis Groupe.

“We are over the moon to be working with General Mills, the great American company dedicated to making food that people really love,” said Joan co-founder and former Ogilvy executive Lisa Clunie. The agency has already been working on related projects for several months after announcing its launch in May with the food giant as its flagship client.

“We look forward to getting a chance to help add to the next chapter of their incredible legacy,” said Goodby, Silverstein & Partners veteran Eric Kallman. He launched Erich & Kallman in San Francisco along with former CP+B president Steve Erich in May and subsequently created campaigns for Chick-Fil-A, OneHopeWine and software startup Gusto.

According to Kantar Media, General Mills spent $320 million on measured media during the first half of 2016. This total is in keeping with 2015, when it spent more than $715 million.

13414: General Mills’ Inspiring Bullshit.

Advertising Age reported General Mills tapped 72andSunny and Redscout as its new White advertising agencies. General Mills VP Chief Creative Officer Michael Fanuele gushed, “72andSunny with Redscout impressed us for so many reasons: a generous passion for our consumers; creative chops that have culture-shaping power; experience helping brands change their fortunes; and an inspiring commitment to diversity among their creative team.” Of course, Fanuele, 72andSunny and Redscout didn’t publicly share any specifics on the “inspiring commitment to diversity among their creative team.” Heaven forbid the shops would have a noticeable and measurable commitment to diversity. Granted, the two agencies might be more diverse than the other competitors in the pitch—but it’s like the current Presidential race, where voters will ultimately be forced to choose the lesser of exclusive evils. Plus, 72andSunny displays suspicious sameness, while Redscout appears to have made a concerted effort to visually mix things up on the leadership section of the agency website. Does the agencies’ alleged “culture-shaping power” apply to their internal cultures?

General Mills Names 72andSunny, Redscout as Creative Leads

By Lindsay Stein, Jessica Wohl

General Mills has named MDC Partners’ 72andSunny and Redscout as its primary U.S. creative agency partners.

The food marketer now plans to begin a second phase of the creative review for its U.S. retail business, in order to decide on a fixed roster of project-based agencies.

“72andSunny with Redscout impressed us for so many reasons: a generous passion for our consumers; creative chops that have culture-shaping power; experience helping brands change their fortunes; and an inspiring commitment to diversity among their creative team,” Michael Fanuele, VP-chief creative officer, General Mills, said in a statement. “But what swayed us most was a distinct ability to collaborate, with us and our other partners. This feels like a genuine, productive relationship, the kind in which we will make each other better.”

In late August, General Mills said the agencies going through to the second round were Deutsch and Mother, along with incumbents 72andSunny, McCann and, rather than Saatchi, a holding company solution from Publicis Groupe. Redscout, which calls itself an innovation agency, is part of the MDC family, along with 72andSunny.

General Mills Chief Marketing Officer Ann Simonds previously told Ad Age that the review, which she ran with Mr. Fanuele, was prompted by a desire on the company’s part to zero-base its thinking on marketing.

Media, which is handled by Mindshare in the U.S., was not affected by the review. The review, which began this summer, encompassed General Mills’ entire U.S. retail business including cereal, yogurt, meals, snacks and baking products. Sales in that division fell 4.8% to $10 billion in fiscal 2016, which ended in late May.

General Mills said the review was supported by Joanne Davis Consulting. Before the review, General Mills had Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann as its primary advertising agencies. Wieden & Kennedy had previously handled Yoplait but is now the agency for Chobani. McCann still handles General Mills’ Cereal Partners Worldwide globally.

“We’ve been lucky to have Saatchi and McCann as excellent partners for many years,” Mr. Fanuele said. “They are incredible people who have done amazing work for our brands. They’ve been everything good partners and good friends should be, and we thank them for their great work.”

Representatives from McCann and Saatchi were not immediately available for comment. General Mills’ U.S. advertising spending declined 13.4% to $709.2 million in 2015, according to the Ad Age Datacenter. Media spending declined on a number of brands last year, including Betty Crocker, Cheerios, Nature Valley and Progresso. However, media spending on Yoplait increased by 8.9% to $179.6 million, Ad Age data shows.

In what’s becoming a larger trend in the industry around diversity and inclusion, General Mills required participating agencies to be staffed with at least 50% women and 20% people of color within the creative department. In September, HP Chief Marketing Officer Antonio Lucio sent a memo to the company’s advertising and marketing agency partners asking for a commitment “to radically improve the percentage of women and people of color in leadership roles” in their organizations. A month later, director Alma Har’el launched an initiative called “Free The Bid,” with the help of agencies including Pereira & O’Dell and Mother, that calls for agencies to include at least one female director every time it triple-bids a commercial production.

13413: Forcing Diversity Is Cool.

Campaign published a piece asking, “Should brands push agencies to meet diversity targets for staff?” Um, the question should be, “Why aren’t brands pushing White advertising agencies to meet diversity targets for staff?” After all, agencies have demonstrated quite clearly that they are incapable of even defining diversity targets. Hell, given the popular smokescreen of promoting White women under the guise of inclusion, it appears that agencies can’t even define diversity.

Appropriately enough, one White woman—23red CEO and Founding Partner Jane Asscher—expressed opposition to clients mandating change. Asscher opined, “In my view, brands should focus on getting their own houses in order.”

Ironically, 23red boasts being an agency for change:

23red is the creative agency that changes behaviour for the better. We know that getting people to do something (and do it now) is the most powerful way to change how they feel or think about a brand or a cause. We call it Do.Feel.Think.™

We’re experts in developing and crafting activation campaigns that start with a do and creating new brands that are action orientated.

Our Consult23 team develop new strategies that focus on an immediate action and long term change and our Content23 team produce engaging content that get things done.

Wow, Asscher and her crew appear to be the perfect people to help ignite diversity in the advertising industry. However, a peek at the agency’s leadership shows Asscher definitely needs to focus on getting her own house in order. Oh, and 23red’s work sucks too, so maybe they’re not the perfect people to tackle the global diversity dilemma.

But before telling Asscher to shut up, MultiCultClassics will offer her—and other ignorant assholes like Asscher—a few counterpoints to consider.

First, it’s true that most clients might have diversity challenges too, creating a “White people who live in glass houses…” scenario. At the same time, hypocrisy is already prevalent in the overall situation. For example, most White advertising agencies (including 23red) express a commitment to diversity while exhibiting an aversion to the cause. Hence, does it really matter who is being the bigger hypocrite?

Second, clients have public positions and identities to maintain. If a brand displays discrimination, it will result in public backlash and PR nightmares. White advertising agencies exist in relative anonymity, so they might not be as concerned with doing the right thing. However, brands must scrutinize their partners. It is in their own best interests—as well as the best interests of society—to require that partners are good citizens too.

Third, White advertising agencies have failed with self-regulation in regards to diversity. Legal, political and governmental intervention has been ignored. Ditto polite and professional requests. People like Asscher simply cannot be trusted to change on their own volition. It’s high time for clients to step in and force compliance. Indeed, it’s long overdue.

Finally, in case Asscher pulls the clichéd excuses that she doesn’t want to compromise on hiring and fears diminishing her staff by offering positions to people not based on merit, let’s recognize again the awfulness of 23red’s sucky work. Any qualified person could handle doing what Asscher does. In fact, fresh perspectives might actually improve the current shit.

Okay, now MultiCultClassics will tell Asscher to shut up.

Should brands push agencies to meet diversity targets for staff?

Clients could force well-intentioned agencies to make good on their word, Matthew Chapman writes.

By Matthew Chapman

Agencies like to talk the talk about improving diversity within the ad industry, but too many have been slow to walk the walk.

If anything, the industry’s reputation around diversity has worsened this year following the sexism row that cost Kevin Roberts his job at Saatchi & Saatchi and the resignation of J Walter Thompson’s Gustavo Martinez over allegations of racist and sexist comments.

Airbnb chief marketing officer Jonathan Mildenhall hit out at how “white” Cannes was this year, lamenting how he was the only black person at the dinners he attended. It is such clients who could force agencies’ hands when it comes to addressing a lack of diversity.

Verizon, HP and General Mills have already called for better representation, specifically of women and ethnic minorities, at their agencies.

There is a similar trend in the UK. Suki Thompson, chief executive of Oystercatchers, says her intermediary has started to include diversity information in agency profiles “so that marketers have better in-formation to inform their decisions”. She says: “It couldn’t be any clearer to our industry — it’s time to proactively find the new guard of talent from all walks of life to work within marketing.”

The IPA wants 40% of senior agency positions to be filled by women, and 15% by people from non-white backgrounds, by 2020. The body recommends members take diversity lessons from other industries.

Media owners, particularly in TV, are leading the way. Channel 4 has launched its 360° Diversity Charter, which requires 20% of staff to be from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background by 2020.

Dan Brooke, chief marketing and communications officer at Channel 4, says: “The creative and commercial benefits of a diverse workforce are indisputable and we encourage our partners to head for the promised land too.”

The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have also drawn up the Diamond diversity reporting guidelines, which require production companies to disclose diversity information about their staff.

The challenge is to throw the recruitment net wider as people from ethnically diverse and less well-off backgrounds might not even be applying for jobs.

Lots of agencies are being proactive. Omnicom Media Group, whose clients include Channel 4, has set up OMG Ethnic, a multicultural consultancy.

Jane Asscher, chief executive of independent agency 23red, says brands should make sure they get their own house in order before criticising others.

13410: General Mills’ General Market.

AgencySpy posted on the General Mills pitch that features diversity requests for the competing White advertising agencies. The blog post included:

According to our sources, the five invited to the closed review were Mother New York, McCann New York, Deutsch, 72andSunny and a Publicis conglomerate represented by Fallon, whose former CSO Michael Fanuele is now GM’s creative chief.

Okey-doke. Hopefully, General Mills has viewed the Mother wall, demanded the truth from McCann, accounted for the investments at Deutsch, checked the 72andSunny forecast and looked up the definition of cronyism. And while they’re at it, General Mills should look up the definition of hypocrisy too.

13409: Delayed WTF 33—CMO 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.

Digiday published another culturally clueless confession from an alleged leader within a White advertising agency—a probable White woman serving as a Chief Marketing Officer—who shared her ignorant thoughts on diversity.

Reacting to the recent requests for diversity from General Mills and HP, the confessor cried that quotas lead to hiring based on motives other than merit. First of all, MultiCultClassics addressed this outdated perspective years ago. Secondly, the confessor seems oblivious to the fact that her own executive existence is undoubtedly being listed as a diversity hiring, as White advertising agencies are promoting White women with roles like Chief Marketing Officer in order to boost diverted diversity figures. Sorry, but the confessor’s cloddish comments show she obviously did not land her job via professional experience and merit.

The confessor also predicted, “There are going to be situations where agencies, under pressure and time, won’t hire on merit, but will go find 10 more women and five people of color.” Um, the recruiting ratio between White women and people of color will be far greater than 2 to 1. Hell, it will probably exceed 200 to 1.

The confessor realized recruiters contribute to the global dilemma too. Gee, what a revelation! “We’ve had books received from recruiters where it’s all men,” admitted the confessor. “And it wasn’t until we ask them, ‘How come this is all men?’ that the recruiters say, ‘Oh, wow, yeah.’ The recruiter had to be pushed to think of women that would work for the job.” Heaven forbid the recruiter might have considered finding people of color as well. And of course, the confessor doesn’t display any accountability in the scenario. That is, why weren’t objectives discussed before the recruiter identified and presented candidates?

To push the Catholic metaphors, the Digiday confessional is actually a confirmation—that the leaders in White advertising agencies are culturally clueless and covert racists.

:::

‘It’s sad it’s come to this’: Confessions of an agency CMO on diversity quotas

By Shareen Pathak

Brands like General Mills and HP are both exhorting agencies to improve diversity numbers — by leveraging client dollars.

In the past week, General Mills told Advertising Age that it now requires agencies competing for its business to meet quotas: 50 percent of the creative department must be female, while 20 percent must be people of color. Shortly after, HP CMO Antonio Lucio called on its agencies to send the company a proposal outlining exactly how each agency will improve diversity numbers.

These are two different approaches, but potentially a harbinger of things to come: Other major clients like PepsiCo’s Brad Jakeman, an outspoken champion for agency diversity, have already lauded the move.

But while there’s no question diversity is a nagging problem in the industry and numbers need to improve, these new requirements are causing consternation among agency executives, particularly those in new business. We asked one agency CMO who is not involved in the General Mills or HP work to give us an unvarnished insider’s perspective. As always, we granted anonymity in exchange for honesty.

So brands and agency diversity quotas: Good, or bad?

It’s a weird thing, isn’t it? That it’s come to this? I think it’s really sad that it has to be this way. And the reason it’s sad is because ultimately, any decision — whether you’re hiring someone, whether it’s an agency or a law firm, this kind of thing — will make people feel like they got the job not because they are the most qualified person for the role regardless of sex, gender, race.

So you’re talking about the post-quota hires?

Yes. The trouble is, we run the risk of — as an industry and, broadly, as an economy — that we make decisions not based on merit but based on quotas.

OK, but diversity is a huge problem. If not this, how do you fix it?

Of course. It’s sad that as an industry we’re not naturally reflecting the population. But it’s so complicated. Quotas are a Band-Aid to sort out the fact that agencies are not reflecting the population the brands are selling to. But when you think about diversity inside businesses, the issues are far more fundamental.

How?

If you think about the way people hire, it’s often about recommendations. So person A is hired, has a friend from college, recommends that person, and so on. That’s fine, but you hire people that think like you and tend to look like you too. What we need to be asking is: Are our hiring techniques allowing us to find the people who are best at their roles? And the answer is going to be no.

But wouldn’t quotas fix that?

But those are symptoms. The root cause won’t be fixed. We’ve had books received from recruiters where it’s all men. And it wasn’t until we ask them, “How come this is all men?” that the recruiters say, “Oh, wow, yeah.” The recruiter had to be pushed to think of women that would work for the job. So it’s on us. And just because you hire women or people of color, doesn’t mean you’ve fixed systemic issues.

How are agencies going to fill quotas?

There are going to be situations where agencies, under pressure and time, won’t hire on merit, but will go find 10 more women and five people of color. It can become quite frustrating. I’m a woman, and I don’t want to be hired because I’m a woman.

The interesting thing about this is that the screws are really being tightened.

They are. It’s a good thing too, at least we’re having this conversation and turning this into a hot-button issue. But I sense it’s creating some panic.

How?

Well, I like the HP approach. Feels like a partnership. But otherwise, there’s going to be agencies under new business pressure frantically trying to meet quotas. Maybe not in this case, but in the future. The second you start having quotas without context you worry about procurement-led decisions. I do hope there are checks and balances to make sure people don’t fudge numbers. But the process can be opaque. I’m so positive about it putting pressure on the industry, but it’s worrying.

13394: AIMM Sounds LAME.

Advertising Age reported the ANA launched the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing—aka AIMM—a new partnership that ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice proclaimed will create a “united blueprint for the evolution of multicultural and diverse-segment marketing in America.” Too bad the ANA has plenty of damning data to show multicultural marketing has actually experienced a devolution over the years—it’s in a death spiral. Liodice also stated, “Our strategic intent is to reach out to all constituencies in order to collectively make a difference in realizing the potential of multicultural marketing.” Um, the ANA should be realize by now that the potential of multicultural marketing amounts to diminishing crumbs. Additionally, AIMM will be charged with “finding new ways to discuss and tackle diversity within the advertising and marketing communities.” Okay, so the goals are to resuscitate flat-lining multicultural marketing and address the global dearth-of-diversity dilemma that has gone unsolved for over 60 years. But wait, it gets better. The invitation-only participants of the bold alliance are the very multicultural marketers and advertising industry minorities who have historically been unable to increase the crumbs and commitment required to make progress possible. It’s like asking the Harlem Globetrotters to compete in the NBA Finals—no offense to the Harlem Globetrotters. The ANA is the Association of National Advertisers. As recent events have shown, clients possess the power to demand diversity from White advertising agencies. To ignite change, they don’t need an alliance. They just need to ask.

The ANA’s New Alliance Wants to Provide the Blueprint for Multicultural Marketing

Leaders from various communities will head the group

By Katie Richards

As the advertising industry continues to find ways to improve upon its diversity problem and clients continue to demand more diverse agencies and work, the Association of National Advertisers announced today the launch of a new group that will target multicultural marketing, named the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, or AIMM.

According to ANA president and CEO Bob Liodice, the goal of AIMM will be to bring together leaders from African American, Hispanic, Asian and LGBT marketing communities to help establish a “united blueprint for the evolution of multicultural and diverse-segment marketing in America.” For the first year, the group will be open by invitation only.

Some of the key goals for AIMM, laid out by the ANA, include finding new ways to discuss and tackle diversity within the advertising and marketing communities, creating and distributing “best practices of multicultural and diverse demographic segments,” invest in research and create a multicultural marketing knowledge center.

“Our strategic intent is to reach out to all constituencies in order to collectively make a difference in realizing the potential of multicultural marketing” Liodice said in a statement.

Liodice will co-chair AIMM alongside Michael Lacorazza, EVP, brand and advertising integrated marketing at Wells Fargo. Other members of AIMM as of its launch today include the AHA: The Voice of Hispanic marketing, Anheuser-Busch, Burrell Communications, Coca-Cola, Dunkin Donuts, IW Group, Kaiser Permanente, Kellogg, López Negrete Communications, NBC Universal, OMD, Procter & Gamble, Target 10, Univision, Video Advertising Bureau and Wells Fargo.

The formation of the new alliance follows the ANA’s 2016 Multicultural Excellence Awards, created to recognize outstanding creative work featuring African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, LGBTs and people with disabilities. Anomaly took home this year’s best in show award for its “Stay Connected” work for Duracell, which tells the story of a grandfather learning to live with a hearing disability.

13335: Campaign Chronicles Covert Cluelessness.

Campaign published the obligatory report/editorial on clients like General Mills and HP pressuring White advertising agencies to embrace diversity and diverted diversity. Apparently, some of the White advertising agencies proudly proclaimed they’re already satisfying the diverted diversity requirements, as there is hardly a dearth of White women in the field. But when probed on the requests for more people of color, the response is chirping crickets. Fortunately for the diversity delinquents, HP is parsing progress into phases, with racial and ethnic minorities being asked to step to the back of the White women bandwagon. And the fact that General Mills allowed the chronically culturally clueless Deutsch to participate in its pitch indicates the foodmaker may relax the requirements. Of course, the self-absorbed cheerleaders in this sorry spectacle include Kat Gordon and PepsiCo Global Beverage Group President Brad Jakeman—who has yet to deliver any measurable mandates to his own White advertising agencies. Meanwhile, minority shops continue to lose crumbs as White shops displaying racism win new business.

At last, brands tell agencies to diversify, and advocates cheer

By Ilyse Liffreing

HP and General Mills say they will require agencies to meet diversity goals, signaling a shift in client involvement.

A lack of diversity has been plaguing ad agencies for years, and clients are no longer staying quiet about it. Two major advertisers are now demanding that agencies take immediate action, or risk losing their business.

Last Thursday, HP CMO Antonio Lucio sent a letter to HP’s five ad and PR agencies insisting that they improve the diversity of their workforces within the next 12 months, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Lucio’s letter called for agencies to increase the number of women and minorities in creative and strategy roles, with 50% of their workforce to be made up of women, to match HP’s own advertising department makeup.

“Including women and people of color in key roles is not only a values issue, but a significant business imperative,” Lucio said in the letter. Women buy 53% of personal computers and 45% of printers, Lucio told the Journal. HP’s three ad agencies, which includes Omnicom’s BBDO, Fred & Farid and Dentsu’s Gyro, have 30 days to submit a plan or face a possible rejection.

General Mills is also insisting on more diversity. Last week, the food giant announced that agencies competing for its creative business have to have a staff of at least 50% women and at least 20% of color, according to AdAge.

Karen Kahn, HP’s CCO, said the company is leaving the request open-ended, so agencies can decide how they will increase diversity themselves. But if an agency can’t change, Kahn said HP would stop working with it.

“We can’t control agencies, but [with] the kind of budgets we have in marketing and PR, we can influence with the spend we have,” Kahn told Campaign US sister publication PRWeek. “The best way we can have impact is to change ourselves and work with our agencies to change.” Kahn also noted that diversity is a “bigger issue” in the “creative world” than in PR.

Last week, conversations with HP’s agencies revealed that two of them already meet HP’s goals for female leadership. Women represent 50% of both Gyro’s and Fred & Farid’s senior teams, the agencies said on Friday.

“HP’s initiative is critical, timely and necessary,” said Christoph Becker, Gyro’s CEO and CCO, in an email. “Gyro, since day one, has embraced diversity on all fronts. We will continue to work to insure that our culture is as diverse as possible.”

“We admire and share his can-do, fix-it attitude, because we too are dissatisfied,” said Fred & Farid CEOs and founders Fred Raillard and Farid Mokart, in an email. “We started FRED & FARID because we couldn’t stand the old establishment and their reluctance to evolve. Diversity is part of our source code: we are ourselves from mixed backgrounds and we’ve promoted many women in key leadership roles.”

BBDO, on the other hand, is still working to meet HP’s expectations. “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,” Andrew Robertson, BBDO’s CEO said in a statement. “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.”

Nancy Hill, president and CEO of the 4A’s, praised both companies for taking a stand on an issue she’s long been vocal about. “I applaud both General Mills and HP. I’m very happy to see this happening. (Hopefully, they are doing the same thing themselves internally),” she said in an email.

“Diversity has been proven again and again to be good for business,” she continued. “Obviously, they both know this and have asked their agencies to reflect the diversity of the consumers they are selling to.”

Kat Gordon, founder of the 3% Conference, was in a celebratory mood following the announcements. “’Hallelujah!’ she wrote in an email. “This is exactly where the diversity conversation needs to be headed.”

The HP directive should not come as a total surprise, noted Gordon. In 2013, HP CEO Meg Whitman is said to have expressed outrage during an agency review after four shops in a row presented all-male leadership teams. “What is it about the advertising industry? Don’t you have any women leaders?” she said, according to people in the pitch.

Jonathan Mildenhall, CMO of Airbnb, who had expressed his approval online Friday, said in an email that it was “time for the client community to accelerate this issue not only the debate but also the action,” and praised his principal agencies, Starcom Worldwide and TBWA\CHIAT\DAY for putting women in leadership positions on Airbnb’s account.

“For me, my next focus is people of color,” he added. “Imagine the difference we could make if all clients mandated just one person of color to work on every client facing team. Just that single act would transform the industry forever for better.”

Brad Jakeman, president of global beverage group at Pepsico, also expressed his enthusiasm online.

Not everyone applauded the moves. On the r/Advertising subReddit, some users commenting on the General Mills story expressed disappointment that the industry was resorting to quotas.

“I hate quotas. As a creative of colour, I would find it soul-destroying to know that I had been hired not because the ECD thought my book was the best, but because he had a number to meet,” said one user.

That said, “agencies (and especially creative departments) have a diversity problem,” the commenter acknowledged, and something had to be done.

“So, while I’m not 100% sold on the execution, I like that the client is making diversity a financial issue for agencies, because we can make all the Gold Winning Like-A-Girl ads we want, but as Bill Bernbach once said “A principle is nothing until it costs you money,” the user wrote.

For months the agency business has been rocked by lawsuits and allegations against top executives for discriminating against women and minorities. In March, former CEO Gustavo Martinez, of WPP’s J. Walter Thompson, stepped down amid a harassment lawsuit. In June, RAPP CEO Alexei Orlov resigned after a lawsuit claimed he had shown discriminatory behavior against women and people of color. And at the end of July, Kevin Roberts resigned as Saatchi & Saatchi’s chairman and head coach at Publicis Groupe after the comments he made about women lacking ambition.

Though several brand marketers had expressed disgust over the comments and allegations in recent months, clients had largely remained silent till now. For example, aside from Macy’s handing its 2016 holiday campaign to Figliulo & Partners, JWT lost not a single client during the Martinez scandal, according to several WPP sources.

“Those paying the bill—clients—know what their customers look like and see the value of having diversity within their agency partners,” said Gordon. “The talent is there and agencies have historically done a poor job of tapping into it at the most senior levels. I’m excited to see the way messaging and consumer engagement will shift thanks to the involvement of more diverse perspectives.”

Despite already meeting HP’s new gender requirement, Raillard and Mokart said they planned to push their diversity initiatives further.

“Half of our global steering committee is now women, but we’ll not stop there: we want women to thrive at every levels of the company, and we want to coach the younger ones to climb faster,” they said.