16206: Unloading The Same Old Diversity Bullshit From Adland.

  

Campaign published a perspective from One Twelve Agency Co-Founder and Managing Director Hannah Campbell, who sought to explain why diversity initiatives are a load of BS. While there’s not much new in the perspective, it’s always helpful to repeatedly recognize bullshit—and call it out too.

 

Why diversity initiatives are a load of BS

 

The industry likes to embrace diversity, but most D&I schemes lack effectiveness and can be counterproductive.

 

By Hannah Campbell

 

One evening during my first year of university, I upset a lot of people. I was at a social gathering with a group of predominantly black students.

 

We were drinking and putting the world to rights when the topic of diversity came up in the context of employment and jobs. I boldly declared: “I don’t believe in positive discrimination, I’d hate to think I got the job due to ticking an ethnicity or gender box rather than the fact that I was the best candidate for the job.”

 

To my horror the room went silent and then in unison everyone started shouting at me. Ten months later, I left.

 

That evening was an early lesson for me on my privilege and how it shapes my views of the world. As a privately-educated young woman, with a non-foreign sounding name who excelled academically, I was used to achieving based on merit and hard work.

 

So therefore, I just didn’t see the difficulties of other young black people who were less privileged than me.

 

In fact, we all have privilege and we all need to understand that not everyone has had the same privileges. This can shape our views and mean that we have blind spots when it comes to other people.

 

Trying to get it right can be uncomfortable, but getting rid of the blind spots is important work.

 

So, why is this relevant? Most people in the creative industries are sold on diversity and inclusion, right?

 

We know it boosts creativity, it means companies can attract and retain the best talent, it’s great for profit and it makes things more interesting.

 

But that’s the thing, I don’t believe most diversity schemes are effective. I believe in their aim; I believe businesses create and roll out these schemes to do good.

 

I also know from my own lived experience that there is a real problem with them because they are simply not doing enough. And sometimes they can be depressingly counterproductive.

 

I worked for an agency that was, on paper really diverse, with a black woman and an Asian woman in the senior team and lots of diverse junior staff. But not one of us was ever given the room to lead on the creative or to input our ideas on pitches or with clients.

 

According to a recent Media for All study, over half of black, Asian and global majority ethnic professionals are experiencing discrimination in the industry and 85% of the same group are likely to leave the industry due to lack of inclusion.

 

The survey found that senior white men believed the most progress had been made since George Floyd’s death, but younger black women’s lived experiences say otherwise.

 

This is dangerous because it can mean that senior leaders believe the work has been done and they can move on, leaving those from diverse backgrounds to continue to be impacted and discriminated against. And that’s not even touching on the underrepresentation of disabled people and LGBTQ people.

 

At the same time, many brands leverage different cultures, groups, spaces and themes to get their messaging across. Chivas Regal leverages rap culture and black-originated music, Havana Club leverages popular West African culture and music and Absolut does a lot with LGBTQ communities.

 

I cannot stress enough that if brands want to do this, it has to be authentic. I am the first to admit that that word is overused in advertising, but I can’t think of a better way to put it.

 

Authentic means to be genuine, to not be a copy. However, how can brands run these campaigns authentically, if they don’t come from and have a deep understanding of the groups they are leveraging and targeting?

 

Accurate representation is important across all groups including by age and sexual orientation and the benefits of getting this right are endless – authenticity, credibility, brand affinity, brand consideration – all of which translates into profit.

 

But getting this wrong could be disastrous – some brands are too scared to touch diverse campaigns and lose out on sales/ROI and new customers.

 

So, here are four top tips that should help you do away with the diversity BS:

 

1. If your teams do not have the lived experience, interest, passion etc that is being represented in a campaign, leave it alone, bring in a specialist agency to partner on the project with, or at the very least hire a freelance consultant to help.

 

2. Don’t use language or slang that you do not completely and contextually understand. For example, the term ‘soft life’. You might have heard of it. It comes from Nigerian women and was made popular online. The number of brands who have jumped on the bandwagon and got it wrong is embarrassingly large.

 

3. Although I don’t think most D&I initiatives are doing enough, if you have one, ensure they are working for the people that they are there to serve. Check in that the young Black woman in your team actually feels included and has a chance to share her creative ideas. Check in with that young gay man, that he can share his lived experience and be represented in campaigns. Talk regularly to the disabled team member and make sure that they feel included and can share their experiences.

 

4. Include diverse representation in campaigns even if the brief does not specify it.

 

It would be amazing to see adverts that are nationally representative of the population as per the stats – this includes disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and neurodiversity.

 

And no, just having couples of different races really isn’t enough.

16205: Expanding Heat Shields & Hot Air.

 

AgencySpy posted on the latest heat shield maneuvers from The One Club and Allies in Recruitment (aka AIR). Hey, if adidas went after Black Lives Matter for logo-related copyright infringement, surely Nike must be considering legal action in this scenario.

 

The One Club and Allies in Recruiting Expand Equify Diversity Certification Program

 

By Kyle O’Brien

 

The One Club for Creativity and Allies in Recruiting (AIR) have expanded their Equify diversity training and certification program to help both senior executives and staff create more inclusive and equitable practices in their organizations.

 

Equify was developed for AIR in 2020 by James Kinney, global chief people officer at Media.Monks—who recently launched the Advertising Alliance for Mental Health—and an AIR founding partner and board advisor, to establish foundational best practices for inclusion education across organizations. AIR became part of The One Club in July 2022.

 

The audio program—with closed captioning available—goes into detail about diversity, equity and inclusion and how it affects work culture. Equify uses clear examples to cover topics across generations, cultural and gender identity, accessibility and ableism, sustainability and more to unite, mobilize and create changemakers within an organization, according to The One Club.

 

Equify is designed for everyone from senior executives, hiring managers, talent and HR teams, to any employee who participates in hiring or wants to create a more inclusive culture in their workplace. It is designed to bridge the knowledge gap between how organizations hire talent, and how diverse talent can be supported, included and retained.

 

The global program now includes two separate courses, each structured like a podcast. The new Equify 2.0 spans 11 chapters, addressing subjects including environmental, social and governance and DEI, how and why to collect diversity data, and mental health and diversity. The courses reflect Kinney’s engaging personality, taking an enjoyable, relatable approach to the subject matter.

 

“I’m in war mode, and in a war mood, in order to get DEI and culture back on track.” said Kinney in a statement. “We’ve made so much meaningful progress, but now is not the time to go to sleep on the mission. Our industry is shifting by the day, and Equify gives us a common language of belonging and a knowledge base to unify. This moment and the new era of creativity is about knowledge, facts and growth, not fear.”

 

The initial program has already been well received by the industry.

 

“In the last few years, we’ve seen so many impactful but disconnected DEI efforts in our industry,” said Dani Herrera, director, recruitment operations and DEI at R/GA in a statement. “I see Equify as a cornerstone and the foundation of DEI knowledge that pushes our industry to achieve sustainable, collective, and meaningful change.”

 

Mabel Liang, senior talent acquisition partner at Nike, added that Equify breaks the content down into short sessions with a theme and structure like a podcast, making it easy to listen to at someone’s own pace.

 

“True long-term change requires education for all members of an organization,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club in a statement. “We’re proud to work with AIR on this expanded Equify program designed to build a shared foundation of diversity and inclusion knowledge, understanding, and best practices for both leaders and teams at agencies and brands.”

 

Equify is the latest in a line of DEI programs available from The One Club, including the annual Where Are All the Black People diversity conference and job fair, One School free portfolio program for Black creatives in the U.S. and U.K., and global creative boot camps.

16204: Need Quick, Cheap Copy? Try Panda Express…?

 

Panda Copy offers “KICK-A$$ COPYWRITING MADE SIMPLE.” The service claims to use humans versus AI, yet only charges $49 per week for unlimited copy. So, it would be interesting to learn what the humans are being paid—and if they are toiling in a Chinese sweatshop…

 

16203: TGIF—CDO DE&I BS WTF PT. 2.

Digiday published the second part in a series on DE&I at White advertising agencies. The first part underscored how DE&I in Adland is a lot of performative PR. The second installment shows how firms are excreting bigger piles of bullshit, erecting and fortifying diversionary heat shields—as well as culturally clueless consultancies—and now directing Human Heat Shields to promote the faux progressiveness.

 

The Digiday piece is titled, “How agencies are shaping the future of DEI beyond their own walls.” Um, White advertising agencies are “shaping the future of DEI” by producing and perpetuating smokescreens vs. addressing the issue within their own walls and serving as models of behavioral change.

 

In short, agencies are absolutely preventing any hope for the future of DEI, standing firmly in the past and present systemic racism.

 

How agencies are shaping the future of DEI beyond their own walls

 

By Antoinette Siu

 

This is part 2 in our series about diversity at agencies. [Part 1 discusses organizational progress, strategic leadership and challenges in DEI.]

 

Amidst a slew of post-pandemic epiphanies, agencies are acknowledging their role in expanding their diversity efforts to support a more inclusive industry.

 

In addition to improving employee representation, agencies are broadening their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts for clients, too, by focusing on recruitment, retention and client services.

 

That means a DEI strategy at Publicis Groupe U.S. that stretches from the “workplace to the marketplace,” said Geraldine White, chief diversity officer at the agency. With a staff of roughly 26,000 in the U.S. and 100,000 globally, White said Publicis’ approach to increasing diversity needs to involve the client, team and brand sides — challenges given the company’s breadth of the company and entrenched biases in many places.

 

“None of these conversations are new, unfortunately,” White told Digiday. “Because there’s so much that is systemically embedded, you need to apply systems thinking, change management and governance to actually be able to unravel what is … embedded. And that’s in our industry and outside of it.”

 

In June 2022, Publicis Groupe reported a 17.5% increase in the percentage of non-white staffers compared to 2021, totaling 34.4% across the company. Its global workforce is 51% women. In addition to pledging to update these numbers annually, Publicis said it will invest 45 million euros over three years on diversity, inclusion and social justice. Funding goes to programs, such as training for Black talent, an interactive forum called Multicultural Talent Partnership, apprenticeships and support for organizations fighting racism and inequalities.

 

Moving beyond the agency to external efforts

 

Agencies are feeling the pressure to step up from clients, who White noted are holding the agency “accountable.” “For the majority of RFPs, RFIs, conversations around growth, we are asked about our diversity commitments — but also how we are actually acting on and achieving them,” White added. “And our ability to be able to transparently share that also leads to greater and deeper relationships with clients.”

 

Guided by Good, the parent organization of agency 22Squared, offers internal programs ranging from training and recruiting to forums and mentorship for employees. But Janis Middleton, evp and executive director of inclusion strategy there, acknowledged that she is currently thinking about how to engage on the client and supplier level.

 

“I’ve always had in the back of my mind, I’ve got to get back to the client work,” she said. “We’ve got to bring the clients on because we had to clean up our own backyard. You can’t get the blind leading the blind, and can’t guide people if we don’t even know what we’re doing.”

 

Recently the company developed an offering for clients called Embrace, to help them build inclusive work and culture. And the company offers employees workshops on topics like “actionable habits” and “authentic selves.”

 

“I think supplier diversity is a whole other ballgame that it’s time for us to step into,” Middleton added. “I would love to put a structure in place to properly track it. But from a media perspective, from a production perspective, from a freelance perspective, I think it’s time to focus on supplier diversity.”

 

Lisa Torres, president of multicultural at Publicis Media, also said many recent agency initiatives in supplier diversity focus on the short-term of upping spending toward minority-owned media — “sometimes committing to a percentage of spend that isn’t theirs to control, but rather their clients.”

 

“How can we buy more inventory across diverse owned, targeted and operated properties if that supply does not exist, or partners do not have the means to make that supply available to advertisers?” Torres said.

 

In 2021, Publicis launched its Once & For All Coalition to create more equitable representation for diverse media suppliers. It currently counts some 60 members — consisting of suppliers, brand marketers and industry organizations — that have 50% higher budget allocations toward minority media than non-members, and engage with 40% more diverse-owned and targeted suppliers, according to the company.

 

Engaging the future workforce

 

Some of the agencies’ external efforts aim to build connections with schools and universities to fill the recruitment pipeline earlier in the process.

 

IPG’s UM Worldwide wants to build media and university partners through a program called Curriculum, said chief diversity officer Jeff Marshall, which includes visiting university campuses to recruit.

 

One of its partnerships with Vox Media offers a free media and advertising course for college students. The nine-module course gives insight into the media and advertising industry, invitation to private events and a LinkedIn badge after completion. After continuing for three semesters, Marshall said the goal is to increase the current average completion rate of 100 students per semester.

 

“It’s given us kind of a really interesting space to play in when we’re chatting with universities and with students and trying to attract people,” he said.

 

Angela Seits, head of strategy and insights at PMG, mentioned similar goals in engaging with the students and graduates. Seits sits on a diversity steering committee created in 2020. In 2022, PMG partnered with Tarrant County College to offer digital career training in data, analytics and e-commerce. The goal is to train more than 1,000 students by 2028, with PMG committing $50,000 in scholarships to 50 students over the next five years.

 

“Agencies have a much greater role to play in shaping an inclusive media landscape,” Seits said.

 

Publicis is similarly developing training and career development for diverse communities. Its remote learning program, or Open Apprenticeship, is structured with different apprenticeships across creative industries and offers practice with access to live briefs with real clients. The pillars include brand marketing, creative, tech and data and media and public relations.

 

White acknowledged that agencies need to strive for more gender and ethnicity representation — but should not overlook areas of leadership diversity and balance or career support.

 

“So having a sense of being at or near parity is great, but what does that mean from a career trajectory standpoint?” White said. “How are we further establishing what that means for women in leadership roles? But again, it all comes back to not just the number — what is our accountability beyond just the representation?”

16202: Honey, Popeyes Got A Brand New AOR.

 

That was quick. Advertising Age reported Popeyes picked a new White advertising agency of record—McKinney—after a short shootout. A new campaign will highlight New Orleans and support franchisees. Wow, those are original creative directions for the fried chicken brand. Maybe Annie will rise like a Chicken Queen from the ashes.

 

16201: Black Lives Do Matter To Adidas…

 

In France, adidas and White advertising agency MNSTR created the Club Originals campaign, embracing club culture. Gee, who’s ripping off whom?

 

16200: What Are The Qualifications For Managing To Direct A White Advertising Agency…?

 

Adweek published a report on managing directors, which included stating, “According to many job boards, the managing director is the highest-ranking manager in the organization, often just below the CEO or president. The position oversees all the activities at the agency: operations, managing resources, instituting strategic goals, and helping grow the agency and its culture.”

 

Okay, so are there no Managing Directors of Color in Adland that could have been depicted? There appear to be a few Latinas in the group, but still…

16199: Overreaction Of The Week.

The YWCA Until Justice Just Is campaign spotlighted in the previous post features a billboard (depicted above) with a headline that reads: As Long As They Can’t Breathe, We Can’t Stop.

 

Who’s They and who’s We? Kinda feels like We are talking about They—i.e., Them people…

 

Also, there’s way too much copy for a billboard, the call-to-action is illegible, and the client’s logo is too small.

16198: Just About YWCA + VSA.

 

The Until Justice Just Is campaign from the YWCA is explained as follows:

 

The YWCA is famous for its advocacy and support for women. But the organization has also stood on the front lines of eliminating racism for well over a century. As the racial divide in the U.S. deepened and grew more painful following the death of George Floyd, calls to the YWCA poured in from corporations and individuals who were looking for a strong, visible partner to focus their efforts and resources in fighting for the end of racial injustice.

 

At this crucial moment, we worked hand in hand with the YWCA to reassert that its mission served—and advanced—the modern-day movement of social justice among people of color. The “Until Justice Just Is” platform, launched over the July 4 holiday, went beyond conventional campaign thinking to provide an actionable way for major corporations and individuals make an enduring commitment: they signed a visible pledge to act and joined the YWCA to eliminate institutional racism through their donations, and through the implementation of new policies and procedures within their own organizations and lives.

 

VSA Partners—an enterprise hyping itself as “a hybrid brand strategy and design agency”—hatched the concept. A peek at the firm’s leadership shows the place looks like a standard White advertising agency, and the creative team taking credit for the work appears to be a predominately Caucasian crew.

 

As VSA Partners is listed among the corporate signers of the visible pledge, maybe they’ll consider dismantling the institutional racism in their own offices and lives. Otherwise, the YWCA should think about replacing VSA Partners with the Village People, who are more diverse and at least have experience with the YMCA.

 

16197: ChatGPT, ExclusivityBS.

 

Digiday polled a bunch of creative directors for opinions on the emergence of ChatGPT. Appropriately enough, the group was predominately comprised of White men—underscoring the machine-like way that Adland continues to exclusively hire and promote Caucasians.

 

Creative directors weigh in on the rise of ChatGPT

 

By Tony Case

 

Struggling with writer’s block? One company has a solution.

 

U.K.-based gaming and sports software maker Monterosa recently announced the launch of its “Content Helper,” powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to aid creators in “generating interactive content on the fly.” Polls, predictions and quizzes are just some of what the product helps users concoct, “potentially saving hours of content-creation time,” according to the company.

 

But are such innovations to be viewed as a helpmate of creators or a futuristic foil?

 

Chatbot technology has been hailed as a “secret weapon” for optimizing content on the web — and at the same time criticized for threatening to flood the internet, particularly social media, with fake information.

 

While some marketers are proceeding with caution, considering the brand safety risks, agency creative directors who produce these companies’ multimillion-dollar ad campaigns have largely embraced chatbots as the latest, coolest tech tool — while conceding that it’s all a bit eerie, like something out of sci-fi movie “Ex Machina.”

 

Here’s what some creative directors had to say about the buzziest technology around (responses have been edited for brevity and clarity):

 

“I love it. The ability to collaborate and expand your thinking — and then execute that thinking — is endless.” – Peter Nicholson, chief creative officer, ad agency Hill Holliday.

 

“I may or may not have used ChatGPT to jumpstart my thinking on this POV: Generative AI and ChatGPT are already transforming our industry. From creating text, imagery and even music, this tech simply opens us up to new creative expressions and I believe will prove to be tools that help spike our curiosity, imaginations and, yes, even our anxiety that we can be replaced and will have to sharpen our own skills to remain competitive. Show me a creative who doesn’t already feel that way on a daily basis.” – Lori Martin, vp, group creative director, Innocean USA.

 

“Advertising claims to embrace disruption, but it only exploits accelerationism –– continuing to benefit the powerful. AI being open source is true disruption because the tools are in our hands. The ‘paradigm shift’ (hello buzzword that makes it into every pitch deck) is finally here.” – Daniel Gonzalez, creative director, Remezcla.

 

“Advertising is full of formulae and tricks. Want to sell a new more powerful tennis racket? Show a tennis ball in the shape of a grenade. Job done. AI could do that. But something like Steven Wright’s ‘It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to have to paint it’? A machine can’t do that yet. And as long as that’s true, I will have an advantage over a machine. Also, the fact that I’m flawed enough to believe I have an advantage might just be the biggest advantage I have. Unless AI kills us all. In which case I was wrong.” – Richard Ryan, creative director, Something Different.

 

“Generative AI solutions are some of the most powerful and transformative tools at the creative director’s disposal since Figma [web design tool] launched last decade. These tools don’t threaten the creative director’s job — they make creatives more effective.” – Aaron Shapiro, founder and chairman, Product.

 

“I’m interested in it and see great potential use for it as a tool that can inspire or unburden people to be truly creative. I love robots — always have. But humans are still the undefeated world heavyweight champs of creativity.” – Michael Stelmaszek, partner and CCO, Ludwig+.

 

“When it comes to the hard work of deciding where to spend a brand’s dollars, I’ll take a passionate, talented creative human over a robot every day of the week.” – John Cornette, CCO, EP+Co.

 

“People who’ve had it hard despise the easy ways. There’s a certain elitism associated with mastering a skill. It takes time and effort. Daguerrotype instilled uncertainty in the hearts of French painters. A similar reaction among the creative community is produced by the modern [AI-generative art tools] Midjourney, ChatGPT and DALL-E.” – Dmitrii Osipovskii, digital creative director, PPK.

 

“Just as fire, the camera or Photoshop are mere tools, we must remember that our creativity is what truly sets us apart.” – Nim Shapira, creative director, JOAN. 

 

“As long as there are brands that firmly believe in standing apart from the competition and invest in the notion that creativity not only sells but can truly build lasting relationships with their customers, then there will always be the need for talented and skillful scribes whose passion, curiosity and cleverness will never be matched by any arrangement of algorithms. If that day does come, however, well then, you can find me at Walmart working as a door greeter.” – Scott Dahl, vp, group creative director, Periscope.

 

“We’ve seen a lot of cool demos and use cases with creative AI. I’m excited to see models become smarter and more efficient, making these tools more accessible.” – Marcus White, creative director, Grow.

 

“Our goal is to continue using and exploring the technology, and not just from a creative perspective. The underlying evolution of natural language processing has incredible implications across the business for intelligence and strategy. Where we go next is going to be pretty extraordinary. – Greg Farley, executive creative director – Detroit, Fusion92.

16196: He Gets Us Rises For Holy Season.

 

The He Gets Us campaign—designed to create “a movement to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible”—has launched a seasonal promotion to run during the Christian religious observances of Lent and Easter.

 

Playing off the biblical account where Jesus resurrected Lazarus from the dead, the campaign takes a special Adland twist. Specifically, multichannel tactics show Jesus bringing Aunt Jemima back to life.

 

“Our goal has always been to produce breakthrough, provocative messages that capture people’s attention,” explained the creative director behind the work. “And hell yes, we’re also praying this concept will collect goddamned awards.”

 

The creative director added, “Resurrecting Aunt Jemima is a way for us to celebrate Black Lives Matter too.”