13578: TBWA\BHM.

TBWA produced a short film focusing on what it’s like to be Black in advertising for Black History Month. And Adweek reported on the initiative on March 1, the day after Black History Month. Brilliant and bravo, Adweek.

This Short Film From TBWA Explores What It’s Like Being Black in Advertising

A special edition of the agency’s Backslash series

By Patrick Coffee

Conversations about diversity in the ad industry have never been more prevalent. Over the past year alone, clients like General Mills, Verizon, HP and Airbnb have called for more women and people of color not only within agencies themselves but on the panels that give them awards every summer at a certain seaside resort in Southern France.

Several agencies also created projects for Black History Month, like Havas Chicago’s #BlackAtWork “jobstacle course.” Last week, TBWA’s internal media unit Backslash offered its own take on the singular experiences of black professionals working in the ad industry.

[The short film] features staffers from both inside and outside the Omnicom network … along with one big-name CMO.

Backslash launched last August as a way for TBWA\Chiat\Day to share topical materials with its staffers via both in-house videos like this one and a public-facing Instagram account.

TBWA Worldwide chief strategy officer Nick Barham described the project as “an internal inspiration” designed to reach all 13,000 employees around the world and share new points of view on marketing, brands and larger cultural concerns.

“We felt that, for Black History Month, it was important to think about African American culture as it relates to advertising,” Barham said of this project, noting that TBWA leaders in New York and Los Angeles have discussed the topic frequently.

“We wanted to capture the broad spectrum of people in advertising,” said Backslash content director Chay Lee, who joined the agency in L.A. last summer after working in production roles at Fox, Univision and other media companies. “There are conversations that people of color in advertising have when they’re by themselves, and I wanted people to hear that.”

The film went out to the global network last week, and TBWA\Chiat\Day subsequently held a viewing in its West Coast office along with a panel featuring individuals associated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I don’t think change is happening as quickly as it should,” Barham said, and Mildenhall has argued multiple times that agencies can’t simply wait for their teams to grow more diverse. “Change comes from people having conversations,” Lee added. “Once you’re on the radar, anything can happen.”

Until now, the Backslash project has been primarily limited to its Instagram account and internal materials like this video. But both leaders said the team has grown more ambitious over the past few months, and they expect to create more publicly disseminated content in the future.

When asked about the project’s goals, Barham said, “We want to represent what people are listening to, what they’re interested in and what brands care about.”

13487: Saturday Morning Gender Equality.

AgencySpy posted on a new addition to the Saturday Morning lineup—Nicole V. Cramer, who has served as a project manager and chief of staff at a variety of advertising agencies. Hey, even Saturday Morning is pushing gender diversity.

Former McCann Global Chief of Staff Joins Saturday Morning Group

By Patrick Coffee

Nicole V. Cramer, a former project manager and chief of staff at several major agencies including McCann Worldgroup and JWT North America, has joined Saturday Morning (homepage here), the group launched this summer by four prominent black creatives.

Cramer will be chief of staff. Like founders Keith Cartwright, Geoff Edwards, Jayanta Jenkins and Jimmy Smith, hers will be a voluntary role.

Cramer spent more than six years with the McCann organization before departing in what an agency spokesperson calls an amicable split this fall. Her title had been global chief of staff and chief creativity catalyst, and she focused on integrated operations around the worldwide network. She previously served as JWT’s North American chief of staff and director of its Worldwide Creative Council.

The agency veteran has moved into consulting since leaving McCann, and she specializes in helping industry leaders develop their personal brands.

As you may recall, the Saturday Morning group’s stated goal is promoting peace in the interpersonal sense by encouraging dialogue about issues of race — and not only within the ad industry.

“I raised my hand to get involved with SATURDAY MORNING as soon as I learned about it,” Cramer said in the release. “We are at a moment in time when we can make a difference for the next generation and bring real solutions to the issues of racial injustice and division our country faces. I am excited by the many possibilities that SATURDAY MORNING is addressing.”

At this year’s Advertising Week in New York, the four founders discussed their plans to release quarterly “Peace Briefs” beginning in 2017 (the first concerns law enforcement’s relationships with the communities they police) as well as their desire to bring interested parties on board. At the event, Cartwright said that Airbnb had expressed interest and that Marc Pritchard of P&G had called him directly to discuss the possibility of working together.

One of Cramer’s key roles will be managing these sorts of relationships; Coca-Cola, Pernod Ricard and Syracuse University have reportedly expressed interest since Saturday Morning went live in August.

“Nicole is a proven leader who is skilled at facilitating collaboration and the delivery of big ideas,” said Cartwright. “She is the perfect individual to help us bring to life the many Peace Brief submissions we have received and to help us grow our movement.”

Edwards added, “We’re fortunate that Nicole has joined us. She’s the perfect person at the perfect time to take our coalition to the unimaginable.”

13377: Friday News On Saturday Morning.

Adweek reported on the latest happenings with Saturday Morning—an advocacy platform/program—launched by Butler, Stern, Shine and Partners Executive Creative Director Keith Cartwright, Twitter Group Creative Director Jayanta Jenkins, Amusement Park Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Smith and Geoff Edwards of Creative Artists Agency. Chobani Managing Director Kwame Taylor-Hayford later joined the founders. The quintet announced during Advertising Week that Airbnb and Procter & Gamble have expressed interest in supporting the efforts. If Saturday Morning wants support 24/7/365, simply embrace diverted diversity and advocate for White women.

Brands Like Airbnb and P&G Express Interest in ‘Saturday Morning’ Social Justice Project

Black creatives aim for conversation, sponsorships

By Patrick Coffee

Four prominent black creative directors launched the Saturday Morning project approximately two months ago as a way to further and formalize the sometimes challenging but important conversations facilitated by Black Lives Matter and related social justice movements.

On Thursday at The New York Times Center, the group, which now numbers five—Butler, Stern, Shine and Partners executive creative director Keith Cartwright; Twitter group creative director Jayanta Jenkins; Amusement Park chief executive officer Jimmy Smith; Geoff Edwards of Creative Artists Agency; and Chobani managing director Kwame Taylor-Hayford—explained the evolution of their passion project to an attentive Advertising Week crowd.

They also named two new potential brand partners in the form of P&G and Airbnb.

Cartwright said that the group’s initial letter, which they sent to press organizations on Aug. 1, has inspired more than 800 emails regarding their stated desire to “build awareness, promote change and shift the overall perception that black lives are in some way not as important as others.” The idea holds that interested parties from within the creative economy and beyond will submit original concepts designed to further progress in this area and that the members of Saturday Morning will determine which ones to promote via their platforms and partnerships.

“We will have ideas every quarter that we will bring to businesses and ask for sponsorships,” Cartwright said in laying out his plans for the group. “Airbnb is very interested, and [‎global marketing and brand building officer] Marc Pritchard of P&G called last week,” he added, stating that Pritchard expressed an interest in signing a petition that would commit P&G to helping Saturday Morning execute projects that may need funding.

“We are not an agency, and we are not competing with agencies,” Cartwright said, “[Because] we all have day jobs.”

Jenkins described Saturday Morning, which launched with the aforementioned letter and a website, as “an advocacy platform/program.” The group agreed that their project would initially operate on an earned media model in order to bring greater attention to the concepts and executions that it chooses to highlight.

“We’re not here to create something that will end up in Cannes,” said Smith, “though that’s not to say that there won’t be any ads.” He floated potential ideas on which Saturday Morning and its partners could collaborate, including legislation that would eliminate the controversial stop-and-frisk approach to law enforcement and a future in which robots perform traffic stops to reduce the likelihood of violent confrontations between police officers and members of the public.

“Many of us have relatives who are police officers … there would be chaos without them,” he added, suggesting that many officers who would like to participate in the ongoing conversation “feel like their voices aren’t being heard.”

Syracuse University has reached out to the group to discuss future collaborative projects. So has MAL for Good, the purpose-driven arm of Lee Clow’s TBWA\Media Arts Lab, or Apple’s dedicated ad agency.

“In summary, we will be releasing these ‘Peace Briefs’ and looking to engage individuals, businesses and universities to create a wealth of content,” said Taylor-Hayford. “Ultimately distribution is key … at some point this will require paid media to engage [with the public] through the brand coalitions we will form.”

The group plans to release its first such quarterly brief in early 2017.

13279: Saturday Morning News.

Advertising Age reported four Black creative leaders—Keith Cartwright, Geoff Edwards, Jayanta Jenkins and Jimmy Smith—have launched a coalition called Saturday Morning to promote peace and societal change pertaining to racial inequality. The overwhelming majority of the advertising industry will not be involved in the initiative, opting instead to fight to promote White women through diverted diversity.

African-American Creative Leaders Form Advertising Coalition for Peace

Saturday Morning Aims to Promote Societal Change Around Racial Inequality

By Lindsay Stein

Four African-American creative leaders—Keith Cartwright, Geoff Edwards, Jayanta Jenkins and Jimmy Smith—have come together to create a coalition aimed at promoting peace and societal change around racial inequality.

The movement, named Saturday Morning, has a number of goals, such as “raising money for a foundation, helping pass legislation, bringing awareness to a cause or creating a peace-based technology in service of ending the cycle of violence and fear caused by racial bias and injustice,” according to Mr. Cartwright, exec creative director of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, in a statement.

Mr. Cartwright, along with Geoff Edwards, creative executive at Creative Artists Agency; Jayanta Jenkins, global creative director at Apple/Beats by Dre; and Jimmy Smith, chairman, CEO and chief creative officer of Amusement Park, will continue serving in their respective roles while working on Saturday Morning. The coalition is currently working on an undisclosed project that it will announce in early Fall.

Representatives from Saturday Morning were not immediately available for an interview.

The coalition was formed after Mr. Cartwright texted Mr. Edwards, Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Smith on a Friday night with a message that said: “We need to come together. And say something.” The following morning, the four creative leaders got together to discuss the racism they’ve experienced over the years and the chance they have to make a difference going forward.

Saturday Morning is “looking to bring all people together to address racism and encourage empathy,” according to a statement; the group has set up an email address at info@saturdaymorning.co.

Last month, Ad Age reached out to a few African-American industry leaders, including Mr. Smith, to ask their thoughts on race in America and recent police-related shootings. In the Q&A, Mr. Smith said, “The question isn’t whether ad agencies should tackle racism and police brutality or not. Agencies absolutely should. But before agencies do tackle the problem, it probably would be a good idea to tackle the racial injustices taking place everyday in their own offices.”

13269: Black Voices Matter…?

Responding in part to the phenomena of Black Lives Matter, Advertising Age interviewed Translation Founder and CEO Steve Stoute, Amusement Park Entertainment CEO and Chief Creative Officer Jimmy Smith, 135th Street Agency Founder and CEO Shante Bacon and MING Utility and Entertainment Group President Tara DeVeaux. Here’s an excerpt from Stoute’s statements:

At the root of any societal issue is human truth, especially those truths we find hard to confront. The advertising business has always been about telling stories around human truths, and making those stories accessible to and consumable by the masses.

Today, the truth is that racism is alive and well in this country. The truth is that due to ignorance, lack of education and socially conditioned prejudice, the value of a black life is still being questioned.

How can we as a community come together to speak out against racial injustice, when we perpetuate that very injustice within the walls of our own agencies? We can never properly use the power of this platform as long as the industry continues to perpetuate the same cycle while justifying a lack of diversity not only throughout hiring practices, but in the work that we create.

Just take a look at the numbers—only about 5.85% of the advertising world is made up of African-Americans, and it is the only minority group to have seen a decrease in representation over the last four years. African-American men are one the most underrepresented groups in the entire industry, at just 2.58%. It doesn’t have to be this way.

I want to challenge all agency leads to execute a company-wide diversity check and strategize on creating pathways to improve the diversity of their staff and by extension, the creative. This is not just about diversity in terms of race, but a diversity of perspective.

African-Americans, women and other minorities have so many barriers to entry, and if those walls were torn down, they would bring so much to this community and to the work. In these trying times, we must come together to end racism in all of the places it lives. We cannot be afraid to start that fight in our own backyards.

Does Advertising Age’s decision to create and publish such content help from a diversity standpoint? It’s hard to say. In an industry where cultural cluelessness is so prevalent, White people might not even know how to process the color commentary. Not sure why Advertising Age kept the conversation segregated. Given the Wieden + Kennedy response to recent events, it would have been interesting to get Dan Wieden’s viewpoint—which would hopefully be more thoughtful than gasping, “Now that’s fucked up!” Or maybe have Jeff Goodby wonder, “Why are all the Black people getting shot?”

13022: Amusement Park’s Big Deal.

Check it out. Jimmy Smith and Amusement Park co-produced the song and created this music video for Damian Lillard.

12633: How Jimmy Smith Made It.

From The Los Angeles Times…

How I Made It: Advertising veteran Jimmy Smith

By Ronald D. White

The gig: Advertising veteran Jimmy Smith, 53, has orchestrated award-winning work for brands including Nike and Gatorade, the latter involving the adoption of the more edgy “G” in packaging and marketing the sports drink. Since 2011, Smith has been chief executive and chief creative officer of Amusement Park Entertainment, which he founded with advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group, to develop “branded entertainment” — industry lingo for making the product or brand the centerpiece of an app, game, event, television show or movie, rather than creating an ad that viewers can ignore.

Another gig: Smith has added more traditional advertising and marketing back into his playbook. His businesses will operate as part of a larger company called simply Amusement Park, formed with longtime executives from DGWB Advertising & Communications. Smith is chairman and chief creative officer of the new firm. Partners Mike Weisman, Ed Collins and Jon Gothold have taken on the jobs of CEO, president and executive creative director, respectively. The venture operates out of offices in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, where DGWB has occupied the town’s historic city hall. Combined, the businesses have nearly 90 employees.

Parental influence: Smith, born in Muskegon, Mich., points to the determination of his father, James, to leave factory work and run his own business, eventually acquiring a restaurant franchise. “It was the first time that I could remember of a black person owning something in Muskegon,” Smith said. “It stayed in my head that I could do that too.” His mother, Evelyn, was a teacher and his language guide. “I couldn’t speak or write or do anything, from a very young age, without being corrected on the right way to do it by my mom, in a healthy way.”

Becoming “Bewitched”: Branding and advertising was an early career idea, Smith said, that he got from “Bewitched,” a sitcom that ran from 1964 to 1972 about New York ad exec Darrin Stephens. In the show, Stephens marries a witch, Samantha. The only drawback was having an evil witch — Endora — for a mother-in-law. “Darrin’s wife was beautiful,” Smith said. “He had a big house and if it wasn’t for Endora, it seemed like a pretty easy gig.”

Fallback plan: Smith attended Michigan State from 1981 to 1984. He majored in advertising but still entertained his childhood dream of becoming a professional basketball player. Michigan State has one of the nation’s most successful men’s basketball programs. “After I was cut from the Michigan State basketball team three years in a row,” Smith said, “I thought, ‘OK, I think I need to make this advertising thing happen.’”

ABCs of advertising: “I went to New York, Detroit, Chicago, anywhere I could go to get a job interview.” At Chicago’s Burrell Advertising (now Burrell Communications), one of the largest multicultural marketing firms in the world, Smith forgot the name of the person he was supposed to see. Despite the mix-up, Smith got the job. There he met a young co-worker named Lewis Williams, now Burrell’s chief creative officer, who “taught me the ABCs of advertising,” Smith said. “The main thing he taught me was huge. ‘They try to act like it’s a secret. They act like it’s rocket science. Advertising is not rocket science.’ That gave me confidence. It allowed me to feel comfortable any time I was presenting an idea.”

Becoming a mad man: The business “was intimidating because mostly they don’t like what you are presenting,” Smith said. “You go in and get to be humiliated. It’s personal. It’s mine and my team’s idea and they are just putting bullet holes in it. That is the way it is in advertising.” Smith built his name as he moved from agency to agency, including Wieden + Kennedy, where he was a writer and creative director for the Nike account; BBDO, where he was executive creative director; and TBWA\Chiat\Day’s L.A. office, where he was Gatorade’s group creative director.

Appealing to all: Having been told that his ad ideas were “not black enough” or “too black,” Smith said he liked the atmosphere at Muse Cordero Chen in the 1990s. There, he said, one “could walk down halls and hear Mandarin at one moment, Spanish the next, someone else speaking Japanese. If you are only a black agency, then your ideas are only going to come from that culture, same thing if you are at a white agency. But if you mix all of those cultures together, that’s where the most powerful ideas are going to come from.”

Diversity: Smith said he has tried to foster creative freedom in his diverse team, which draws from the worlds of sports, art and entertainment. “Find that coach who is going to give you the green light, who understands what you do, the value that you bring,” he advises.

Family affair: Smith’s wife, Smoke, works at Amusement Park Entertainment, as do their sons, Sequel, 28, and Jarrel, 27. Work is never far away, even when he and his wife manage to get away to a concert. “When I’m at the concert, it’s always, ‘Maybe I can use Lil Wayne in that,’ or some other idea. You can’t help it.”

11150: Jimmy Smith’s Reality TV Check.

Amusement Park Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Chairman and CEO Jimmy Smith discusses his experience on new VH1 series Model Employee.

10878: Talented Ten For 2012.

Pepper Miller STILL matters.

Harry Webber’s Obama SuperPac is superb.

Christopher Boulton is Rebranding Diversity.

Steve Stoute breaks barriers with beer.

Mark Robinson provides classic color commentary.

Jimmy Smith expands Amusement Park.

Tiffany Edwards club hops for change.

Lowell Thompson is write on.

Lincoln Stephens propels The Marcus Graham Project.

commonground deserves an uncommon honor.

10629: Discovered By Amusement Park.

Amusement Park Entertainment launched its first creation—a Kinect game for Intel and Microsoft called Discovered. Check out the details here and here. It’s almost as hot as Chanel Iman.

Photo credit: Seth Browarnik

10614: Where Are All The Black People Videos?

Videos of the latest “Where Are All The Black People?” are now on YouTube:

Keynote Panel included Spike DDB ECD Dabo Ché, Footsteps CEO Verdia Johnson, Amusement Park Partner and Director of Creative + Development Donna Lamar, Muse Communications CCO Jo Muse, The Martin Agency SVP/CD Danny Robinson and Amusement Park Chairman, CEO and CCO Jimmy Smith.

My First Time Panel included CD Robert Clifton Jr., Globalhue CCO Vida Cornelious, Draftfcb SVP CD Michael Kizilbash, McCann ECD Natalie Lam and CD Kash Sree.

Hybrid Creativity for a Multicultural World including Passport Project Founder Kenji Summers, Author Tanner Colby, globalWorks Global CD Iñaki Escudero, Wing CCO Renata Florio and PepsiCo Cultural Branding’s Bozoma Saint John.

Still don’t know why Tanner Colby received an invite. The man continued his culturally clueless knack for collecting common knowledge and drawing bizarre opinions. However, the event surely allowed Colby the opportunity to increase his total of Black acquaintances.

10612: Amusement Park’s Athletic Supporters.

From MediaPost News…

IPG’s Amusement Park Entertainment Forms Sports Marketing Unit

By Steve McClellan

Amusement Park Entertainment, the Interpublic Group-backed branded entertainment agency, has launched a new sports content creation and marketing arm that will enlist athletes to help create sponsored content for various media platforms.

According to Amusement Park CEO Jimmy Smith, the firm will sign some athletes as clients, such as the Philadelphia Eagles’ DeSean Jackson, while others will sign as partners for specific projects.

For example, one TV program is called “Divas and Jocks,” designed as a one-hour weekly series that will pair male athletes and female entertainers. Together, they will endure the rigors of a workout regimen overseen by a pro athlete trainer. The pilot episode features the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dwight Howard (paired with rap royalty’s Angela Simmons) who also has an ownership stake in the program, along with Amusement Park and Radical Media.

The agency is also working with the Fox Sport Networks on a new freestyle street sports tournament that Amusement Park has created called “VS-Mode.” The program, consisting of a one-hour TV special and multiple hours of online programming, is expected to air in the spring or summer of 2013.

The firm is currently talking to brands about sponsorships, Smith said. Events in the “VS-Mode” tournament include break dancing, graffiti competitions, street basketball, and DJ-style turntable competitions, among others.

Smith said he hopes to develop the competition package, billed as the “Freestyle World Games,” into an “X-Games”-type franchise that will spin off star athletes like Olympic Gold Medalist snowboarder Shaun White. He also said the new sports arm would help athlete clients develop product lines of their own, such as video games and potentially clothing or equipment lines.

The models for athlete-brand endorsements and sponsorships are changing, said Smith. “It’s not about going to one of the shoe brands and saying, pay me some money, and I’ll wear your stuff.” Increasingly, he said, it's about the athlete’s proposal to a brand: “I’m starting my own thing and do you want to be a part of it? That’s a much more powerful proposition for an athlete,” as well as for marketing partners that sign on, he said.

The new sports unit at Amusement Park is overseen by three former athletes, including Reggie Turner and Eugene Hackett, who co-founded the sports marketing firm Skybox Global in 2007, and former college and pro football player Donovan Warren. Smith credits Amusement Park Partners Bobby Ware and Roberto Grande with helping to form the new sports operation.

Smith and IPG created their joint venture agency about a year ago. Previously, he had been group creative director on the Gatorade account at TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles. Prior to that, Smith held senior positions at ad shops BBDO and Wieden + Kennedy. Separately, Amusement Park has formed a specialty unit that is focused on the music space.

10250: The Color Of Cannes.

Can’t think of a better place to ask, “Where Are All The Black People?” than Cannes Lions 59th International Festival of Creativity.

Scrolling the list of event speakers tells the tale. Executives like Kirk McDonald and Jimmy Smith were outnumbered by celebrities including Omar Epps, Meklit Hadero, Smokey Robinson and Forest Whitaker. Finding creative Black people is no problem—provided the search doesn’t require that the Black people be actively involved in the advertising arena. (Ironically, Amusement Park Chairman/CEO/CCO Jimmy Smith is quick to point out that his enterprise is not an ad agency.) As if to underscore the abysmal lack of progress our industry has made in establishing inclusive workplaces, AMC series Mad Men’s Don Draper-Jon Hamm received more coverage than adpeople of color. Plus, the actor appeared at a cocktail party fittingly hosted by multicultural mecca mcgarrybowen.

Meanwhile, Deutsch LA held a forum on the imperative for retaining talent, which is probably code for maintaining cronyism, nepotism and various assorted isms. Deutsch Recruiter Katherine Moncrief spoke to Adweek about headhunting at Cannes without mentioning diversity once during the 3-minute interview. LatinWorks sponsored the obligatory pitch for ethnic minorities and other non-White-male segments, a presentation that rarely makes an impression with predominately White audiences. A Dentsu program with the title “Asian Diversity” wound up spotlighting Hello Kitty. Wonder if Draftfcb—the shop that promises to no longer use the term “diversity and inclusion” by 2014—included any Blacks in its dirty dozen delegates.

The premier celebration of advertising is indeed an exclusive affair.

10131: Intellectual Talk With Jimmy Smith.

Amusement Park CEO Jimmy Smith discusses Intellectual Property on Bloomberg TV.

10087: Jay-Z And Selling The Brooklyn Nets.

The recent Phil Mushnick mess prevented MultiCultClassics from commenting on Jay-Z’s marketing efforts for the Brooklyn Nets. The hip-hop mogul’s creative work reflects the team’s 2012 season: 22-44; 0.333 winning percentage; 5th Place in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference.

The new Brooklyn Nets logo won’t make any highlight reels. Jay-Z is a multi-talented artist, but graphic design is not one of his gifts. Conceptually, there’s something there, with the nod to subway system signage. And the black and white color scheme is OK. But the mark, well, misses the mark. Jay-Z should have access—and certainly funds—to hire a top-flight designer. Hell, Craig Brimm probably would have taken the assignment for six figures and created something waaaaay better. For a more technical and thoughtful critique, check this.

Is Jay-Z also responsible for the ads and videos hyping the team? If so, he’s making Will.i.am look like Bill Bernbach. Sorry, but the man has never been a successful adman. Indeed, the only award-winning campaign connected to Jay-Z was produced by Droga5. Again, he should tap professionals—Wieden + Kennedy or Jimmy Smith’s Amusement Park would be perfect choices.

Most importantly, Jay-Z needs to realize that great marketing will only accelerate the death of a shitty product. And the Nets are currently a very shitty product. Forget branding. Recruit ballers.

9818: Ad Age’s Segregated Celebration.

Advertising Age presented two interviews—“Jimmy Smith on Mentors, Racism and the Future of Advertising” and “Ikea’s Leontyne Green Talks About Diversity and Marketing to African-Americans”—apparently sharing the unabridged sections from the “African American Execs on Life in Adland” piece published earlier in the week. Despite allegedly being part of Ad Age’s Black History Month celebration, both interviews went straight to The Big Tent. Um, isn’t Black History actually American History? Shouldn’t these interviews have appeared in the main publication section versus the minority space?

9808: Blacks In Adland.

From Advertising Age…

African-American Execs on Life in Adland

Agency and Marketing Leaders Talk About Inspirations, Challenges and, Yes, Diversity

By Ad Age Staff

It’s hardly a secret that adland in the U.S. doesn’t even come close to being representative of the population to which it is tasked with selling things. While things aren’t quite as bad as they were during the “Mad Men” days, it’s a fact that the racial makeup of most general-market agencies hasn’t changed much since the 1970s.

So rather than mark Black History month with yet another round of numbers that haven’t changed or with well-meaning efforts by holding companies and trade organizations that will have critics rolling their eyes, we figured we would simply talk to some African-Americans prominent in the industry.

Who are they? Whether on the marketer or the agency side, they’re leaders focused first and foremost on getting the job done: seeking creative ways to sell things to consumers.

We’ve compiled and trimmed answers here, but stay tuned to AdAge.com as we post the longer individual interviews over the next few days.

Ad Age: How/why did you get into the business?

Jimmy Smith, chairman-CEO-CCO, Amusement Park Entertainment: I said it before and I’ll say it again: “Bewitched!” Darrin Stephens and his wife, Samantha, introduced me to the ad game. If it weren’t for Endora, Darrin would’ve been living the life! And Larry Tate taught me to beware of account people. (Just kidding!)

Leontyne Green, U.S. marketing manager, Ikea North America: As a restaurant general manager, I became curious about the links between consumer behavior and purchase intent, and my ability to drive my business. I subsequently received my MBA from Clark Atlanta University as a way to transition into marketing. I started my marketing career at Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare.

Rob Jackson, U.S. director-marketing, McDonald’s: As a novice student, it was simply exciting. The ability to influence and understand consumer behavior was incredible. And to see it applied in a strategic format in the development of communications, plans and programs was fascinating.

Ad Age: Any advertising or marketing role models?

Kheri Holland Tillman, VP-trade marketing and sales strategy, Heineken USA: One person who stands out is Ann Fudge, who after being at Kraft Foods … went on to be president at Y&R . She has been a mentor to me over the past years. She and I worked together at Kraft . To be able to see an African-American female excel in business and in advertising was something that you don’t see that often—you don’t see it enough.

Ms. Green: During my time at CAU, I had the opportunity to meet and be exposed to Ann Fudge and Kenneth Chenault. Those discussions were great opportunities to listen and learn from other African-American leaders in corporate America.

Keith Cartwright, creative chairman of soon-to-be-named agency: Well, aside from Alma and Arthur Cartwright, I’d have to say Dan [Wieden]. You cannot look at that company, over the past 30 years, on so many levels, and not admire what they’ve created. Now, Dan’s not black. Although he told me once he wanted to be.

Mr. Smith: Pop owned a few different businesses. He had an entrepreneurial spirit. He even owned an Arby’s. So I learned a lot from him. I gotta give Alma Hopkins and Lewis Williams some dap. They both worked at Burrell, my first gig. At FCB in Chicago, Al Hawkins took it from there, along with Gwen Dawkins. … Jo Muse—the godfather of how I approach advertising today—gave me my big break when he hired me to work on Nike at Muse Cordero Chen. Then there was the “W&K and the rest is history” era. Dan W. hooked a brotha up. [Mr. Smith’s complete list will be posted online.]

Jayanta Jenkins, global creative director-Gatorade, TBWA /Chiat/Day, Los Angeles: My first role model was Jimmy Smith, who took me under his wing as a mentor shortly after I started at the Portfolio Center back in 1994 after graduating [from Virginia Commonwealth University]. … Once I got started (at The Martin Agency), Pam El [VP-marketing at State Farm] was someone who really helped when I first got in the business.

Ad Age: What are your thoughts on marketing segmentation?

Kimberly Paige, assistant VP/African-American marketing group, Coca-Cola North America: Market segmentation is important because you have to ensure your brands are connecting with the right people at the right time with the right message and offering. … This doesn’t necessarily imply that ethnicity is the only way to segment consumers. Like most characteristics, ethnicity is an important identifier, but the degree of its importance can be very situational or contextual. And sometimes people see themselves as more than one segment. Our approach is not an either/or but an “and” strategy.

Ms. Green: When the insights are used appropriately, in a manner that supports the values, beliefs or culture of their consumer vs. perpetuating broad generalizations, marketers can begin to build trust for their brands.

Ms. Tillman: [It’s] necessary, but it’s not as simple as segmentation by African-American, Hispanic and white. It needs to be the psychographics along with the demographics. … So you have to make sure that you’re breaking it down into more than just an ethnic group.

Mr. Jackson: Segmented marketing is critical. It’s an established discipline. Whether it’s based on ethnicity, age or sex, segmentation is a way to get to those high-opportunity consumers in a very efficient way.

Ad Age: What do you think about the diversity issue in adland?

Mr. Cartwright: The conversation has changed, and people are much more aware than five years ago. That said, the numbers across-the-board are still anemic … and don’t give a fair representation of people we’re marketing to.

Ms. Green: There is a huge opportunity to increase diversity among the more senior roles, on both the creative and account sides. There has been an increase in diversity among junior roles [in agencies] on the account side, but I [see more] opportunity for increased diversity on the creative side. And I think there is a need for African-American-focused agencies.

Mr. Smith: I’m not 100% sure, because I didn’t do a survey back in the day, but I could have sworn there were more black folks in the biz when I began my career. … If the African-American shops are smart (and they are) they’ll seize the moment, understand the opportunity, make like Don Cornelius and provide clients with the hippest trips in American advertising. Most general-market agencies can’t fake the funk, and African-American agencies should stop running away from the funk.

Mr. Jenkins: It has changed and continues to change for the better on a daily basis. … [But] I think until there is even more diversity in general-market agencies, there will continue to be a need for African-American, Hispanic and Asian shops.

Ms. Paige: Diversity is an opportunity in the ad agency space. Given the shift in the consumer landscape, and the cultural exchange and fluidity that is happening among all people, especially youth and millennials, it is incumbent that agencies continuously evolve to ensure they have in-depth knowledge and a grasp of all consumers.

Ad Age: What are your thoughts on African-Americans and entrepreneurialism in advertising and marketing?

Mr. Cartwright: Entrepreneurialism is a way of thinking. It’s an approach to life. There’s so much going on right now in media and tech, I think it’s a great time for anyone to start a company, regardless of race.

Mr. Jenkins: Prince left Warner Bros. a decade ago because he didn’t like the way record execs were taking a lion’s share of profit from what he created. … I think that’s what you’re seeing in our industry. People who want to change the business model and blaze new territory for the way our ideas are developed.

Mr. Smith: Starting my own company was an easy decision. It had nothing to do with being black and everything to do with wanting to take brands to the moon, Mars and the stars via advertising that didn’t look or smell like advertising. I just simply wanted to make like Bill Bernbach, Georg Olden, Lee Clow, Dan Wieden, John Jay, Jo Muse and Jon Kamen and change the game. … As for other blacks starting their own businesses, I predict in seven years we won’t be having this conversation—because many brands will be out of business if we’re still having this conversation in seven years. And the CMOs of most brands are intelligent. They know what time it is. They see the handwriting on the wall. They know what color the money is. It’s black and yellow, brown AND white.

9376: Where Are All The Roy Eatons?

Worth watching on the “Where Are All The Black People?” video is the presentation by Roy Eaton. On a stage with Jeff Goodby, Jimmy Smith and Neal Arthur, Eaton was clearly the superstar of the group.

9368: Jimmy Smith Is An Amusing Dude.

From Advertising Age…

Jimmy Smith Departs Omnicom’s TBWA, Launches Shop Under Interpublic

Amusement Park Entertainment Will Focus on Branded Content

By Ann-Christine Diaz

Jimmy Smith, the veteran creative behind high-profile branded entertainment efforts such as Gatorade’s Replay and Nike Battlegrounds, is departing Omnicom Group’s TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles to launch a new agency under Interpublic Group of Cos. His shop, which will be dubbed Amusement Park Entertainment, will focus on storytelling and branded content.

Outside of its nontraditional focus, the L.A.-based shop also boasts an unconventional revenue model that places a premium on what agencies are best known for—ideas. “The philosophy behind the company is simple,” Mr. Smith said. “Ideas are the Holy Grail; therefore we should value them and their creation highly.”

Mr. Smith has already made a name for himself steering successful branded entertainment properties. At TBWA, he served as group creative director on Gatorade and oversaw the highly-awarded branded content Replay series. For three seasons, it’s given sports teams the chance to address unrequited triumphs from their athletic past and now, Mr. Smith says, it’s on its way to becoming a feature produced by Sony.

Read more about the agency’s launch at Creativity Online.