13264: Political Pundits & Pinheads.

Campaign reported DDB Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Amir Kassaei implored Muslims to wage a “holy war” on terrorism via Twitter. Gee, can’t this warmonger limit his wrath towards conspiring judges at Cannes? But seriously, Kassaei crossed a professional line that wouldn’t be tolerated in legitimate business fields. His comments create an arguably hostile workplace for Muslim DDB staffers; plus, the call to arms could fuel the ignorance of other small-minded employees seeking murderous revenge. Then again, Omnicom sister agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners freely forces its anti-Trump political views on staffers and the public—despite the fact that Jeff Goodby has been a registered Republican. Of course, when bleeding heart activists like Kassaei and Goodby are asked to fight for diversity, you’ll barely hear a tweet.

Amir Kassaei calls for Muslims to wage ‘holy war’ against terrorists

Following the attack in France, DDB Worldwide chief creative officer makes a personal, angry plea on Facebook

By Douglas Quenqua

Amir Kassaei, chief creative officer of DDB Worldwide, took to Facebook this morning, hours after a truck loaded with weapons killed at least 83 people in Nice, France, to call upon Muslims to wage war against radical Islam.

After declaring his own atheism, Kassaei says the time has come for Muslims to rise up against the “animals” who commit murder in the name of their god. If that means war, he says, then it would be the only war worthy of the title “holy.”

As a litany of shootings and terrorist attacks have played out around the globe in recent weeks, a number of agencies and brands have performed small acts of protest or advocacy. Last week, Both Wieden+Kennedy and Hill Holliday turned their Web sites into statements of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Earlier this week, Coca-Cola ran an ad in USA Today and on digital billboards that said, “We live as many. We stand as one.” And following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June, several agencies quietly began working on anti-gun campaigns that have yet to debut.

But Kassaei, who has a reputation for being outspoken, is among the few individuals from the industry to make his voice heard. Though he posted the statement to his personal Facebook page, rather than the one he maintains for business, Kassaei, who was born in Iran and raised in Germany, quickly shared it with his 18,000 Twitter followers.

DDB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

13263: Keeping Up With The Joneses.

Did Allstate replace Dennis Haysbert with Leslie Jones? The smarter move would have been to let her complement Haysbert—and replace the mediocre and moronic Mayhem.

13262: GS&P&Exclusivity.

AgencySpy published a post with the headline: “GS&P Adds a Dozen New Members to Its Creative Department.” The photograph featuring the new employees inspires asking Jeff Goodby, “Where are all the Black people?”

13261: Campaign’s Banner Bullshit.

Campaign created a banner ad displaying diverted diversity at its best. That is, the trade publication is offering assistance to “the brave and the bold” job seekers—bold marketers, creative disruptors, digital thinkers, advertising mavericks and ad tech innovators—symbolized by a White woman.

13260: Can’t Beat The Racial Thing.

Advertising Age reported on the patronizing propaganda from Coca-Cola depicted above. Is Coke really the brand to be advocating for racial harmony—especially given its history on such matters?

Coke Weighs in on Racial Relations Debate With Unity Ad

A Full-Page Ad Declares ‘We Live as Many. We Stand as One.’

By E.J. Schultz

Coca-Cola today took a stab at joining America’s rising conversation on race relations with an ad that sought to link the brand with optimism and inclusion.

A full-page ad running in USA Today stated: “We live as many. We stand as one,” against the brand’s familiar red backdrop and white ribbon. Coke is also running the spot across its national network of digital billboards, including in Times Square. The marketer also put the ad across its own social channels, including its Facebook page, where it generated the usual fierce debate that comes whenever brands tackle social issues. The ad was done in-house and will run today through Sunday, a Coke spokeswoman confirmed. She also confirmed that it was made in response to the racial relations debate that is occurring in the wake of the high-profile killings of two black men by law enforcement and the deadly attack on police officers in Dallas.

“Throughout the history of Coca-Cola, we have stood for optimism, diversity and inclusion. Deep in our heritage is a commitment to bringing people and communities together to find common ground,” she said in an email. “Today, we shared a message of unity on our digital and social networks: ‘We live as many. We stand as one.’ This represents an idea we hope everyone can embrace.”

But not everyone is embracing it on social media. It got a mixed reaction on Facebook, drawing 250 comments within six hours. Here is a sample of the feedback…

13259: Hill Heading For The Hills.

Adweek reported 4As President and CEO Nancy Hill is leaving the trade organization in 2017. Hey, there’s no better way to promote White women in the advertising industry than by letting Hill depart…? Wonder if her successor will assume the 4As Chief Diversity Officer role too. Adweek revealed Hill intends to spend time teaching and doing volunteer work in Ecuador. She’ll undoubtedly use the experience to recruit minority candidates for the field.

President and CEO Nancy Hill Is Leaving the 4A’s After Nearly 9 Years

Trade org begins search for new chief executive

By Patrick Coffee

The ad industry’s largest trade organization, the 4A’s, announced today that its chairman and CEO, Nancy Hill, will be stepping down next year and that the search for her successor has officially begun. After leaving the organization in June 2017, Hill plans to work as a consultant and spend time in Ecuador teaching and doing volunteer work.

Hill assumed the top role at the American Association of Advertising Agencies in January 2008 after holding executive positions at such shops as Lowe, BBDO and Hill Holliday. In her eight-plus years atop the organization, she has often served as a de facto spokesperson for those advocating for greater racial and gender equality within the industry.

“Nancy has incredible passion for the advertising industry,” said Horizon Media founder and 4A’s board chair Bill Koenigsberg in a statement. “During the past eight years, she has advocated tirelessly for issues—such as gender and diversity—that continue to make the industry better.”

Koenigsberg added, “Nancy joined with five years of service in mind, but this last March the board again asked her to stay on, extending her contract through June 2017.” That year will also mark the organization’s 100th anniversary.

A press release announcing Hill’s departure credits her with modernizing the organization during a tumultuous period for the ad industry and expanding its representative skill set by including more marketing and media agencies. Hill has repeatedly tried to facilitate a more inclusive and supportive environment within the advertising business by including people of different racial backgrounds and sexual orientations in conversations about the future of the industry. She’s also encouraged greater transparency in media practices and has supported advocacy groups like the 4A’s Foundation, TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group) and 3MS (Making Measurement Make Sense).

“The past eight years have been the experience of a lifetime,” said Hill in a statement, adding, “It has been a pleasure to help guide the industry through changing times and to bring issues that I am so passionate about to the forefront. The advertising agency business is continually evolving to meet the needs of clients and identify the best new ways to reach consumers. It has been an honor to play a part in shaping the future of an industry I love.”

The 4A’s is currently in talks with MediaLink to lead the search for Hill’s successor. So far, the organization has not given any indication as to whether it has considered specific candidates to replace Hill.

13258: BBDO’s Diverted Diversity Milestone.

Adweek reported BBDO hired its first White female Chief Creative Officer to run the creative department in its Atlanta office. It’s amazing—amazing in a pathetic way, that is—for BBDO to be marking the gender milestone in 2016. Hell, BBDO hired a Black man as CCO before a White woman. Plus, BBDO had a White male CCO serve as a panelist for a Here Are All The Black People event. The White advertising agency’s inclusive spirit is totally groundbreaking. Or maybe wind-breaking is a more appropriate term.

BBDO Names CP+B Veteran as Its First Female Chief Creative Officer

Robin Fitzgerald will lead the Atlanta office

By Patrick Coffee

BBDO Atlanta has hired Robin Fitzgerald to serve as chief creative officer in Atlanta, making her the first woman to hold that position within the Omnicom agency’s network in the United States.

During an earnings call in April, Omnicom CEO John Wren promised to double female leadership within BBDO’s creative department over the following 12 months. Fitzgerald’s hire appears to be the first major attempt to make good on that promise.

Fitzgerald replaces longtime BBDO veteran Wil Boudreau, who announced this week that he would leave the network after 25 years to become North American chief creative officer at WPP’s The&Partnership in New York. She will partner with president and CEO Drew Panayiotou to reshape the creative department in the Atlanta office, which currently works on such accounts as Toys “R” Us, Norwegian Cruise Line and Novant Health.

“Not only is Robin fantastically talented, but she also understands the always-on world in which today’s clients operate, embraces technology and analytics, and generally is someone who can lead the way forward,” said BBDO’s global chief creative officer and North American chairman David Lubars in a statement. “Plus she’s a good soul. I am excited and flattered that Robin has agreed to join BBDO Atlanta and work with Drew to help make that agency something truly special.”

Prior to joining BBDO, Fitzgerald spent nearly six years with MDC Partners’ Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Los Angeles, where she worked on Old Navy, Applebee’s, Netflix, Vitaminwater and PayPal. She helped lead creative on PayPal’s 2016 Super Bowl ad and got promoted to vp, executive creative director the month after the Big Game. Earlier this week, Adweek’s AgencySpy reported that Fitzgerald would leave CP+B and chief creative officer Kevin Jones would lead the PayPal account.

The newly minted creative chief began her career as a copywriter at Bozell Omaha in Nebraska and later served as a creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles. She has been named among the “Most Creative People” in advertising and social media marketing by Business Insider, and her work has won various honors including an Emmy nomination.

“I love places that love making great work and am looking forward to making a lot of it with the team in Atlanta,” said Fitzgerald, who will begin her new job on Sept. 12.

Regarding her hire, Panayiotou said, “Robin’s prior experience, proven track record and innovative orientation make her a dream fit for what we do and what we hope to do even better for our clients.”

13257: Twin Cities Troubled.

A MultiCultClassics visitor pointed to a StarTribune article reporting on the dearth of diversity in the Twin Cities advertising community. To help solve the problem, White advertising agencies are turning to—ta da!—The BrandLab. Why do White advertising agencies presume minority candidates do not exist—and such candidates must be bred in specialized training programs? It feels like faux philanthropy that’s actually philistinism.

Twin Cities ad industry struggling to increase diversity in ranks

The BrandLab is trying to pick up the pace by doubling percentage of minorities by 2017.

By Nicole Norfleet

After three months of unanswered and rejected job applications, Travon Sellers decided to remove his headshot from his résumé.

Sellers, who is black, thought his five internships, college degree, years of experience as a freelance designer and support from industry contacts would be enough to earn him an entry-level job at a Twin Cities advertising agency. To that point, though, the 24-year-old south Minneapolis native had been shut down.

People of color make up little more than 6 percent of Twin Cities advertising industry employees, less than the racial diversity of the general population and lower than the nearly 23 percent of the broader national workforce in advertising, public relations and related services who are nonwhite, according to a study published last year by advocacy group the BrandLab.

By 2017, the BrandLab wants to double the percentage of minorities in the local industry and is expanding its services to achieve that goal.

“Whether we like it or not, advertising is so ubiquitous it influences how people feel about themselves, how they see themselves,” said Mike Lescarbeau, CEO of ad house Carmichael Lynch and a BrandLab board member. “So if the people making that work all come from the same background likely that work is going to be narrow in its depiction of human beings and roles people can play and all that.”

Despite outreach efforts to attract minorities to the field such as Sellers, who went through two BrandLab internships, many industry insiders admit frustration that marketing offices still remain mostly white even during a time when clients are clamoring for more minority representation on their creative teams and in their ads.

“In the advertising arena, you can still count with your fingers the number of people in a given agency that are people of color,” said Lorenz Esguerra, the managing director of business development at Minneapolis ad agency Colle+McVoy.

Twin Cities firms need to increase their racial diversity to stay competitive against other agencies in markets on the coasts or in larger cities that naturally attract diverse talent, he said.

“Gone are the days where you basically target women and you bring a team of men; that doesn’t work anymore,” said Esguerra, who is Filipino. “Or you pitch a Hispanic audience, and you don’t have somebody that actually represents that market. It just isn’t authentic.”

Nowadays, some advertising clients ask for bios of the agency’s account team complete with photos to see how diverse the group coming up with their marketing ideas is — a practice that was unheard of five years ago, said Erinn Farrell, general manager of advertising firm Space150.

“The more backgrounds you bring into that and the more points of view you bring into that, you strengthen the idea by challenging it,” Farrell said. “It’s not one note. Suddenly it becomes layered. Those layered ideas are good for business.”

Two years ago, Space150, which doesn’t track its diversity numbers, removed its education and age requirements to try to get more diverse candidates. This spring the firm launched its internship program on Snapchat so potential interns could use its geofilter feature at campuses and expanded its usual targeting to include historically black schools like Howard University and Spelman College.

Barriers still present

While many marketing professionals acknowledge the diversity problem, they give varying reasons for the dearth of ethnic minorities in local advertising operations.

Dorion Taylor has grown used to being one of the only black people in the room. The unwanted title has followed him since he was a teenager when his parents sent him to a mostly white high school in the Milwaukee suburbs to his current position as director of new business at Carmichael Lynch, where people of color make up more than 10 percent of the agency.

While Taylor made the decision early on that he wanted to be in a creative field, he said many young people, especially those of color, aren’t aware that advertising is a viable career option.

“They still don’t know what they can do … I think it’s just getting that pool bigger,” he said.

To Elliott Payne, the lead strategist for Space150, much of the problem has to do with how people are hired, which he said can be inherently biased. Oftentimes, advertising job openings are spread by word-of-mouth and are filled quickly.

Payne, who is black, was told of an available job at Space150 after he met the then vice president of strategy in his graduate school class. Not everyone can be so lucky, he said.

“The natural forces at play in this industry is to hire who you know and if the people who work in the industry don’t have a diverse personal network, the network of the industry is not going to be diverse,” Payne said.

After he was inspired by black social justice movements that erupted in the wake of police shootings, Payne decided to build his own network of people of color within the local marketing world. Starting last fall, Payne, who also volunteers for the BrandLab, organizes monthly social meetups for the group to help people better network.

A marketing office can’t begin to address the diversity problem until it builds an inclusive work environment, said Carmichael Lynch’s Lescarbeau. Even when a person of color gets a foot in the door, he or she won’t stay if he or she feels marginalized within the office, he said. Inclusion extends beyond race and also includes gender, sexual orientation, age and other differences.

“I think agencies traditionally have been tough places to break into and it takes quite a bit of time for people to feel a part of things,” he said.

Offering solutions

The BrandLab has been trying to guide students of various ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds into marketing careers since 2007, when the late John Olson, who was head of the Olson ad agency, founded the group. Christine Fruechte, BrandLab board chair and chief executive of Colle+McVoy, became involved soon after the organization was established.

“This is not a new issue,” Fruechte said. “It has been an issue that has been around as long as I’ve been in the industry, but it’s one that leaders have to take responsibility for and set the tone from the top down.”

At Colle+McVoy, which is currently helping to pilot new BrandLab workshops, about 12 percent of the staff are people of color.

The BrandLab offers several programs including a classroom initiative in which staff meet with high school students in their schools and teach a marketing curriculum. This past school year was a record of about 720 students being served in 14 metro schools.

Another large part of the BrandLab is its summer paid internships at marketing offices across the Twin Cities. Numerous agencies as well as companies with in-house marketing offices partner to host interns or donate to the organization including 3M and Best Buy. The BrandLab also provides around $30,000 in college scholarships each year.

Sellers, who went through the classroom program, a scholarship and internships through the BrandLab, said when he first went on tours of agencies he determined “I need to do this!”

“I didn’t have any models of people who did a 9 to 5 everyday,” he said.

As the BrandLab looks to the future, it plans to expand its offerings to make sure young people thrive as they enter the industry, said Ellen Walthour, BrandLab executive director.

The BrandLab is piloting “Fearless” workshops that it hopes will help companies’ staffs deepen their comfort in talking about race and biases. BrandLab is launching a mentorship program where marketing professionals team up with BrandLab alumni. The organization is also creating a mobile app alumni network so that graduates can stay in touch with one another. In addition, the BrandLab will start to offer skills-based training for alumni such as how to build a portfolio to help them be more competitive as they apply for jobs and internships, Walthour said.

“Full success is … meeting kids in high school, exposing them to a career they never heard of, building a pathway, breaking down barriers and making sure they land,” Walthour said.

Next steps

Besides taking part in BrandLab activities, Walthour gave several other ways companies can diversify their workplaces. For one, agencies should publicly post all their job openings to allow for a larger and more diverse pool of applicants, she said. They should also make sure all of their internships are paid so that it’s not only people who can afford to be unpaid who are applying for internships. Agencies should also collect and release their demographic data to keep better track of how well they are doing, she said. The BrandLab will conduct another survey in the fall of marketing companies’ diversity rates.

Despite the challenges, BrandLab supporters and industry insiders say they are confident that numbers will improve.

Mandana Mellano, chief media officer at ad firm Fallon, who is Iranian American, said she encouraged other people to not give up on finding their way in the industry.

“I think it’s so important for people to know that there are options and sticking with your plan. … If everybody comes in and gives up, where do we go?” she said.

Late last month, Sellers finally was given the break he needed when he landed a job as the marketing information manager at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn.

“I have no doubt that I will be a creative force in this industry. … I know I’m going to kill it. I’m going to climb the ladder.”

13256: Lewie Allen Is A Troublemaker.

Campaign spotlighted fortysix Managing Director Lewie Allen, who’s seeking to cause trouble by fostering diversity. The story included the following quote from MullenLowe Profero CEO Dale Gall: “Looking for a fresh approach and seeking digital natives from disadvantaged backgrounds, if pursued as literally and exclusively as that, actually becomes the opposite of diversity.” Okay, but continuing the hiring practices that literally perpetuate exclusivity actually becomes the opposite of diversity too. Plus, is Gall aware of the MullenLowe 25/40 Project? Gall has a lot of gall critiquing Allen’s efforts, especially when peeking at the leadership at MullenLowe Profero.

Young leader of Dentsu Aegis’ new venture aims to cause the ‘good kind’ of trouble

Lewie Allen, the youthful head of Dentsu Aegis Network’s digital agency Fortysix, may be new to the industry but he believes his original approach will prove the power of diversity.

Lewie Allen is wearing a red cap, grey hoody, red jeans and red trainers. But, despite appearances, he isn’t a young creative grad. Allen is, in fact, the managing director of Fortysix, Dentsu Aegis Network’s latest venture.

The digital creative agency, which was launched last month, has a remit to employ young people from diverse backgrounds. Dentsu Aegis worked on the project with Freeformers, a company that helps businesses with digital transformation, and then hired Allen, a former Freeformers employee, to lead it.

Fortysix’s launch clients are Santander and Kellogg and, over the coming months, the five-strong shop will work with other Dentsu Aegis clients on redesigning their websites, creating video content and helping develop their brands’ social media strategy. After establishing itself, Fortysix will start pitching for its own business. “I’m hoping to shake up the industry and cause a bit of trouble — the good kind — and demonstrate the power of diversity and different approaches,” Allen asserts. “In a lot of ways, I’m not sure [how we’re going to do this] because there will be a lot of testing and learning.”

In common with other Dentsu Aegis agencies, Fortysix is a standalone shop but will operate on the same profit-and-loss account. The agency will differ from its sister shops by taking a less traditional approach to briefs. It will be assisted by a panel of advisors from inside and outside the industry.

Allen is already making his mark by taking a fresh approach to recruitment. He hired his first four employees at Upload Live, a digital workshop for young people, organised in partnership with Freeformers. Dentsu Aegis also took on two people as a result of the event.

“The room was very much a reflection of London — very diverse,” Allen says. “Everyone came along knowing they were going to get something out of it.”

The event struck a chord with Allen, who found his own career path when he took a digital crash course at Freeformers. “The idea that I was able to make websites, apps and do different things quite easily was super-intriguing and I just ran with it,” he says.

Allen is a million miles from the stereotypical white, middle-class adman. He left school with just three GCSEs but knew he wanted a creative career.

Allen kept in touch with Freeformers and, when a job vacancy arose, jumped at the chance to become a trainer. In this role, he showed corporate bosses how to use digital technology to help their businesses.

While at Freeformers, Allen spent time with high-level clients, such as Ashok Vaswani, chief executive of Barclays personal and corporate banking. But while he is used to dealing with senior figures, Allen’s lack of an industry background means Tracy De Groose, chief executive of Dentsu Aegis Network UK, is taking a risk with his hiring. Allen does not think agency experience is necessary. “I think that might be my strength,” he says. “I am very digital, I consume things in a lot of different ways and this gives me an insight into audiences that other managing directors might not have.”

Gi Fernando, founder of Freeformers, says Allen can “communicate technical aspects of marketing and comms in an easy-to-understand way”.

De Groose says: “Lewie has strong beliefs on the role that marketing has in the world. He has real clarity in how he sees things working and he’s very articulate about it. The combination of his youth and vitality is very powerful.”

At 28, Allen may not have the experience of his fellow agency bosses but he has a clear opinion on how the industry needs to develop. “There’s a slight over-awareness of the fact that we are being advertised to — and digital has probably played a massive part in that,” he says. “I think once that sense washes away, it will be back to how it was.” He adds: “Brands will need to cement themselves into society and be pivotal in communities without necessarily advertising in the sense that we like to think of nowadays.”

Some would argue that De Groose should be bringing diversity into the network, rather than setting up a separate agency. Dentsu Aegis did not take part in the diversity survey Campaign and the IPA published earlier this year. De Groose insists that the group does make diverse hires but adds that, sometimes, people from non-traditional backgrounds feel different from their colleagues because they are still in the minority – something Fortysix will address.

Dale Gall, chief executive of MullenLowe Profero, says there’s much to admire in De Groose’s new venture. However, she will need to ensure Fortysix isn’t siloed. He explains: “Looking for a fresh approach and seeking digital natives from disadvantaged backgrounds, if pursued as literally and exclusively as that, actually becomes the opposite of diversity.”

Allen describes the job offer as “surreal” and something he didn’t see coming. Combining a humble nature with natural confidence, he clearly appreciates — and is excited about — the task ahead.

13255: Agents Of Shield.

MultiCultClassics planned to comment on the Wieden + Kennedy #BlackLivesMatter post, as well as the subsequent Hill Holliday copycat concern, but Brandon Burns’ commentary below exceeds anything this blog could have generated. White advertising agencies should complement #BlackLivesMatter with #BlackJobsMatter.

The Diversity Shield

A Response to Wieden+Kennedy’s statement on #blacklivesmatter

Last week, two black men were murdered by police officers, five police officers were executed by a revenge-seeking vigilante and, to much acclaim, Wieden+Kennedy replaced the homepage of its website with a statement on the matter. In publications from Advertising Week to The Washington Post, the beautifully written message, which was originally delivered by a black employee to colleagues via an internal email, was applauded after the advertising agency’s management team had the foresight to amplify its words by featuring them on the company website, along with a heads-up to the press.

On the surface, this was a commendable effort by one of the strongest voices in advertising. To start, there was the poignant message itself. Also, at W+K, black employees are few and far between, so the decision to feature the work of one so prominently deserves kudos. Clearly, intentions were good.

The effort, however, is likely net-negative.

As a black man with over a decade of experience in the ad industry — most recently at Wieden+Kennedy — I have seen small men hide behind big words. I have seen them discriminate, whether it was intentional or not, and then use the agency’s prior good deeds as shield against any blame for the current offense. And while my personal career has been net-positive, along the way I have lost jobs to objectively less qualified candidates, I have fought, and won, a case of racial-based wage depression, and I’ve even had to report a manager to HR for harassment, only to be fired by the accused 24 hours later. Each respective agency has voiced support for diversity in very public ways; nevertheless, each engaged in actions that broke the federal laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace.

Will Wieden+Kennedy’s #blacklivesmatter homepage change the fact that the agency’s management team is exclusively white? Will it change the fact that 28 of its 30 creative directors are not just white, but white and male? Or that roughly 80% of the copywriters, art directors, and technologists who create the agency’s output are also exclusively white males?

And while not related to black lives, but still concerning the topic of diversity, what about the gender issues at W+K? What about the fact that 20% of the female creatives quit at the end of last year? What about the fact that, during layoffs this March, women were disproportionately affected? What about the fact that after a group of women decided to communicate their frustration via an all-agency email, global management replied-all to say that they should not talk about such things out in the open? Where was the concern for diversity then?

The other side to this story is that Wieden+Kennedy is well aware of these issues and is, despite mistakes along the way, actively making efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive environment. The agency has declared 2016 a Year of Diversity within the agency. They are encouraging all employees to take part in off-site workshops on inclusion and bias. A large Girl Wanted sign hangs in a prominent place on the creative floor. The company homepage now features the message that #blacklivesmatter.

It is very hard to assert that an organization is discriminatory when it has done so much in the name of diversity.

Or is it? As a hiring manager, I worked very closely with the in-house recruiting team; I am well aware of their valiant efforts to find new talent of all races and genders. Yet, nevertheless, when they share the portfolios of the best candidates with the Creative Directors — 93% of whom are white males — it is, time and again, the white male candidates who are pursued and hired.

Of course, each Creative Director has reasons why he may prefer one candidate’s portfolio over another’s. And while I sat on the other side of the building in the technology group, the majority of the Creative Directors I interacted with are perfectly pleasant people, and I never once felt unwelcome in their presence.

Nevertheless, it is crucial to remember that unconscious bias exists in every human being, no matter how kind. It is crucial to remember that humans, naturally, form faster connections with people similar to themselves. And it is crucial to remember that the human brain can always rationalize its own actions. The cop always has a reason why he shot the black guy. The bro always has a reason why he’s not into black girls. The lady on the subway always has a reason for grabbing her purse a little tighter. The creative director always has a reason why he hired, promoted or gave preferential treatment to someone who happens to look like him.

And despite all the diversity initiatives, despite the #blacklivesmatter homepage, despite honest efforts by some within the organization to create a truly diverse environment, there are reasons why a diverse environment has yet to manifest at Wieden+Kennedy.

But this is not just the story of one advertising agency. This is the story of an entire industry. There are few agencies that would skip out on the chance to attach its name to a feel-good diversity initiative, but what good is it if the company itself doesn’t become more diverse in the process? How can we applaud an agency for making an effort, and then look the other way when those efforts don’t lead to real, actualized change? How can we be sure that voicing support for diversity doesn’t become a shield, protecting agencies from the constructive scrutiny needed to come to terms with what its problems really are, and eventually find real solutions?

How do we move from talking about change to actual change?

Handicap Unconscious Bias

No matter the data, people will always have a stronger connection with people similar to themselves. The only way to remove bias from an individual is to remove it from the system itself. Review portfolios blind. Standardize parameters for promotions and raises. Conduct performance reviews regularly, without fail.

Again, in the chaos of an agency, these are often seen as low priority initiatives. But they will also serve as protection — of a more legitimate kind. The goodwill attributed to an agency for undertaking diversity initiatives is subjective, but being able to say that each and every employee receives rewards and punishments in the exact same way, via a blind, unbiased system, is objectively solid and your best defense.

Kill Subjectivity with Specificity

Agencies always say they want to hire people who are humble. But what does that mean? Growing up in a white household, that may mean staying quiet and not rocking the boat. Growing up in a black household, that could mean speaking up and falling on your sword for a cause. Who’s right?

Agencies look for creatives that have that “special something.” What does that mean? Work for a recognizable brand? A particular award? A headline that made you laugh?

From personality traits to skillsets, agencies often times fail to define success by specific, objective terms. Traits like being humble or “nice” are subjective, but ones like work ethic and leadership experience are not; either you’ve produced a volume of work or you haven’t, either you’ve been a manager before or you haven’t. A “good” copywriter is subjective; one that has experience in comedy is not. “That ad made me laugh,” is subjective; but a copywriter who wrote a humorous ad that won an award, or went viral, or produced sales results is probably more objectively talented when it comes to using humor in his job.

Minorities (and Women), Speak Up

Those who are in power will never fully see things from the perspective of those on the sidelines. Those who are in power will rarely put their concerns before yours. This is your fight, our fight. We must hold our employers to task, and not let the hush-hush culture of corporate America stop us from sharing our stories and calling out injustice when we see it.

White People, Don’t Take It Personally

Minorities, unfortunately, are used to discrimination. We’ve seen white friends, white teachers, and white colleagues — people we know and love — do and say discriminatory things. We’ve learned that, when it comes down to it, many perfectly decent people simply don’t know any better. And that’s okay; we can only make decisions using the filters that we have, and bias is a natural part of human behavior. So when it is brought to your attention that you may have discriminated against someone, don’t flip out. Don’t go into the, “Wait, you think I’m a racist?!” line of defense. Don’t get mad that your transgression has been exposed because, really, unconscious mistakes are made every day.

You don’t even have to truly understand. Just listen, acknowledge, and try to do better.

13254: You Da Manbassador.

Advertising Age published more diverted diversity dreck via The Martin Agency President and COO Beth Rilee-Kelley’s call to arms for “Manbassadors”—that is, White men advocating for the promotion of White women in the advertising industry. See, Rilee-Kelley admits that White men have helped her rise, and she acknowledges the need for their committed collaboration to create change. Of course, no mention is made about the way that White men and White women in the field have failed to take such deliberate action steps to foster actual diversity. Indeed, White men and White women have historically conspired to divert, defer and deny diversity. There are no “BlackManbassadors” advocating for Black men on Madison Avenue and beyond—rather, there are only self-absorbed hypocrites and covert racists.

Calling All Manbassadors

Better Gender Diversity Requires More Male Sponsors

By Beth Rilee-Kelley

I first heard the term “manbassador” at the 3% Conference a few years back.

And it resonated with me.

Manbassadors are men who are particularly tuned in to the roadblocks women face in business and do all they can to mentor, encourage and promote women in the workplace. In essence, they’re sponsors.

There’s a very important conversation going on right now about gender diversity and respect (or sometimes lack thereof) of women by men in our industry. But in the midst of this discussion, I want to acknowledge the men who elegantly served as manbassadors long before the term was coined and who played instrumental roles in the careers of women like me. And perhaps more importantly, I’d like to ask more men to step up and carry the manbassador torch for the aspiring female leaders of tomorrow.

Several weeks ago, I was named president of The Martin Agency. I’ve worked at this great company for 33 years and it’s a wonderful honor to be named president. And yes, it’s even more wonderful to be the first female president.

So, a moment like that naturally spurs a great deal of personal reflection. As I thought about what I might want to say to our staff following the announcement of my new role, I reflected on the most influential people in my career.

That’s when it struck me. They were all men. And of course they were, because early in my career there simply weren’t very many women in leadership positions in our industry.

Here are three lessons I learned from my “manbassadors:”

1. Have a presence. From the way you prepare for meetings to how you carry yourself, engage with a room full of people and speak your mind, work to have a presence in every interaction with co-workers and clients. This is one of the fastest ways to go from being bystander to participant to leader. Have an opinion and let your voice be heard.

2. Master and move on. I learned early on the importance of mastering the job or assignment at hand, training someone else to take over and then moving on to another assignment that needed me more. This advice—go where you’re needed and never get bored—is always in the back of my mind, and explains my winding career path through account management, to creative services and human resources, to chief operating officer and now president.

3. Be confident. Sounds simple, right? We all know it’s really not that easy. But a funny thing happens when you over-prepare for every meeting, presentation or one-on-one encounter. Your confidence goes up. And your confidence inspires others to be confident. (See how this pays it all forward?) And while some may believe rehearsals are so old school, think again. When you know your material like the back of your hand and you’ve practiced transitions and answering tough questions with your team (and in front of the mirror) you can bring swagger to a potentially nerve-wracking meeting.

These three pieces of advice were critically important to me and they were not simply shared with me. I watched the best of the best, in action. And they’re good reminders for us all, no matter your gender, job title or industry.

I hope that I have, or will make, as much of a difference in someone else’s career as my manbassadors made in mine. So years from now, what will young men and women remember as my rallying cry? Only time will tell for sure, but I hope it would include these two things:

1. Be a mentor. Better yet, be someone’s ambassador. At almost any level in your company you can lead by example, be an encouraging role model and help accelerate career growth for someone else. Mentoring doesn’t need to be a formal, regularly-scheduled process. It can be casual conversations, phone calls or even text exchanges. Whatever works. And by the way, I can’t imagine not mentoring. I find it a rewarding experience watching others grow. I think of it as a daily way to live my work life.

2. Seek out an ambassador. When you find that person with the experience and talent you admire, reach out to him or her, ask for advice and get a conversation started. Think of it as an important step in managing your career. Most leaders I know enjoy this part of their jobs. In fact, it’s a highlight.

Sometimes the issues in our industry seem so big and complex that it’s hard to know how any of us, as individuals, can contribute to the solution. But take the manbassadors in my career as an example; their positive influence wasn’t the direct result of any one thing at any one point, but instead was the sum of little things done consistently over time.

If you want to make a difference in a future leader’s career, you might start with something as simple as having a cup of coffee.

Beth Rilee-Kelley is president and chief operating officer of The Martin Agency.

13253: Bacardi Loves Hip Hop.

Advertising Age reported Bacardi enlisted Swizz Beatz and handed him a “Global Chief Creative for Culture” title. Wow, that’s an original idea. Wonder if Bacardi’s lead White advertising agency—BBDO—will count the move as a diversity hiring.

Bacardi Names Swizz Beatz ‘Chief Creative for Culture’

Celeb Won’t Appear in Ads, But He Could Influence Them

By E.J. Schultz

Bacardi Limited has named Swizz Beatz as its “global chief creative for culture.” But the celebrity music producer won’t be appearing in ads for the liquor marketer anytime soon.

The multi-year agreement covers Bacardi’s entire brand portfolio, which includes its namesake rum, along with Grey Goose, Martini, Bombay Sapphire and Dewars. “The goal is to develop partnerships, activations and ideas that further incorporate the Bacardi brands into the worlds of music, art and film,” Bacardi said in a statement. Swizz Beatz will also represent Bacardi brands at cultural events in the U.S. and in emerging markets, although details have not yet been released.

There are no immediate plans to put him in ads, according to a Bacardi spokeswoman. But the music maven could hold influence over Bacardi’s marketing. “As the Bacardi global chief creative for culture, I will be involved in all aspects of the product—from brand marketing and advertising to innovation and selling platforms—areas to which I will bring a new, fresh perspective,” he said in a statement. Bacardi will work with him to “forge deals with the most creative icons in sports, fashion, technology, art and film around the world in the coming months,” according to the statement.

Bacardi Limited CEO Mike Dolan stated that “consumers are identifying with brands that fit their lifestyle in culturally relevant ways and Swizz is the perfect partner to identify and forge these new consumer connections.” Bacardi did not release dollar terms of the deal.

Bacardi’s lead agencies are BBDO Worldwide for creative and OMD Worldwide for media. The Omnicom shops won the accounts in April 2015.

Under BBDO, Bacardi rum has pivoted away from ads that played up its heritage, while taking a more contemporary approach. Bacardi will “go harder at embedding our brands back into culture,” Mauricio Vergara, Bacardi Limited’s chief marketing officer for North America and the global lead for the Bacardi brand, told Ad Age last year. “We have one of the most iconic brands in the industry, but over the last few years we were not really connecting as effectively as we could with our target consumers and the new millennial.”

TV ads link the brand to house parties by showing drinkers partying in a house that is being towed on streets and highways.

13252: Soap Scum.

Campaign reported on a BBDO campaign designed to root out racism in Lebanon. The agency introduced a fake soap brand exclusively for African and Asian domestic workers, seeking to tap into racist perceptions that the minority laborers smell worse than other people. Gee, wonder where the Lebanese creative team got their inspiration for such a product concept…

In Lebanon, BBDO campaign sniffs out racism against domestic workers

By Eleanor Dickinson

Local attitudes about the hygiene of African and Asian immigrants inspired a feminist nonprofit to take the issue to Beirut supermarkets

BEIRUT — With the help of Impact BBDO Beirut and a fictional brand of soap, a new campaign here seeks to scrub out racist attitudes toward African and Asian domestic workers.

The satirical video, which was produced by Impact BBDO Beirut for Lebanese NGO Kala, is based on the results of a study by the American University of Beirut, which revealed that 27% of Lebanese employers think domestic workers aren’t clean. The study was conducted with the help of the International Labour Organisation.

For the campaign Kafa produced a fake soap brand called Clensen Ozo Trio, which it gave out for free at a supermarket in Beirut. The brand was marketed to Lebanese employers looking to improve the body odor of domestic workers.

“We produced the video based on the results of a study that was published last January and conducted last year,” said Maya Ammar, communications co-ordinator at Kafa, a feminist, secular, nonprofit civil society organization seeking to create a society that is free of social, economic and legal patriarchal structures that discriminate against women. “The national study showed that 27% of Lebanese employers think that ‘domestic workers are not clean’, and we find this to be a very racist assumption. The percentage of people who believe this is not small.

“So we came up with an idea with the creative team who worked with us on the campaign to spot how people would react if there was an actual soap for domestic workers. The idea was to prove that there are still racist assumptions and perceptions in Lebanese society against migrant people and people of color.”

The video is part of a broader campaign about employers’ perceptions and treatment of domestic workers, with reaction to the video mixed.

“Most people were shocked that many customers didn’t mind taking a soap specifically made for domestic workers,” said Ammar. “However, some accused us of exaggerating [the issue] in defense of domestic workers’ rights. And the Ministry of Labour in Lebanon actually thought the soap exists for real and called on people not to buy it.”

Leo Burnett won a Glass Lion at Cannes for its “Legally Bride” video for Kafa, which sought to raise awareness of child brides in Lebanon.

13251: TBWA\Chiat\Day\Exclusivity.

AgencySpy posted on new White hires at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, and the associated photograph depicting agency leadership fails to reflect the actual diversity in Los Angeles. The only non-White in the group is a dog. Plus, it appears that the GEICO Caveman has a better chance of landing a job at the shop than minorities.

13250: 25/40 Is 100% Contrived.

MullenLowe has launched the 25/40 Project to finally solve the dearth of diversity in the advertising industry. According to the MullenLowe website, “MullenLowe is really unlike any other agency out there.” Okay, but MullenLowe’s solution to diversity makes it really like every other White advertising agency out there. The breakthrough concept involves asking 25 advertising agencies to engage 40 minority students each—for a theoretical total of 1,000 potential candidates. Recruitment via minority student engagement is hardly a new idea. And given the actual decline of minorities in the advertising industry, it’s hard to argue the tactic is effective. Hey, based on viewing the agency’s leadership depicted below, such schemes seemingly haven’t worked for MullenLowe either.

13249: Fade To Blacks.

The New York Times reported on how Black-owned media is in a death spiral. Which runs parallel with the near-death state of Black-owned advertising agencies. Which coincides with the dearth of Blacks in the advertising and media fields.

Pillars of Black Media, Once Vibrant, Now Fighting for Survival

By Sydney Ember and Nicholas Fandos

For the black community in Chicago and elsewhere, Johnson Publishing Company represented a certain kind of hope.

The company’s magazines, most notably Ebony and Jet, gained prominence during the struggle for civil rights — Jet published graphic photos of the murdered black teenager Emmett Till that helped intensify the movement — and made it their mission to chronicle African-American life.

At a time when much of the media was ignoring black people, or showing them primarily in the context of poverty or crime, Ebony and Jet celebrated their success, featuring stars like Muhammad Ali and Aretha Franklin on their covers. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, the first print publication he granted an interview to was Ebony.

So when Johnson Publishing, which is based in Chicago, announced a little more than two weeks ago that it had sold Ebony and Jet to a private equity firm in Texas, there was a sense of loss.

“It was a very heartbreaking day,” said Melody Spann-Cooper, the chairwoman of Midway Broadcasting Corporation, which owns a Chicago radio station, WVON, aimed at a black audience. “Ebony gave to African-Americans what Life didn’t.”

Ms. Spann-Cooper’s reaction underscored a deeper concern: As racial issues have once again become a prominent topic in the national conversation, the influence of black-owned media companies on black culture is diminishing.

“Ebony used to be the only thing black folks had and read,” Ms. Spann-Cooper said. “As we became more integrated into society, we had other options.”

To that end, Time Inc. now owns the magazine Essence and Viacom owns Black Entertainment Television. The Oprah Winfrey Network, a partnership between Ms. Winfrey and Discovery Communications, has been around since 2011. The Undefeated, ESPN’s site covering the intersection of race and sports, debuted in May. The emergence of Black Twitter has also given African-Americans a powerful voice on social media.

Johnson Publishing stressed that the Clear View Group, the private equity firm that bought Jet and Ebony, was an African-American-led company and positioned the sale more as a partnership. “We are very, very committed to Ebony,” said Michael Gibson, the chairman of Clear View.

Traditional media companies have struggled for years to adapt to a digital world, but the pressure on black-owned media has been even more acute. Many are smaller and lack the financial resources to compete in an increasingly consolidated media landscape. Advertisers have turned away from black-oriented media, owners say, under the belief that they can now reach minorities in other ways.

Since well before the Civil War, publications and, more recently, radio and television stations owned and operated by African-Americans have provided an important counterweight to mass market media, simultaneously celebrating and shaping black culture — from politics and government to fashion and music.

Johnson Publishing was started in 1942 with a modest $500 loan, and eventually turned into a media empire big enough that in 1982, its founder, John H. Johnson, became the first black person to make Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. When the radio station WVON ran a program in 2007 for Black History Month called the “28 Blacks Who Changed America,” Mr. Johnson, who died in 2005, was No. 7 on the list, behind luminaries like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Thurgood Marshall.

“If we don’t own our press, we don’t have a platform to speak,” said Leonard Burnett Jr., whose company, the Uptown Ventures Group, owns Uptown Magazine, a lifestyle publication aimed at affluent African-Americans.

Several owners also pointed to another benefit: Their companies hired more minorities. Ms. Spann-Cooper of the Midway Broadcasting Corporation said 90 percent of her employees were African-American. “When we are African-American-owned, the work force looks like us,” she said.

But as financial resources dwindle, black-owned media companies are struggling to maintain their presence. Jet, for instance, became a web-only publication in 2014.

“It’s tougher and tougher for African-American companies,” said Desirée Rogers, the chief executive of Johnson Publishing, “to have the capital to compete in a landscape that’s increasingly crowded, increasingly changing.”

Mr. Burnett, who also owns Hype Hair, a magazine for African-American women, said his company was “marginally profitable.” But he said supporting his print business had been challenging largely because advertisers, particularly luxury brands, would rather connect with African-American consumers “by speaking broadly.”

“I think at times there’s a feeling that they do not want to directly speak to that audience because there’s a fear of bringing down their brand perception,” he said.

Earl G. Graves Jr., the president and chief executive of the business-focused magazine Black Enterprise, said his company was “not as strong as it was,” but preferred that it remain independent. Like many magazines, it has cut its publication schedule and focused more on its events business as a potential revenue source.

The picture is bleak in radio and television as well. In 2013, there were 166 black-owned radio stations and 68 black-owned radio companies, compared with 250 stations and 146 companies in 1995, according to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

Only 12 commercial television stations in the country are black-owned, and they tend to serve very small markets. The future of Howard University Television, the country’s only black-owned public television station, is also in question, as the university’s participation in Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction has raised the possibility that it could end up selling its place on the airwaves or stop broadcasting entirely.

“Black ownership is dying,” said Armstrong Williams, whose Howard Stirk Holdings owns seven of the black-owned commercial television stations. “Newspaper ownership, radio ownership — but it’s probably hit TV the hardest.”

In the late 1970s, the F.C.C. put into place a minority ownership policy that used credits and deferrals on capital gains taxes to help make minority businesses more competitive in the bidding process and promote the sale of existing stations to minorities.

The policy, while not without critics, was largely considered a success among advocates of minority ownership. But in 1995, after a Supreme Court ruling that established new standards for race-based government policies, the F.C.C. began to disassemble the program. A year later, Congress ended the tax-deferral policy that had helped drive sales to minorities. It also did away with most restrictions on the number of radio stations a single company could own.

The resulting wave of consolidation in the broadcast industry has made it more difficult for black entrepreneurs to enter the industry, said Alfred C. Liggins III, the president and chief executive of Radio One, which while publicly traded is the country’s largest black-controlled multimedia company.

“That means that the likelihood that minority owners are going to own a TV station in New York or Los Angeles gets lower and lower,” said Mr. Liggins, whose mother founded the company with a single radio station in 1980.

For Johnson Publishing, which also owns the Fashion Fair cosmetics line, pressures on the business proved too difficult to overcome. In the last several years, it sold its historic building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, brought on JPMorgan Chase as a minority investor and reduced its staff.

“We did not feel that we had adequate capital and resources,” said Cheryl Mayberry McKissack, who was chief operating officer of Johnson Publishing and is now chief executive of Ebony Media Operations.

Yet as stories like Johnson Publishing’s have become more common across the industry, those who see their companies as following in its footsteps say the notion of black ownership continues to resonate.

Mr. Williams, who referred to Ebony as “a staple” of his upbringing, said that young African-Americans regularly expressed awe that he, a black man, really owned television stations.

“It does change the dynamic,” he said, “of what they believe they can become.”

13248: Ad Council Cluelessness, Cont’d.

The Ad Council continues its Love Has No Labels propaganda with a painfully long video staring John Cena pontificating about patriotism, tying the phrase to diversity. The YouTube post includes the following pap:

To love America is to love all Americans. John Cena takes a break between dropping body slams to drop some truth—that patriotism is more than pride of country, it’s love beyond labels.

Cena drones on and on about America’s diverse citizenry, even slipping in some diverted diversity by stating females account for 51 percent of the U.S. population. He then proceeds to ask viewers to rethink their perceptions of how the “Average American” is defined—that is, it’s not a White man.

Once again, for a message like this to come from the Ad Council—which continues to conspire with White advertising agencies where diversity is diverted, deferred and denied—displays hypocrisy taken to the highest level. Label this campaign what it is: culturally clueless bullshit.

13247: Inflection Point Not Inclusive.

Advertising Age recently published a report titled, “Ad Industry Hits ‘Inflection Point’ on Women. Now What?” Um, it’s more like a Deflection Point, where discussions on the industry’s diversity dilemma are being diverted to focus on the alleged plight of White women in the field. In the words of Don Draper, “If you don’t like what is being said, then change the conversation.” The modern-day Peggy Olsons and Joan Harrises—conspiring with today’s Don Drapers—are doing just that. And the result is an exclusive workplace that makes Mad Men look progressive.

Ad Industry Hits ‘Inflection Point’ on Women. Now What?

After Years of Talk, Movement to Get More Women Into Executive Suites Gears Up

By Jessica Wohl, Lindsay Stein

When Hill Holliday Chairman-CEO Karen Kaplan speaks to groups, she sometimes asks the audience whether anyone is left-handed, then discusses how the world caters to right-handed people with things like dinner table settings. “It’s similar in business—the default is male,” she said she tells them. “You have two options: Get better at playing the game despite disadvantages, or change the game.”

Whether it’s sexist slurs as alleged in the lawsuit against former J. Walter Thompson CEO Gustavo Martinez or unspoken and even unconscious biases, the ad industry’s male/female divide persists. For all the applause when women such as DDB’s new North American CEO Wendy Clark reach the top of the ladder, there are jeers over the low percentage of women in roles from copywriter to creative director.

But the Martinez suit has kicked into gear a determined, if nascent, movement to stop talking the issue over and truly, as Ms. Kaplan put it, change the game. Its efforts include initiatives to help women advance by offering more childcare assistance, destigmatizing flex time, correcting salary inequalities, implementing bias training and accentuating the positive by spotlighting women’s accomplishments.

“The discussion over gender and diversity finally hit an inflection point,” said Nancy Hill, president-CEO at the American Association of Advertising Agencies, who used part of her opening speech at the group’s March conference to push for change within the industry.

“Our goal is threefold: to keep the conversation front and center, to raise awareness regarding female and diverse experiences in our industry and to offer programs that advance the careers of female and diverse professionals,” she told Ad Age.

Getting to the numbers

Astonishingly, there are no comprehensive numbers quantifying gender disparities in advertising, even if there’s a visible lack of women in senior roles.

“Without data you really can’t talk about the problem,” said Advertising Women of New York President-CEO Lynn Branigan. “Are we being successful? We can’t really say.”

That’s why AWNY commissioned research on the number of women in the industry. Its partners on the project are LinkedIn, the media entertainment practice at professional services firm EY and the U.S. chapter of The 30% Club, a group of business leaders working to increase women’s representation on S&P 500 boards to 30% by the end of 2020.

They plan to use the findings, which are due later this summer, to inform a new plan for the industry. The 4A’s is also conducting research on topics including how women are treated at agencies and the way ads portray them.

There are a few bright spots, if you can call them that. Across industries, women hold 23% of leadership posts at U.S. businesses, up from 21% a year earlier, according to a Grant Thornton report released in March. While that’s an increase, the report also pointed out that 31% of U.S. businesses have no women in senior management. Of the women in senior management roles, 11% are chief marketing officers, the report said.

In fact, women are better represented in the marketing suite than elsewhere within corporations. “About a third of marketing leadership is women,” said Caren Fleit, senior client partner and leader of the Global Marketing Center of Expertise at Korn Ferry. “That sounds low, and of course we’d like to see it be higher, but in actual fact it is higher than it is for CEOs, it’s higher than it is for CIOs, higher than it is for everything except for CHROs, which tends to be about 50/50 male/female.”

Creative conundrum

One of the biggest gaps seems to be in the creative department, a fact highlighted by The 3% Conference, named for an estimate of female creative directors when the group was formed. Its survey last fall, called “What Women Want,” found that women make up 46.4% of the advertising industry as whole but only 11% of creative directors. The movement, dedicated to supporting more female creative leadership in agencies, reached out to 328 women in both creative and non-creative roles for the survey, 60% of whom said their current employer falls below the 11% mark.

13246: Odious Ogre Orlov Out.

Campaign reported RAPP Global CEO Alexei Orlov resigned, presumably in response to a lawsuit branding him a sexist, racist, harassing bully. Now, such character defects are hardly unique for the average honcho in the advertising industry. For proof, simply combine the RAPP debacle with the Campbell Ewald and Gustavo Martinez scenarios to complete a culturally clueless trifecta featuring the Big Three holding companies (Campbell Ewald represents IPG, Martinez represents WPP and RAPP represents Omnicom). WPP Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell probably breathed a sigh of relief to realize he doesn’t employ Orlov, as it would have demonstrated a pattern of bad boy behavior dating back to former WPP Worldwide Creative Director Neil French at least. But wait! Orlov was on the WPP payroll while leading Wunderman from 2000-2008—so it’s tough for Sir Marty to ignore the facts. Somebody please ask Cyrus Mehri to dust off the Madison Avenue Project.

Rapp global boss Alexei Orlov resigns amid racism, sexism claims

By Shona Ghosh

The global CEO was hit with accusations he’d derided women and Jews in a suit brought by former US President Gregg Anderson

Rapp’s global chief executive officer, Alexei Orlov, has resigned in the midst of allegations about bullying, sexism, racism and harassment.

Orlov is replaced by Marco Scognamiglio, considered his number two and formerly the agency’s president for EMEA, APAC and executive vice president for client relations.

Scognamiglio, a Rapp veteran of 17 years, will work closely with chief operating officer and chief financial officer Matthew Hafkin.

The agency is currently battling a lawsuit brought by former US president, Greg Andersen, who is suing for wrongful termination, retaliation and discrimination. Andersen claims he was sacked after complaining about Orlov to Rapp’s HR department.

His catalogue of claims against Orlov include the outgoing CEO’s alleged description of women as “fat cows” and stereotyping a Jewish colleague as “miserly.”

Sources have also pointed out to Campaign the long list of leavers from the Omnicom agency’s London shop, blaming wider bullying and abuse.

Rapp denied Andersen’s allegations in a statement filed to the LA Superior Court earlier this month, and described his sacking as “lawful and appropriate.” It has also denied the allegations made to Campaign about its London arm.

Neither the agency nor Orlov commented directly on the lawsuit, with the latter stating: “I am very proud that Rapp has grown in terms of clients and scope of work, which is a testament to our incredible talent.

“Marco and I have worked closely across a number of initiatives these past two years, and Rapp is in good hands.”

It is not known whether Orlov has a job to go to.

13245: Annie’s Five Buck Bullshit.

Hopefully, this Popeyes commercial didn’t cost more than five bucks to produce.

13244: No Amore For Amor Benamor.

Fred & Farid created this campaign for Amor Benamor—which appeared in Algeria—comprised of commercials featuring a variety of stereotypes. Cultural cluelessness is a global phenomenon.

13243: Boning Annie The Chicken Queen.

Let’s kick off the holiday weekend celebrating with Annie the Chicken Queen and her boneless wings!

13242: Cons Of Cannes.

Marketing Magazine spotlighted the big winners at Cannes, and the list shows how cheating and cultural cluelessness will never adversely affect an agency’s chances for awards success. AlmapBBDO was named Agency of the Year, despite being caught entering a sexist scam ad which temporarily won a Bronze Lion—and there were seven women serving as judges in the category. Meanwhile, 180LA won the Grand Prix for Good, despite also producing a racist spot for 360FLY. Expect Cannes 2017 to feature keynote speakers Gustavo Martinez and Neil French—who both worked for WPP, honored as Holding Company of the Year.

AlmapBBDO, Droga5, Ogilvy, WPP, Tool, UNICEF Got Final Top Honors at Cannes

Cannes Lions announced its final winners on Saturday night (25 June) with WPP and Ogilvy & Mather both continuing and extending their winning streaks by receiving the Holding Company of the Year for the sixth year in a row and Network of the Year awards for the fifth consecutive year. The Agency of the Year award went to AlmapBBDO, while Droga5 won the Independent Agency of the Year award for the second year in a row.

WPP, of which agencies from 46 countries won Lions this year, won Holding Company of the Year, followed by Omnicom in second place and Interpublic in third. Ogilvy & Mather, got 120 Lions across 31 offices “earned Network of the Year, followed in second by BBDO and in third by Y&R.

The Agency of the Year award, collected from all the awarded and shortlisted work earned by a single agency, was won by AlmapBBDO – which was subdued to some controversy and had to return a Bronze Lion for a Bayer campaign the client did not even pay to run. The Palme D’Or which honours the most awarded production company, went to Tool (USA).

REI’s Anti-Black Friday (also called “the greatest anti promotion of all time) campaign #OptOutside won the Titanium Grand Prix. Just a few days earlier, the campaign won top award in Promo & Activation. “We loved it because it took Black Friday, this day when people are driven to spend even more money, and REI decided to do the opposite and close their stores, asking everyone and their staff to go outside and have a good time,” said jury president and BBH founder Sir John Hegarty at the press conference.

However, Harvey Nichols and Under Armour took top Film Lions for Film. Adam&EveDDB‘s “Shoplifters” for Harvey Nichols and Droga5‘s “Rule Yourself: Michael Phelps” for Under Armour took the same prize in Film Craft.

“The Grand Prix goes to a new way to use security camera footage to sell a rewards card, of all things, for a retailer. It’s just a phenomenal piece,” Film Lions jury president Joe Alexander, chief creative officer at The Martin Agency said. “I think the best pieces now cross over. This one ran in cinema, it ran as an incredible viral piece. It’s a very modern piece of film that lived in both worlds.”

According to the Film Craft jury, Droga5 was competing against itself as they had to choose between “Rule Yourself: Michael Phelps” and Droga5’s Hennessy’s “The Piccards,” before finally choosing the former. “We chose this piece because, at the end, it’s the one that transcended the craft and just reached out and touched us,” said Film Craft juror Steffen Gentis, chief production officer of BBDO Germany. “The craft became completely invisible, and we just found ourselves completely immersed.”

180LA and UNICEF got the Grand Prix for Good for “Malak and the Boat,” from the “Unfairy Tales” campaign that features a series of films that first seem to start out like sweet stories but then take turn: the children are actually running for their lives from war-torn Syria.

BBH New York’s “FU2016” campaign for House of Cards’ fourth season earned took home the top prize in Integrated. Integrated juror Pete Favat, chief creative officer of Deutsch, said BBH New York‘s campaign hit all the right marks in the category. “We were looking for brilliant execution through the line of every one of the pieces,” Favat said. “This was a slam dunk.”