17188: On The Hard, Harder, And Hardest Job In Adland.

Mediapsssst published content spotlighting a podcast episode where ID Comms executives discussed WPP CEO Cindy Rose and ultimately declared, “If there is a harder job in Adland I can’t think of one.”

 

First, who gives a rat’s ass about the opinions of anyone from ID Comms?

 

Second, does Rose really hold the hardest job in Adland?

 

After all, she spent years on the WPP board—albeit in a non-executive role. While Rose might not have had a direct line of sight into the White holding company’s true troubles, it’s safe to say she took the job with eyes wide open. Surely, she didn’t land the top position totally blind to the flaming dumpster’s dysfunctions, dilemmas, and dire straits.

 

Besides, there are harder jobs in Adland.

 

Chief Diversity Officer at White advertising agencies in these anti-DEIBA+ times can’t be easy. Now, more than ever, it’s hard out here for a pimp.

 

Black women probably still have it harder in Adland.

 

Hell, the thousands of drones toiling at WPP and other White holding companies—whose livelihoods could be eliminated at any moment without warning—arguably hold harder jobs.

 

Sorry, Rose can’t even compete with the hardest-working man in Black advertising.

The Hardest Job In Adland Right Now

 

By Richard Whitman

 

“If there is a harder job in Adland I can’t think of one.” That’s how ID Comms co-founder Tom Denford (in the latest edition of the company’s podcast MediaSnack) described the post of WPP CEO, newly filled by Cindy Rose who succeeded Mark Read on Sept. 1. 

 

In the podcast Denford and his fellow ID Comms co-founder David Indo give their take on the challenges facing Rose as she tries to revitalize the company in the months ahead. 

 

It’s been a very bumpy year for the holding company. In that time it has shed half of its share price and about 7,000 jobs, Denford noted.  

 

And as he pointed out, Rose has yet to lay out her strategic vision for the company (at least to the outside world). Which prompts the question: What does the firm’s board of directors want her to do, transform the company into a thriving competitor of main cohorts like Publicis and Omnicom or package the firm up for sale? 

 

“She understands the challenges and has a formidable reputation as a transformation expert,” said Indo.  

 

WPP is a “silo-cultured company,” with “big fiefdoms,” Denford asserts. There is, he added, “a lot of tension between creative and media” divisions within the firm. To compete more effectively, Rose needs to “build a community internally to carry out the vision as a team.” Case in point, he said, is Publicis Groupe, which has done that effectively with its “Power Of One” approach. 

 

If there’s one thing Rose wants to do in the near term, said Indo, it’s keep existing clients “very happy.” Which is why clients at the holding company may want to “recalibrate terms and talent” with their current agencies.  

16935: Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year 2025!

 

Today marks Chinese/Lunar New Year 2025, an event inspiring lots of advertising that appears to be well-funded extravaganzas—versus crumbs-funded performative productions.

 

Of course, it’s unclear what roles people of Chinese descent played in the creation of such campaigns—besides casting, consulting, and catering.

 

The adoration and intrigue for Chinese culture will be underscored in a few days, when Black History Month launches with a handful of contrived and clichéd heat shields featuring royalty-free stock images—including the hardest-working man in Black advertising.

 

In Adland, expect further DEIBA+ disregard, disrespect, and dismissal too.

 

Year of the Snake indeed.

 

16723: Worth Less Shows More Bias.

 

MM+M spotlighted the latest patronizing propaganda from FCB Health New York’s Trial for #ClinicalEquality campaign, an initiative designed to expose the racial and ethnic bias in clinical trials.

 

As pointed out in a previous post, the revelation that people of color receive unequal treatment from the US healthcare system is hardly surprising—in fact, it’s common knowledge—and arguably offensive coming from a White advertising agency likely fishing for awards versus advocating for justice.

 

To compound the cultural cluelessness, the new advertisements feature AI-rendered images of Black patients. So, in addition to using an executional method that has displayed bias, FCB Health deprived talent of color from the opportunity to receive payment and recognition for appearing in a national campaign. Surely the hardest-working man in Black advertising could have been tapped.

 

In short, the advertising stunt presented parallel prejudice: unequal representation in clinical trials and underrepresentation in commercial concepts.

 

AI portraits highlight the lack of diversity in clinical research

 

The Worth Less campaign is the latest initiative from FCB Health New York’s Trial for #ClinicalEquality.

 

By John Newton

 

The initial inspiration for the Trial for #ClinicalEquality, a longstanding initiative from IPG Health’s FCB Health New York, struck seven years ago. In the course of looking at clinical trial data intended to support a creative campaign, the agency realized they didn’t reflect the people it hoped to reach.

 

“It wasn’t an isolated incident,” noted IPG Health chief medical officer Dr. Sommer Bazuro. “We needed data to reflect, first, the racial groups within the overall population and, second, the disease incidence and mortality rates for that specific population.”

 

Since then, the Trial for #ClinicalEquality has highlighted the costs of a lack of diversity in clinical trials — to both individuals and society broadly. One study, for instance, found that there were no Native American participants in diabetes clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov from March 2000 to March 2020.

 

The lack of diversity undermines public trust in scientific research and results in lower-quality data. Also, financial costs accrue due to health disparities that could be reduced with trials that are more reflective of the populations impacted by certain diseases.

 

Worth Less, the initiative’s latest campaign, features 15 portrait-like images that were created using generative AI licensed from Adobe Stock. Its overarching goal is to call attention to the ethnic minority groups impacted by clinical inequality.

 

The campaign’s name is designed to be read two ways, asking whether the lives of patients of color are worthless as well as whether they are worth less than other patients’ lives. The photo captions highlight the wider implications of failing to include patients from certain demographic groups in clinical trials with statistics: “1% of clinical trial participants are Asian, yet chronic hepatitis B affects them the most” and “2% of patients in dementia clinical trials are Black, yet they experience this disease at the second highest rate.”

 

Bazuro believes that many patients and physicians simply assume that clinical trials are reflective of the communities impacted by specific conditions or diseases.

 

“Most people, even those who have been in healthcare for years, don’t realize that it’s not happening,” she says. “They don’t know that when their physicians talk to them about medicines, that they cannot be 100% confident that someone who has their particular background was included. That’s something that troubles physicians.”

 

The Worth Less messaging centers on the financial implications of non-diverse trials. Bazuro explained that the perceived greater expense of diverse clinical trials is a common concern — but that the societal costs of lower-quality data, mistrust of the healthcare system and disparate outcomes need to be considered as well.

 

“We know how the world works: If you can’t fund it, it’s not getting done,” added FCB Health New York chief creative officer Kathleen Nanda. “That’s just the reality of business and, very often, health is a business.”

 

The campaign website includes a host of statistics, including one explaining that, from 2003 to 2006, medical expenses could have been reduced by $230 billion if inequalities faced by patients of color had been eliminated.

 

“We want people to understand the urgency of data equality and clinical equality and to take action,” Nanda said. “We want this problem to be seen and to be fixed by a bunch of brilliant different minds. It’s not just what we are doing; it’s what our community is doing that we’re really, really excited about.”

15395: Getty Images Has History Covered—Black And White.

This campaign hypes Getty Images for its vast archive of historical images available for creative needs. Hey, for Black History Month, the hardest-working man in Black advertising gets a lot of usage.

 

 

15298: BHM 2021—Black History Month In The Black…?

 

Digiday reported that publishers of Black content are experiencing a rise in Black History Month RFPs. This is not surprising, especially as Black print media diminishes—and interest (or feeling a sense of obligation) increases from the death of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. According to the Digiday story, potential advertisers have expressed a desire to extend Black-targeted campaigns beyond the shortest month of the year. Of course they did. This could open awesome opportunities for the hardest-working man in Black advertising.

 

‘How can we collaborate together’: Publishers welcome rise in Black History Month RFPs

 

By Max Willens

 

A lot of brands, agencies and advertisers made promises in 2020 to further support Black businesses, creators and voices. Just a few weeks into 2021, publishers focused on those audiences see reasons to be optimistic.

 

This coming February, the Root will launch its first automotive ad campaign as part of G/O Media. The campaign, for Ford’s F-150, will run across G/O Media’s sites, but the Root will be at its centerpiece; the campaign, celebrating Black History Month, centers of moments of Black joy.

 

That campaign is just one of several that G/O has lined up for the Root around Black History Month, said Brian Kelly, G/O Media’s chief revenue officer, who was one of several media executives who said that this year, agency and brand RFPs around Black History Month are more numerous, for longer periods of time and larger dollar amounts than in years past.

 

“In general we’ve been very pleased with Q1 activity across the portfolio, but we’re especially proud of the Root and the interest in partnerships,” said Kelly. “I not even just through the RFP process, it’s brands actually reaching out and looking to align. It’s, ‘How can we collaborate, together?’”

 

Thanks to advertisers’ lingering preferences for doing deals closer to a campaign’s launch date, Kelly, like many other revenue leaders in media, said his team is still selling into February. But he expects to close Black History Month deals in categories including entertainment, social media and retail.

 

And like many of his peers, Kelly is hoping to use that interest as a springboard for conversations about longer deals. “[February] is an incredibly important time of year for the brand, but this is a 365-day-a-year priority for us,” he said.

 

Thus far, brands appear to be receptive to that idea than in year’s past. “This year I am seeing more companies ask for multi-year commitments,” said Morgan DeBaun, the founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., a media company that operates seven media brands focused on news as well as lifestyle topics such as travel and film for Black audiences.

 

DeBaun said that the longer-term partnerships tend to be focused more on awareness metrics to start, campaigns within the Black demographic that move into conversion metrics over time. They also, DeBaun noted, come from advertisers asking for category exclusivity.

 

Longer, richer proposals are a plus, but more important for DeBaun is advertisers’ interest in Blavity extending further up the food chain.

 

“What’s encouraging is the executive-level conversations we’re having,” DeBaun said. “We’re not only at the trading desk, entry-level roles; we’re pitching to c-level folks consistently now.”

 

Some of this money is being spent because the brands have already pledged to spend it. In the wake of the protests and social unrest that tore across America last year, many large companies committed substantial sums to the fight for racial equity.

 

Google, for example, pledged to spend $175 million on a variety of initiatives, ranging from training for job seekers to money used to support businesses focused on the Black community. Apple and Netflix each vowed to spend $100 million doing the same.

 

Those announcements as well as the newfound interest in splashy campaigns stands in contrast to many brands’ behavior last year; in the wake of the unrest that roiled America following George Floyd’s death in May, many shied away from the topic of Black Lives Matter altogether. In a presentation last summer, Marsha Cooke, Vice’s svp of global news, noted that the news publisher’s stories about Black Lives Matter generated 57% less revenue than other content.

 

Yet as the year wore on, that began to change. “We have seen much more relaxed attention to keywords surrounding BLM,” said Paul Wallace, Vice President Global Revenue Products and Services, VICE Media Group. “At first, as we previously discussed publicly, some clients viewed it as a rather toxic topic, but as we increased our persistence and demanded the industry to mature, many became more comfortable with an ever-complicated News category. In most cases, blocklists have followed suit.”

 

As advertisers continue to mete this money out, it will surely spark conversations about who is getting it. While agencies are building out more infrastructure to encourage the spending — since Mindshare launched a private marketplace for U.S. Black media companies back in July, it has since stood up two more, one in the U.K. and a third in Canada, focused on BIPOC media companies — the questions will arise about what kinds of publishers or creators are getting the right amount of money.

 

To some, just the investment in Black content is a start.

14307: Hart Hardly Hardest.

Adweek published a lengthy article titled, “Kevin Hart Just Might Be the Hardest-Working Man in Branding.” Sorry, but Hart doesn’t come close to matching the hardest-working man in Black advertising.

13618: Omnicom Hires Black Man.

In a totally unexpected move, Omnicom announced the hiring of a Black man for a C-Suite position within the holding company. The new executive, pictured here, has not yet been officially identified. Plus, Omnicom is still seeking a suitable role for him. He has, however, been known as the hardest-working man in Black advertising for many years.

Omnicom President-CEO and Pioneer of Diversity John Wren gushed, “We’re delighted to welcome a qualified person of color to the organization. Diversity is a priority at Omnicom—despite our steadfast unwillingness to share EEO-1 data with the public.”

“This extraordinary appointment is a win-win,” added Omnicom SVP Chief Diversity Officer Tiffany R. Warren. “Now we’re able to deflect charges of racism and ageism.”

In addition to his extensive advertising experience, the new executive is a doting grandfather and devoted family man.

13525: BHM 2017—Da Man.

Okay, this technically not a BHM advertisement, but it’s always great to salute the hardest-working man in Black advertising—as well as note how Publicis leadership lacks diversity.

10992: BHM 2013—Walgreens.

Walgreens decided February is Heart Health Month. But at least they featured the Hardest-Working Man in Black Advertising.

10991: Corey The Commercial Character.

Advertising Age reported on the recent Saturday Night Live skit featuring Corey, the One Black Guy in Every Commercial. Not sure Corey can match this guy or the Hardest-Working Man in Black Advertising.

Meet Corey, the One Black Guy in Every Commercial

High-Five! (Every 12 Seconds)

By Simon Dumenco

“Saturday Night Live,” which stirred up a lot of conversation here on AdAge.com with its recent Starbucks ad spoof, introduced a new character over the weekend: Corey, “the one black guy in every commercial,” played by Kenan Thompson in a “Weekend Update” segment. In his spare time, Corey enjoys playing drums “on the top of a Pringles can,” DJing at parties, giving out high-fives (every 12 seconds), and hanging out with “Hispanic girls with bangs and thrift-store outfits, and white guys who dance while wearing fedoras!”

10343: Working Hard For Smirnoff Malt Drinks.

This Smirnoff Premium Malt Drinks commercial features the new hardest-working man in Black advertising—because a malt beverage calls for a Black drinker, of course.

9962: Popular Black Actor Plays Basketball.

Oh, look! The new hardest-working man in Black advertising is a starting guard in this CDW campaign.

9945: A New Hardest-Working Adman…?

The guy in this Honda commercial is definitely challenging
the hardest-working man in Black advertising for the title.

8587: Flippin’™ Idiots.

Based on the ad headline above, it looks like Kozy Shack® trademarked Flippin’—plus, the food company employed the hardest-working man in Black advertising.

7698: Hardest-Working Nominee.

Mitchum anti-perspirant deodorant is running a lame promotion to find the hardest-working person around. MultiCultClassics has an obvious nominee.

7633: Going Strong.

He may be a senior, but the hardest-working man in Black advertising is far from retirement.

7552: Defying Age.

The hardest-working man in Black advertising is still going strong, illustrating an online story on old age. It would be interesting to learn how old this guy really is at this point, given that his stock photos have been used for quite some time now.

5918: Some Of My Best Friends Are Stock Photos.

Daily Koz noted stock photos were used to depict diversity in John McCain’s introductory bio video at the Republican National Convention. It’s amazing that the campaign missed the opportunity to use this guy.

Hat tip to Danny G.

5161: You Da Man.

Remember the hardest-working man in Black advertising? Well, he’s still going strong.


In fact, he discovered his family roots.


Plus, he’s available via Getty images to connect with other families.


He’ll play the stereotypical barbecue role.


Of course, the man is a devoted husband.


Why, he’ll even dabble in interracial romance.