11564: Solving The U.K. Ad Mystery.

At Campaign, VCCP Creative Director Jim Thornton’s column titled “Adland’s role in a diverse Britain” featured the following subhead: “Why ethnic minority groups aren’t wooed by brands like anyone else is a complete mystery…” A complete mystery? Um, there’s no need to call Sherlock Holmes to solve the case. The riddle has been answered by Jonathan Akwue, Karen Blackett and even Advertising Age. An utter lack of diversity at U.K. advertising agencies—probably coupled with homogenous advertisers—leads to minorities not being “wooed by brands like anyone else.” Doesn’t help that U.K. rock stars like Sir John Hegarty are culturally clueless morons too. The only “complete mystery” is why anyone might consider it mysterious at all. That’s the real mind-boggling puzzler here.

Adland’s role in a diverse Britain

Why ethnic minority groups aren’t wooed by brands like anyone else is a complete mystery, Jim Thornton writes.

In Exodus, his thought-provoking new book about immigration, the economist Paul Collier makes the point that the age-old argument about whether immigration is a good or bad thing is a wholly irrelevant one.

If, instead, we start from the truism that migration drives diversity, then the debate becomes not about whether diversity is good or bad, but about just how much diversity is too much before the foundations of a nation start to crack.

Now, this debate should never be led by a half-English, half-Scottish, white, middle-class, ex-public school boy like myself who was brought up in a village in south Cheshire and now lives in a village in East Sussex. But it is precisely because of my almost exclusively Anglo-Saxon origins that I’ve always loved the diversity that migrants bring to this country.

My 50 years living on this island have been as much, if not more, influenced by the increasing diversity of cultures than any other generation alive. Every aspect of my life — from the music I first heard as a kid, to the food I eat, to the sporting heroes I worship — has been enriched by diversity.

So when I was asked to creative direct a campaign advertising the different call rates to different countries available on the O2 international sim to the immigrant communities of the UK, the team and I saw an opportunity to celebrate the cultural diversity with which all the different migrant communities of Britain have enhanced all our lives.

The international sim market is an almost exclusively price-led, commoditised market in which no brand has made much more of an effort than shouting their rate loudly from the rooftops while badging it with the national flag of the particular destination they are talking about purely as a form of signage. Which is at best lazy and, at worst, lazily patronising.

Quite why these communities shouldn’t be wooed by brands and rewarded for their attention just like anyone else is a complete mystery, but I suspect if both brands and agencies alike actually read the IPA Ethnic Diversity Forum’s report entitled 2012 Multicultural Britain, they would very quickly realise the potential of markets they have hitherto largely pretended did not exist.

Of course, there’s a big difference between a brand talking to minority ethnic communities about a product specific to them in an authentic, rewarding and culturally relevant way and the issue of inclusivity across the entire range of a brand’s communications. Frankly, that the latter is still, in 2013, a genuine issue should be as embarrassing to our industry as Greg Dyke’s commission has been to The FA.

But when I scan through the library of British advertising that lives in that little bit of my brain that is not dedicated to all things Stoke City, it’s McDonald’s that stands out a mile as the most inclusive brand over the past three decades.

Ever since it arrived on these shores, McDonald’s advertising has consistently reflected the diverse ethnicity of the UK as a vital, integral thread, woven seamlessly into the fabric of modern Britain. It has never “used” race or ethnicity as an issue designed to provoke a reaction, as one could argue a certain “famous for its exquisitely folded jumpers” clothing brand has in the past.

Not surprisingly, given they make a lot of work designed to appeal to the broadest possible target market there is — the entire world — it is the huge global mass-market brands such as Apple, Dove and Coca-Cola that have arguably embraced diversity and inclusivity most successfully and consistently across their communications.

But what differentiates McDonald’s from these brands is that almost all of its communications are developed by local markets to better enable them to demonstrate an appreciation of their market and reflect their customers with credibility and authenticity.

Credibility and authenticity are the two most essential attributes required for a conversation with any existing or potential customer, irrespective of race, religion, colour or creed. Anything less is just ignorant and insulting and plays to the lowest common denominator like the advertising equivalent of the Daily Mail. And, surely, no brand wants to be that…

Jim Thornton is a creative director at VCCP

11532: Exploring African Creativity.

From Campaign…

Africa rising

October is Black History Month in the UK, but Africa is determined not to be stuck in the past. Jonathan Akwue and Richard Robinson chart the explosive growth of the continent’s new breed of creativity.

By Jonathan Akwue and Richard Robinson

In 2000, The Economist declared that Africa was a “hopeless continent”. It was a deliberately inflammatory statement, but it wasn’t hard to see why the magazine had reached this conclusion.

Much of Africa seemed trapped in a cycle of corruption, inefficiency and poverty. Africans — although proud of their cultural identities — shared a sense of frustration at the failure of the continent to keep pace with the rest of the world.

A decade later, the picture had changed radically. The Chinese had made significant investments in the region’s infrastructure and become Africa’s largest trading partner.

Multinationals, too, saw the opportunities: in 2011, Procter & Gamble’s “grow Africa” strategy identified the continent as its next frontier. The race to uncover African creative talent was on.

Today, five of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa. The term “Africa rising” is so common, it is practically a meme — and African creativity is bursting out of the continent across every medium.

The ripples of this can be felt here in the UK. Afrobeat is what the cool kids are listening to; Malaika Firth (pictured, right), a Kenyan/British model, is on the cover of Vogue; and the Nigerian film industry is the world’s second largest after Bollywood.

This new wave of creativity is captured in the acronym Tina: this is new Africa. Any agency without Africa on its strategic plan is already late to the party.

The way of the lion

According to Felix Kessel, the co-founder of the South African agency OwenKessel, it took a long time for African nations to build up their confidence and find their voice. Now a new breed of creative has emerged who is unapologetically African, willing to take risks and break the stereo¬types.

Kofi Amoo-Gottfried, now the global communications director at Bacardi, previously worked with one of this article’s authors, Richard Robinson, to set up Publicis Groupe’s West African operation.

Amoo-Gottfried’s vision was to reclaim Africa’s birthright as a creative force. As a start-up, they had to think laterally when recruiting.

To find good client services people, they looked to the banks, hiring their corporate relations managers. Journalists and bloggers were brought in as copywriters, while artists and designers honed their skills on the job.

Amoo-Gottfried also reached out to his network, bringing in experienced creatives from India and the US. Teams were regularly sent out to local marketplaces to conduct primary research. “In Africa, there are no short cuts,” Amoo-Gottfried explains.

A mobile, social continent

Another driver of African creativity is technology. Agencies in South Africa already compete on the world stage, but digital technology is also connecting creatives across Africa to developments in the rest of the world. As Kessel points out, mobile is increasingly important: “Although the cheapest way to get a message out in South Africa is still TV, that is not true in places such as Nigeria and Kenya, where it is mobile first.”

Gaurav Singh, the chief digital officer at the Kenyan agency Scangroup, agrees: “The design process starts with mobile. Our technologists are not coming out of traditional universities, they are teaching themselves. They do front-end design, but they code, too. For us, mobile is not a by-product, it is the product.”

However, Amoo-Gottfried injects a note of caution: “There is more demand for agencies to provide truly local solutions. No-one’s cracked mobile yet.”

The use of social media is also spreading rapidly across the continent. Kessel says African oral traditions are providing opportunities for branded storytelling: “People don’t mind marketing if it contains a story worth sharing.” As in the West, brands are starting to think more in terms of conversation and engagement, rather than purely broadcast. “Right now, Nigeria is the most experimental place on earth,” Kessel adds.

African creativity reborn

There are a number of platforms showcasing African creativity. Examples include Bozza and African Digital Art. Google has created the Africa Connected platform, and Diesel has partnered the fashion brand Edun to launch Studio Africa online.

African creatives are gaining international recognition. The Zimbabwean graphic artist and designer Sindiso Nyoni has worked on projects for brands such as Nike and Audi. In 2010, he created R!OT, an alias that explores subversive street style. His work has been exhibited as far afield as Mexico City, New York and Croatia.

At an agency level, OwenKessel’s work for Amstel and the South African newspaper Business Day reflects a renewed confidence and willingness to challenge the establishment. Ogilvy Africa’s “on-the-job interview” campaign for Radar Security in Kenya demonstrates a fresh approach using word-of-mouth and social media.

In the UK, a fresh group of young creatives are emerging. Engine’s Akwasi Poku says: “Marketers see that the audience demographic is changing and are starting to look for a more diverse talent pool. That creates opportunities for creatives like me.”

It’s clear Africa is leaping forward with creativity and passion at a rapid pace. UK agencies should take note.

Jonathan Akwue is a partner at Engine, and Richard Robinson is the managing partner at Oystercatchers

11225: Same Old Youth Story.

Campaign posted a perspective from Jonathan Akwue on the dearth of diversity in the U.K. advertising industry and the standard efforts to address the issue—namely, minority youth outreach programs. Why, even diversity crusader Sir John Hegarty made an obligatory appearance. What’s next? Neil French speaking at a 3% Conference?

A Wish for Cannes — A More Creative Future

By Jonathan Akwue

By some accounts, I’m at a disadvantage simply because of when I was born. You see I’m part of Generation X. I grew up in the seventies, commonly regarded as ‘the morning after the night before’ — the night before in this case being the sixties. Of course it was far less clear-cut than that, but many still regard the period as a decade of bad hair, bad drugs and bad attitude.

While the Hippies became disillusioned by the fact that the Age of Aquarius hadn’t ushered in a New World order of peace and love, the sense of hope wasn’t completely extinguished. The future (while not yet Orange) was at least brighter and generally cleaner — at least in terms of fashion.

Sci-fi shows such as Space 1999 predicted that in the future we’d all be wearing matching shiny threads. This tradition extended back to Sci-fi movies such as Forbidden Planet, and to the Star Trek series. Even in dystopian visions of the future like Logan’s Run or Rollerball, people generally wore matching gear.

As far as I’m aware, no one predicated the rise of the Hipsters, who make a virtue of the fact that nothing matches — except perhaps their beards and tattoos.

But here we are. Living in a world in which the Hipster has inherited the earth, or at least the advertising industry. There is nothing wrong with this of course (after all, some of my best friends are Hipsters). Despite their sardonic disposition and propensity to share images of food on Instagram, they are in my experience, a warm hearted set of people, with ethical values a keen sense of moral justice.

It is therefore somewhat surprising that as Hipsters increasingly populate advertising and marketing agencies in the UK, the industry as a whole stills struggles to reflect the diversity of modern Britain.

Urban theorist, Professor Richard Florida convincingly argued over a decade ago in his seminal book, ‘The Rise of the Creative Class’, that creative people enjoy living in urban environments that rank highly on what he defined as a Bohemian index, Gay index, and Diversity index. He concluded that if cities want to attract highly productive creative people, they should ensure there is a good mix of cultural activities and tolerance for different sexualities and ethnicities.

His theory (although hotly contested) led to a sea-change in town centre planning and theories of urban renewal. The growth of coffee shop culture and the resurgence of independent stores in the trendier parts of cities and towns today are in part informed by his thinking.

While town planners and urban theorists leapt on Florida’s concept in an attempt to attract more highly valuable creative people to their neighbourhoods, the creative industries themselves have been slower to incorporate this thinking into their recruitment practices. As a result, many of the young Hipsters now working in advertising actually meet a more diverse range of people when outside of work than within it. Some agencies have recognized the need to change this, but many still lag behind. Fortunately there are increasing signs that change is going to come.

On the June 12, The Ideas Foundation celebrated their Annual Celebration at the IPA in London. In the centre of the event (which was designed by the Foundation’s Scholars Council), stood a ‘wishing tree’ upon which people could write their wishes for the future of the creative industries. The wish that summed it up best for me was: ‘Get more people involved in the magic!’

The event showcased the work of young people that the Ideas Foundation has worked with through its various programmes such as I Am Creative and Incubate, spearheaded in schools in the North West. It also featured a Q&A interview session with Sir John Hegarty, Creative Nerds CEO, Dirujan Sabesan, and Claude Borna, SVP Global Customer Strategy & Worldwide Commercial at Sony Pictures Entertainment. The three interviewees represented different strands of the creative industries, but each spoke passionately about the need to find and follow one’s passions.

In the same week as this event took place, The One Club from New York held a week long Creative Boot Camp in London for aspiring Creatives, sponsored by the agency Mother and run by the amazing Director of Diversity, Traecy Smith. I was able to drop in on the final session on Sunday held at the London College of Communications and witnessed a large, diverse group of young people leaving fired up about the advertising industry and keen to make their mark.

Meanwhile, this week in Cannes, the Festival of Creativity kicks off. While Britain used to be disproportionately represented in the awards, over recent years our influence has waned as more international agencies walk away with the coveted Lions.

I believe that these events are not unrelated. For Britain to regain our position as a creative superpower, we need to learn lessons from the world of sports and open our doors to a more diverse pool of talent. I’m convinced that you’ll hear no complaints from the younger generation of Hipsters in our agencies — quite the opposite in fact. It won’t be long before our clients, like frustrated Football club owners begin to demand it.

We may not be living in the future we expected, but that’s no reason to hang onto the past. If we want our agencies to be filled with the brightest and best, we should heed the words of the prophetic reggae singer from the seventies — Nesta Robert Marley — and ‘Stir it up’.

Jonathan Akwue is a Partner at Engine and Chair of The Ideas Foundation.