14621: Benefiting From And Taking Advantage Of A Bone-Crushing Crisis.

Advertising Age reported The Martin Agency CEO Kristen Cavallo declared “she hopes every company experiences ‘a bone-crushing crisis,’ because ‘you won’t show the courage to change’ without it.” Does that mean Cavallo must have her bones crushed before she’ll make good on her “We’re on it” pledge for true diversity? Cavallo’s admission is pathetic when considering the number of women allegedly abused for decades at The Martin Agency. Sorry, but that kind of institutionalized insanity doesn’t qualify as a crisis—rather, it’s a cultural cancer. For Cavallo to recognize that “the really sad part of this whole thing is that none of what we did required a crisis” underscores the unconscionable lack of ethics and integrity at her White advertising agency. After all, the late Mike Hughes confessed, “We’ve done a pretty poor job on diversity as an industry and we’ve got to do better.” Yet Cavallo has done no better than Hughes—despite the fact that both live/lived in a region where Blacks comprise over 50% of the population. Sorry, but folks like Cavallo put the “Me” in MeToo.

The Martin Agency CEO and Nike VP discuss the benefits of undergoing a MeToo scandal

Kristen Cavallo and Mel Strong say they needed crisis to change their organizational culture

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

The Martin Agency CEO Kristen Cavallo says she hopes every company experiences “a bone-crushing crisis,” because “you won’t show the courage to change” without it.

Speaking on a panel at VentureFuel’s first Rogue Women event on Tuesday, Cavallo spoke openly about taking the helm of the Interpublic Group of Cos. agency following the high-profile ouster of former Chief Creative Officer Joe Alexander in late 2017 due to sexual harassment claims made against him.

“I should start by saying I never had the ambition to be a CEO,” Cavallo told the audience. “I actually aspired to be No. 2. I rationalized it to myself like a chessboard. I thought the king on a chessboard can only move one square at a time. The queen can go in every direction, as many squares as she wants. So I thought that’s my goal.”

She continued, “But I got the top job, I’m not going to lie, because I’m a woman who lived in the city, who enabled them to change a narrative overnight and I’m upfront and honest about that.”

Cavallo was U.S. chief strategy and growth officer for MullenLowe before becoming the first female CEO of Richmond Virginia-based The Martin Agency. Under her direction, she appointed the first female chief creative officer, Kristen Costello. Cavallo doubled the number of female executives on The Martin Agency’s board. She added the first person of color to the executive team. She closed the wage gap. She tripled the agency’s paternity leave.

“The fun part of taking over a branding crisis, which is really not fun, is you have permission to burn lots of bridges,” said Cavallo, who was also recently named Ad Age’s Executive of the Year. “We did probably 75 things last year. We just burned everything. And the really sad part of this whole thing is that none of what we did required a crisis.”

Melanie Strong, VP and general manager of Nike’s global skateboarding division, speaking on the same panel as Cavallo, said that she “woke up on January 1 this year praying for a recession,” because historically during recessions, the athletic apparel and footwear company undergoes a reorganization.

Strong almost left Nike in 2017 due to its widely-reported toxic culture but decided to stay. She helped lead the group of women at Nike’s Beaverton, Ore.-based headquarters that surveyed their female colleagues and unveiled countless stories of sexual harassment and gender discrimination that led to the departure of several of the company’s top male executives.

“We were terrified, honestly,” Strong said. “That fear was a predominant element of our culture at that time. Fear is a powerful motivator. Short-term, you can get a lot out of people. Long-term, it’s devastating.”

Over the course of a couple months that culminated at the end of 2017, Strong said the group gathered about 500 stories to present to Nike President, Chairman and CEO Mark Parker, ranging from “bullying and toxic bias to a lot of sexual harassment … so then we got more scared.”

Strong said she believes without those allegations coming to light, campaigns like the recent “Just Do It” spots with Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick wouldn’t have happened.

“We lost accounts because of that campaign [with Kaepernick], specifically our golf Nike accounts, which may not surprise you,” Strong said. “We said, ‘Cool, see ya.’ When you put a flag down on your values as a company, you’ve got to walk the walk. We continue to put pressure on ourselves to not just do unique campaigns but to walk the walk.”

She did, however, admit that her biggest concern now is that “we’re sliding back into old muscle memory” because although Nike fired certain executives and initiated certain training around diversity and unconscious bias, the company did not undergo a company-wide reorganization. “You’re still probably reporting to the same person and sitting in the same department,” she said.

Cavallo and Strong were among a room full of female marketing leaders who attended and spoke at the first Rogue Women event at which VentureFuel introduced a dedicated fund to back female-led companies.

“We wanted to create an environment to connect dynamic women from across large corporations, startups and investors to facilitate new relationships and encourage the next generation of change agents,” VentureFuel founder Fred Schonenberg said. “I was thrilled at the diversity of thought and raw, authentic sharing from each of the speakers. The whole day felt like a master class in how to drive change for your career, business and culture overall.”

9078: Speaking French With Modern Mad Men.

Sorry for the Lobsters and beating a dead horse, but wanted to briefly re-examine Neil French and the alleged gender discrimination on Madison Avenue.

To briefly recap, French made sexist comments when asked about the lack of female creative directors during a professional engagement in 2005. French has consistently insisted that he was joking, and that anyone attending the event would have realized it (although a number of people reportedly exited in the middle of French’s presentation—and Nancy Vonk clearly was not amused). According to various sources, French said women usually leave the industry “to go suckle something,” and added, “You can’t be a great creative director and have a baby and keep spending time off every time your kids are ill … Everyone who doesn’t commit themselves fully to the job is crap at it.” French has never denied making these statements, and even defended his position in a later interview by saying, “A belligerent question deserves a belligerent answer. The answer is, They don’t work hard enough. It’s not a joke job. The future of the entire agency is in your hands as creative director.”

At the time of the incident, French was the Worldwide Creative Director for WPP, and he inevitably resigned when the proverbial shit hit the fan. But to be clear, his comments were grounds for dismissal, as one could easily argue that such declarations would create a hostile and discriminatory work environment for women. As WPP Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell recently admitted about his company, “We don’t recruit people very well, we don’t assess them very well, we don’t give them feedback very well.” It would not help the hiring efforts to also be known as a female-unfriendly enterprise.

Given the continuing controversy surrounding gender imbalance on Madison Avenue, at least in regards to creative directors, one must wonder if the people in power (i.e., White men) really think there is an issue. Why? Well, consider this. If French had made the exact same comments and replaced women with Blacks or Latinos, he would have been branded as the Michael Richards of the industry, and probably shunned and condemned by everyone. However, a number of prominent admen have come forward to praise French and his book, including Mike Hughes, David Droga, Mark Tutssel, Bob Scarpelli, Lee Clow, Jeff Goodby and Graham Fink.

So is there a problem with the “dearth of dames” leading creative teams and departments? Or deep down, do modern Mad Men support French’s viewpoint along with his book?

7441: The Cultural Competence Contest.

In 2006-2007, MultiCultClassics posted Parody Ads to spotlight the lack of diversity on Madison Avenue. The original series played off iconic campaigns.


In 2007-2008, MultiCultClassics posted Parody Diversity Recruitment Ads from major advertising agencies.


In 2008-2009, MultiCultClassics posted Tagged Diversity Recruitment Ads. The series embellished real corporate diversity messages, pointing out the contradictions and hypocrisy of advertisers pontificating on inclusion while partnering with advertising agencies where exclusivity reigns.


In 2010, MultiCultClassics introduces a transformational concept. It’s time for Madison Avenue to get actively involved.

The MultiCultClassics Cultural Competence Contest

Goal: Create a Diversity Recruitment Campaign for Madison Avenue.

Diversity in the advertising industry remains a dream deferred, delayed and denied. Now you have the equal opportunity to bring change to Madison Avenue once and for all. Simply design a campaign to inspire and ignite inclusiveness in our ranks.

Scope of the entry is at the entrant’s sole discretion. There are no budgetary, media or creative restrictions.

Rules: Contest open exclusively to U.S. White and General Market Advertising Agencies. White senior management executives must be intimately involved with your agency’s entry, preferably leading the initiative. Sorry, no minority or multicultural agencies allowed. Additionally, no Chief Diversity Officers, Diversity Committees, ADCOLOR® Members, Mailroom Attendants, Receptionists, Janitorial Crews or Security Staff permitted to participate. Minorities may be ultimately integrated into the effort, but you must not delegate diversity to the resident non-White person in your office.

Given Madison Avenue’s historic sluggishness on diversity, entries must be submitted by January 1, 3010, or before Cyrus Mehri issues subpoenas, whichever comes first.

No entry forms to fill out or fees to pay. Once you’ve hatched an idea, contact MultiCultClassics via the comments process.

Good luck!