14264: McCann—U.S. Army Protester.

Adweek reported on the war games between the U.S. Army and White advertising agency McCann Worldgroup over the right to serve on the $4 billion military account. McCann appears to be a formidable adversary, making stealth maneuvers to retain the business via filing protests and paperwork. The latest filed complaint helps to buy an extra 90 days for the White advertising agency, as well as extend its contract. It wouldn’t be surprising if McCann uses the added time to plant a fresh female employee as sex bait. Hey, such ploys might even persuade President Donald Trump to relax his measures to seriously cut the U.S. Army marketing budget. All is fair in love and war.

McCann Files Protest After Being Eliminated From U.S. Army Review

Move forces government to extend agency’s contract again

By Patrick Coffee

The U.S. Army delayed its already contentious agency review yet again this month after incumbent McCann Worldgroup filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

According to multiple parties close to the matter, this protest concerned McCann’s recent elimination from the review.

The protest, which was officially filed on Aug. 8, means the Army’s decision will be delayed for another 90 days to account for the “grace period” granted to contractors lodging complaints with the GAO. It also means the U.S. government will be forced to extend its current contract with McCann beyond the expiration date of Sept. 30, which was reported by Adweek last month.

Sources told Adweek that Army representatives informed WPP and Omnicom about the delay this week. The world’s two largest holding groups are currently competing against McCann for an account that could manage approximately $4 billion in spending over a decade, by the Army’s own estimates.

This is the second time in just over a year that McCann has filed a bid protest with the GAO. Last May, the agency was eliminated from the same review on a technicality and quickly registered its objections with the U.S. government.

McCann claimed that this decision stemmed from paperwork errors made by the Army’s contracting officer at the time it initially won the business in 2005. As a result of those mistakes, the Army could not confirm the agency’s status as a certified contractor, despite the fact that it had been working on the account for more than a decade. In September, the GAO designated the protest “sustained” and McCann officially re-entered the review.

One source said the current dispute concerns documentation filed as part of the McCann network’s final proposals for the contract. According to this party, the agency was bumped from the review after some of the forms submitted to the Army were deemed noncompliant or incomplete.

Every time such a complaint is filed, the government must allow 90 days to accept or deny the appeal in question. This period ends on November 16, 2018—several weeks after the winner of the review was supposed to have been announced.

Spokespeople for McCann, Omnicom and WPP declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Army Marketing and Research Group (AMRG), which manages the U.S. military’s relationship with McCann and oversees its advertising efforts, had not provided a statement at press time.

The review initially launched in 2015, and it has now been extended several times. Additional controversies surrounded a recently completed audit conducted by the Army Audit Agency that found millions in ineffective spending during fiscal year 2016; its conclusions led to “more stringent oversight” of the military’s marketing efforts, according to an AMRG representative.

14263: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018).

The late Aretha Franklin inspired commercials including American Express, Mickey D’s, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Prodigy Internet and Snickers.

14262: Investment Gender Gap…?

According to the website, “Ellevest Impact Portfolios help you reach your goals by investing up to half of your portfolio in companies that power positive social change by advancing women.” Wonder if the investments earn only 80% of what male-dominated investments earn.

14261: Mo Momentum Mumbo-Jumbo.

Adweek published divertsity daydreaming from Momentum North America President Donnalyn Smith, who declared it will require “a sincere commitment” to ignite change in the advertising industry. Sorry, but Smith’s lack of familiarity with the global dilemma puts her sincerity in question.

Smith shared her alleged commitment for diversity by stating, “In recent years, the advertising community has started to come to grips with the bold-faced truth that we haven’t really talked the ‘real’ talk, much less walked the walk. If you take a hard, honest look at the range of companies in our industry at the present time, they all too often reflect the workforce of 1978, not 2018.”

First of all, people who claim diversity has become a hot topic for adland “in recent years” have clearly been ignorant ignoring the problem, as heated conversations have been happening for scores of decades. The last serious protest took place in 2006 when the New York City Commission on Human Rights spanked Madison Avenue shops, and other diversity discussions date back to the early 1970s at least. Anyone holding even half a clue recognizes the current White-dominated workforce reflects 1958 versus 1978.

Smith is obviously a proponent for divertsity, not diversity. For her, enlightenment struck “in recent years” as the White women’s bandwagon leapfrogged racial and ethnic minorities in the battle for equality. Hell, Smith was actually named a 2017 Working Mother of the Year by She Runs It. Her divertsity dream involves creating a mentoring scheme styled after graduate school programs. Gee, Smith’s brainstorm sounds like a White women’s version of MAIP—which, incidentally, has been running for over 40 years. It’s always amazing how the pseudo-revolutionaries believe they’ve invented a breakthrough concept, when they’re ultimately exposing their corporate and cultural cluelessness by mimicking a long-standing tactic.

If Smith has truly turned Momentum into a multicultural Mecca, MultiCultClassics extends sincere apologies and requests that everyone please disregard this post. But progressiveness is unlikely, based on the patronizing pap penned by her boss, as well as the company website store selling MoMo Hammer Pants and dates with the MoMo IT guy—the latter sales item seeming quite inappropriate in these days of heightened sensitivity around sexual harassment.

Diversifying in Advertising Requires Creativity and a Drive to Instill Fairness

Company output won’t be inclusive if your workplace isn’t

By Donnalyn Smith

The fundamental idea is very simple, like all powerful notions. A marketer’s best work is only made possible through a diversity of talent applied to that company’s business. In recent years, the advertising community has started to come to grips with the bold-faced truth that we haven’t really talked the “real” talk, much less walked the walk. If you take a hard, honest look at the range of companies in our industry at the present time, they all too often reflect the workforce of 1978, not 2018.

It is unassailably clear that there is still much work to be done for our industry to mirror the demographic diversity emerging in the early 21st century in the U.S. and abroad. And with the tumultuous events of the past few years highlighted by the emergence of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements for women’s empowerment and anti-sexual harassment, the broader culture is intensely focused on the fight for respect and equality for diverse, often marginalized groups, particularly women and people of color.

While diversity as a centerpiece of social justice efforts is reaching a fever pitch, what can our industry leaders do to spark increased hiring and retention of talent from a mix of backgrounds and identities? While there have been nascent attempts in several quarters to infuse a broader range of cultural and social perspectives into both client and agency marketing teams, we as an industry are still a long way from critical mass. Clearly, there are still many organizations that haven’t prioritized diversity, or perhaps they have but are struggling for guidance for the most effective way to implement best practices.

A sincere commitment

If a marketer or an agency is truly devoted to staff diversity, they must apply sizable resources toward achieving it. This could take the form of investing in a fully integrated program offering entry-level immersion experiences that includes job rotations through a broad range of marketing disciplines over an extended period of time, up to a year if it makes sense.

Similar to a graduate school program, aspirants should be schooled across the wide palette of marketing and advertising disciplines including creative, media, client-side brand marketing and PR. If this sounds like a souped-up, deluxe version of your traditional agency internship program, that’s not where I’m leading. Rather, I envision something much deeper and impactful. The experience and mentoring with senior company executives—including the C-suite—could be much more focused and regimented and then lead into a more sophisticated and beneficial experience. As most of us know or have experienced, traditional company internship programs are often more rudimentary, and the curriculum or training is much more cursory and often administered by middle managers with limited senior-level or C-suite active participation.

What I am advocating can only be accomplished through extensive training and 360-degree feedback modules that bring together the gamut of stakeholders in an ongoing, committed basis including the C-suite and evp/svp level, chief talent officers, recruiters and, of course, the diverse talent.

A program of this caliber, if executed properly, would rise to the level of postgraduate, master class work. Imagine, if every company in our ecosystem—large, medium and small—took this approach en masse. In this way, we would all be the catalysts for broader industry-wide transformation. For inspiration, one need turn no further than to Verizon, whose chief marketing officer, Diego Scotti, has been one of the pioneers on this front with his Ad Fellows program.

By launching something similar at your company, you will reap strategic benefits; this would not simply be an altruistic endeavor. You would in effect be creating a mechanism that would actively create and identify a healthy pool of diverse talent on an ongoing basis, which you can ultimately draw from to contribute to the greater success of your company and your partners. The goal could be to place all participants post-program within the industry.

Hopefully, these thoughts and ideas will work to inspire a wave of similar efforts from brands and agencies across the entire industry. There is a lot of work ahead to increase diversity in advertising and marketing, but companies should look at diversity as an opportunity not an obligation. Those corporate cultures that value innovation and progress have the opportunity to foster a competitive advantage that could transform the company in more ways that you could imagine. Cheap PR, like cotton candy, tastes nice but is ultimately unsatisfying. Elbow grease and creativity to support an unshakeable will to fairness and personal growth will actually be beneficial to the bottom line. It really is about progress and prosperity.

Donnalyn Smith is president, North America of Momentum Worldwide, based in New York.

14260: Triple Entendres?

Given all the sensitivity surrounding sexism in advertising—and in advertising agencies—why did Mekanism think it would be cool to present three-way double entendres for HotelTonight? Does any woman find this this this even slightly amusing? Hell, does anybody?

Oh, and the spot titled “Mixing It Up” features two White chicks and a Black dude. How racy!

14259: Pharma Bullet Points.

In India, TriVogo for type 2 diabetes shows pharma advertising sucks worldwide. Wonder if the TriVogo side effects are as lethal as a bullet.

14258: Victors & Spoils & Losers.

Adweek published a way-too-long report on the closing of Victors & Spoils, an inevitable event that, ironically, failed to draw a crowd. Honestly, the only entity that bought into the enterprise (literally and figuratively) was Havas—and the lame holding company ultimately shut it all down.

Adweek had the stupidity write a headline that read, “End of an Era as Havas ‘Crowdsourcing Agency’ Victors & Spoils Closes Shop.” End of an era? End of a really bad idea would have been more accurate.

The official Havas statement announced, “We are reducing the V&S footprint and reallocating any continuing clients to our Havas Chicago office.” Giving remaining work to Havas Chicago is like crowdsourcing to Lloyd Christmas, Harry Dunne, Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp and Eric Trump.

“All in all, the experience of working with Havas as the global chief innovation officer was a good one,” said V&S Co-Founder John Winsor. “I had the honor to work with David Jones, who is one of the true visionaries of the industry, and had a chance to learn the complexities of working on a global basis.” Yeah, now Winsor is officially a world-class sycophant and huckster.

“I’m surprised V&S ended up closing their doors,” said former Havas CEO David Jones, who green-lighted the V&S acquisition in 2012. “I imagine losing their brilliant founder, John Winsor, was a fairly terminal blow, but I do think the huge success of other people-powered marketing businesses like Mofilm, Tongal, Vidmob and Vidsy that are built on the same people-powered principles as Uber and Airbnb would suggest their demise wasn’t due to the model.” Gee, guess the “true visionary” didn’t realize the ad game isn’t the same as chauffeuring with your own wheels or renting out a spare room. Then again, holding companies and crowdsourcing have helped ignite the commoditization of creativity—leading to generic mediocrity across the industry.

Idiots like Winsor and Jones don’t even realize their current situations prove how the advertising industry has degraded. That is, a “brilliant founder” and “true visionary” can get booted, and life churns on without them. Everyone is disposable and replaceable—especially Winsor and Jones.

14257: Dentsu Dividing…?

Adweek reported Dentsu Inc. is considering a restructuring scheme that would divide the enterprise into a holding company and an operating company. So instead of being one shitty company, Dentsu would become two shitty companies. Seems like even the holding companies are starting to see the business model is flawed and increasingly outdated. It might be fitting that Dentsu is taking an initiative for change, as Japan has often been a leader—at least versus White-led companies—in the business world. Then again, Dentsu has the distinction of officially valuing an employee’s life at 500,000 yen, which is roughly $4,400.

Dentsu Inc. Considers Restructuring Operational Model to ‘Maintain and Enhance Growth’

President and CEO made the announcement at board meeting today

By Erik Oster

Dentsu Inc., parent company of Dentsu Aegis Network and agencies like mcgarrybowen, Carat, 360i, Merkle and Isobar, is considering a restructuring plan which would see it split into an operating company and a holding company.

Dentsu Inc. president and CEO Toshihiro Yamamoto announced the proposition today during a meeting of the company’s board of directors. Implementation of the changes would be dependent on approval of shareholders at a meeting scheduled for March 2019.

“Analyses of specific schemes will be based on a concept where the currently-existing Dentsu Inc. will be split into an operating company and a pure holding company,” according to a release. “The pure holding company will hold the shares of the post-split operating company and the existing operating companies in Japan, and the shares of Dentsu Aegis Network.”

More details will be provided following further analysis.

According to the release, the decision to analyze the potential restructuring was prompted by a desire to “maintain and enhance” growth, as a response to “radical changes in the business environment resulting from the evolution and enlargement of business areas” and to “Establish governance that enables expeditious decision-making from medium and long-term viewpoints.”

Dentsu Inc. maintains that due to global development and rapid growth, “it has become increasingly important for the Group to make more unified and cross-sectional decisions within a set of shared values,” leading to a need to “establish a governance structure that is not restricted by the current framework of each operating company and enables expeditious decision-making from a medium and long-term perspective.”

Beyond the Dentsu Aegis Network, the larger company also operates a number of Japanese subsidiaries; this move would combine all Dentsu businesses under one umbrella, hence the “pure holding company” designation.

The announcement accompanies Dentsu Inc.’s earnings report for the second quarter and first half of 2018.

Dentsu Inc. reported organic growth of 4 percent for the first half of the year and 5.9 percent for the second quarter, its fourth consecutive quarter of increased organic growth. Dentsu Aegis Network reported organic growth of 3.4 percent, due in part to new business wins in the second half of 2017. In Japan, organic growth was reported at 4.7 percent for the first half of the year, also attributed in part to new business wins.

Dentsu Inc. reported that underlying operating profit on constant currency basis declined 1.8 percent for the first half of 2018. For Dentsu Aegis Network, profit decline was explained as a reflection of planned investments in global platforms and systems. In Japan, profits grew but were partially offset by planned investments in working environment reforms.

Dentsu Inc. was fined 500,000 yen (approximately $4,400) for violating labor laws last October. The “suicide due to overwork” death of 24-year-old digital account manager Matsuri Takahashi in 2015 led to the resignation of CEO Tadashi Ishii in December, 2016.

14256: Going Nowhere Fast.

Need another reason to hate project briefings and internal reviews? Now useless account planners and moronic account directors can ride stationary bikes while failing to offer strategic insights or constructive feedback. Thanks, FlexiSpot!

14255: TIME’S UP Pays Up…?

Advertising Age reported Diet Madison Avenue announced TIME’S UP is providing legal assistance to help the DMA crew deal with the lawsuit filed by former CP+B CCO Ralph Watson. However, when Ad Age probed for confirmation, a TIME’S UP spokeswoman would only say, “The [TIME’S UP] Legal Defense Fund is supportive of individuals coming forward and speaking out about sex harassment at work and in their careers; we aren’t prepared to talk about funding at this time.” Does this mean the 180 adwomen who launched TIME’S UP Advertising openly support Diet Madison Avenue? They certainly weren’t offering much of their own money for the DMA GoFundMe donation drive. And given the fact that IPG and its Chairman and CEO Michael Roth encouraged leading women executives to sign up for TIME’S UP Advertising, is it logical to conclude the White holding company would also support Diet Madison Avenue? Hey, Roth just coughed up $2.3 billion for Acxiom’s marketing services unit. Surely IPG—as a recognized leader in divertsity and inclusion—could afford to cover the DMA crew’s legal bills. Think of it as partial restitution for the Joe Alexander fiasco.

Diet Madison Avenue says it’s working with Time’s Up for legal representation

By Megan Graham

Days after a judge signed an order allowing subpoenas to unmask anonymous Instagram account Diet Madison Avenue, the account said it has closed down its GoFundMe page. The reason: DMA says it has representation from Time’s Up, the organization dedicated to addressing inequality and injustice in the workplace.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Monica Bachner signed an order last week allowing the legal team for former Crispin Porter & Bogusky Boulder Chief Creative Officer Ralph Watson to serve business record subpoenas to Instagram, its parent Facebook and Gmail (part of Alphabet-owned Google) to provide identifying information about the anonymous individuals behind Diet Madison Avenue. Watson has sued his former agency and its holding company MDC Partners in a separate lawsuit.

The judge’s action was the latest development in a suit filed by Watson in May, claiming defamatory statements posted to the account led to his wrongful termination from the agency. DMA has taken aim at some of the biggest names in advertising with a goal of exposing sexual harassment and discrimination at ad agencies.

Diet Madison Avenue began a GoFundMe page on May 25 to seek $100,000 to “defend our team members and volunteers against false accusations,” according to the site. The page said all funds would be used for legal assistance, with any left over being donated to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. As of Monday, the account had collected $1,970. The page indicates the last donation was made around two months ago.

On its Instagram page Saturday, Diet Madison Avenue displayed a message from someone who said they had attempted to donate to the group’s legal fund unsuccessfully and it explained that the fundraising account was no longer active.

In a temporary Instagram Story, the account said “Hi fam, we actually closed it down a while ago because we have awesome representation via Times Up Now. We are all well doing great. All funds donated will actually be refunded by GoFundMe and whatever you choose not to get back will be donated to the Times Up Legal Defense Fund. For the time being we do not funds (sic) because we have a great team in place. But thanks for the love.”

In a later post, it corrected that to say “for the time being we do NOT need any funds.”

DMA did not return a direct message asking for comment at press time.

The Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund — which is housed within and administered by the National Women’s Law Center Fund — connects those who have experienced sexual misconduct to attorneys who agree to take on their cases, according to its website. The organization helps defray legal and public relations costs in certain cases based on criteria and availability of funds. Only attorneys can apply for those funds, though some attorneys will also accept reduced fees or take on cases pro bono.

Asked whether the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund would confirm whether it is working with Diet Madison Avenue on this particular lawsuit, a spokeswoman for the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund said: “The Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund is supportive of individuals coming forward and speaking out about sex harassment at work and in their careers; we aren’t prepared to talk about funding at this time.”

Brooklyn Law School professor Jonathan Askin, a founder and director at the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic, said in an email that Watson’s attorneys could attempt to subpoena the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund and the organizations funding and supporting it if they couldn’t otherwise ascertain the names of those behind Diet Madison Avenue.

“I imagine the judge would be reluctant to allow subpoenas to issue to third-party legal defense funds, opening up a hornets’ nest of potentially profound Constitutional and judicial process issues, without a compelling chance of success on the merits of the underlying claims,” wrote Askin. “Instagram would still seem the more likely source to obtain the names of those behind Diet Madison Avenue.”

The Los Angeles Superior Court order last week said the court had determined the plaintiff had demonstrated a “prima facie case of defamation necessary at this stage in the proceedings to compel disclosure of the identities of the anonymous individuals behind Diet Madison Avenue.” Last year, a California state appeals court handed down its decision that Yelp needed to turn over documents that could identify an anonymous user who was accused of defaming an accountant in a review on its website. The appellate court in that case said plaintiffs seeking to unveil anonymous posters needed to make a “prima facie” case that shows anonymous statements are libelous and that the plaintiff can’t pursue claims without establishing a poster’s identity.

Paul Alan Levy, a lawyer at Public Citizen Litigation Group in Washington, D.C., said generally speaking if a client has retained counsel for the purpose of protecting their identity, the identity of the client would be subject to attorney-client privilege. But he said Watson’s camp could argue that identity isn’t covered by attorney-client privilege. Levy said he wasn’t sure whether the California state courts had decided that issue yet, in which case it could be a decision made by a trial judge.

Levy added that when it comes to subpoenas, much will depend on how the accounts were set up and maintained, and whether the users created throwaway or fake accounts to set up its accounts.

In the long run, the individuals behind Diet Madison Avenue could well be identified, Levy said. He said the individuals will need to make judgments with advice from their lawyers about how likely they are to be identified using these means and whether they have an interest in opposing these subpoenas.

“Or do they want to play hard to get?” he said.

14254: Bootcamp Blues.

Adweek reported on the Multicultural Alliance Bootcamp held by She Runs It, presenting four “key takeaways” that are mostly standard clichéd con jobs concepts for diversity and inclusion. On the one hand, any effort designed to eliminate exclusivity deserves appreciation. Then again, the Multicultural Alliance Bootcamp warrants a few comments too. First of all, She Runs It is still more focused on promoting White women than racial and ethnic minorities. Secondly, the lead “key takeaway” regarding the Inclusion Diversity Accountability Consortium gives off an aroma of bullshit. Now there’s yet another optional measuring tool whereby White advertising agencies may sign up to possibly be deemed winners for executing what should be common practices. Finally, photos taken at the event (see below) display at least three issues: 1) attendance was low; 2) attendees were predominately female and; 3) attendees included lots of women of color. Why would women of color need to participate in a multicultural bootcamp? Talk about preaching to the choir. It feels like a clear example of delegating diversity versus engaging the culturally clueless people with hiring authority who desperately require enlightenment. It’s time to send the folks suffering from unconscious bias, conscious ignorance and blatant racism to bootcamp.

4 Key Takeaways on Bringing Diversity to the Field From the Multicultural Alliance Bootcamp

Industry panelists discussed multiculturalism at She Runs It event

By Alissa Fleck

She Runs It, formerly known as Advertising Women of New York (AWNY), held a Multicultural Alliance Bootcamp yesterday to discuss the state of diversity in the marketing and media world. According to the organization, its Multicultural Alliance “works to foster a sense of community among members with multicultural expertise and interests and to infuse multiculturalism into She Runs It’s existing programs and initiatives.”

Among the reasons diversity is so important in the advertising world is that advertising reflects our culture and society, and without inclusion, advertising will continue to perpetuate stereotypes about people of color and other under-represented groups, explained God-Is Rivera, director of inclusion and cultural resonance at VML. “We cringe at ads from the past,” she said. “We have a chance to change that now.”

And, while there should be more of an opportunity to tell these varied stories with all the digital venues and platforms available today, “diversity is probably what it always was, proportionate to the number of channels we have,” said actor, producer and activist Malik Yoba.

These are some of our takeaways from the bootcamp:

There is now a quantifiable way to measure a company’s diversity inclusiveness.

Companies need to incorporate diversity “because it’s right and not just because it’s trendy,” said Rivera. She Runs It has developed a way to benchmark improvements in diversity inclusiveness.

The organization just announced the winners of a new initiative it launched in coordination with Diversity Best Practices called the Inclusion Diversity Accountability Consortium (IDAC), which “seeks to ignite quantitative action that will make the marketing and media industry more diverse in its make-up and sensibility,” according to its website.

Along with Working Mother Media and Diversity Best Practices, She Runs It posted the first round of measurements and winning companies on social media with the hashtag #DBPInclusionIndex. IDAC measures companies’ success at recruiting, training and retaining a diverse workforce based on three main criteria.

These criteria are: Best practices in recruitment, retention and advancement of people from under-represented groups; creating an inclusive culture through leadership, accountability, communications and employee engagement; and transparency in willingness to share workforce demographic data.

While the organization has released stats on select companies, it will present this information more comprehensively during Advertising Week in October.

In promoting diversity, you need to think about your own circle first.

On a panel called “Champions on the Front Line,” Patty Kim, director of talent acquisition at Conductor, talked about the importance of starting with yourself and your own innate biases before trying to advocate for diversity. You need to think about your own circle, the group of people you go to for ideas, support and growth.

When Kim first did this exercise, she realized her circle was fairly homogenous in thought—it did not represent a diverse community. “You need people who really challenge your ideas,” she said. “Inclusiveness starts with yourself—then you bring it to the workplace.”

“Diversity looks different to different people,” added Ed Frankel, svp and director of talent acquisition at Omnicom Health Group.

You don’t have to be at the top to make a difference.

While it certainly helps to have an ally in a leadership position, “if you have a seat at the table, you can have influence,” said Frankel, adding that you should never give up, even if that means slowly chipping away at established ideas.

One of the best ways to do this is to tell your own story, said Francine Tamakloe, associate in the AMP development program at Spotify. “Being in the room and telling your own story inspires others and saves others,” Tamakloe said in a panel called “Women on Fire.” And while it can be easy to be inspired by others around you, it can sometimes be hard to “see the warrior in yourself,” she added.

“Define what a champion looks like to you, and be it for someone else,” Frankel said.

But don’t just be a champion for people underneath you—people above you need support as well. “It can be so lonely at the top,” said Judy Jackson, global chief talent officer at Wunderman. “You can champion people at every level.”

Small interactions can go a long way toward effecting change in the workplace.

Sometimes change comes from micro-actions, said Jackson, recounting an incident in her office when someone who wasn’t from the U.S. asked her African-American assistant about the semantics of the N-word. While initially an awkward situation, it became a positive learning experience, Jackson said, as her assistant explained the word’s history and why it was not okay for the coworker to use the term.

“She was curious, but that was a sign of change. I was proud of that moment,” Jackson said. “Change comes from being able to ask people of color about their lives.”

Hiring managers are not the ones currently out there pushing diversity, explained Frankel, highlighting that we need to think about aspects like where we post jobs. Inclusiveness might mean creating new positions in the workplace, added Rivera. “Organizations should invest in their women,” said Yai Vargas, founder of The Latinista. “They should pay to send them to conferences like this one.”

And to usher in a new generation of diverse storytellers and marketers, educators should show young people of color that there are options for kids in advertising, Jackson added, saying, “Agencies should go talk to kids.”

14253: Little Gender Exclusive…?

Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly was originally called Little Brothers of the Poor when founded in France in 1946. Maybe it’s time to update the name again, especially if advertising and promotions feature so many little sisters.

14252: Back-To-School Ravings.

Campaign reported on the Brixton Finishing School, another diversity and inclusion initiative designed to train young people of color on the intricacies of working in adland. According to Campaign, the project allows students “who do not have the privilege of a university education” to experience “a free, 12-week course in digital, advertising and marketing skills” under the guidance of seasoned experts.

Okay, the folks behind such endeavors are undoubtedly caring and progressive, deserving respect and appreciation. At the same time, this common diversity and inclusion tactic inspires key questions.

First, why qualify students “who do not have the privilege of a university education” for this program? For starters, the word “privilege” leads to acknowledging White privilege, which is the primary advantage—waaaaay more important than a university education—that the majority of candidates utilize to get into the field. Besides, landing a creative position in an advertising agency doesn’t require a degree. And if agencies do mandate degrees, why not target minorities in universities?

Second, why presume people of color need extra schooling to succeed in advertising? There are plenty of examples of untrained and unqualified White youth entering the field via nepotism and next-generational cronyism. Why not create a 12-week course for all the Caucasian daughters, sons, nieces, nephews, neighbors and mistresses currently receiving free passes into adland?

Third, why not simply hire people of color and, if necessary, provide on-the-job mentoring and training? Isn’t that what healthy, ethical and professional companies do? These particular questions, incidentally, go to the heart of the true problem. That is, most minorities don’t need special training; rather, most leaders with hiring authority must undergo reprogramming. Specifically, hiring managers must be schooled to actually evaluate candidates on potential versus pigmentation. Skills versus skin tones. Talent versus tint.

Fourth, how will this program address the dearth of mid- and senior-level minorities? It will be difficult to retain Brixton Finishing School graduates if they find themselves alone in the field. The existing exclusive majority could use training in fostering inclusive workplaces too.

If minorities have to enroll for special training, similar prerequisites should be placed on hiring managers to ensure they have the cultural competence to do their jobs.

Industry-funded school challenges adland’s diversity problem

Digital guru Ally Owen has founded Brixton Finishing School, a free, 12-week course in digital, advertising and marketing skills for young people from BAME/unrepresented backgrounds.

By Georgina Brazier

Owen has recruited 21 students, aged 18 to 25, who do not have the privilege of a university education and given them the opportunity to learn from the employees of companies such as Google, WPP and McCann London.

The Institute of Practitioners of Advertising revealed a significant lack of diversity in the industry in its latest annual survey on the subject. This inspired Owen tackle the issue by setting up the school with industry backing.

Owen said: “We believe that while talent is distributed equally among the youth of London, opportunities are not.

“The SCA 2.0 [School of Communication Arts] and Brixton Finishing School partnership will create and widen runways into our industry to support our ambition for all talent, whatever their background, to have the seat they’ve earned at the table.

“For our GDP to thrive post-Brexit, we need to focus on building a meritocracy that ensures the best people are in the right jobs.”

The students come a variety of backgrounds and range from school leavers to those who have already experienced the world of work.

Brixton Finishing School student Tremayne Bailey said he was not aware of the creative industries until he undertook an apprenticeship at a charity.

He said: “We target adults but what we need to be doing is actually starting young — teaching young people who still aren’t being taught about the opportunities in the creative industries.”

The students will graduate on 5 October and many will then take up entry-level, digitally focused roles created for the school by Clear Channel, Kinetic, PrettyGreen, Brand Advance and McCann London.

14251: Papa John’s AOR WTF.

Adweek reported Papa John’s hired a fresh AOR—Endeavor Global Marketing —which has never served as an AOR. Oddly enough, the new shop is still probably an improvement over Laundry Service and Zimmerman Advertising. According to Adweek, the AOR selection—which did not involve former Chairman John Schnatter—came after a less-than-one-month-long pitch between three agencies. It’s likely that the average Papa John’s employee spends more time cooking a pizza than the competing firms spent cooking up presentation concepts. Oddly enough, the new campaign is still probably going to be an improvement over Schnatter shilling.

Embattled Papa John’s Hires Endeavor Global Marketing as Its New Agency of Record

New group CMO Bozoma Saint John led the effort

By Patrick Coffee

Pizza chain Papa John’s has turned to another ad agency to help the company move through its ongoing identity crisis.

The brand chose Endeavor Global Marketing, the creative division of the Endeavor “holding group” formed by Ari Emanuel’s media conglomerate WME | IMG late last year. That group also includes both WME and IMG along with such disparate entities as UFC, The Miss Universe Organization and Droga5 (in which it holds a minority stake).

Bozoma Saint John, who joined the umbrella organization as CMO earlier this summer after a year at Uber and officially started work this week, led the final pitch along with EGM president Ed Horne, evp Seth Matlins and executive creative director Ryan Wagman. The review launched less than one month ago, with EGM beating out two other unnamed agencies.

WME co-president and former ESPN executive Mark Shapiro has been a member of Papa John’s board of directors since 2011.

The company’s search for an AOR started after Adweek reported on a round of layoffs at Laundry Service, which won the account late last year. The following day, Forbes reported that company founder and chairman John Schnatter had used the N-word on a May media training call that also included unnamed agency employees. Schnatter later acknowledged using the word, but claimed it was taken out of context.

Forbes then published a longer story regarding the company’s “toxic culture” as Schnatter accused Laundry Service of “pressuring” him to use the word and later attempting to “extort” Papa John’s for $6 million. An internal memo from Laundry Service described those claims as “completely false.“

Now, Saint John said the brand must act quickly to redefine itself.

“This is a really pivotal moment not just for Papa John’s, but for all corporate businesses and all brands that service a larger group of people,” Saint John told Adweek. “Our culture has become even more sensitive to anything we feel is outside of our moral compass, and as a brand we acknowledge that.”

While EGM currently handles a variety of projects for clients such as Visa and T-Mobile, this news marks the first time it has been named creative AOR on a major brand. Saint John described the relationship as “more all-encompassing,” stating that the resulting work will “run the gamut” from traditional advertising to social media, public relations and “cultural help.”

Endeavor will begin working across all of Papa John’s channels immediately, with a full campaign set to debut in the fall.

“This isn’t an apology ad campaign,” she said. “It has to be cultural and deeply moving … the 120,000 employees of Papa John’s are not defined by one individual. How can we as EGM not just create a new narrative based on a value proposition, but convey what is truly inside Papa John’s?”

CEO Steve Ritchie acknowledged in a statement that the brand looks to reintroduce itself to the public.

“We met with the Endeavor Global Marketing team, led by Bozoma Saint John, Ed Horne and Seth Matlins, and they blew us away with their perspective, experience and creativity,” Ritchie said. “The brand is at a pivotal moment. We need to earn back the trust of the consumer and we need to demonstrate our commitment to being inclusive. We believe Endeavor Global Marketing is the right team to help us do that.”

A Papa John’s representative declined to elaborate beyond Ritchie’s quote, and neither the client nor its new agency named the other two shops involved in the review.

According to two parties with direct knowledge of the matter, executives at former AOR Grey recently reached out to Papa John’s regarding the possibility of resuming work on the brand. At least one member of the company’s board then reportedly attended a meeting in the agency’s New York headquarters last week.

A Grey spokesperson declined to comment.

Schnatter, who was not involved in the review process, has launched a legal campaign against the company he founded in 1984. Last week he filed a complaint alleging the board had not provided documents related to his resignation, which he previously called “a mistake.”

The Forbes story claimed that he hired a separate agency to make new ads starring himself after former CMO Brandon Rhoten was reportedly pushed out of the company when he suggested it move away from marketing campaigns featuring Schnatter.

A spokesperson for Publicis Groupe’s Fallon, which resigned the business after approximately one month along with Initiative and Olson Engage, said that the agency’s work was product-based and did not include any ads starring the founder. Those ads, if they do exist, have yet to run.

The board of directors also brought on Powell Tate, a public affairs division of IPG PR firm Weber Shandwick, earlier this summer.

“Powell Tate is working closely with a team of advisers, including Akin Gump, who are assisting Papa John’s as it takes the necessary steps to address the issues raised by recent events and move the company in a positive direction,” said the firm’s svp of business development Ellen DeMunter. “We are providing counsel and support to Papa John’s senior management to help them deliver on their commitment to take deliberate and meaningful action to improve its corporate culture.”

“With these types of things, you need to react quickly because the audience and the consumer needs to know where you stand,” said Saint John. “You can’t let this linger.”

Kantar Media’s latest numbers have Papa John’s spending more than $136 million on paid media in the U.S. in 2017 and $32.5 million during the first quarter of 2018.

14250: Apocalypse Wow.

Adweek published a lengthy report on Papa John’s, revealing former Chairman John Schnatter tapped Zimmerman Advertising and its Founder and Chairman Jordan Zimmerman earlier this year for direction on: 1) how to handle charges of racism on social media and; 2) how to convince Papa John’s executives to let Schnatter keep serving as the brand mascot. These revelations indicate Schnatter might be insane, at least by the standard often attributed to Albert Einstein that reads, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

First, as previously stated here, receiving advice on culturally competent communication from an advertising-media agency is like seeking unconscious bias training from the Ku Klux Klan. Schnatter has reportedly sought such guidance from Zimmerman and Laundry Service, and the latter helped ignite the N-word scandal that’s now plaguing the pizza company. Insanity and ignorance make for a toxic cocktail.

Second, Schnatter’s desire to remain the pizza face of Papa John’s displays the narcissistic and egomaniacal tendencies common in owners of local used car dealerships who insist on casting themselves and their spouses in campaigns. Insanity, ignorance, narcissism and egomania make for a potent poison.

Third, partnering with Zimmerman shows Schnatter is a mediocre moron. Plus, Adweek reported Schnatter and Zimmerman are old pals—which is not surprising—further indicating Schnatter resorts to cronyism. Insanity, ignorance, narcissism, egomania, mediocrity and cronyism make for a fatal concoction.

It’s only a matter of time before the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse make an appearance.

14249: Better Pizza. Better PR.

The Drum reported Papa John’s Founder John Schnatter initiated legal action against Papa John’s, charging his ouster as chairman was executed in an “unexplained and heavy-handed way” to avoid exposing the true motives behind the action. Gee, this is turning into quite a messy story—with more villains than heroes. Schnatter manufactured much of the mess with his three-headed cluelessness: conservative cluelessness, communications cluelessness and cultural cluelessness. Papa John’s is hardly an innocent pizza party, with its alleged toxic culture and corporate clumsiness. But the third and fourth stooge-like characters in this dark comedy are Laundry Service and parent company Wasserman. News sources have not offered clear and consistent details on the infamous conference call, as well as the overall client-agency relationship. However, it appears that information is being leaked to the press, probably by an advertising agency source, which reflects poorly on the professionalism of Laundry Service and Wasserman—especially considering that Laundry Service was reportedly offering PR advice to Papa John’s. Another article had Schnatter claiming the N-word conversation started when Laundry Service recommended partnering with Kanye West, and the former chairman nixed the idea because he was uncomfortable with West’s use of the slur in song lyrics. If true, what the hell was Laundry Service thinking? Why would anyone believe a politically and socially conservative brand like Papa John’s might work well with West? What’s next—replacing Peyton Manning with Colin Kaepernick? Laundry Service’s apparent fumbles were compounded by Wasserman, whose leader assured staffers of plans to “go on the record and refute [Schnatter’s charges]” against the advertising and media firms. Weeks have passed with zero follow-up statements, underscoring again that Laundry Service and Wasserman need serious PR consultation themselves. This isn’t the makings of a classic case study; but rather, a classic nutcase study.

Papa John’s founder launches legal action over ‘false’ racism allegations

By John Glenday

John Schnatter, the disgraced Papa John’s pizza founder, has launched legal action against the chain in an attempt to seek redress for the ‘unexplained and heavy-handed way’ in which he was ousted as chairman.

Schnatter resigned earlier in July after uttering the N-word during a conference call with Laundry Service, its advertising agency but has now gone on the offensive, demanding access to documents relating to his departure and claiming that he has been made a scapegoat for the businesses wider failings.

In a statement lawyers acting on behalf of Schnatter said that they were forced to act in order to “… inspect company documents because of the unexplained and heavy-handed way in which the company has treated him since the publication of a story that falsely accused him of using a racial slur”.

“Rather than address the real issues like the health of the business, the company is hiding documents that, we believe, will disclose the actual facts as to what is occurring here, including using Mr Schnatter as a scapegoat to cover up their own shortcomings and failures.”

Defending itself Papa John’s insisted that it has supplied Schnatter with all the documentation he was entitled to, dismissing the court drama as a ‘needless and wasteful lawsuit in an attempt to distract from his own words and actions.’

The slow-motion demise of pizza impresario John Schnatter was recently documented by The Drum, as the former brand ambassador suffers the ignominy of having his image airbrushed from all company branding.

14248: Portfolio School Of Life.

AgencySpy posted about the Chicago Portfolio School, where faculty and students evacuated the building after a landlord eviction. The Chicago Portfolio School Founder and Director said the school “is in good financial shape” and making plans to move to another location. The scenario is actually providing students with a primer for an advertising career. After all, it’s not uncommon for staffers to show up for work and discover the agency has gone under. Hell, such occurrences usually include employees being locked out of the building and denied final paychecks. And the leader who insists the enterprise “is in good financial shape” is probably full of shit. When tenants are forced to “unexpectedly” vacate the premises, that’s definitely a red flag. Welcome to adland, kids!

Chicago Portfolio School Forced to Leave Its Headquarters Due to Landlord Dispute

By Patrick Coffee

After a very unfortunate series of events at the end of this week, the Chicago Portfolio School plans to relocate from its current location at 213 West Institute Place.

Yesterday, all students and staff were forced to leave the building unexpectedly.

“Simply put, we are in a rent dispute with our current landlord,” wrote founder and director Jeffrey Epstein. “We were asked to leave the space until the dispute has been settled which we hope will happen in the next day or two.”

Despite the momentary evacuation, Epstein said that the school is “is in good financial shape,” that all staff members have been paid in full, and that Fall classes will soon begin as scheduled.

The news led to a thread on r/advertising, where students confirmed that they received an email yesterday afternoon indicating classes would be cancelled for a week. One member wrote, “eviction is not just a dispute.”

According to Epstein, management then made “emergency plans” to hold classes in a nearby WeWork space in case the negotiations took longer than expected.

Now, however, the school and lawyers representing its building’s landlord appear to have reached an agreement regarding rent. “We are working together for plans to stay in the space for an orderly transition to our new location,” Epstein wrote.

It is unclear at this time where that new location will be.

14247: Are You Hungry For Memories?

AgencySpy posted on Post picking ARGONAUT as its new White advertising agency for Honey Bunches of Oats. The incumbent White advertising agency—Public Works—had only worked on the cereal brand for roughly a year. The new shop appears to be equally exclusive in terms of staff makeup. Whatever. But the most shocking news in the story involved Diana Hunter—aka the Honey Bunches of Oats Lady—who retired from her spokeswoman role and actual factory job. To compensate for missing the milestone, here here here here are celebratory moments.

Honey Bunches of Oats Picks Argonaut to Handle Creative, Social

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

Honey Bunches of Oats, the Post Consumer Brands cereal, has chosen Project Worldwide’s San Francisco-based shop, Argonaut, as its agency of record to handle all creative and social media duties following a review that began in December.

The pitch was overseen internally by Post Consumer Brands and included incumbent creative shop Minneapolis’s Public Works and two other unnamed agencies.

“Argonaut impressed us for many reasons throughout the process,” Post Consumer Brands CMO Roxanne Bernstein said in a statement. “They are a thoughtful, curious, and highly collaborative team that truly creates both breakthrough and business-changing work on behalf of their clients.”

The review was launched after Honey Bunches of Oats’s longtime beloved spokeswoman, Diana Hunter, retired last year. Argonaut said in a statement that the cereal brand was “struggling to find its foothold in the category” (which is already a pressured space as cereal sales continue to dwindle) after the spokeswoman, known widely as “the Honey Bunches of Oats lady”—and a real company factory worker—retired.

Argonaut said executive team members Hunter Hindman, founder and chief creative officer; Max Heilbron, founder and chief strategy officer; Katie Miller, head of brand management and new business; and CEO Robert Riccardi together oversaw the growth of the PepsiCo-owned Frito-Lay portfolio while they were at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, making the agency “no stranger to the CPG category.”

Hindman called Honey Bunches of Oats “a brand we all grew up with in our pantries—it’s a breakfast classic.” He said the pitch-winning campaign is “unapologetically catchy,” and it’s set to break in the fourth quarter of this year.

Honey Bunches of Oats’s annual reported media spend is $30 million.

14246: Slow Creatives…?

This “Bake For Me” campaign from Egypt could have benefited from a zoologist’s insight, as zebras are not exactly known for being the speediest of animals. Hell, they’re routinely caught and killed by lions and even SUVs.

14245: Chief Divertsity Engineer…?

While sharing on his experience as a tech startup consultant, CP+B Chief Creative Engineer Alex Bogusky stated, “This is a decisive moment for the future of the advertising industry. The needs of brands have changed, and it’s high time to reexamine the best creative approach to meet those needs. I think advertising agencies can benefit from the lean and agile practices that have revolutionized so many other industries.” It should be fun to see if Bogusky has evolved at all in the area of diversity and inclusion after 8 years away from the advertising industry. Wanting to emulate the ultra-exclusive tech industry is not a good sign. CP+B was never progressive or culturally competent with racial and ethnic minority representation. In fact, the shop under Bogusky was known for its frat-boy persona. And in this time of divertsity, the Chief Creative Engineer is returning while CP+B is embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal emanating from the creative department. Hey, Ralph Watson could benefit from the scenario if MDC Partners and CP+B opt to give him a wad of loot to go away. Considering the PR woes at places like The Martin Agency, can Bogusky avoid addressing divertsity and diversity? This is a decisive moment for the future of the advertising industry indeed.

14244: CP+Back.

The White advertising trade press reported on the return of Alex Bogusky to Crispin Porter + Bogusky as Chief Creative Engineer—a fitting title, given the White advertising agency and its parent White holding company are troubled trains that have run off the tracks in recent times.

MDC Partners is reeling financially, dumping top executives and potentially unloading business units. CP+B is saying farewell to Global CCO Linus Karlsson and fuck you to former CCO Ralph Watson. Hey, Bogusky’s comeback allows CP+B to tell Watson he was fired to make room for the reappearing prodigal son versus sexual harassment allegations exposed by Diet Madison Avenue. Plus, the place won’t have to redesign the company masthead, providing cost savings that MDC Partners will surely appreciate.

“The CP+B brand has always been all about redefining advertising, and the opportunity to remake what it means to be a top-tier creative agency is too compelling to pass up,” Bogusky declared in a statement. “The timing is right.” Hey, the MDC Partners-CP+B empire is out of time and terribly wrong.

CP+B Co-Founder Alex Bogusky Will Return to Advertising After 8 Years

He was Adweek’s ‘Creative Director of the Decade’ in 2009

By Patrick Coffee

Alex Bogusky, the co-founder and executive creative director of Crispin Porter + Bogusky, is returning to the agency world eight years after swearing off advertising altogether, according to two parties with direct knowledge of the matter.

UPDATE: After this story first ran, a CP+B spokesperson confirmed that Bogusky will take on the title of chief creative engineer at the agency where he spent more than 20 years. Parent company MDC Partners may announce the news during its quarterly earnings call today.

“This is a decisive moment for the future of the advertising industry. The needs of brands have changed, and it’s high time to reexamine the best creative approach to meet those needs,” said Bogusky in a statement. Noting that he spent much of his time away from the industry advising tech startups, he added, “I think advertising agencies can benefit from the lean and agile practices that have revolutionized so many other industries.”

Fellow co-founder Chuck Porter described him as “the most original and innovative thinker I know.”

“The last time Alex was here, we reinvented what it meant to be an ad agency, and I don’t think there’s ever been a time when the industry needs that more than right now,” he said.

The celebrated creative worked on some of the ad industry’s best-known campaigns from 1989 to his exit in 2010, including Burger King’s “Subservient Chicken” and the anti-smoking “Truth Campaign.” Adweek named him “Creative Director of the Decade” in 2009, but the following year, he resigned from CP+B and swore off advertising altogether.

At the time, MDC Partners issued a statement indicating Bogusky had left “in order to focus his time and energy on pursuing a number of initiatives and issues apart from advertising and marketing that he feels strongly about.”

From his home base in Boulder, Colo., he went on to launch “brand impact agency” Fearless Unlimited as well as an “early stage venture capital firm” called Batshit Crazy Ventures. The former creative and designer additionally wrote or co-wrote two books: The 9-Inch Diet was an anti-fast food manifesto, while Baked In concerned marketing by “[taking] brands back to their foundations.”

In recent years, Bogusky has also been an investor in companies like Lyft.

“The CP+B brand has always been all about redefining advertising, and the opportunity to remake what it means to be a top-tier creative agency is too compelling to pass up,” his statement read. “The timing is right.”

Several members of MDC Partners’ corporate leadership team, including global CMO Bob Kantor, were let go last week ahead of the earnings call.

Spokespeople for the network did not respond to a request for additional comment, nor did Bogusky himself.

14243: Now Serving Subpoenas.

Advertising Age reported a judge allowed former CP+B CCO Ralph Watson and his legal team to serve subpoenas to ultimately identify the anonymous individuals behind Diet Madison Avenue. Based on the recent response from MDC Partners and CP+B, it’s unlikely Watson will collect much restitution from his ex-employers. It will be interesting to see if Watson inevitably receives cash from the DMA crew, as they probably have considerably less money to offer—about $2000 so far—than the White holding company and White advertising agency.

If the world were fair, here’s how things would play out. For starters, the women who claimed via Diet Madison Avenue that Watson sexually harassed them should be shielded from legal punishment and permitted to remain anonymous. Victims of such despicable behavior must be protected against public shaming and retaliation. Especially in the bad-boy culture of adland, we ought to presume that accusers are telling the truth. The DMA crew, however, does not deserve equal amnesty. After all, these folks claimed to have consulted with legal experts before launching the Instagram account. The DMA crew likely assured the true victims that their anonymity would be safe. As previously argued here, the DMA crew consciously chose a vigilante position designed to punish alleged offenders, presenting second-hand “information” as if they were eyewitnesses—and embellishing the charges with immature vitriol. Their hearts might have been in the right place, but their heads were firmly stuck up their DMA cans.

Yep, if the world were fair, that’s how things would play out. Unfortunately, Madison Avenue has consistently shown that the world is not fair.

Court OKs subpoenas to unmask Diet Madison Avenue

By Megan Graham

Diet Madison Avenue could soon be unmasked.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Monica Bachner has signed an order allowing the legal team for former CP&B Boulder Chief Creative Officer Ralph Watson to serve business record subpoenas to Instagram, its parent Facebook and Gmail (part of Alphabet-owned Google) to provide identifying information about the anonymous individuals behind Diet Madison Avenue.

The judge’s action is the latest development in a suit filed by Watson in May, claiming defamatory statements posted to the account led to his wrongful termination from the agency. DMA has taken aim at some of the biggest names in advertising with a goal of exposing sexual harassment and discrimination at ad agencies.

Following the lawsuit against it in late May, Diet Madison Avenue launched a GoFundMe page for its legal expenses, with a goal of raising $100,000. As of Thursday, it had raised $1,970.

The lawsuit states that the plaintiff believes the DMA account is run by at least 17 individuals “with assistance from at least another 42 individuals.” The suit cites Instagram’s privacy policy, which states the platform may access, preserve and share a user’s information in response to a legal request or when Instagram believes that is necessary to detect, prevent and address fraud and other illegal activity.

The media office for the Superior Court of California County in the County of Los Angeles, where the suit was filed, confirmed that an order granting an application to serve business record subpoenas to ascertain the anonymous individuals behind Diet Madison Avenue had been filed on Monday. According to the Superior Court’s website, the court granted the order to serve the business record subpoena to Facebook/Instagram and Gmail in a proceeding Monday morning.

Watson’s attorney, Michael Ayotte of the Law Offices of Michael W. Ayotte in Hermosa Beach, California, published the subpoenas on his Instagram page, tagging Diet Madison Avenue’s Instagram page. The order — granting plaintiff Watson leave to serve subpoenas to Instagram, Facebook and Alphabet — was also published on Ayotte’s Instagram page. The order indicates Diet Madison Avenue would be notified by direct messaging its Instagram account and via a Gmail account.

“The court has determined that good cause has been shown … to allow Plaintiff to serve limited and specific business records’ subpoenas to the above-listed entities,” says the order, signed July 30 by Judge Bachner. “The court has further determined that Plaintiff has demonstrated a prima facie case of defamation necessary at this stage in the proceedings to compel disclosure of the identities of the anonymous individuals behind Diet Madison Avenue.”

Last year, a California state appeals court handed down its decision that Yelp needed to turn over documents that could identify an anonymous user who was accused of defaming an accountant in a review on its website. The appellate court in that case said plaintiffs seeking to unveil anonymous posters needed to make a “prima facie” case that shows anonymous statements are libelous and that the plaintiff can’t pursue claims without establishing a poster’s identity.

The subpoenas related to the Watson vs. Diet Madison Avenue case request from Instagram and Facebook any and all records or identifying information of any individual or individuals for the Instagram account Diet Madison Avenue (@dietmadisonave), saying that this includes but is not limited to first and last names, addresses, IP addresses and IP logs of any and all posters on the account from October 1, 2017 through the present. The subpoena to Alphabet asks for any identifying information about individuals using three different Gmail accounts from October 1 of that year.

The subpoenas ask that Instagram, Facebook and Alphabet provide records for examination by August 31. The documents say if the recipient is a party to the records requested, they must file a motion to quash or modify the subpoena and give notice of that motion to the witness and the deposition officer named in the subpoena at least five days before that deadline. If the recipient is not a party to the action, the recipient must serve a written objection to the requesting party and witness before the date set for production of the records.

Individuals from Instagram, Facebook and Alphabet did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. Diet Madison Avenue did not respond to requests for comment sent via Instagram direct message and multiple Gmail accounts.

Brooklyn Law School professor Jonathan Askin, a founder and director at the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic, said there might be a move toward no longer protecting platforms from liability for certain online content.

“In the wake of a seeming proliferation of online defamation, cyber-bullying, revenge porn, and ‘fake news,’ we are witnessing a backlash against unfettered posting of online content,” he said in an email. “We see Facebook beginning to take steps to curb perceived abuses of the platform by purveyors of fake news, defamatory, or derogatory content. These actions will likely eviscerate some of the existing protections that have protected such platforms from liability.”

Askin added: “I think we might begin to see government revisit the concept of a ‘fairness doctrine,’ but this time for internet content platforms. Until 1987, the Fairness Doctrine required broadcasters present controversial issues of public importance in an honest, equitable, and balanced manner.”

“Now that the social network platforms are the place where we get most of our news, I think it is possible that governments will start to impose requirements that these platforms take steps to ensure the audiences receive access to content that is delivered in an honest, equitable, and balanced manner.”

14242: Brandweek Hearts Hart.

Oh, look! The next Brandweek soiree will feature Kevin Hart as its Opening Night Keynote. Guess Sean Combs and Will.i.am weren’t available.

14241: PepsiCo Production PR.

Advertising Age reported the infamous PepsiCo Creators League Studio lost another “leader,” as Kristin Patrick handed in her resignation. Patrick was originally hired by former PepsiCo wonk Brad Jakeman, and the dynamic duo were allegedly running the in-house enterprise. Of course, PepsiCo affirmed its commitment to the production department, despite earlier rumors that the company was brainstorming for ways to manage things, including partnering with one of its White advertising agencies. Hey, maybe PepsiCo should recruit Kylie Jenner—versus Kendall Jenner—as she’s clearly a more successful businessperson than the creators charged with overseeing operations to date.

PepsiCo affirms commitment to its in-house studio after the exec running it resigns

By E.J. Schultz

Another high-ranking marketing executive is leaving PepsiCo. Kristin Patrick, whose duties have included overseeing the company’s in-house content studio, will depart on Friday. It was her decision to leave, according to a person familiar with the matter. PepsiCo announced her resignation today in an internal memo obtained by Ad Age.

Patrick was hired in 2013 by Brad Jakeman, the high-profile president of PepsiCo’s global beverage group who left the company late last year. Together they oversaw the Creators League Studio, which PepsiCo has used to make branded and unbranded content, including scripted series, films and music recordings. The unit was behind 2017’s widely mocked Kendall Jenner ad. But Creators League also backed successful efforts, including “Uncle Drew,” a movie based on a viral Pepsi ad that hit theaters earlier this summer as result of a collaboration with Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment and Temple Hill. Creators League has also been involved in plenty of ad campaigns, including Pepsi’s 2018 Super Bowl ad starring Cindy Crawford and other celebs.

In a statement to Ad Age confirming Patrick’s departure, PepsiCo said that “we remain committed to and will continue to operate PepsiCo’s Creators League Studios.”

Patrick was originally hired as senior VP-global CMO for the Pepsi brand. She later took on the title of senior VP of global brand development, giving her oversight of PepsiCo’s licensing and content businesses. She was also involved on long-term brand positioning and developing relationships with the entertainment industry. Patrick shared Jakeman’s vision of using the Creators League to leverage PepsiCo’s brands and assets to make deep connections with Hollywood. Patrick, who is based in Los Angeles, came to PepsiCo from Playboy Enterprises where she was CMO.

Earlier this year, PepsiCo reached out to external partners about taking some oversight or even investing in the studio, Ad Age reported. But those efforts seem to have cooled off lately.

In the internal memo announcing Patrick’s departure, Eugene Willemsen, PepsiCo’s executive VP for global categories and franchise management, cited the “important role [the studio] it plays in our organization.” He said the studio has been involved in 250 brand projects around the world.

“Since its inception, the studio has earned 15 awards, saved PepsiCo more than $15 million in production and marketing costs, and created work that has made appearances at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival and SXSW, among many others, with its brand-inspired content,” Willemsen said.

The studio will now be led by Lou Arbetter, who most recently served as its general manager, Willemsen stated.

Willemsen said in the memo that Patrick made a “significant impact on our organization.” He credited her for “helping to scrub our partner network and elevate our licensing business with global retail partnerships such as Zara, H&M, Colette and others.”

Other high-ranking marketing executive who have left PepsiCo recently include Morgan Flatley, the former CMO for Gatorade and Propel, who left in April of 2017 to become U.S. CMO for McDonald’s. Carla Hassan, formerly PepsiCo’s senior VP for brand management for the global beverage group, departed PepsiCo in January of 2017 to join Toys R Us as CMO.