17396: No Flowers For International Women’s Day…?

 

International Women’s Day 2026 campaign theme reads: Give To Gain

 

Here’s the hype from the official IWD website:

 

When we give, we gain.

 

Together, let’s help forge gender equality through abundant giving.

 

The IWD 2026 Give To Gain Campaign encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration.

 

Give To Gain emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organizations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it's intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise.

 

Whether through donations, knowledge, resources, infrastructure, visibility, advocacy, education, training, mentoring, or time, contributing to women's advancement helps create a more supportive and interconnected world.

 

What will you Give to Gain gender equality?

 

Okay, but the campaign imagery looks like women are begging for handouts.

 

Since celebrating International Women’s Day could be considered a DEIBA+ stunt, it appears Adland diminished performative propaganda for IWD this year.

 

For White women, Adland continues to present a diversity of disrespect—including gender pay gaps, sexual harassment, unequal opportunities, indifference for maternity and menopause, and much more.

 

For women of color, things get even worse.

 

The global industry presents unfair challenges to women on International Women’s Day—and all year long.

17395: Disempowerment Disembowelment.

 

Advertising Age published a perspective from a White woman advocating for fighting in Adland’s “new era of disempowerment.”

 

Technically, it should be labeled renewed era of disempowerment—as it’s really the revivals of gender inequality and systemic racism.

 

Hey, you know the DEIBA+ dream is being deferred, disrespected, and denied when even White women are feeling the abandonment of faux commitment to the cause.

 

How to keep fighting in advertising’s new era of disempowerment

 

By Mindy Goldberg

 

Let’s just say it: advertising is in a new era of disempowerment, and if you’re a woman, a person of color or someone who actually cares about the creative work, you’re feeling it.

 

This isn’t subtle anymore. It’s about wielding financial power, and nobody’s pretending otherwise. Business ethics and respect have left the building at the corporate level, and the rest of us are in survival mode—watching a political climate shift in ways that will cost people jobs, benefits and ground that took decades to gain. And yes, it will land hardest on the people who can least afford it. It always does.

 

I started a production company in 1989. I’ve been a woman in this industry for over 30 years, and I want to be clear: it was never easy. There was always some version of the same deal on the table: stroke the right egos, do the work, learn the craft, be capable and warm and non-threatening all at once—and maybe, maybe you’d advance. The business was 99% white, and women were largely expected to support the men in charge.

 

In the last decade, you could feel momentum building toward change. Initiatives like Free the Bid opened doors and created real opportunity for women and other underrepresented voices. For a moment, it felt like history was bending in a new direction. But the progress didn’t stick.

 

We knew the prejudice was there. It knew we knew. There was an unspoken arrangement: keep your head down, and it would keep its voice down.

 

That arrangement is over.

 

What’s shifted isn’t just policy. It’s permission. The disrespect that once operated in whispers no longer bothers to whisper. Look at who is still at the top. It’s familiar. A lot of what passed for progress didn’t run very deep.

 

For those of us on the creative production side, there’s another layer.

 

The actual craft, the whole thing this industry claims to value, is being financially and ethically gutted by people who see it as a line item. As budgets tighten and timelines compress, risk is pushed downstream. “Efficiency” at the top is made possible by uncompensated labor further down the chain. We’re not talking about a few extra hours. It’s weeks of unbillable work—bidding cities, holding vendors, calling crews, building schedules—before a job is awarded, before a director is recommended, sometimes before it’s killed altogether.

 

Business practices have never been less efficient.

 

Efficiency is easy when someone else absorbs the cost.

 

Production companies like mine—built over decades on talent, relationships and creative commitment—are watching decision-making shift away from creative leadership and toward the bottom line. Ethical business practices are seen as old-fashioned. The soul of the work is an inconvenience.

 

So. What do we do with that?

 

Here’s what I know after 30-plus years of building something on my own terms: you cannot outsource your values. Not to a company. Not to a movement. Not to a political moment that may look completely different in 18 months. What holds is what you actually do.

 

The hiring decision.

 

The pushback against unfair business practices.

 

The moment in the room where you could stay quiet—and don’t.

 

That’s the work.

 

Toni Morrison said it simply: “If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

 

That’s still the job.

 

Mindy Goldberg founded Epoch Films in 1989 with a mission to introduce filmmakers with a unique perspective to the advertising world.

17394: TGIFired Day.

MediaPost reported President Donald J. Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, declaring she lied to Congress about receiving his approval for a $220 million advertising campaign.

 

In short, the Gaslighter-in-Chief axed a White woman for producing advertisements without permission and replaced her with a White man—plus, he announced the moves on social media.

 

Now Trump can boast, “We ended DEI in America—and Adland too!”

 

Yep, President Donald J. Trump is angling to repeat as White Man Of The Year in 2026.

 

Trump Said Noem Lied About $220M Ad Campaign

 

By Tanya Gazdik

 

President Donald Trump has fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after stating that she lied to Congress about getting his approval for a $220 million ad campaign.

 

“I never knew anything about it,” Trump told Reuters in a phone interview.

 

Two sources close to the White House told the New York Post that Trump is furious that Noem testified that he approved of the ads — and set in motion his later move to fire her, the first cabinet shakeup of his second term. 

 

Trump fired Noem on Truth Social and announced Sen. Markwayne Mullen (R-Okla.) as her replacement.

 

Noem faced bipartisan criticism over the commercials during U.S. congressional hearings this week.

 

“The ad features Noem, donning a cowboy hat on horseback, moving out of a wooded clearing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the state where she was formerly the governor,” according to The Hill. 

 

“Why do I love these wide open spaces?” Noem asks. “They remind me of why our forefathers came here. Not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides.”

 

Lauren Bis, Department of Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary, said the international ad campaign prompted more than 2.2 million illegal immigrants to self-deport and saved taxpayers more than $39 billion, according to Fox News. 

 

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin tore into Noem with a blistering series of criticisms to her face on Wednesday.

 

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee accused Noem of using billions of dollars given to DHS as a “personal slush fund” for her glitzy ad campaign and luxury jet travel, according to The Daily Beast.

 

“You budgeted an astonishing $220 million for media consultant contracts so you can star in self-promoting photo shoots and lavish ad campaigns featuring the Lifestyles of Rich and Famous Cabinet Secretaries, like this one of you on horseback at Mount Rushmore, which was shot during last year’s government shutdown,” Raskin said.

17393: Whitewashing Mr. Clean Retirement…?

Adweek reported the retirement of Mr. Clean was a campaign stunt after all.

 

Just goes to show that despite accusations of ageism in Adland, Old White Guys rule—and the Whiter, the better.

 

Mr. Clean Returns From Retirement After Just 2 Weeks With a Product Glow-Up 

 

The P&G brand is the latest to ‘kill off’ and resurrect a mascot.

 

By Brittaney Kiefer

 

Mr. Clean recently sent the internet into meltdown when he announced his retirement as the eponymous mascot of Procter & Gamble’s cleaning supplies brand after 68 years. 

 

But the bald, buff character couldn’t stay idle for long. Today (March 4), after just two weeks in retirement, Mr. Clean is back to usher in a new era for the brand.

 

Mr. Clean’s return introduces a major product overhaul, including the biggest upgrade to the Magic Eraser in 20 years, a new shower and tub scrubber, and new scents for the multi-purpose cleaner lineup. 

 

A film revealing the mascot’s comeback rolled out on Mr. Clean’s social channels. The brand is also hosting an “unretirement” event in New York City, where media and creators can see product demos.

 

“I’m proud to share that I’m back,” Mr. Clean said in a statement. “I tried to stay retired, but the ideas got too big. The magic of cleaning called me back.” 

 

The departure and subsequent return of the larger-than-life cleaning icon, who made his TV debut in 1958, came to life through a social campaign created by PGOne, Publicis Groupe’s bespoke unit for P&G, and led by PR and communications agency MSL.

 

Mr. Clean announced his retirement on Instagram and TikTok on Feb. 18, with a video in which he wears a Hawaiian shirt and stands behind a lectern at a faux press conference. He later shared a screenshot from his iPhone’s Notes app, confirming that “the rumors are true” about him stepping out of the limelight.

 

“I’m saying goodbye to the world of cleaning in pursuit of new hobbies,” he wrote, signing the note “Veritably,” his first name.

 

Mr. Clean’s retirement garnered headlines in outlets including The New York Times, Forbes, USA Today, and E! News. A P&G spokesperson said at the time that the brand wouldn’t be changing its packaging, hinting that the figure’s exit might only be temporary. 

 

In his two weeks out of work, Mr. Clean posted about how he was keeping busy, like training for a marathon and doing crossword puzzles. His new hobbies sparked inspiration for the brand’s latest product innovation.

 

In a partnership with Zillow, the brand created a listing for Mr. Clean’s four-bedroom Maui retirement pad, now that he’ll no longer need it.

 

Brand mascots keep ‘dying’ and coming back

 

Mr. Clean is just the latest brand to temporarily retire their mascot.

 

Last year, language learning app Duolingo killed off its green owl Duo via a collision with a Tesla Cybertruck. Just a week later, Duo was resurrected. 

 

And in 2020, Planters’ Mr. Peanut supposedly met his end in an explosion of his vehicle, the NutMobile. He was later reborn in a Super Bowl commercial as Baby Nut, proving that reincarnation is real, at least in the world of brand mascots.

 

These mascot antics are part of a trend of brands developing their characters as social media personalities who can appeal to younger audiences.

17392: Regarding Repositioning, Reframing, And Rejiggering At BBDO.

 

Digiday interviewed the BBDO Global Chief Client Experience Officer, a newly created role at the White advertising agency.

 

According to Digiday, “BBDO is repositioning itself to court clients more proactively.”

 

Is the repositioning intentional—or is it the result of radical restructuring, revamping, redundancies, and RIFs at Omnicom?

 

As hold cos restructure, BBDO reframes client relationships

 

By Kimeko McCoy

 

Holding companies are having an identity crisis. Between mergers and acquisitions, whistleblowers and generative AI, clients are largely overwhelmed and confidence is shaken. 

 

In the midst of scale and promises of AI-enabled tech efficiencies, BBDO is repositioning itself to court clients more proactively. The Omnicom-backed creative agency this month revamped what traditional account leadership looks like, hiring Daale Carter, formerly president of Energy BBDO, into the newly created global chief client experience officer role at BBDO.

 

“There are a lot of capability stories out there. There aren’t a lot of stories or pictures about the client’s experience,” Carter told Digiday. “We’re really trying to look at how we use client experiences as a true differentiator that we showcase.”

 

As the hold co model changes, and competition gets stiffer, clients are reassessing how they want to work with agency partners. It’s not that the client experience has been forgotten, Carter said, but in the push to scale, clients are getting lost in the shuffle. 

 

Digiday caught up with Carter about her new role, AI expectations and post-merger plans.

 

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

 

What’s the purpose of your role — the newly created role of global chief experience officer? 

 

I’m sure there’s no surprise, there has been a lot of change and transition across the ad world — and more specifically, within Omnicom. Part of that change comes a lot of scale, a lot of access to really great tools and technology. But for BBDO specifically — and actually, Omnicom has introduced this role at the holding company level as well — was just a realization that, as you’re scaling, there’s sometimes such a strong focus on that scale and the tools and tech that the client and their experience maybe gets lost in the narrative. 

 

What exactly does that look like in practice?

 

One of the things that we did as an example is account management is seen as the gateway or the owner of the client relationship when actually it’s the responsibility of every single person that touches client business. We also got rid of the term account management, and shifted it to business leadership, and I think the crux of what was missing lies there, because clients want to be led. Clients don’t want to reach out to their agencies and have agencies just be responsive. They want agencies to truly lead them.

 

The other thing that has been a real shift for BBDO is a real relentless focus on clients’ business challenges. Because when you’re a creative agency, sometimes the expectation is superficial. It doesn’t matter how you get there, you get a brief. If you land on a really amazing, creative exercise, all the work is done. But if you think about the scale of issues that clients are facing today, they can’t all just be solved in a really beautiful creative campaign. They’ve got real numerical, socioeconomic pressure. 

 

How does the agency shift from “traditional agency” to “enterprise partner” (especially with AI) change BBDO’s client pitch?

 

Relationships become ever more critical because in our conversations, clients are looking for us to guide them. They’ve got AI overload. They’ve got tech overload, and they’re looking for guidance from a real human being that says, “This makes sense for my business, and this is how we should utilize it or we shouldn’t.” I had a client who had come to us and essentially had said, “I’ve written scripts. I’ve put some stuff into AI and it’s come out with scripts.” And then they admitted that the scripts were devoid of any level of humanity or relativity and what they really were saying was, “I want you to show me how you’re using AI to be forward-facing or to be future fit as you think about the creative process.” They didn’t necessarily want to write their own scripts using AI.
They were looking to see us guide them in terms of how they should be thinking about AI.

 

Post-IPG Omnicom merger, what’s been the sentiment from clients?

 

They just wanted to be kept abreast of what the changes are and how we’re building. That’s what they’ve cared the most about, and that’s what we have been committed to. We use the term the Year of Distraction. It’s been a distraction for the industry, for the agency, for our clients, and the way that we’ve been able to manage that is not to be distracted in how we work with our clients and just to focus. That being said, the media tells me that there are lots of clients who have concerns. That’s just not our real experience on the ground. In general, if you have strong relationships with your clients, to the point why relationships are so important, it’s not impacted by that.

 

Considering the headlines around conflict of interest, mergers, layoffs, principal media buying, etc. what’s BBDO’s pitch to win new business?

 

Despite all of this, you cannot get lost because we are committed to the plan experience at the core.

17391: WPP & McKinsey & Company & WTF & BS.

 

As widely reported, the Roserrection of WPP—Elevate 28—was hatched in consultative collaboration with McKinsey & Company.

 

The partnership represents a fundamental failing for WPP: that is, a White holding company boasting capabilities for delivering world-class strategies, concepts, and executions to enhance brands’ businesses is incapable of providing such services to itself.

 

It’s a classic “Physician, heal thyself” scenario.

 

What makes this mess extra disturbing is highlighted in a recent Harvard Business Review interview with McKinsey & Company Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels.

 

Sternfels’ statements from the HBR interview include:

 

·      “We’re coming around to the conviction that we’re migrating away from pure advisory work, away from a fee-for-service model. We’re moving to more of an outcomes-based model, where we identify a joint business case with our clients, and we underwrite the outcome by tying our fees to the impact our work delivers for them.”

 

·      “Beyond that, I hope we complete the journey from being an adviser to being an impact partner.”

 

Regarding the outcomes-based pay scheme being explored by the White holding company, WPP CEO Cindy Rose said, “By shifting our revenue profile from being unpredictable and episodic to being much higher quality, recurring revenue that can be linked directly to the outcomes we deliver for our clients. … A commercial model that is more closely linked to client outcomes will enable us, over time, to move away from time and materials.”

 

Declaring WPP is no longer a White holding company, Rose said, “We’re a single operating company, and our mission is changing. We want to be a trusted growth partner for our clients in the era of AI.”

 

In short, it looks like McKinsey & Company took its own PowerPoint vision template and replaced M&C with WPP. Plus, the consultancy supplemented the half-assed effort by instructing Rose to copy other global holding companies’ tactics.

 

Hopefully, McKinsey & Company does not have an outcomes-based pay arrangement in this case. Otherwise, they might have to give WPP a significant refund.

17390: WPPress Coverage.

 

Advertising Age, Adweek, and other trade publications reported on the Roserrection of WPP—a three-year Hail Mary game plan dubbed Elevate 28, designed to be a turnaround maneuver for the White holding company.

 

WPP CEO Cindy Rose declared the enterprise was “no longer a [White] holding company.”

 

“We’re a single [White] operating company, and our mission is changing,” Rose explained. “We want to be a trusted growth partner for our clients in the era of AI.”

 

Okay, except Rose’s grand vision sounds exactly like the mad dreams of every holding company: simplified restructuring, AI reinvesting, asset rejecting, real estate razing, and workforce reducing.

 

The Elevate 28 unveiling was accompanied by the official introduction of WPP Creative—a global banner over all White advertising agencies in the network. As previously noted, WPP Creative offers nothing original, copying what other holding companies have executed in recent years.

 

In summation: Elevate 28 should be renamed Eviscerate 28 and WPP Creative is an oxymoron.

 

Oh, and the voluminous press coverage for WPP makes zero mention of DEIBA+ initiatives.

 

WPP targets £500 million in annual savings—CEO on job cuts, potential agency sales and a big bet on principal media

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

WPP is targeting £500 million ($678 million) in annual cost savings by 2028 as part of a sweeping restructuring aimed at returning the struggling British agency holding company to growth. The overhaul was announced alongside a forecast of a steeper-than-expected revenue decline for this year.

 

Cindy Rose, who joined WPP as CEO less than six months ago, is working to reignite its growth at WPP after it was hit by declining sales and a string of client losses.

 

Rose said she plans to reinvest in growth areas such as AI and a new enterprise solutions unit that will combine data platforms and customer management tools for WPP’s clients. Savings will come from eliminating overlapping support functions in finance and human resources, cutting spending on real estate and disposing of assets.

 

The company announced that it’s planning a portfolio review this year to unlock value, without providing further details. Rose admitted there will be job cuts, but didn’t clarify how many.

 

“There’s duplication that we’re going to eliminate,” Rose told Ad Age. “There’s simplification within the organizational structure that we’re going to address. There are shared services and real estate. I’m amazed at how many buildings we own around the world. There’s a lot of opportunity—a lot of opportunity—for us to achieve that target.”

 

While Rose declined to comment on specific job cut numbers, she said the company would reinvest in roles in growth areas. WPP had about 98,655 employees as of December, down from 108,044 at the end of 2024.

 

High-growth areas include media, enterprise solutions and global client lead positions, including the formation of a new team called “client solution architects,” Rose said. In particular, the company will be looking for “AI-native” employees, she added.

 

The restructuring will divide the company into four main units—creative, production, media and enterprise solutions. Today, it announced that its creative agencies are being placed under a structure called WPP Creative. WPP consolidated its production capabilities as WPP Production last month, retiring the Hogarth name. WPP’s media buying unit, GroupM, was renamed WPP Media last May.

 

Rose also clarified that WPP is looking at potential sale opportunities for various assets.

 

“I can’t name specific assets, for obvious reasons, it would impact our sale process,” Rose said. We’ve done a strategic review of the entire group … looked at every single asset we own and partly own, and asked: ‘Is this part of the core integrated proposition, and are we the best owners?’ We’ve come up with our list and started a formal process to explore all the options available to us. Some of that might be outright disposals; some of that might be partial disposals and strategic partnerships.”

 

WPP also made it clear that principal-based media buying—when media agencies buy media and resell it to clients—is a big part of its turnaround plan.

 

Principal-based media buying “is very important … because clients are asking for it. There’s increasing demand for it. There’s a specific need for it, and we hope to shift our business mix within the media team more in that direction in the future,” Rose said in her interview with Ad Age.

 

This week, it was revealed that WPP had generated roughly $1 billion in net sales from “non-product related income,” including rebates and principal-based media buying, with annual growth targets of 15%, through a 2024 report shared in legal documents by a former WPP executive who is in the midst of a legal dispute with the holding company.

 

How WPP’s performance stacks up to rivals

 

WPP is coming off a difficult year. Like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs fell 6.9% in the fourth quarter and 5.5% in 2025, broadly in line with its latest guidance for a 5.5% to 6% decline. WPP had cut that outlook in October, after a previous forecast called for a 3% to 5% annual decline.

 

The company projected that like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs would fall by “mid to high-single digits” in the first half of 2026, followed by an “improving trajectory” in the second half. Analysts expected a 3.2% drop, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

 

In comparison, Publicis Groupe’s organic revenue rose 5.6% last year, and earlier this month it forecast 4% to 5% growth for 2026. Omnicom, the industry’s new largest player by revenue after acquiring Interpublic Group of Cos., did not provide a 2026 forecast when it released its fourth-quarter results last week.

 

WPP’s 2025 operating profit dropped 23% to £1.32 billion, and the company announced it is slashing its dividend for the year by 62% to 15 pence.

 

“Our recent underperformance has been driven by excessive organizational complexity, a lack of an integrated operating model and inconsistent strategic execution,” Rose said in a statement, adding that these issues are “all within our power to fix.”

 

WPP shares fell 5.6% to 257.2 pence at 08:33 a.m. in London on Thursday. They were down 67% over the past year.

 

—With reporting by Bloomberg

17389: Mr. Clean Makes Clean Break…?

 

E! News reported—or published corporate public relations hype—on the apparent retirement of Mr. Clean.

 

It’s likely a lame campaign stunt. After all, retiring a beloved White critter has received public backlash in recent years, as evidenced by the unretirement of the Cracker Barrel Old Timer.

 

No way will Mr. Clean be allowed to fade away, especially once news of his erasure reaches the brand’s significant White supremacist—er, supermarket—constituents.

 

Expect Old White Guys and Old White Gals to cry Mr. Clean is the victim of ageism too.

 

Mr. Clean Announces His Retirement After 68 Years on the Job

 

The Mr. Clean brand shared that its mascot, also named Mr. Clean, would be retiring after nearly 70 years. But it seems the bald icon has some exciting plans for the future.

 

By Brahmjot Kaur

 

Mr. Veritably Clean is putting down the magic eraser. 

 

After all, the Mr. Clean brand confirmed that its bald-headed mascot has stepped down from his role after nearly seven decades.

 

“It’s true, Mr. Clean has announced his retirement,” the company announced in a Feb. 18 TikTok video. “After a career with zero stains on the record, he’s ready for new adventures. But don’t worry, his products will continue to be available to support all your cleaning needs.”

 

And he’s already on island time. While Mr. Clean—who was introduced by the company in 1957—opted for a blue Hawaiian button-down at the press conference, his iconic white shirt was displayed in a frame alongside the podium. He concluded the meeting with a mic drop, although he was sure to wipe down the equipment before exiting.

 

The faux press conference was depicted as a live stream, with one user in the video commenting, “End of an era!” Meanwhile, another teased, “He looks too young to retire.”

 

Alongside the announcement, the company shared insight into the future of its cleaning supplies.

 

“While our products will continue to battle your dirt and grime, Mr. Clean, well, first name Veritably, (yes, really), is off to new adventures,” the caption read. “We know his journey will be fulfilling, and we support his decision.”

 

Mr. Clean was also sure to give his own statement after the news.

 

“I’m saying goodbye to the world of cleaning in pursuit of new hobbies,” he wrote in a Notes app screenshot posted on the company’s social media accounts Feb. 19. “Stay Clean.”

 

“I’ve seen it all, cleaned it all,” he added in the caption. “I think it’s finally time to hang up my white shirt.”

 

As for what Mr. Clean has been up to since his retirement? The company shared snaps of their former mascot DJing at a nightclub, hitting the slopes, running a marathon, experimenting in the kitchen and going on hikes.

 

“New hobby, who dis?” the Feb. 24 TikTok caption quipped. “Who said retirement had to be boring… #NewBeginnings #Reset.”

 

And he’s officially going by his first name, Veritably. As the company teased in their Feb. 23 TikTok post, “The name’s Veritably — Mr. Very if you’re clean.”