16720: Cross-Gender Still Beats Cross-Cultural…

 

More About Advertising spotlighted a recruitment stunt by AnalogFolk that wonders if prominent White men in Adland would have enjoyed the same success had they been White women. Probably not—but their female versions would have been waaaaay more successful than if they were Black or Brown.

 

If John Hegarty was a woman… AnalogFolk’s cross-gender recruitment experiment

 

By Emma Hall

 

If these famous advertising blokes had been born women, would they have reached the same heights? AnalogFolk is having fun with a serious question using images of some of our best-known creative leaders — all male, of course — in she/her mode.

 

“Would Jane Hegarty have been allowed to zag?” “Nelly Leonard: why is she so uncommon?” “Would anyone listen to Aurora Sutherland?” As part of its own search for a new creative leader, the agency is building an open source talent pool of female creatives which they will make available for everyone across the industry to use and share, with the aim of helping to change the status quo.

 

Senior women tend to get an outsized share of airtime in media and at events. Of course it’s right to raise their profile as role models, but let’s not forget the real statistics: only 17% of ECDs in advertising are women (D&AD 2024), and DE&I progress is stalling or coming to a halt, according to Campaign’s latest research.

 

Last year the same agency created a tongue-in-cheek guidebook for working class people trying to make it in a middle class industry. Social mobility in advertising is another area of painfully slow progress, but it’s good to know that people are still trying.

16453: Continuous Incontinence From Culturally Clueless Character.

Sir John Hegarty posted commentary at LinkedIn, comparing the business and branding of Reebok versus Nike. His conclusion: Continuity beats reinvention.

 

The statement also applies to the perspectives held by Hegarty—and the White advertising agency he founded—regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

10663: Confronting Bullshit With Wit.

Sir John Hegarty suggests confronting prejudice with wit.

 

Okay, that’s an irresistible comedic setup.

 

The DEI efforts at BBH are a joke.

 

Hegarty is a culturally clueless clown.

15619: Black-Owned Friday—Brought To You By White-Owned Factories.

 

Advertising Age spotlighted the second annual Google holiday heat shield—Black-Owned Friday—including an interactive video created by BBH USA that promotes Black businesses. Hyping Black-owned businesses is hardly original. But coming from Google, the hype is hypocritical. Coming from BBH, the hype is heinous. In short, a White mega-corporation presents patronizing pap for people of color—and hires a White advertising agency to produce it. What better way to demonstrate respect for Black-owned businesses…?

 

Oh, and the campaign features T-Pain as a rapping elevator attendant. Is that a salute to Mad Men’s Hollis?

 

You Can Shop In Google’s Video For ‘Black-Owned Friday’

 

Google and agency BBH USA launch shoppable video and search tools to support Black-owned businesses

 

By Parker Herren

 

Editor's Pick

 

For the second year, Google swaps its celebration of Black Friday for “Black-Owned Friday” with shopping. Last summer, as brands rushed to respond to protests over racial injustice as well as statistics indicating over 40% of Black-owned businesses closed due to the pandemic, Google launched its Black-owned business badge and later that year, “Black-Owned Friday” with U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. and agency BBH USA.

 

For its second year, Google’s “Black-Owned Friday” centers on a shoppable music video featuring artists T-Pain and Normani, directed by Daps, who’s created videos for Migos, Iggy Azalea, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar. Singer Tanerélle plays a shopper who becomes inspired to get off her couch and do some bargain hunting when she sees an infomercial segment, starring comedian Desi Banks. What she discovers is not only a world of over 100 products from over 50 featured Black-owned businesses, but an entire “Blade Runner”-esque galaxy of Black-made goods.

 

T-Pain appears as a rapping elevator attendant, the guide for Tanerélle’s journey, and Normani joins Desi Banks in his faux-infomercial, humorously disrupting lyrics both informative and inspirational such as “it’s about time to start helping each other and that’s that, whatever you need, you can get that Black and that’s facts” and “God didn’t make a mistake, that’s why he painted you strong.”

 

While watching the video on the campaign’s landing site, each of the products featured, from shoes to art to cosmetics, line up across the bottom of the screen with an image, title and price. Clicking on the product populates additional information, like the seller, and a button that links directly to the Black-owned business’s website.

 

“I was thrilled when Google reached out about the second annual Black-owned Friday,” wrote T-Pain in a campaign blog post. “And I was especially excited to write a new track to celebrate Black-owned businesses.”

 

Google’s badge campaign allows shoppers to search for Black-owned businesses near them or online year-round. Especially for the shopping-based holiday, Google hopes to promote economic equality for marginalized business-owners. According to BBH, last year’s campaign received half a billion social impressions, 300% increase in online conversation involving Black-owned business and a shop featured in the campaign experienced 3000% sales growth.

15389: Sir John Hegarty Is Looking To Hook Up…

 

Advertising Age reported on the latest move by BBH Founder Sir John Hegarty, who has apparently evolved from his dinosaurish digital disdain to take the role of chairman for Genie—a service Hegarty describes as “a Tinder for the creative world.” Gee, that’s not too creepy coming from an old White man. But given his history on hiring, is Hegarty really qualified to run a recruitment enterprise? There are certainly plenty of appropriately available freelancers ready to sign up. If Genie reaches beyond creative, expect Cindy Gallop to jump on it too.

 

BBH Founder John Hegarty Signs On As Chairman Of Genie, A Tinder For Creative Talent

 

The creative matching service uses artificial intelligence to link freelancers with agencies and marketing companies seeking talent

 

By Judann Pollack

 

BBH founder John Hegarty is now into online dating—in a manner of speaking. Hegarty has signed on as chairman of Genie, a service that uses artificial intelligence to match freelance creatives with agencies and marketing companies looking for talent. Genie, which he says can be described as “a Tinder for the creative world,” plays into two current trends: the growing distributed workforce and the move toward project-based work.

 

“It’s like having a creative department in your pocket,” says Hegarty, who is currently co-founder at startup incubator The Garage Soho, but Genie is not part of that investment group. Rather, Genie came to him, he says, as it was “I will use that awful word—pivoting—from a headhunter company to going online.” Genie’s founders include Nicky Badenoch, Nick Grime and Bonnie Harold, who were partners in London recruiters LIZH.

 

Given the pandemic, the timing was especially good for Genie, a bot that operates via a messaging service to liaise with clients and talent. Clients pitch a brief and the algorithm does the matching with creatives, who become part of the service via invitation only. (Creatives do not pay to be part of the listings). Genie counts among its users Saatchi & Saatchi, Virtue and Droga5 and says its talent base includes creatives who have worked on projects from Adidas’ “There Will Be Haters,” to ING’s “The Next Rembrandt.”

 

Genie uses technology to “apply intelligence to creativity,” says Hegarty. It can also sort potential freelancers by gender or ethnicity, making it easier for users to choose diverse freelance teams to work on their accounts. Hegarty’s initial goal will be to migrate pay-as-you-go users of the service to switch to a subscription model.

 

Oddly, in some ways Genie is similar to Marcel, the AI system used by Publicis Groupe, to which Hegarty and his partners sold BBH in 2014—though, as Hegarty points out, Marcel is proprietary to the holding company and works across all disciplines rather than simply creative.

 

Creativity is a topic Hegarty is very much connected with, and although he is no longer with BBH, he still builds brands via Garage Soho and has some strong opinions on the current state of advertising, which he says has become “more pervasive than inspiring.”

 

“The industry as a whole has resorted to stalking as a means of acquiring and talking to their audiences. They stalk [consumers online] rather than inspire them to come to you,” he says. “They find people through data and shove an ad in their face … it’s not particularly good, but that doesn’t matter.” Those practices, he says, “annoy your potential audience and degrades the value of advertising.”

 

Nor is he a fan of merging legacy ad agencies. “It is a sign of weakness, trying to paste together a company that isn’t doing well with a company that might be better,” says Hegarty. “You can’t put two cultures together, especially if one is sick. In science, if you introduce a bad culture into a good culture, you will weaken both and the same thing applies to a creative business.”

 

Creating client-specific intra-holding company teams drawn from shops around the parent company also doesn’t work, he says. “It is complete shit. On paper it sounds wonderful,” but in reality it is a flawed idea. “If I am at BBH, it is because I believe in something at BBH, so why sit down with somebody at Leo Burnett?” says Hegarty.

 

“These ideas are “constructed by management people who don’t understand creativity,” he says. “The irony is the [advertising industry] is supposed to understand brands and the people running these companies don’t understand brands.”

 

That said, Hegarty does not regret selling to Publicis—“eventually you have to go, you can’t stay somewhere forever”—and when asked whether he still considers himself a black sheep (BBH’s logo is a black sheep and the shop’s positioning is that it zags when others zig), Hegarty laughs. “I hope so,” he says. “Zagging is good fun.”

14699: SAG-AFTRA & BBH Not BFFs—Just BS.

Adweek reported BBH lost its battle against SAG-AFTRA, which featured reprimands for the White advertising agency from A-list celebrities including George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Octavia Spencer. Guess Sir John Hegarty’s alleged resemblance to Clint Eastwood didn’t help.

Ad Agency BBH Loses Fight Against Actors Union SAG-AFTRA

Strike attracted celebrities including Tom Hanks and George Clooney

By Patrick Coffee

Publicis Groupe’s BBH agreed today to abide by recently renegotiated commercial contracts and cast only union actors in its ads, ending a nearly two-year battle with actors union SAG-AFTRA.

The announcement followed a May 15 decision in which administrative law Judge Kenneth W. Chu of the National Labor Relations Board ruled against BBH, finding the ad agency had violated two sections of the National Labor Relations Act when it decided in November 2017 to stop recognizing the union as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of commercial actors.

Nearly one year later, the agency released a statement confirming its plans to withdraw entirely from the contract that shapes relationships between the companies that produce ads and the talent that appears in them. At the time, BBH argued it was “not well-served by a contract that was designed for a traditional media landscape” and newer shops that never signed on operated at an advantage in an era when clients increasingly want digital content produced more quickly for less money.

In his decision, Chu wrote that BBH violated the section of the Labor Relations Act that covers bargaining in good faith with employees’ union representative when it refused to negotiate a new contract in December 2017.

BBH argued that “the union does not enjoy majority support because no permanent employees exist in November 2017,” therefore it did not have to recognize the contract that had applied since the agency opened its first U.S. office in 1998. But Chu ruled against the company, finding that BBH “employed numerous [actors] during the material time with an average of more than one employee in each production” and should remain bound by the contract, which is generally renewed every three years.

Chu’s ruling orders BBH “to recognize and bargain with the union [and] notify the union in writing of any changes made in the unit employees’ wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment after Nov. 21, 2017.” He also ruled the agency must “restore all benefits, wages, hours and other terms and conditions enjoyed by the unit employees prior to Nov. 21, 2017.”

“Our goal from the start was to produce high-level, cutting-edge creative work for our clients on a level playing field in a fast-evolving industry,” said BBH New York managing director Brett Edgar in a statement. “We lost the battle, will respect the ruling, and move on. We thank our clients for their unrelenting support throughout this process.”

This development comes three months after SAG-AFTRA and the ad industry, as represented by the Association of National Advertisers and American Association of Advertising Agencies, reached a new agreement on contracts that they said is a better fit for the digital age.

When discussing the new contracts, Lori Hunt, SAG-AFTRA executive director of commercials, corporate/educational and non-broadcast contracts, told Adweek, “Our concern is focused now on BBH because they illegally withdrew.”

The union staged protests at BBH’s offices in New York and Los Angeles, and the cause drew the support of celebrities including George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Octavia Spencer and Jennifer Aniston, who united under the hashtag #AdsGoUnion. Union groups also picketed a BBH Samsung ad shoot in Brentwood, California earlier this year to protest the use of non-union actors.

The fight also grew personal, with SAG-AFTRA targeting BBH chairwoman Sarah Watson by calling her “hypocrite of the week” for serving on the Time’s Up Advertising board while her agency was “depriving [actors] of union guarantees of safety [and] healthcare.”

“We’re pleased that BBH has returned to their longtime status as a SAG-AFTRA signatory. Since the inception of our relationship nearly 20 years ago, we have partnered effectively to provide the best talent in the world to BBH clients while ensuring fair compensation and safe working conditions for SAG-AFTRA members,” SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris said in a statement. “Now, with our new 2019 Commercials Contracts, we are thrilled that BBH can take full advantage of the transformative compensation models in this groundbreaking agreement to better compete in the constantly evolving advertising industry.”

Spokespeople for BBH and SAG-AFTRA declined to comment beyond the quotes in today’s release.

14690: All White Adpeople Look Alike…?

Not sure what this campaign is trying to say—that all people in Adland look the same? Surely it didn’t require producing advertisements to make such an obvious point. Also, Sir John Hegarty is closer to resembling Walt Kowalski than Clint Eastwood.

13344: Progress 1000 100% Bullshit.

Campaign reported the London Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 included BBH Co-Founder Sir John Hegarty, Havas Media Group UK & Ireland CEO Paul Frampton and MediaCom UK CEO Karen Blackett. In the cases of Hegarty and Frampton, progress clearly doesn’t refer to diversity.

Hegarty, Hornby and Blackett recognised in Evening Standard’s Progress 1,000

By Gurjit Degun

John Hegarty, co-founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Johnny Hornby, founder of The & Partnership, and Karen Blackett, chairwoman at MediaCom UK, are some of the agency and media executives to make it into the London Evening Standard’s Progress 1,000.

The trio have been listed as “brand builders” alongside Nick Theakstone, UK chief executive at Group M, Amanda Morrissey, UK chief executive at Publicis Groupe Media, Tracy De Groose, UK chief executive at Dentsu Aegis Network, Paul Frampton, chief executive at Havas Media Group UK & Ireland, and Philippa Brown, chief executive at Omnicom Media Group UK.

Media owners Jeremy Darroch, group chief executive at Sky, David Abraham, chief executive at Channel 4, and Rebekah Brooks, chief executive at News UK, were also recognised in the newsmakers list.

They were alongside Lord Hall, director-general at the BBC, Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the London Evening Standard and The Independent, Viscount Rothermere, chairman at the Daily Mail and General Trust, and Kelly Merryman, vice president for content partnerships at YouTube.

Last year’s list included Camilla Harrisson, chief executive and partner at Anomaly London, Cilla Snowball, group chief executive and chairwoman at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, and James Murphy, chief executive at Adam & Eve/DDB.

13313: Don’t Think Much Of Gallop.

Advertising Age published a painfully lengthy portrait titled, “Cindy Gallop Doesn’t Care What You Think”—which is fine, as most clear-headed citizens don’t care what Cindy Gallop thinks.

Gallop is among the more prominent White women bandwagon enthusiasts. Don’t mean to be a female provocateur basher, but prominence doesn’t translate to credibility, despite the adoration of her +46,000 Twitter followers.

For example, Gallop gulped, “I really want to push back against the narrative that women opt out. No woman has ever said, ‘No, don’t pay me more money.’ No woman has ever said, ‘No, I don’t want to be the one in charge so I get to decide how I experience all of this.’” Um, yes, they have. In fact, plenty of women have declined a higher pay scale or bigger title for reasons covering everything from work-life balance to simply seeking to reduce exposure to the insanity generated by the industry. Sorry, but Gallop sounds like a Boomer dinosaur when spewing such uninformed proclamations. It’s true that no woman has ever said, “Please discriminate against me, subject me to sexism and inappropriate behavior and/or pay me less money than male counterparts for equal work.” Yet many have opted against advancement. Women today have greater choices and lead multi-faceted lives. Plus, the industry today is not nearly as attractive as the post-Golden Age of Advertising that Gallop experienced.

Ad Age wrote, “The push for 50-50 gender balance for employment, at all levels and within all departments, is [Gallop’s] goal.” Why is it that White women (or biracial women, as in Gallop’s case) can get away with demanding percentage increases, while minorities who make such requests are vilified as racial quota revolutionaries and Affirmative Action activists?

Ad Age also wrote, “Ms. Gallop believes once an agency has as many women as men in all roles, the issue of sexual harassment goes away. ‘You instantly manage out all of those issues. Because there isn’t the bro-y atmosphere that encourages men to only see women in two roles: secretary or girlfriend.’” Wow, what bizarro universe is Gallop living in? First, expecting equal gender numbers to eliminate sexual harassment is tantamount to believing a Black U.S. President erases racism. By golly, we’ll soon be dancing in a post-racial and post-sexual harassment society! Second, accusing men of viewing every female associate as a potential administrative assistant or girlfriend is pretty ignorant. In contrast to minorities, White women in our industry are not relegated to the roles of receptionist, cleaning lady, security, mailroom attendant or Chief Diversity Officer.

Plus, why is Gallop suddenly such a fiery change agent? Her professional legacy to date hardly warrants the label of diversity champion; rather, she’s a diverted diversity champion. Did BBH transform into an inclusive Mecca under Gallop’s watch? With all due disrespect, Sir John Hegarty displays the classic symptoms of White privilege and cultural cluelessness. And BBH is a no-show at the parties for progress. It would help Gallop’s cause if a few good adwomen acknowledged her as their inspirational mentor, crediting her with their ascension in adland. Are there any minorities in the field who directly benefited from Gallop’s original or born-again benevolence?

Is Gallop to diversity what Donald Trump is to democracy? On the one hand, rabble-rousers are always welcome to condemn the exclusivity festering on Madison Avenue and beyond. At the same time, is Gallop really the figure everyone wants to lead the charge? And to put it all into perspective, Trump boasts +11.1 million Twitter followers.

In the end, Gallop—like Trump—has not earned this blog’s vote. Which is fine, since Gallop doesn’t care.

13291: Provocateur Or Poseur?

Campaign Editor-in-Chief Douglas Quenqua has done decent reporting in recent months, including exposing former JWT Worldwide Chairman and CEO Gustavo Martinez as an ignorant bigot. But Quenqua’s latest piece—“Cindy Gallop and the plight of the female provocateur”—warrants winning a big advertising agency copywriter job, as the editorial shows extraordinarily original and imaginative thinking.

Gallop apparently earned her “female provocateur” badge after being dissed by soon-to-be-former Saatchi & Saatchi Chairman Kevin Roberts, who opined, “I think she’s got problems that are of her own making. … I think she’s making up a lot of the stuff to create a profile, and to take applause, and to get on a soap[box].” From there, Quenqua labeled Gallop as a victim by stating, “Women who make it their business to agitate for social change, particularly if it leads to paid speaking or writing gigs, can expect regular accusations of opportunism.” Um, if that’s the worst Gallop endures, it only underscores the outrageousness of diverted diversity dimwits posing as true diversity advocates.

To clarify, diverted diversity dimwits are people who’ve jumped onto the White women bandwagon, protesting the alleged crimes that Caucasian females have endured in the advertising industry. Sure, White women are underrepresented in the upper ranks on Madison Avenue and beyond. However, besides White men, they are the most well-represented group by far. White women enjoy a lot of the same White privileges as their male counterparts. So while diverted diversity dimwits can be saluted for being concerned do-gooders, they’re more like fair weather fans, cheering an already successful team.

Riding the White women bandwagon is a drive in the country compared to fighting for true diversity. Women comprise over 50 percent of the total population in adland; hence, it’s easier to execute the six ways to rewrite gender proposed in the previous post. On the flip side, when you’re woefully underrepresented—as minorities are—building momentum is an arduous undertaking. It’s impossible to organize a Million Man March with single-digit crowds. Funding inclusive initiatives with crumbs is a financial hardship. Making more minorities visible when they’re currently invisible requires serious magic tricks. In contrast, the minority bandwagon has been deprived fuel—and even tires—for decades.

It’s true that Neil French and Kevin Roberts did terribly clumsy jobs of expressing their gender perspectives. However, the idiots’ opinions do not significantly differ from those of other industry leaders, including Sir John Hegarty. Additionally, many female advertising honchos agree that the proverbial glass ceiling is a relic of the past. Before becoming a born-again diverted diversity dimwit, FCB Global Chief Creative Officer Susan Credle confessed she didn’t believe the advertising field was tougher on women than men. To top it all off, gender diversity enthusiast Karen Mallia actually published a data-filled report explaining the dearth of dames in adland, using many of the same rationales as Messrs. French, Roberts and Hegarty.

Regarding Gallop, it’s difficult to fully embrace her as a “female provocateur” agitating for social change. There’s little evidence she marched for the cause when holding a position of power at BBH that would have allowed her to ignite the revolution. As for Quenqua’s assertion that Gallop faces gender-based backlash for her views, well, it’s hard to feel pity. As an outsider no longer professionally toiling in the field, she’s won’t suffer too much. Contrast Gallop’s plight to any adperson of color who has spoken out for diversity and against discrimination, and it’s no contest. Black executives especially have been blatantly blacklisted and blackballed for criticizing the White majority. True diversity champions such as Sanford Moore and Harry Webber—whose professional accomplishments exceed Gallop’s by leaps and bounds—established breakthrough programs to help minorities and served as fiery representatives for progress, only to be banished from Madison Avenue. On a side note, if any 56-year-old male leader regularly and openly bragged about their penchant for having sex with twentysomethings, would they remain employed very long? Gender advantages and disadvantages cut both ways—and the cuts aren’t nearly as sharp as those inflicted upon minorities.

Kudos to Quenqua for his fantasy-filled inventiveness. But he should spend some time spotlighting true diversity defenders versus cruising in the White women bandwagon.

Cindy Gallop and the plight of the female provocateur

By Douglas Quenqua

Kevin Roberts accused the outspoken diversity advocate of using the cause to glorify herself. Does it matter if he’s right?

Kevin Roberts is old enough to know what Mark Twain said about picking fights with people who buy ink by the barrel (hint: don’t do it). And he’s also young enough to know that the same warning applies to anyone with 45,000 very engaged followers on Twitter and a bio that reads, “I like to blow shit up.”

But there he was last week, publically dissing Cindy Gallop, former chairman of BBH and outspoken diversity advocate, as an opportunist who exploits issues of gender and race to raise her own profile.

“I think she’s got problems that are of her own making,” said the Saatchi & Saatchi chairman in the now-infamous Business Insider article. “I think she’s making up a lot of the stuff to create a profile, and to take applause, and to get on a soap[box].”

It may have been his comments about women in advertising and their lack of “vertical ambition” that got Roberts placed on leave. In 2016, telling a reporter that, when it comes to gender diversity, “the fucking debate is all over” is a one-way ticket to early retirement.

But it was his comments about Gallop that sealed Roberts’ fate as Public Enemy No. 1 on social media this past weekend. Once Gallop instructed “the women and men of the ad industry, all around the world, to tweet at @krconnect,’” Roberts’ chances of survival went from slim to dismal. By Saturday—barely 24 hours after the article was published—Roberts had been shown the door.

PETA, the ACLU and Cindy Gallop


Though Gallop said publicly on Monday that she won’t dignify Roberts’ comments by continuing to talk about them (she declined a request to talk for this article, too), female advocates say Roberts’ criticisms are distressingly familiar. Women who make it their business to agitate for social change, particularly if it leads to paid speaking or writing gigs, can expect regular accusations of opportunism.

“A lot of people still consider it unseemly for a woman to be self-promotional,” said Rachel Sklar, founder of female networking group The Li.st and the closest thing the tech community has to a Cindy Gallop. “Meanwhile, this guy Kevin Roberts created a hashtag out of his own name.”

Indeed, anyone who’s spent enough time eavesdropping on adland’s private conversations about Gallop has surely heard some version of Roberts’ rant: She goes too far, she blows it out of proportion, she’s only in it for herself. Like PETA or the ACLU, her actions can sometimes elicit eye-rolls from more moderate allies.

Sklar, who originated the #Changetheratio hashtag that Gallop has adopted, says men and women in tech have been accusing her of exploitation from her earliest days as a public advocate. Most famous were the barbs aimed at her by former TechCrunch editor Sarah Lacy at the 2010 TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, which Sklar had criticized for a lack of female representation.

“You’ve done great for you,” Lacy said to Sklar during a panel discussion. “You’re on stage at Disrupt, you drive lots of traffic, you get lots of attention. I think you’ve played it brilliantly.”

Such criticism is difficult to refute because it “cuts to the credibility of your motivations,” said Sklar. “When it’s first lobbed at you, your first reaction is to get defensive. Maybe they’re right! Maybe its your fault for becoming prominent by raising your voice about something that not that many people are yet raising their voice about.”

But over years of establishing herself as a force for change within the industry, Sklar says she no longer bothers to fight charges of opportunism. Instead, she asks why anyone should care. “It’s a ludicrous accusation,” she said. “What does it matter? Why is that the focus?”

“For the first time in the ad industry, there have been major consequences for explicit sexism” thanks largely to Gallop’s efforts, she continued. “And I find it really amazing that anyone would focus on, ‘Yeah but isn’t Cindy really getting something out of this? She should!”

The price of advocacy


To Gallop’s supporters, the fact that she simultaneously agitates for social change and raises her own profile doesn’t represent a conflict of interest. Jonathan Mildenhall, CMO at Airbnb, notes that Gallop plays an essential role in the industry by speaking unpleasant truths that others may shy away from. “Cindy is a provocateur for sure,” he said via email. “Even I wince a little at some of the things she says.”

“But I always credit her for having the balls to speak up,” he continued. “That said, does the industry need her? For sure. Is she making a difference? You bet. Does she benefit directly? Of course.”

Kat Gordon, founder of the 3% Conference, knows a thing or two about Gallop’s predicament. “Women who are accused of being self-serving when pointing out gender bias are in a double bind,” she said in an email message. “On the one hand, they’re missing opportunities or witnessing injustices in their companies. So they’re already in a no-win situation. Yet if they speak up about it, they’re griping, possibly because they’re ‘not a team player’ or are using their gender as an excuse for other problems in their performance.”

Which is one more reason why it’s important for everyone to speak up about workplace injustice, she says. “The ‘principle of another messenger’ phenomenon is quite powerful,” she said. “If a man points out something he notices that unfairly impacts women, he must be telling the truth. He has no ‘agenda.’ And if a white person points out something she notices that unfairly impacts people of color, she is also perceived to be telling the truth.”

Also driving the exploitation narrative are a couple of misperceptions about the life of a cultural activist, said Sklar. Most common is that the barrier to entry is low, that it costs someone nothing to make waves over an issue in an industry they’re not a part of. Just as Gallop hasn’t worked in advertising for years, Sklar had never worked for a tech startup before she raised her voice on gender issues, which helped feed resentment to her actions.

But being outside the industry gives Gallop the freedom to say things people in positions of power can’t afford to, said Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus. “She’s been on the inside in an executive chairman position, but now that she’s on the outside, she can reflect on it without recourse,” he said.

“There’s no corporate PR telling her she can’t say something,” allowing her to be “a lightning rod to attract a conversation.”

It’s also a mistake to assume that the role doesn’t exact a price on the activist, said Sklar. “You’re risking people not wanting to deal with you, not wanting to book you cause they don’t want to ruffle feathers, don’t want to offend the power structure you may be challenging” she said. “I, for sure, have experienced that.”

“There should be rewards for sticking your neck out for social change,” she said. “And those rewards should not then vitiate the praise or appreciation we have for the people who take the risk in the first place.”

The publicity paradox


To be sure, there is little reason to believe Gallop’s diversity work has added considerably to her wealth or her fame. As several people interviewed for this article noted, her main business pursuits at the moment, the startups IfWeRanTheWorld and MakeLoveNotPorn, are only tangentially related to gender diversity, and she has been vocal about women’s issues in advertising since her days as an agency executive (“This has always been her thing,” noted Schafer). Exactly what Roberts believed Gallop was reaping from her advocacy work is unclear. (UPDATE: Gallop got in touch this morning to assure us that she earns “absolutely nothing” from her work on diversity and the ad industry.)

And being a relentless voice for change can, paradoxically, have a negative effect on your profile. An editor for an advertising trade publication, who requested anonymity to preserve relations with Gallop, talked about sometimes being reluctant to use her as a source.

“On the one hand, she always comes to mind when you need someone to talk about diversity,” said the editor. “She’s always good for a quote.”

“But that comes with grain of salt,” the editor continued, “because these issues are complicated, and nothing is as easy as it looks on Twitter. What Cindy is able to do is bring it down to the most simple-to-understand bit, and that makes her, on the one hand, invaluable. But I do question if we’re missing the finer points of this debate.”

That said, the debate might not be where it is today were it not for Gallop’s efforts. “Cindy’s voice, her tenacity, her presence is doing more to change the ratio of gender diversity in our industry than any other single source,” Mildenhall said. “Simply because she is directly changing the way the industry shows up and presents itself to the world.”

“Sure it’s uncomfortable for the establishment,” he continued, “but that’s because the establishment have the most to lose. And, if we are honest, what Cindy has to gain is a fraction of what the current establishment has to lose.”

13114: Nepotism Trumps Diverted Diversity.

Campaign spotlighted an ad campaign jointly created by Sir John Hegarty and his son. The diversity advocate is essentially a nepotistic asshole. Oh, and their commercial sucks too. It’s patronizing pap probably produced to pander to PrideAM Award jury participants. The entire scenario is a bizarro blend of nepotism trumps diversity and diverted diversity. Give the Hegarty clan credit for originality in perpetuating exclusivity.

Watch: John Hegarty and son’s first joint ad campaign for men’s fashion service

By Omar Oakes

John Hegarty and his son are today unveiling their first joint ad campaign after writing an inaugural spot for a men’s fashion service.

The ad, by Hegarty’s incubator business, The Garage Soho, has been written for The Chapar, which aims to provide an alternative to the “torture” of shopping on the high street with the help of a personal stylist.

After curating a selection of premium items to suit the shopper’s own personal taste and body shape, The Chapar then delivers a bespoke ‘trunk’ direct to the customer’s home or office.

The 60-second spot was written by John Hegarty and directed by Elliot Hegarty through Royle Productions. It was art directed by Rosy Thomas.

The ad is being launched on cinema and will be unveiled by Picturehouse Central in London this afternoon during an exclusive movie screening of Hail, Caesar!, the new movie by the Coen Brothers.

13062: Black Sheep, White Shop.

Campaign reported on a promotional video from Bartle Bogle Hegarty that has turned into a recruitment tactic. The video ultimately spotlights the exclusivity at BBH, featuring a predominately White staff with a miniscule sprinkling of minorities. Ironically, the copy is delivered via a poem hyping the power of difference. Sir John Hegarty still displays faux interest in diversity, but continues to fail to show up when presented with the opportunity to actually do something different. The self-proclaimed “Black Sheep” of the industry are just a flock of White sheep—which makes this narcissistic ode a pile of sheep dung.

BBH plots recruitment boost with online poem

By James Swift

Bartle Bogle Hegarty has focused its creative powers inwards to create an online recruitment film about the power of difference.

The two-minute film features an original poem on the power of difference by Harry Baker, a performance poet, set to images of BBH’s staff and the agency’s work. It ends with the line “Black Sheep Wanted”.

The film has almost 50,000 views on YouTube and has been watched almost 12,000 times on Facebook, and at the time of writing had attracted mostly positive comments.

Ben Fennell, BBH’s chief executive, told Campaign that the film was initially created for the agency’s end-of-year gathering.

“We have a big company meeting at the end of each year where we review our performance and set the agenda,” said Fennell. “It’s the one time a year that all 450 of us are together and we try to make them inspirational.”

Fennell added that there was also an element of BBH practising what it preached, as the agency is forever telling clients to spend more time and energy communicating with their own staff, having seen what it did to improve standards at British Airways (a client of the agency).

He added: “We wanted a big finish that reconnected to our philosophy and the meaning of difference but in the briefing we felt that if it had a real purpose it would be even more powerful.”

BBH gave Baker, a UK poetry slam champion, a detailed brief on the agency and the power of difference and Fennel said the agency did not have to change a line from his first draft. Black Sheep studios was then tasked with putting images to the words, with Chris Watling taking the lead on the project.

“Creativity is at its core difference,” said Fennell, “And I think this has touched the creative community around the world. We’re only a month in and, measuring the increase of people that have approached us [about jobs] against what is normal for this time of year, we’ve definitely seen an uplift from all disciplines.

“But even though it didn’t start its life as a piece of brand content that is what it’s become. It’s got a short-term purpose to attract talent but its longer purpose is as a piece of brand communication for BBH.

“It’s a bit like with the Robert Carlyle video for Johnnie Walker [a former BBH client]. That just started out as a piece of film to show the company’s staff at a meeting.”

13034: Black Sheep, White Men.

Campaign reported diversity champion Sir John Hegarty promoted a White man to serve as BBH Worldwide Chief Creative Officer. “I fell in love with advertising because of a Levi’s ad that BBH created when I was a teenager,” said Pelle Sjoenell. “I’m delighted and extremely honoured to be taking the creative helm of this great agency. Only white sheep can be herded. To lead black ones, you have to be one.” Yes, there are plenty of self-proclaimed black sheep at BBH. Black people, not so much.

12701: Hegarty Hypocrisy.

Campaign spoke with the ever-culturally-clueless Sir John Hegarty, and the old man presented a few gems:

The conversation strays on to the subject of women in the industry. The agency Hegarty founded now has a good record of supporting and promoting women, with senior executives including Mel Exon, Rosie Arnold and Caroline Pay.

“You’ve got to do as much as you can to encourage women as we do at BBH. We do everything that we possibly can,” Hegarty says. But he is adamant about one thing: “There is no glass ceiling in our industry.”

Although Hegarty says it is a predominantly white, middle-class, masculine industry and suffers because of it, he is “constantly bemused” by why that is: “It didn’t set out to be that. It’s the most egalitarian industry in the world. We don’t care who you are. Are you good? Are you entrepreneurial? Have you got an interesting mind? Come on in.”

As Hegarty sees it, the biggest problem is women taking career breaks to have children, then struggling to rejoin an industry that has moved on: “It’s very, very hard and I sympathise with that enormously. Of course we should be doing everything we can to help. But the thing about a creative career is that, if you are not doing it every day, you are not getting better every day. It’s like a sports person. If you are 24 years old and a tennis player, you can’t take a year off; you’ve lost the momentum. You can’t accuse our hugely competitive industry of being competitive.”

But surely he thinks it’s unfair for women to have to take the hit on their careers to bring up children?

Hegarty says: “What are you going to do about it? On average, men live a shorter amount of time than women. That’s really unfair. I think we should make that an issue. Maybe that’s the price I’ve paid for doing the work I’ve done, and building the companies I’ve built, and providing for my family: I don’t live as long.”

It’s hard to tell whether he is being mischievous or deadly serious. But he continues: “We have to talk about this. In life, you can’t have it all and you have to make choices. Be aware of those choices. Life has sacrifice in it. My parents’ generation went to war so I could go to school. You have to accept what you are and the decisions you make.”

Hegarty admits adland is predominately White and male—and he feigns concern that the field suffers from the exclusivity—yet he’s unable to figure out why diversity remains a dream deferred and denied. Plus, the idiot essentially serves up a polite version of the Neil French perspective on women in advertising. Finally, Hegarty has the audacity to proclaim, “[Advertising’s] the most egalitarian industry in the world. We don’t care who you are. Are you good? Are you entrepreneurial? Have you got an interesting mind? Come on in.” But don’t “come on in” if you’re a minority—just drop off a resume and maybe Hegarty will get back to you at his discriminatory discretion. Or maybe not.

12164: Johnnie Walker Walking…?

BrandRepublic reported Johnnie Walker launched a review for its global advertising account, currently with Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Old-School Adman Sir John Hegarty must be irked, as the client has recently tapped non-traditional agencies like Anomaly to produce awful videos starring Jude Law, unintentionally diluting the overall brand image. If Anomaly becomes a contender in the competition, it mostly proves that generating breakthrough creative is not the primary goal of the pitch. It also shows that the industry is in a truly fucked-up state.

Johnnie Walker calls global ad review

By Louise Jack

Johnnie Walker, the Diageo-owned whisky brand, is reviewing its global advertising account.

The process is at an early stage, with the company having just sent out requests for information.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty has held the business since 1999 and said it would “vigorously defend” the business. BBH was responsible for the “keep walking” strapline that has run in more than 100 markets since 2000.

Diageo is handling the process itself and has contacted a closed shortlist of agencies, including BBH, to participate.

Guy Escolme, the global brand director at Johnnie Walker, said: “The brand’s relationship with BBH has been hugely successful, with the agency producing award-winning work of outstanding creativity.

“As the market leader, Johnnie Walker feels the time is right to invite selected agencies, including BBH, to look at how we take the brand forward into the future.”

BBH recently appointed Joakim Borgström as lead creative on the global Johnnie Walker business. He joined from Goodby Silverstein & Partners earlier this month.

The whisky brand also works with other agencies; for example, Anomaly New York created “the gentleman’s wager”, which features Jude Law dancing and was directed by Jake Scott through RSA Films.

12028: Old White Guys Endangered?

Campaign published a piece by High50 Editor-in-Chief Stefano Hatfield titled, “Talking about my generation,” which examined the growing and potentially profitable “superboomers” being ignored by most advertisers. Wondering why brands are not actively wooing an audience that controls 79 percent of U.K. disposable wealth, Hatfield speculated the following:

Can it be as simple as the fact that the average age of an employee in the UK ad industry is 33 (IPA Agency Census 2013) or that only 6 per cent of its employees are over 50?

Wow, 50-year-old employees are yet another minority in the ad game—although excluding mcgarrybowen, it’s unlikely that the elder workers control 79 percent of Madison Avenue’s disposable wealth. Then again, the holding company honchos might control over 79 percent of the wealth. Regardless, given that the U.K. advertising industry appears to mirror the U.S. advertising industry in terms of diversity, it’s safe to presume the boomer percentages hold up for American adpeople as well. In short, Old White Guys may be the industry’s new endangered species.

Sound the alarms! Order the Chief Diversity Officers and Diversity Development Advisory Committee members to start scouring inner-city assisted living facilities and nursing homes for candidates pronto. Why hasn’t the 3% Conference launched a 6% Conference spin-off (hell, Cindy Gallop could run the thing alongside her porn program)? The AAF can add grey to its Mosaic Center, while the 4As introduces GAIP—Geriatric Advertising Intern Program. ADCOLOR® should hand out a Silver Fox Award presented by AARP and Depend. And God only knows what senior citizens like Dan Wieden, Jeff Goodby and Sir John Hegarty could bring to the party. Battle stations, boomers!