Saturday, June 22, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
11230: Dearth Of Cannes Dames.
Perhaps inspired by the Art Directors Club’s hypocritical 50/50 initiative or the inane whines of The 3% Conference, Hollie Rapello questioned the dearth of dames as Cannes Advertising Festival jurors in a post at the Why Moms Rule blog. Maybe there will also be complaints that the trophies just depict lions versus lionesses. Rapello calculated that women accounted for only 22% of the jurors overall—and she even created a cute little chart where jurors is misspelled (see above). Well, one thing is certainly clear: female Cannes judges undoubtedly still greatly outnumber Black, Latino, Asian and Native American judges.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
11229: New Jailhouse On Sesame Street.
The New York Daily News reported Sesame Street introduced a new Muppet—Alex—whose father is in jail. Look for a possible bonding friendship between Alex and Elmo.
‘Sesame Street’ introduces first-ever muppet with a parent in prison
The long-running children’s show is introducing the storyline in an online kit being made available to prisons and advocacy groups. The Sesame Workshop hasn’t shied away from other thorny topics.
By Erik Ortiz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
“Sesame Street” is teaching kids about bedtime, bath time and jail time.
The popular children’s television series hasn’t shied away from tough topics in the past, and has introduced a new muppet named Alex as a way to talk about the stigma of having a parent in jail.
“I just miss him so much,” the fuzzy blue-haired muppet says of his locked-up dad, adding, “Sometimes I just feel like I want to pound on a pillow and scream as loud as I can.”
The sensitive subject is being featured in an online teaching kit called, “Little Children, Big Challenges.”
The clips featuring Alex aren’t actually being aired on television, and he isn’t being introduced as a regular character on the show.
Still, “Sesame Street” execs say his story can be a useful tool for kids, specifically those ages 3 to 8. The show has broached other tricky lessons relating to divorce, hunger and military deployment.
“Coming from a muppet, it’s almost another child telling their story to the children,” Jeanette Betancourt, vice president of outreach and educational practices at the Sesame Workshop, told the “Today” show.
The videos show Alex telling his friends that his dad won’t be able to help him build a toy car. When they ask him why his father is not around, he says he doesn’t want to talk about it.
Later, his friends ask him what’s wrong.
“My dad’s in jail,” he says haltingly, adding, “I don’t like to talk about it. Most people don’t understand.”
A human friend says that her father was once incarcerated, which happens when “someone breaks the law — a grown-up rule — and then they have to go to jail or prison.”
A Pew Charitable Trusts report found that 1 in every 28 children has a parent behind bars.
In New York state, an estimated 105,000 kids have an incarcerated parent, although that’s a low-ball figure, said Tanya Krupat, program director of the Osborne Association’s New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents.
Krupat said the group is excited about the “Sesame Street” kit, which is in the process of being shipped to prisons in 10 states, including New York.
“We’re grateful to them for taking this on,” Krupat told the Daily News.
While she thinks America may not be ready for a character such as Alex to be a regular on a kids’ show, she hopes the attention brought by “Sesame Street” will spotlight the issue of over-incarceration.
“The goal of these materials is not to normalize parental incarceration because there’s nothing normal about it,” Krupat said. “It’s great to focus on those children immediately impacted … but I want to see these materials affect policy.”
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
11228: Bud Light Bumped To BBDO.
Advertising Age reported the Bud Light account is shifting again, this time from Translation to BBDO. Translation did hold the brand longer than mcgarrybowen—but in the end, Jay-Z and Stevie Wonder will only get you so far. Plus, it looks like no amount of superstitious rituals can beat the power of Corporate Cultural Collusion, especially when Omnicom is involved.
Can BBDO Make Bud Light Advertising Awesome Again?
In Search of More ‘Horsepower,’ A-B InBev Makes Omnicom Shop Lead on Largest U.S. Brand
By E.J. Schultz, Rupal Parekh
Anheuser-Busch InBev is getting back together with Omnicom Group in the U.S.
The world’s largest brewer is hiring BBDO as lead agency for Bud Light domestically, while keeping line extensions such as Bud Light Platinum at Translation, which had been handling the entire account since last August. The two shops will “work together on Bud Light,” said Paul Chibe, VP-marketing for A-B InBev’s U.S. division. “Translation will focus on the extensions, where they have done extremely well, and BBDO will focus on the base business.”
BBDO will handle the account from its Chicago outpost, known as Energy BBDO. By moving it there, Mr. Chibe reunites with an agency he’s worked with in the past, while BBDO keeps the account in a separate office from competing beer brand Guinness, which BBDO runs from New York. For A-B InBev, the change represents a global consolidation of sorts because the brewer works with the BBDO network overseas.
The move marks the third agency change in less than two years for Bud Light. The beer brand went from DDB to McGarryBowen to Translation before landing now BBDO.
Super Bowl ads
The return to an Omnicom-owned agency is noteworthy as Bud Light severed ties with one of its longest standing agencies in history, DDB, in October of 2011. That ended a three-decade-long partnership highlighted by Bud Light’s launch in 1981 and plenty of memorable Super Bowl ads.
Bud Light is the nation’s top beer brand by market share, and the largest advertiser in the category, spending $349.9 million on measured media in 2012, according to Kantar Media. But revenue to agencies on the account has been trimmed over the past several years, and it is estimated by various industry observers to be around about $5 million now. (The brewer does not make agency terms public.)
Like other big beer brands, Bud Light has struggled in the face of competition from craft beers and spirits. In an attempt to break out from the pack and gain consumers’ attention, Bud Light has been cycling through different ad agencies. McGarryBowen won the account in December of 2011, only to lose it eight months later to Translation, which had been working on line extensions since late 2011.
The string of moves have solidified AB-InBev’s reputation among ad shops as a fickle marketer. Plus the pace of work is relentless and the brewer has a reputation for stringent testing standards, meaning some creative ideas don’t make it through, according to current and former agency staffers.
More ‘horsepower’
Asked about the pace of agency changes, Mr. Chibe pointed out that he has partnered with Translation almost from the beginning of his tenure. “We had given the [core Bud Light] work to McGarryBowen and it didn’t work out. And then we gave it to Translation. And in discussions with Translation we both felt it would be best to bring BBDO on board,” he said. “We both recognized that the additional horsepower would help our business.” He added: “Bud Light is an enormous business that has a lot of demands,” noting that Translation’s original assignment was as a supporting agency to McGarryBowen.
Translation’s workload remains significant. In addition to line extensions, the shop will also keep the NFL advertising assignments for core Bud Light that the agency is already working on for this fall. Super Bowl advertising will be worked on by BBDO and Translation, he said. “Steve has plenty to do, I can assure you,” Mr. Chibe said, referring to Translation founder Steve Stoute.
“I’m excited to be working with a friend of mine for 15 years who watched me grow up in the business,” Mr. Stoute said, referring to BBDO’s global CEO Andrew Robertson. He added that he’s one of BBDO Chief Creative David Lubars’ biggest fans. “As an independent agency I’m used to partnering with other agencies. We aren’t worried about P&Ls and making that more important than the brand itself.”
The brewer’s other agencies include Anomaly, which is the lead shop for Budweiser globally and handles Bud Light in Canada, and Mother, which has Stella Artois and Beck’s.
Close relationship
By tapping BBDO as lead creative agency for Bud Light, Mr. Chibe is returning to the familiar. He joined the brewer in June of 2011 after an 11-year run at Wrigley. Energy BBDO is Wrigley’s lead creative agency, so he knows it well. “I had always kept a close relationship with BBDO on a personal level,” he said. He also noted that A-B InBev on a global basis has relationships with the BBDO network. In Brazil, AlmapBBDO works on the Antarctica brand, while in Germany BBDO Proximity has Beck’s. “There’s been the connection there. Just in the past, the stars never aligned for them to work in the U.S.,” Mr. Chibe said.
One complicating factor has been the fact that BBDO is the agency for Diageo-owned Guinness, which poses a potential conflict in the beer category. Mr. Chibe referred questions about the matter to BBDO, which declined to comment for this story. For his part, Mr. Chibe said that he would not have an issue with BBDO keeping Guinness, noting that “Guinness in the U.S. is pretty small and it’s run out of New York,” while Energy BBDO is in Chicago. Guinness could not immediately be reached for comment.
While Bud Light line extensions such as higher-alcohol Platinum, and fruity Bud Light Lime-A-Rita and Straw-Ber-Rita have had some success, core Bud Light has lagged. In 2012, Bud Light shipment volumes fell by 0.5% -- the fourth straight year of declines—while the brand’s market share has dropped from 19% in 2010 to 18.6% as of the end of last year, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights. (The next closest brand, Coors Light, remains far behind at 8.7%, but it has gained share in each of the past three years.) For the 52 weeks ending May 19, Bud Light case volume sales were down by 0.56%, compared with category-wide growth of 0.64% according to IRI, whose figures to not include bar and restaurant sales.
Of course, other big beer brands have suffered as well, including Miller Lite, which was down 1.2% in the same period, while Budweiser fell by 5.7%, according to IRI. Meanwhile, craft beers have thrived, putting more pressure on big beer marketers to find new ways to stand out.
Increased competition
Mr. Chibe has sought to infuse more music-themed marketing into AB InBev’s brands in an appeal to millennials. Translation, led by Mr. Stoute, has been a big part of the strategy, helping land deals linking Jay-Z to Budweiser and Justin Timberlake to Bud Light Platinum. Bud Light’s summer push includes a program called “Bud Light Music First” that will culminate Aug. 1 with one concert in all 50 states. The campaign includes a TV ad.
For this year’s Super Bowl, Translation created two 60-second ads starring Stevie Wonder as part of the NFL-themed “Superstitious” campaign. Yet, with so much competition from scrappy craft beers and newly aggressive spirits marketers, it is harder for Bud Light to break through, say some industry observers.
“There’s so many beers on the marketplace and it’s got to come out of somewhere,” said one industry person familiar with the brand and the situation, referring to Bud Light’s sales decline. Mr. Chibe countered that the Bud Light “mega-franchise” has excelled. “Our extensions continue to perform extremely well,” he said. “There’s some natural cannibalization from the base coming from these [line extensions].”
11227: Combs At Cannes.
Adweek reported on a Cannes event starring Sean Combs and Translation CEO Steve Stoute. Guess it shows that the festival has degenerated into a promotional venue—as Combs and Stoute are hardly eligible candidates for Lions. Then again, the majority of Cannes visitors fall into the same category. It’s also rather pathetic for Combs to be lecturing adpeople, especially given his questionable work in the arena. But as the Adweek article implies, Combs and Stoute are probably good for an afterparty or two.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Pitches Revolt and Tells Advertisers How To Be Cool
‘I’m extremely immature’
By Lisa Granastein
CANNES, France—After holding court Tuesday night on the Croisette with media and advertising moguls (and an afterparty or two), Sean “Diddy” Combs was all business today, taking the main stage at Cannes Lions with Translation CEO Steve Stoute to pitch the fall launch of his music cable network, Revolt TV, and give his take on how he successfully reaches millennials—or kids, as he prefers to call them.
The Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group founder and CEO said the decision by MTV seven years ago to stop playing music videos, the explosion of digital media and his own proven ability to tap into what’s cool are what helped make Revolt a reality.
“There was no longer a platform for musical artists to trust with their art and with their creativity, and also no place that was covering music [as ESPN covered sports and CNN covered news],” Combs explained. “For music, you just had to go into the abyss or the stratosphere with no plan, no destination. I was trying to get myself booked on Dancing with the Stars, because there was no place for me to go to tell my story.”
Revolt “will be authentic and speak their language,” he said of its coverage of artists. “I want to celebrate who they really are … Cool is priceless.”
This will be the first TV network built with social layers. Revolt also promises to help advertisers connect with up-and-coming artists in order to leverage strategic marketing partnerships. If you look at Twitter, top shows in the U.S. and globally are music-related, he said. “That’s a lot of power.”
Asked by Stoute about which marketers and brands inspire him, Combs pointed to those that are disruptive, risk takers and draw emotion, including Richard Branson and the new Jay-Z Samsung campaign. “I hate watching commercials just like everybody else,” he said, to big laughs. “The truth shall set you free. So, I’m here to tell the truth, alright. That’s why the best creatives win awards here. And if you ain’t going to be great, you need to go home and get the fuck out of here!”
Marketers need to stay fresh and relevant if they want to successfully target millennials, he said. “These kids are extremely, extremely smart. They don’t like no B.S., and they don’t like a one-way street,” he said, offering the example of launching a corporate Facebook page two years late. “That’s not being part of the culture, or what’s important to them. One of the mistakes is that brands don’t listen enough to what’s important to this generation. There’s a way that you can advertise to them, and also a way to empower them. If you empower them, you’ll get your return 10 times forward.”
Combs has his own way of staying fresh and reaching kids. “I’m extremely immature,” he joked. “I’m a child in a grown man’s body. I’m actually at the party. I’m at the festival.” He also said he keeps a lot of kids around him, asks a lot of questions and sometimes eavesdrops on their conversations. It also helps that he has six children, who are all under the age of 22. “I have a perfect research team living in the house.”
As for the naysayers who say others have tried and failed at music networks, Combs said that most importantly, his network will be “social by design” and global.
“It’s a dream, man. All I can do is get up in the morning and try to make it possible,” he said. “So, I wish myself luck.”
11226: Obesity Is McDisease…?
Medical group recognizes obesity as a disease
Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
The American Medical Association decided Tuesday to recognize obesity as a disease, requiring a range of medical interventions to advance obesity treatment.
The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest physician organization, decided Tuesday to recognize obesity as a disease that requires a range of medical interventions for treatment and prevention.
The decision was made at the group’s annual meeting in Chicago.
Experts in obesity have struggled for years to have obesity recognized as a disease that deserves medical attention and insurance coverage as do other diseases. Previously the AMA and others have referred to obesity as “a major public health problem.”
“The American Medical Association’s recognition that obesity is a disease carries a lot of clout,” says Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “The most important aspect of the AMA decision is that the AMA is a respected representative of American medicine. Their opinion can influence policy makers who are in a position to do more to support interventions and research to prevent and treat obesity.”
About a third of adults in this country are obese, which is roughly 35 or more pounds over a healthy weight. A third of children and teens are overweight or obese. Obesity increases the risk of many other diseases including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.
Patrice Harris, an AMA board member, said in a statement, “Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community tackles this complex issue that affects approximately one in three Americans.”
If obesity continues to grow, about 42% of Americans may end up obese by 2030, according to a projection from researchers with RTI International, a non-profit organization in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.
Those extra pounds rack up billions of dollars in weight-related medical bills. It costs about $1,400 more a year to treat an obese patient compared with a person at a healthy weight, research shows.
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.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
11224: Exclusive Pizza Party.
Advertising Age reported Pizza Hut has launched a review for its creative business. The Martin Agency—part of IPG—will defend as the incumbent. Pizza Hut declined to reveal the other contenders and whether a search consultant will be used. Gee, it’s hard to guess which IPG shops may be involved. Perhaps Omnicom will enter the fray too. It’s a Corporate Cultural Collusion competition. May the best White man win.
Pizza Hut Launches Creative Review
Incumbent Martin Agency Says It Will Defend Business
By Maureen Morrison
Yum brands’ Pizza Hut has launched a review for its creative account.
The business has been with Interpublic’s Martin Agency since 2009, when the shop succeeded longtime incumbent, Omnicom’s BBDO. Martin said that it was defending the account but referred all other questions to Pizza Hut.
“Pizza Hut is continually looking at fresh ways to enhance its marketing efforts and strengthen relationships and points of engagement with pizza lovers. As a result, we are conducting an advertising agency review,” said the marketer, noting, “We are thankful for the commitment The Martin Agency has made to our business over the past 3 ½ years and have invited them to participate in the review process.”
Pizza Hut declined to disclose participating agencies and whether a search consultant was involved.
Pizza Hut’s media agency, Publicis Groupe’s Optimedia, is unaffected by the search.
Among parent company Yum Brands’ chains, Taco Bell and KFC, Pizza Hut is the third-largest measured media spender, according to Kantar Media. In 2012, Pizza Hut spent about $240 million on U.S. measured media, while KFC spent about $263.5 million and Taco Bell spent about $280 million.
Monday, June 17, 2013
11222: Expect Oreo Offensiveness.
Given the Draftfcb track record of racist and culturally clueless messages, these Watermelon Oreos are a disaster waiting to happen.
11221: Enter The Icon.
Bruce Lee becomes a fixture in Chinatown
A 7-foot statue of the martial-arts film icon is unveiled in Central Plaza. Though he was a native of San Francisco, he had strong ties to L.A.’s Chinatown.
By Frank Shyong, Los Angeles Times
Officials in Chinatown unveiled a 7-foot bronze statue of Bruce Lee to a crowd of several hundred in the historical Central Plaza on Saturday night.
The unveiling caps a five-year effort to bring the statue to Chinatown, said Shannon Lee, Bruce’s daughter and the president of the Bruce Lee Foundation. The statue, created by an artist in Guangzhou, China, is the first such statue of her father in the United States, Shannon Lee said.
Though the statue will not be permanently installed until business leaders can raise $150,000 to put in seating and a concrete plinth, the timing was right for the unveiling, she said. This year is the 40th anniversary of her father’s death, as well as Chinatown’s 75th year. And Saturday was the day before Father’s Day.
“Seeing it there in its permanent spot with the night sky of Chinatown … it really struck me,” Shannon Lee said.
Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco’s Chinatown, lived in Oakland and opened several martial-arts schools in Seattle’s Chinatown. But he was a fixture in Los Angeles’ Chinatown in the 1960s, opening a school on West College Street and working out at the Alpine Recreation Center. Lee stood out, jogging energetically around a neighborhood where almost no one did, Shannon Lee said.
“It was the best place to be for Chinese food and to speak to people in his own language,” she said.
Actor James Hong used to manage a theater near Lee’s studio and recalled seeing him around the neighborhood. Hong, a prolific actor with more than 400 film and television credits to his name, including “Kung Fu Panda,” said he admired Lee’s patience and perseverance.
“I learned from him to keep a level head,” Hong said in between taking pictures with his fans. “That’s why I’m still around after all these years.”
In Los Angeles, Lee took a role as Kato in a television adaptation of “The Green Hornet” that launched a short film career that influenced cinema and pop culture even beyond his death at age 32 in 1973. His films inflamed the imagination of a generation of teenagers who grew up seeking black belts and plastering posters of him on their bedroom walls.
John Kreng, 44, staked out a spot with his friends hours before the statue’s unveiling, trading Bruce Lee stories and reminiscing. Growing up half Thai and half Chinese in an all-white neighborhood in Maryland, he was inspired by Bruce Lee’s films, Kreng said.
“Here’s this hero who looks like me on the screen,” he said.
Kreng grew up at the tail end of the Vietnam War and “got beat up a lot.” Then he saw “Way of the Dragon” and took up martial arts. Lee inspired him to become a stuntman and fight choreographer, Kreng said.
“Seeing him on the screen gave me hope,” said Kreng, who has watched “Enter the Dragon” at least 60 times. “I would not be here today if it wasn’t for Bruce Lee.”
Art Camacho, another fight choreographer and stuntman, was also inspired by Lee. He grew up in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood in East Los Angeles, saw “The Chinese Connection” in 1972 and promptly took martial-arts classes.
“Bruce Lee changed my whole outlook,” said Camacho, who said he once hired one of Bruce Lee’s co-stars just to get his autograph on a movie poster.
When the crowds thinned after the unveiling, Kreng and Camacho took up a stance beneath the statue. They turned sideways, clenched a first, and assumed expressions somewhere between grimaces and grins.
The moment captured, the two self-described Bruce Lee nerds laughed and exchanged high-fives.
Camacho said he’s a tough guy “when I do my stuff, but when I see Bruce Lee, I’m a little kid again. This is just awesome. I’m a 16-year-old sitting in that theater again.”
11220: Mad Men And Manservants.
In the latest episode of AMC series Mad Men Season 6, account executive Bob Benson was speaking in Spanish. Is the character actually Latino? Sure, he had previously hooked up Pete Campbell’s mother with a Latino caretaker, but it was never indicated that Benson was Latino too. Perhaps he was just speaking in Spanish. However, he showed extraordinary fluency with the language—especially the profanity. It was later exposed that Benson’s resume was full of lies and he once acted as the manservant of a corporate bigwig. The revelation led to a completely incomprehensible showdown between Benson and Campbell.
The episode also included an appearance by series creator Matthew Weiner’s son. The kid has absolutely zero acting skills. But like the real advertising business, nepotism trumps talent.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
11219: Charmin Campaign Is Ass.
Is this supposed to be a multicultural campaign for Charmin? Regardless, it’s shit.
11218: More Cheerios Chuckles.
Must admit to growing increasingly annoyed at the liberal defenders of the “controversial” Cheerios commercial featuring an interracial couple and their biracial daughter. From cartoons like the one above to parody videos, everyone is quick to reprimand the racist haters. Granted, the haters surely are ignorant idiots deserving condemnation. The liberal spankers, however, should look beyond the obvious targets to identify the more slippery villains in the scenario. That is, how would the new defenders of diversity react upon learning the advertising agency behind the spot—Saatchi & Saatchi—and the global industry it represents have a long history of intolerance and discrimination? Hell, the culturally clueless hiring practices continue to this very day. Additionally, advertisers such as Cheerios parent company General Mills have a long history of ignoring the exclusivity of their agency partners. The ad industry liberals condemning the haters are pretty questionable too, considering their lack of commitment and action in creating change in their own offices. It all inspired the commercial storyboard below (click on it to enlarge).
11217: White Knights Unite!
News from the U.K. shows BBH Co-founder and Chairman Nigel Bogle has nabbed a knighthood. Don’t know enough about the details and qualifications of the honor to comment with authority on the matter—but will go ahead and do it anyway. Yes, there are certainly people of color who have received similar recognition over the years. Yet how many non-White advertising executives hold such a grand title? It’s a safe bet that there is a Black hole on the royal list. Perhaps Sir Nigel Bogle will join co-conspirator Sir John Hegarty as a crusader for diversity. Now that would be a noble act indeed.
Knighthood for Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s Nigel Bogle among creative industry recognition in Queen’s birthday honours
By Angela Haggerty
Co-founder and chairman of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), Nigel Bogle, has been given a knighthood for services to the advertising industry in the Queen’s birthday honours list.
This year’s list gave honours to a number of names from the creative industries, with co-founder of Abbott Mead Vickers Peter Mead being awarded a CBE, and co-founders of Barber and Osgerby, Edward Barber and Jay Osgervy, given OBEs for services to the design industry.
The Advertising Association’s Rosemary Michael — the driving force behind its media business course, which counts Sir John Hegarty of BBH and Global Radio's Stephen Miron among its alumni — has been awarded an MBE.
CEO and founder of Clyde Space, Craig Clark, will receive an MBE for services to technology and innovation, while an OBE goes to Professor Janice Kirkpatrick, co-founder of Graven Images, for services to graphic design.
Sports presented Clare Balding has been awarded an OBE for services to broadcasting and journalism, and non-executive independent chairman of STV Group, Richard Findlay, has been rewarded for services to the arts and creative industries in Scotland with a CBE. Creative industries recognition in the birthday honours also comes for Creative Skillset, with a CBE going to CEO Dinah Caine. GQ editor Dylan Jones received an OBE.
Other honours in the list included a knighthood for Blackadder star Tony Robinson and a CBE for his co-star Rowan Atkinson. MBEs were awarded to singer/songwriters Adele and PJ Harvey, while comedian Rob Brydon received the same honour.
Golfer Paul Lawrie was awarded an OBE, alongside Red Bull Formula One team principal Christian Horner and novelist Jackie Collins.
Almost 1,200 people have been recognised in this year’s birthday honours list, with nearly half of them women and 72 per cent actively engaged in charitable or voluntary work.
11216: Guaranteed Trivial Bullshit.
The New York Times Advertising Columnist Stuart Elliott posted the following Q&A in his latest online installment:
Q. Is the bearded guy who ends every Men’s Wearhouse ad with the line “You’re going to like the way you look — I guarantee it” an actor who was chosen for the furry, reassuring tone of his voice, or is he actually connected corporately to the outfit?A. The guy, dear reader, is George A. Zimmer, who helped found the Men’s Wearhouse clothing chain in 1973 and is now its executive chairman.
Really? This is insightful journalism demanding the skills of an industry expert? A simple Google search could have revealed the answer to such a baffling brainteaser. Thanks, Stu. Now Americans will be able to sleep tonight.
11215: Multiracial Search Results.
Google celebrates Father’s Day with a slider gizmo that creates multiracial dads.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
11214: Rutgers Rant.
Former Rutgers men's basketball assistant Eric Murdock says Mike Rice treated players ‘like slaves’
In recorded rants, Murdock also accused Rice of pocketing money from ticket sales and basketball camps.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS STAFF
Eric Murdock, the former Rutgers men’s basketball assistant who blew the whistle on Mike Rice’s over-the-top practice behavior, said in an 11-minute, profanity-laced recording that the former coach treated his players “like slaves.”
“Treating mother f------ like slaves, just cracking the whip,” Murdock said in the rant to assistant coaches David Cox and Jimmy Martellli. “That’s all you do is crack the whip. When the mother f------ can’t deliver, you cut his toe off like f------ Kunta Kinte.”
The recording, from June 29, 2012, was obtained by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a weekly scholastic newspaper, through public records. The periodical said the recording was made by either Cox or Martelli.
In the rant, Murdock also accused Rice of pocketing money from ticket sales and basketball camps.
“Where’s it going? In this mother f------ pocket,” Murdock said. “He’s a greedy f------ pig.”
Rice was fired in April after video of his maniacal practice habits emerged. The video, which was taken by Murdock, quickly went viral.
In the wake of the scandal, athletic director Tim Pernetti also submitted his resignation “reluctantly,” as he wrote in a letter released to the public two days after Rice was fired.
Murdock has filed a wrongful termination suit against Rutgers in New Jersey state court. The suit claims the university ignored Murdock’s warnings — and videos that showed Rice punching, kicking, throwing basketballs at and belittling players — for six months before the disgraced coach was finally suspended for three games and fined $50,000 on Dec. 13.
The suit says Murdock, a former Providence College and NBA guard who also played pro ball in Italy, “never experienced a coach whose behavior and treatment of his players and others crossed the line into aforementioned assaultive, abusive and other unlawful conduct.”
The bad news at Rutgers has continued with new athletic director Julie Hermann, who has had to answer questions about her past, particularly when she was the head women’s volleyball coach at Tennessee.
Players from the 1996 team signed a letter in ’97 that accused her of physically and verbally abusing them — the same behavior that got Rice fired — including calling them “whores,” “alcoholics” and “learning disabled.” Hermann quit coaching the Lady Vols after that episode.
11213: Cheerios Crowd Rising.
More Americans consider themselves multiracial
The number of mixed or multiracial people in the United States jumped 6.6% between 2010 and 2012, according to the Census Bureau. Their ranks will only continue to grow, experts say.
By Emily Alpert, Los Angeles Times
The number of Americans who consider themselves multiracial has grown faster than any other racial group nationwide, new Census Bureau data reveal, a sign of slow but momentous shifts in the way that Americans think about race.
Mixed or multiracial people are still just a small slice of the American public, but their numbers jumped 6.6% between 2010 and 2012 — four times as fast as the national population, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Experts say their ranks will only continue to swell.
Researchers give two reasons for the rise: More people are wedding across racial lines than in decades past, bringing about more multiracial children. Roughly 15% of new marriages were interracial in 2010, compared with 6.7% in 1980, the Pew Research Center found last year. Census estimates show that children and teens were nearly three times as likely as adults to be multiracial, with 4.8% of people 18 or younger being identified as two or more races last year.
On top of that, experts say people who were long prodded to think of themselves as only “black” or “white” or “Asian” are becoming more comfortable choosing more than one race.
Mingling of races “has been with us forever in this country, and it has been erased and denied,” said G. Reginald Daniel, professor of sociology at UC Santa Barbara. Today, “that has begun to unravel. That is what you’re seeing with these figures.”
Deanna Rafla-Yuan, a 20-year-old student at UCLA, is an example. Every now and then, Rafla-Yuan is asked to check a box: What race is she? There isn’t a box for “half Egyptian, half Chinese,” she said. Sometimes she answers “Middle Eastern,” sometimes Chinese or African.
“If they let you pick more than one, I’ll pick as many as I can,” Rafla-Yuan said.
The census started allowing Americans to select two or more races only recently, at the turn of this century — an example of how attitudes have lagged behind the reality of mixed race. The country is now led by a president with an African father and a white mother. President Obama identified himself solely as “black” on the last census, but his racially mingled family is a celebrated part of his story.
For African Americans, in particular, the “one drop rule” that historically defined blackness is relaxing. Sixteen years ago, when golfer Tiger Woods dubbed himself “Cablinasian” — Caucasian, black, American Indian and Asian — critics said Woods was denying his black heritage, said New York University associate professor of sociology Ann Morning.
“If Tiger Woods said that today, I don’t think he would get the same flak,” Morning said. “There has been a sea change in American thinking…. We’re no longer looking at Barack Obama or Mariah Carey and automatically saying: ‘Those are black people.’”
The new estimates show multiracial people make up 2.4% of the national population, totaling more than 7.5 million people. Many scholars believe it is actually a much bigger group, particularly when it comes to people who have Hispanic roots. The census does not count Hispanics as a race, so people who see themselves as a mix of Hispanic and another race may end up marking off only one race in that section of the census — and not be counted as “two or more races.”
“For mixed Latinos there’s no answer,” said Thomas Lopez, director of Latinas and Latinos of Mixed Ancestry, a project of the nonprofit Multiracial Americans of Southern California. When the Census Bureau ran an experiment three years ago giving people a chance to claim Hispanic along with at least one other race, 6.8% did so.
The new estimates do not count the category of “some other race,” which is also likely to reduce the count of multiracial people. In addition, University of Minnesota sociologists found that even after the census started allowing people to mark more than one race, surprising numbers of children who had parents of different races were not being reported as multiracial — another sign that there are more mixed people than are counted.
Scholars caution the trend does not mean race barriers are collapsing. Marriage is still much more likely between people of the same race. Rafla-Yuan and other mixed students are still dogged by the persistent question: “What are you?”
“Americans are becoming more nuanced in their understanding of race,” said Carolyn Liebler, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. “But I don’t think race is becoming less important in our society.”
Friday, June 14, 2013
11211: ReKKKruiting Patrick Ewing.
Georgetown and Knicks great Patrick Ewing says on UNC recruiting trip, area was hosting KKK rally
Ewing said he was considering teaming up with Michael Jordan and Dean Smith in Chapel Hill, but Klan rally at hotel was a deal breaker.
By Daniel O’leary / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Patrick Ewing, a North Carolina Tar Heel?
Hard to imagine, we know. But when you hear the Georgetown legend’s reasoning for not picking the Tar Heels, it would be hard to knock him for not teaming up with Michael Jordan under head coach Dean Smith.
Ewing appeared on “The Dan Patrick Show” and explained why he didn’t head to Chapel Hill.
“You know, I was close [to attending UNC]. I was close. North Carolina was a very good school but, you know, when I went down there they put me in that Carolina Inn and there was a big Ku Klux Klan rally in North Carolina when I was there,” Ewing said. “And I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m not coming down here. I’m staying my butt back in Boston.’”
“So the reason why you didn’t go (to UNC), or the major reason, is the KKK had a rally going on at the time?” Patrick asked.
“Big rally man. I was like… They stuck me in that Carolina Inn. And at night down in North Carolina it gets pitch black and I hear all the crickets and I’m jumping, I’m like ‘what the heck?’ I said, ‘Nah, I’m going home.’”
Ewing said that Georgetown was his first choice and his second choice was UCLA. And even that Hall of Fame Tar Heels coach Dean Smith advised him to go to Georgetown if he was not going to pick North Carolina.
The former Knicks center was named associate head coach of the Charlotte franchise recently. The Bobcats, who are in the middle of switching their name back to the Hornets, are owned by Ewing’s long time friend Michael Jordan.
Ewing has publicly stated his desire to be a head coach in the NBA.
After Jason Kidd was named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday, the Hall of Famer’s son, Patrick Ewing Jr. tweeted: “For real though I’m mad J Kidd got a head coaching job a year after retiring n my pops been coaching 10 years n barely gets a look.”
11210: New Awards For Cannes.
Advertising Age reported Cannes will add trophies for health care agencies and clients in 2014. The special Lions will be doled out two days before the main awards. Side effects include delusions of grandeur. In recent years, the arguably prestigious festival has appealed to overblown—and income-generating—egos through the introduction of honors for innovation, PR, effectiveness and even holding companies. Yet there appears to be no interest in saluting multicultural marketing. Hell, would it be asking too much to set aside an afternoon before the health care event to high-five the minorities? The snub underscores the lack of respect for multicultural marketing and its practitioners—as well as the true global apathy for industry diversity. A weeping Dan Wieden declared his ADCOLOR® Award was the most important trophy he ever received. Knighted hypocrite Sir John Hegarty blathered about the imperative for inclusiveness. Jeff Goodby probably wanders the beaches in Cannes wondering, “Where are all the Black people?” Perhaps an award could be created to recognize the efforts of such noble defenders of diversity. Call it the Adamantium Lyin’.
Cannes Will Add Lions Health in 2014 In Separate Festival
Two-Day Event Before Main Awards Will Target Health Care Agencies and Marketers
By Laurel Wentz
Are health-care agencies and their clients the last group in the ad world that don’t enter and attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in large numbers? The festival is fixing that, with a brand-new Lions Health festival set to debut next year.
The two-day Lions Health awards will be held right before the main Cannes festival starts on Sunday, June 15, 2014. Those awards will replicate much of the main festival, with five juries to judge entries, a Young Lions contest for specialist health care creatives, and a health care Young Marketers Academy. And of course a Lions Health awards show evening.
The festival said Lions Health will cover three areas: health (communication that falls under regulatory restrictions), wellness (communications that aren’t regulated) and sustainability.
Many of the main festival contests are divided into product categories that already include a pharmacy or healthcare category that includes everything from over-the-counter and prescription medicines to anti-hair loss lotions, but they are often overshadowed by more glamorous product categories.
It’s a big market. In the U.S. alone, health care communications agencies had total revenue of $3.62 billion, according to Ad Age’s DataCenter. The biggest network by far is Publicis Groupe’s Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, with U.S. revenue in 2012 of $505 million.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
11209: Kraft Shaft.
Copyranter exposed that One Million Moms are not happy over the Kraft ad above. Maybe it’s actually an LGBT Pride Month salute.
11208: Dearth Of UK Dames…?
Women: how can we manage what we can’t measure?
By Cilla Snowball
I’ve always subscribed to the Madeleine Albright principle that “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women”.
On a personal level, helping others is a decent way to return the support and inspiration I’ve received from countless women in the business. But I also know it’s good business to do so. Developing the female talent pipeline is a matter of commercial imperative.
Just over a year ago, I was asked to sit on the Women’s Business Council — an independent, one-year working group advising Government and business on how to maximise women’s contribution to economic growth. I joined a team of male and female leaders from the recruitment, enterprise, retail, legal and pharmaceutical sectors, supported by the Government Equalities Office at DCMS.
We launched our report last Tuesday at the Stock Exchange.
Our report showed there’s an overwhelming business case for fulfilling women’s economic potential — up to 10% growth in UK GDP by 2030 if we equalise men and women’s participation at work. And up to a million more female entrepreneurs.
Our report articulated, yet again, that businesses with balanced boards and senior management teams deliver better results, better talent management, better customer interface and better business culture.
It showed that Government and business need to remove barriers for women at all stages, in classrooms as well as boardrooms, forging better links between schools and business on subject and career choices and work experience. We ignore the youth squad at our peril, especially aspiring entrepreneurs.
It showed that working parents, especially returning mums, need support and flexibility, affordable childcare and effective talent management.
That older women offer great untapped business potential.
That mentoring and role models can make an impact at every level, raising confidence, ambition, skills and opportunity.
So what can we do about all this in the ad industry?
The IPA 2012 Census shows women are doing well at industry level, which is 49% female, but less well at management level, where only 21.5% of agencies are led by women.
This looks promising by comparison with the 2011 census figure of 13.5%, and brilliant by comparison with the FTSE 100 where there are only three female chief executives. But it’s not enough.
In future, let’s measure the proportion of women on agency boards and in agency management teams in the census; not just chairs, chief executives and managing directors as we currently do. This will expose the industry laggards and the pioneers, giving us a framework for action to develop the pipeline. We can’t manage what we can’t measure.
Let’s continue to expand and encourage the wonderful work the IPA have initiated with Women of the Future, and the excellent WACL and Gather programmes, which so consistently inspire and motivate women coming up through the business with leadership and mentoring advice, as well as providing ace role models.
We can be much more systematic about managing work experience. We can get into schools and universities to talk about our industry. We do it to recruit, but we must also do it to inspire. Robert Peston’s Speakers for Schools programme is a brilliant start. So is Robin Wight’s Ideas Foundation and the IPA apprenticeship programme.
Let’s also take a hard look at the demographics of the ad industry at the other end of the age spectrum. We’re a young business with an average age of 34. A massive 45% of the UK population is over 50 but only a tiny 6% of the ad industry population is over 50. So we have a double challenge to address, if we’re to avoid looking sexist as well as ageist in our industry profile going forward.
I’m lucky to work in a company where gender is no obstacle, where I’ve been supported and encouraged throughout my career, where diversity is celebrated and where men and women are actively and equally developed.
We have the results, the work, the culture, the management team and the talent pipeline to prove it. I know it’s not the same everywhere in our industry. The Women’s Business Council reckons it’s a pretty good time for us all to act. And better that than, according to Madeleine Albright, face the prospect of hell.
Cilla Snowball is Group Chairman and Group CEO at AMV BBDO and a member of the Women’s Business Council.
Read the full report at womensbusinesscouncil.dcms.gov.uk
11207: Free Refills With Restrictions.
This is sure to get a frosty reaction from the redheads and Wendy’s.
11206: Diversity Drivel.
At The Big Tent, Eric Mower & Associates Partner and HR Director Michael Slade posted a perspective titled, “We’ll Never Achieve Diversity Hiring Only From One Another.” Is the title supposed to be a warning/reprimand or merely a statement of fact? Slade’s column could have been written in 2003—or even 1963, for that matter—as it contains no new thinking. It’s always disturbing to see HR wonks not only regurgitating the same excuses (e.g., a lack of awareness of opportunities among minorities) and lame solutions (e.g., the 4As’ Multicultural Advertising Internship Program), but also openly admitting the industry engages in exclusive, discriminatory hiring practices. More outrageous is Slade’s admission that he has served on the 4As’ HR Committee for 15 years. Damn, it’s incredible the man hasn’t yet nabbed an ADCOLOR® Award. To underscore the audacity of hopelessness and cluelessness in Slade’s piece, take a peek at the executive leadership running his agency. ‘Nuff said.
11205: IPG Slices Up The Pizza Pie.
Advertising Age reported Chicago startup agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul picked up business from Pizza Hut—sans a review. It must be noted that principal Tom O’Keefe is a former leader of Draftfcb with strong ties to Pizza Hut parent Yum! The current lead AOR for Pizza Hut is The Martin Agency. Draftfcb and The Martin Agency are sister shops under IPG, the holding company that is also backing O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul. In other words, it appears to be another case of Corporate Cultural Collusion, whereby IPG is mimicking the Omnicom tactic of exclusively offering a portfolio of White agencies to major clients. It’s no surprise that Yum! brands used to be part of PepsiCo—which engages in Corporate Cultural Collusion with Omnicom—and Yum! still has a lifetime contract to serve PepsiCo beverages in its restaurants. In short, IPG is hoarding the entire pizza pie while minority shops are left to scratch for any leftover crumbs or mozzarella cheese.
O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul Nabs Pizza Hut’s WingStreet
Agency’s execs have strong ties to parent Yum Brands
By Maureen Morrison
Fledgling Chicago agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul has made its way onto Pizza Hut's agency roster, picking up the creative account for Pizza Hut’s WingStreet brand.
O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul will handle marketing and advertising for WingStreet, PizzaHut’s chicken-wing brand launched in 2003. A spokesman for Yum Brands’ Pizza Hut said the agency “will be providing support for WingStreet as we continue to grow the brand.” Pizza Hut last year spent about $239 million on measured media, but less than $2 million was allocated to WingStreet, according to Kantar Media.
Pizza Hut’s lead shop is Interpublic’s Martin Agency, which handled the WingStreet business. The Pizza Hut spokesman said “Martin handled all creative work for us, including WingStreet, and they will continue to support our core business.” Martin did not comment.
The account was moved without a review to O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul, which has ties to parent company Yum Brands through Tom O’Keefe’s earlier tenure at DraftFCB as chief creative. There he played a key role in the agency’s relationship with Yum, particularly Taco Bell. Nick Paul also was at DraftFCB for an extended period, most recently serving as the agency’s global chief growth officer. O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul opened its doors in March with backing by Interpublic.
When the agency opened, Mr. Paul said that the agency would like to work with Yum. “Our relationship with Yum means a lot to us, and we have loved working on Taco Bell over the past 12-plus years…we’d be thrilled to play a part in putting together work for the brand,” he said at the time.
11202: More Chewing On Cheerios.
At Business Insider, a Jim Edwards piece spotlighted the MSNBC revelation that Grace Colbert, the kid in the “controversial” Cheerios commercial, actually is biracial—and her real mom and pops are White and Black, respectively. Not sure why this factoid is worth noting. It’s a safe bet that deliberate decisions were made by Saatchi & Saatchi, the White advertising agency behind the spot. That is, the shop either went into the production seeking to depict an interracial family—requiring the casting of a biracial child—or they were simply captivated by Ms. Colbert in the casting session and felt the need to find Black and White actors to portray her parents. It’s interesting that Saatchi & Saatchi and General Mills have not explained their motives. If the casting choices were premeditated, its kinda bullshit that Saatchi & Saatchi would make racial identity an attention-getting tactic to sell bland breakfast cereal. If the agency recognized Ms. Colbert’s biracial identity during the casting session and felt compelled to hire White and Black actors for the parent roles, well, that’s kinda bullshit too.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
11201: JWT Is Crazy Clueless.
Check out the Chief Generosity Officer in the new Vonage campaign from JWT. The advertising agency leader who approved this bullshit deserves the title of Chief Culturally Clueless Officer. It’s not right to make light of “crazy” people.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
11199: Four Of The Creativity 50.
Advertising Age presented the 2013 Creativity 50 to honor the fifty most influential creative figures in entertainment, tech, advertising, publishing and more. Three of the four Black honorees were movie director Ryan Coogler, TV show innovator Shonda Rhimes and Jay-Z. The only legitimate advertising representative was R/GA VP-ECD Tim Allen, who runs the user experience design department. Is Ad Age unintentionally telling Blacks there are greater opportunities in entertainment than advertising?
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