15664: Reviewing 2021 And Envisioning 2022—Oxen And Tigers, Oh My!

 

While 2022 is the Year of the Tiger, 2021 was the Year of the Ox. Among the Chinese zodiac signs, the Ox symbolizes diligence, strength, honesty, down-to-earth persistence and wealth; in contrast, the Tiger symbolizes strength, speed, exorcising evil and bravery.

 

As the transition between symbols occurs from late January to mid-February, it’s time to recognize three industry figures whose actions in the past year reflected the Ox—although they may ultimately become Tigers in the year ahead.

 

 

Hero Group CEO Joe Anthony lobbed a $10 million grenade at DDB Chicago, filing a lawsuit that charged the White advertising agency with fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and more. The accusations stemmed from Hero Group joining forces with DDB Chicago to win the US Army account. Anthony insisted that DDB reneged on an agreement to award “significant work” to the New York-based Hero Group after the pitch victory. The argument escalated to a Medium perspective, wherein Anthony presented Prime Redlining as follows:

 

Prime Redlining is when the prime applicant or beneficiary of a government contract teams up with a minority firm to apply for or secure a government contract; and after winning the government contract, the prime redlines the minority firm out of the contract by denying or extremely limiting the minority firm from the financial benefit originally established in their teaming agreement or dictated by government compliance requirements.

 

There were no further reports on the progress and/or outcome of the lawsuit. However, Anthony surfaced as a leader in a partnership with Carat, a company within the Dentsu empire.

 

 

Media Mogul Byron Allen launched an offensive by sending letters of intent to brands and White advertising agencies, threatening legal action if the enterprises failed to allocate more money to Black-owned media. In short, Allen was refusing to accept crumbs.

 

Leading a team of Black media moguls, Allen drove a full-page advertisement attacking General Motors Chairman and CEO Mary Barra for declining to meet with them. In the end, Barra, Allen and the group staged a powwow—and General Motors later announced plans to increase spending with Black-owned media.

 

Allen then set his sights on Mickey D’s, filing a whopper $10 billion discrimination lawsuit. Plus, Allen even demanded that McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski be fired for alleged cultural cluelessness on an unrelated incident. A judge initially tossed the lawsuit; however, Allen was allowed to amend the complaint. Stay McTuned.

 

Nathan Young rose to Head of Strategy for Ethos, a new offering from Deloitte Digital designed to help brands build equity, justice and sustainability initiatives. In his professional role, Young may reach greater heights than the 600 & Rising platform that he cofounded in 2020—but don’t expect any accolades from ADCOLOR®.

 

Anthony, Allen and Young represent Oxen and Tigers, displaying courage and conviction to call out systemic inequities—and serving as exorcists to cast out perpetuating evils.

15592: Delayed WTF 52—Does ADCOLOR Constitute False Advertising?

 

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.

 

Adweek published “sponsored content” highlighting the 15th Annual ADCOLOR Awards, penned by none other than Tiffany R. Warren. Why is this pseudo-philanthropic fuck fest still associated with the advertising industry? After all, its top trophy recipients are Hollywood celebrities. Even Warren bailed out of the ad game. Granted, the inaugural ADCOLOR soiree showed its true colors by praising Magic Johnson—and the key winners since then have been more likely to serve as paid ad spokespersons versus ad trailblazers.

 

The Adweek divertorial was headlined, “15th Annual ADCOLOR Awards: Honoring the DEI Champions Who Go Above and Beyond.” Two of the usual suspects saluted included:

 

Lifetime Achievement

 

Antonio Lucio, Principal and Founder, 5S Diversity; Executive Fellow, Yale School of Management

 

After 40 years as a celebrated marketing leader, Lucio stepped down as CMO at Facebook last year to focus fully on DEI efforts within the industry. He is known for his philosophy of empathetic leadership and for calling on marketing to become “bilingual and bicultural,” building bridges between what companies want to do and where consumers are.

 

Catalyst

 

Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble

 

Pritchard doesn’t want to see your ad storyboards if they’re not reflective of the diverse audience P&G serves. And the same goes for meetings, which is why Pritchard also champions the necessity of hiring BIPOC staff and demanding the same of partners within the industry.

 

Um, if the lifetime achiever and catalytic converter are so successfully stellar, why do their White advertising agency co-conspirators confess to having failed at DE&I diversions—and continue to annually admit that there is still much work to be done? Hell, their own companies are DE&I deficient. Why are contrived and clichéd excuses for cultural cluelessness regurgitated year after year? Why routinely erect heat shields to conceal and camouflage the abysmal lack of progress? Sorry, the alleged accomplishments should be accompanied by asterisks.

 

BTW, the traditional gift for a 15th anniversary is crystal. So maybe the organization will salute Crystal Langhorne. Although they’d probably opt for Billy Crystal, as he has greater star-fucker appeal.

 

Oh, and has anyone asked Nathan Young to weigh in on matters—doesn’t he qualify as a DE&I champion who goes above and beyond?

15584: At Deloitte Digital, Nathan Young Is 1 & Rising…

 

Advertising Age reported Deloitte Digital launched a new offering—Ethos—to help businesses create equity, justice and sustainability heat shields. Leading the charge as Head of Strategy for Ethos is none other than Nathan Young. Hey, if the initiative experiences extraordinary success, Young could land an ADCOLOR® trophy.

 

Nathan Young, Former 600 & Rising President, Heads A New Brand Purpose Initiative At Deloitte Digital

 

Ethos builds on the promise—and pitfalls—of his former organization

 

By I-Hsien Sherwood

 

Nathan Young, co-founder and former president of advocacy non-profit 600 & Rising, has a new plan to help the world—at Deloitte Digital.

 

After the murder of George Floyd, 600 & Rising galvanized racial justice sentiment in the advertising industry, but the original initiative collapsed just a few months later, its plans no match for institutional inertia, management missteps and the often daunting logistics of running a non-profit.

 

“When you’re powered by a team of volunteers, for all your good intentions you are having to balance what you're trying to do in that space with your day job,” Young said. “You just can’t get as far as you want as fast as you want.”

 

Young has learned from that experience. At Deloitte Digital he is now head of strategy for Ethos, a new offering from the consultancy that will help businesses develop internal and external programs to address equity, justice and sustainability issues. While chief marketing officers want to do the right thing, he said, they don’t know how to.

 

“They understand how their audiences feel about their brand, but they don’t have a really good understanding of how they feel about social issues,” Young said. “It’s not just about the relationship between the brand and the customer. It’s about the relationship between the brand, the customer and society, culture writ large.”

 

Ethos soft-launched earlier this year and has been working with more than a dozen Fortune 100 companies. (Deloitte declined to name any of those companies, citing confidentiality agreements.) One undisclosed brand with a predominantly white employee base had surveys lauding its positive work culture and high job satisfaction. But when Ethos specifically asked Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled and veteran workers about their experiences, they uncovered brewing discontent that had been washed out in the averages. The Ethos team then helped the brand develop new human resources programs to help elevate those underrepresented voices.

 

The resources afforded by an organization as large as Deloitte “allow us to move beyond manifesto, beyond powerful campaigns and actually make up something that fundamentally changes the way that companies work,” Young said, “more in the service of benefiting the planet, benefiting the people that reside in it and being in balance and harmony with society.”

 

If Young’s rhetoric seems less combative than last year, it is. A sabbatical after his resignation from Periscope in August 2020 helped him channel the urgency he felt about fixing things. “This is going to sound kind of obvious, but it’s relatively easy to point out what’s wrong,” he said. “It’s a lot harder to find a solution for what you’ve perceived to be wrong out there.”

 

15437: 600 & Rising & Rejiggering.

 

Advertising Age published an interview with 600 & Rising Co-Founder Bennett D. Bennett on the state of affairs at the organization. To recap, the group launched in revolutionary style with an open letter to Adland in 2020, demanding an end to the systemic racism plaguing the field. The movement was derailed when Co-Founder Nathan Young resigned following backlash from a Twitter critique of ADCOLOR® as being a heat shield. Based on the interview, 600 & Rising is not exactly on the rise after roughly 600 days, still strategizing to define a vision and action plan. When asked to share his hope for 600 & Rising, Bennett remarked, “I can only hope for grace to those who want to give it for me and the organization. There needs to be a lot of egos shed to make this work.” Um, to ultimately realize success, a lot of culturally clueless White “leaders” need to be shed too.

 

600 & Rising’s Bennett D. Bennett on the future of the organization

 

One year since the nonprofit called for the end of systemic racism on Madison Avenue, its co-founder reveals what’s next

 

By Jeanine Poggi

 

600 & Rising made waves in June 2020 when Black agency executives, led by Nathan Young and Bennett D. Bennett, came together to challenge Madison Avenue to end systemic racism. The nonprofit was quickly backed by industry trade body the 4A’s and moved to take the pulse of the industry and formulate a standard for agency diversity data reporting.

 

Just two months later, Young stepped down from the organization and the group announced a plan to dissolve its structure. At the time the nonprofit said it would be “taking the next 30 days to reassess with the intent that 600 & Rising becomes an advocacy community led by the signatories—Black talent and non-Black allies—that works for the interests and with the input of all involved, moving forward.”

 

Not much has been heard about the group since then, but Bennett has continued to work on reframing the organization. He sat down with Ad Age to discuss the progress and what’s next for 600 & Rising. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

 

Where is 600 & Rising at this point?

 

Starting over feels like a weird term, but it is a bit of a refresh for us as an organization. When my co-founder departed in July, there was a lot of mending fences, ensuring the organization could remain stable. I moved on with what I believe is still a good-enough mission to stick around.

 

What is that mission now?

 

I feel like I have an opportunity to just do the work. I needed to reframe how I was looking at my role within this organization. I have done as much as I can, but I am not the future of the industry. I shifted my mindset. It is a weird and interesting burden; I don’t think any Black person wants to have to scream out at the top of their lungs. But I started looking at this opportunity as a ‘thank you’ to everybody who allowed me to get to this point.

 

I was raised by more DE&I people than creative directors. I never had the proper opportunity to have that guidance when I was on the agency side. I had to do so much on my own. They gave me a chance to say, ‘I should still be in this industry and fight my way to be a creative professional.’ I feel I owe them that because this burden has been theirs to carry for a very long time. 600 is about Black talent first. We want to advocate for them and their best interest. We want to elevate them to their fullest potential. Wherever talented Black voices we want to make sure we support that.

 

When you lose focus on what brought you here, messes happen, and we have seen messes happen. If Black talent feels dissatisfied at their agency or are being harassed, we are still an organization you can come to and say, ‘this is a terrible work environment,’ and we will figure out how to help them. I don’t want to say 600 isn’t here for the ad agencies; it was born out of agency people, but it doesn’t tell the full picture of Black talent.

 

What has the process of rebuilding been like?

 

I was in my parents’ guest room at a desk for 13 to 14 months. I don’t want to say it was the easiest thing to reach back to partners like 4A’s after we made a splashy announcement with them; they were very hurt. We had those conversations as soon as we could because we recognize the mission was more important than who was running it.

 

What’s next?

 

There is no lighthouse for Black talent in the industry or companies who feel they may not have made inroads with the Black community in the way they should. This is mostly an infrastructure problem. No. 1 issue is wage equity. Agencies are starting to acknowledge that and restructure what salary bands look like. We want to empower Black talent on how to have those conversations with their agencies, make sure they have the receipts so to speak when it comes time for annual reviews, understand what it means to be more financially empowered. We are some of the most savvy people in business; we are people who influence the stock market, but we aren’t in touch with our ability to understand what a financial plan looks like for us when we are moving to a new market or taking a new job. We are holding fire to agencies to make sure they close the wage gap and work with partners that have engaged with us on wage equity.

 

We have been developing a study to use anonymous self-reported data to get the benchmarks for Black talent at this point. The equity study we are building out will show what the picture is looking like for Black talent for compensation, not just on the agency side. We are working with partners like We Are Rosie to address the freelance market. We are hoping to get at least this stuff out by June. The biggest Juneteenth goal is watching to see what agencies have to say about representation

 

One of the primary goals of 600 & Rising when it launched was to hold the industry accountable. Whose responsibility do you think that is now?

 

Anyone who has some sort of financial stake in the industry is responsible: activist shareholders, brands and also talent. For every executive who has said diversity is everybody’s business, I want to call bullshit, because it is put upon the DE&I leads.

 

What do you think of how the industry has responded to the Black Lives Matter movement over the past year?

 

It is very clearly a mixed bag. I always knew one year would be too soon for people to feel fully satisfied. The fact that Black talent feel comfortable telling us, ‘The agency I work for says it will support this creative idea and I feel empowered.’ Then on the other hand we do this wage equity survey and agencies put out numbers and again we will also hear from talent who are dissatisfied. I don’t think anyone who is Black in this industry feels like what has happened over the past year has been enough. There are people who have gotten promoted over the past year and they are getting their voice heard; and then there are agency layoffs.

 

What do you hope to see a year from now?

 

A year from now I want people to really, really, really appreciate the need for outside voices for good. I want the sentiment from Black Americans and Black people who watch advertising content to come with a sense of pride. There is so much breakthrough work that can be created when you allow voices to come in and do the work; I want us to be part of that. It has to be about consumers. It is a service industry, and we haven’t been treating it like a service industry at all.

 

What do you hope for 600 & Rising?

 

I can only hope for grace to those who want to give it for me and the organization. There needs to be a lot of egos shed to make this work.

15339: ADCOLOR® Shows Its True Colors By Selecting White AOR.

 

Campaign reported ADCOLOR® named Droga5 as its White advertising agency of record. Doesn’t Omnicom essentially own the ADCOLOR® franchise? Hell, why does ADCOLOR® even need an ad agency? And the announcement was made at the close of Black History Month—in the Black Lives Matter era. Brilliant. Hey, if Droga5 serves as the heat shield’s AOR, will there be a conflict of interest when the shop submits patronizing entries for the annual ADCOLOR® awards? A better choice would have been Deloitte Digital—after all, the place just hired Nathan Young.

 

ADCOLOR names Droga5 creative AOR

 

By Sabrina Sanchez

 

ADCOLOR, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to diversity and elevating people of color in the creative industry, has named Droga5 as its creative agency of record.?

 

As lead agency partner, Droga5 will focus on growing the organization’s virtual presence and converting ADCOLOR’s annual conference and awards, ADCOLOR Everywhere, to a hybrid virtual and in-person event.

 

As agencies have shifted toward a greater emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion in the wake of racial violence and protests, ADCOLOR has cemented itself as a leader in DE&I across the industry.

 

Droga5 previously worked with ADCOLOR by attending the organization’s conference and serving on its award jury annually.

 

“We’re ecstatic to partner with Droga5 and tap their industry-leading skills to evolve our brand and continue pushing boundaries in the DE&I world,” said Tiffany R. Warren, founder and president of ADCOLOR, in a press release. “We’re confident Droga5’s top-notch creativity and brand thinking, coupled with ADCOLOR’s immense ambition, will help us take the organization — and the way our community experiences our brand — to the next level.”

 

ADCOLOR and Droga5 have already started to prepare for Everywhere 2021, the organization’s 15th annual conference and awards program. Droga5 will also lead ADCOLOR’s FUTURES program, which aims to mentor next-generation industry professionals, and ADCOLOR in Music, an empowerment program for diverse artists and musicians coming in March 2021.

 

“It is such an important opportunity to partner with ADCOLOR given their prominent role as thought leaders and advocates in the DE&I space,” said Susie Nam, COO of Droga5, ADCOLOR Board member and 2020 Asians for ADCOLOR Community Hero in a press release. “We are honored to support them in their continued groundbreaking work in community organizing, mentorship and gathering of the best and brightest year after year.”

 

In 2020, the annual ADCOLOR awards, conference and FUTURES program was held virtually for the first time.

15280: MLK Day After.

 

Here’s a belated MLK Day perspective:

 

In the advertising industry, awards, applause, and accolades are bestowed upon “leaders” in White advertising agencies and holding companies for their faux commitment to diversity. The faux adjective, incidentally, is used to note that—despite persistent public pontificating—the Caucasian corporations have little or no authentic progress to exhibit. That is, EEO-1 data shows non-Whites remain woefully underrepresented. The diversity trophy winners are not living up to their revolutionary reputations.

 

Meanwhile, non-Whites actively advocating for change are covertly or blatantly criticized, condemned, cursed at, cold-shouldered, crapped on and cut from the industry. To make an ironic—and perhaps inappropriate—observation, the true leaders for equality get shot down.

 

What would Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have to say about that?

15258: The Year In Review—The Industry In Racist Reverse.

 

For Adland, 2020 will probably be labeled The Year of COVID-19, as evidenced by a constant cavalcade of crappy, contrived and clichéd coronavirus campaigns. Yet cultural cluelessness continued to infect the advertising industry like a nettlesome virus, ultimately creating casualties, crises and comedy.

 

The most prominent deaths included Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben (sort of), Rastus, the Land O’Lakes Native American maiden, the Eskimo Pie Eskimo, Annie the Chicken Queen and the Washington Redskins. The jury is still out on Mrs. Butterworth. Meanwhile, the Pine-Sol Lady appears to be smelling sweet as ever, baby.

 

The racist erasures raced alongside racist executions—specifically, former Deutsch CCO Brett Craig and former The Richards Group Overlord Stan Richards. Craig was caught criticizing the Blackness of casting, while Richards criticized the Blackness of a campaign concept (and the supreme Whiteness of client customers). To show that offensive ignorance extends beyond racism, former Mindshare CEO Nick Emery displayed cultural cluelessness—and maybe his ass and dick—to earn a pink slip.

 

The global field feigned deep concern when White advertising agencies publicized EEO-1 data confirming they were White advertising agencies. The admissions ignited a flurry of memorandum, heat shields and Chief Diversity Officer appointments. The latter, ironically, was offset by the hightailing of high-profile DE&I delegates including Tiffany R. Warren, Carl Desir and Doug Melville. Why, even ADCOLOR® Change Agent John Seifert is calling it quits.

 

To further deflect the discriminatory deficiencies and systemic racism, Chief Divertsity Officers were announced ad nauseam. Boards Blackened and broadened big time. Resident minority elevations escalated. Job titles were fancifully fabricated and job listings were eloquently embellished. Clients applied divertsity demands to staff figures and storyboard frames.

 

But wait, there’s more. Advertising executives of Asian descent experienced anti-Asian hate. WPP CEO Mark Read—at age 54—made ageist remarks. Rosa Park leaders claimed they’d never heard of Rosa Parks. An ANA study predicted the pandemic would prompt marketers to decrease spending with minority vendors—compounding the regular ANA studies revealing that marketers underspend with minority vendors. And, as always, Wendy Clark did nothing meaningful or measurable to advance the cause, opting to advance her career.

 

The arguably most noteworthy event involved 600 & Rising dropping to 599 when co-founder Nathan Young resigned after taking heat for a critical tweet positioning ADCOLOR® as a delusional and deceptive heat shield. Watch for 599 & Rising to emerge from its strategic restructuring as an ADCOLOR® wannabe.

 

Expect Adland 2021 to resemble Adland 1921.