13178: ASA Defending White Women.

The Guardian reported the Advertising Standards Authority—UK’s advertising watchdog—launched an investigation over gender stereotyping in adverts. Given the admission that the “increasing political and public debate on equality issues” inspired the initiative, it’s safe to say this is another example of diverted diversity in adland. After all, the ASA is essentially segregating the “equality issues” to focus on protecting White women. “We’re serious about making sure we’re alive to changing attitudes and behaviours,” declared ASA CEO Guy Parker. So what about racial and ethnic stereotypes in adverts—as well as the underrepresentation of minorities in campaigns? Guess it’s easier for the ASA to show concern for objectifying White women versus discriminatory depictions for people of color.

ASA launches investigation into gender stereotyping of women in adverts

By Mark Sweney

Watchdog says research project follows increasing political and public debate on equality issues

The UK advertising watchdog is to launch an investigation to see whether rules about the objectification, sexualisation and stereotyping of women in ads need to be tightened.

The Advertising Standards Authority, which received more than 37,000 complaints and banned or forced changes to almost 3,500 ads last year, said that it was prompted to start the research project into gender stereotyping in ads following the “increasing political and public debate on equality issues”.

The ASA will also look at the depiction of men and boys in advertising, however it is the portrayal of women which is likely to garner the most scrutiny.

Campaigns such as Protein World’s “Beach Body Ready” ads have sparked a huge backlash about body-shaming and objectifying women.

The ASA cleared the campaign of breaking rules despite almost 4oo complaints and 70,000 signatories to an online petition about its portrayal of women.

The advertising watchdog banned the ad for misleading health and nutrition claims.

The ASA said it would explore a range of issues including how ads present women with an idealised or unrealistic body image, the mocking of women and men in ads where they take on roles against stereotype, and using gender-specific marketing tactics to target children. “We’re serious about making sure we’re alive to changing attitudes and behaviours,” said Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA.

The ASA said it intended to examine the evidence on gender stereotyping in ads, seek views from the ad industry and other stakeholders, and commission research into public opinion.

The ASA said it would be open-minded about the outcome of the research project, but that if the evidence suggested tougher regulation was needed it would look to implement new rules. “We’ve already been taking action to ban ads that we believe reinforce gender stereotypes and are likely to cause serious and widespread offence or harm,” said Parker. “We want to engage further with a wide range of stakeholders on the effect of gender stereotyping on society, including through our call for evidence.”

Earlier this month, the ASA banned a Gucci ad for irresponsibly featuring an “unhealthily thin” model.

In February, the watchdog banned a campaign featuring girls taking slimming pills to lose weight for a beach holiday after 200 complaints that it promoted an unhealthy body image among young women.

13177: BBDO Mexico Stinks.

BBDO Mexico thinks smelly feet pose sexual dangers to women and children. The responsible creatives must have foot fetishes. Idiots.

13176: Deutsch Dodges Diversity.

Campaign published an interview with Deutsch North America CCO Pete Favat and Deutsch Chairman Linda Sawyer, probing the two on recent senior-level hires that were predominately White and male. Appropriately enough, the accompanying colorless photo of the two executives showed them not staring directly at the camera; that is, Favat and Sawyer can’t look you straight in the eye and deliver a legitimate response regarding their agency’s exclusivity. The answers provided by the diversity-diverting duo were dodgy, as well as culturally clueless clichés and contrived cover-ups. Net comment: Two industry leaders are making zero deliberate efforts to address discriminatory hiring practices. Worse yet, Deutsch is part of the IPG network, self-recognized for leadership in diversity and inclusion.

Why Deutsch hired two white, male CCOs

By Douglas Quenqua

“A different point of view doesn’t mean a different gender or a different race,” says NA CCO Pete Favat

The news yesterday that Deutsch had simultaneously hired two new chief creative officers — Jason Bagley in Los Angeles and Dan Kelleher in New York — didn’t come as much of a surprise. It had been eight months since NY CCO Kerry Keenan left the agency, and more than a year since former LA CCO Pete Favat was elevated to North American CCO, leaving the LA role empty. Someone needed to fill those jobs, and Bagley and Kelleher seem like a natural fit.

The surprising part was that Deutsch, an agency long associated with female leaders, had become the latest shop to present a photo of its senior leadership that featured nothing but white men. And it wasn’t just yesterday: Out of five senior hires the Interpublic Group agency has made in 2016, every one has been male and white. And three of those hires — chief technology officer Trevor O’Brien, chief strategy officer Andrew Dawson and Kelleher — will now form what Deutsch calls its “three-pronged leadership” team in New York, meaning the office’s go-to-market strategy will be dominated by white men.

Fifteen years ago, no one may have noticed. But in 2016, issues of diversity in advertising have taken on a new urgency. The JWT discrimination lawsuit, the Campbell Ewald “ghetto day” email, the Bloomingdale’s ad about “spiking her eggnog.” There’s a reason that Nancy Hill, CEO of the Association of American Advertising Agencies, opened the group’s annual gathering in March with an emotional speech admonishing agency leaders, “If you’re the CEO, you are the chief diversity officer.”

On Wednesday, Deutsch Chairman Linda Sawyer and Favat answered questions about the job search, Deutsch’s record of diversity and the struggle to find good talent.

You are fresh off the process of hiring two new CCOs, both of whom ended up being white men. Any thoughts on why this process so often ends up arriving at the same conclusion?

Pete Favat: It’s a long process, with a lot going on. A large portion of the work we do for clients is tech and digital, so if there is one major filter that we are looking for with candidates, it’s someone who has a balance between understanding the digital and being well-versed in more — I hate to say traditional — but storytelling type of work. We talked to a lot of people, and there are people who are very strong digitally but don’t have a very strong sense of TV or traditional mediums, or vice versa. We go into it looking for someone who is a bridge builder between technology and traditional mediums. That’s the first filter.

The second filter is simple: Are they nice people? Do they respect people? They’re not going to come in and be a complete jerk. It’s a simple process, but finding the right people was extremely difficult.

Linda Sawyer: We have always had a lot of women in management and in our organization. If you look at our senior leadership, we’re at like 58% women, and if you look at our organization overall, we’re over 50% women, as well as around 50% in our creative department.

When you talk about the notion of talent having no gender, that cuts both ways — this was about finding the right people, and it happened that the two people we landed on with the right skill set and chemistry happened to, in this case, be men.

How many candidates did you speak to overall?

Favat: We spoke to about 20 people. It is interesting, because we’re fully aware of the importance of all this, but never does it run through our mind that we need to hire a woman, or we need to hire an African American, or we need to hire a man. That’s never part of the process. We keep an eye on the overall picture of the company. But we never go into it saying we need to fill this position with a specific gender, nor would our clients ask us to do that. It’s more important to get the right talent and the right person in the job.

But diversity among senior creative leadership is such a specific issue. So doesn’t it sometimes make sense to say, ‘These are CCO positions. We really do need to look for someone with a different point of view”?

Favat: A different point of view doesn’t mean a different gender or a different race. A different point of view can be anybody. So yeah, we definitely look for different points of view and people who have skill sets that are more modern than anybody else. But I don’t know if I’d say if a woman would have a different point of view than a man would, so I don’t know if that’s ever a part of it.

Deutsch has made five senior hires this year, all of whom have been white men. That is something of a trend, no?

Favat: I don’t know if it’s a trend. We’ve hired new people but we’ve also promoted females into senior positions. We’ve promoted people like Kim Getty in LA to president [Jan 2015] and Pam Scheideler is now chief digital officer of LA [Feb 2016]. I’ll also say that In LA, from a CD standpoint, we have promoted six women up to senior level roles as creative directors.

I think what happens is, the photo dictates so much these days. We even wrestle with that — do we include a photo or not? It’s that one photograph in that one moment that makes it look that way. But when we promote someone to a CD, there’s no photo, there’s no story. So in some ways maybe we should start writing stories that these people are getting promoted.

So beyond the picture, there was no discussion about the need to find something other than two white men to fill these roles?

Favat: No, because, I don’t think any of us look at somebody as a white person or a black person or a woman or an African American. We look at people as, Do they have the talent and the skill set to take on this role? And also a person who clients just adore. We look at that and say, “Who would fit that role?”

Sawyer: I think your question is very apropos for an organization where you look across the board at senior leadership and it’s predominantly white men. That is a seriously missed opportunity. We’re very fortunate that because we do have such a well-balanced organization from top to bottom, we can just focus on bringing in the right talent. Yet we do believe in the whole notion of diversity of thought, and I think it’s paid off very well.

But in New York, the three prongs of your go-to-market strategy are all represented by white men. No concern that a client will see that and question how you will reach different groups of people with three guys who look the same? Favat: Actually they don’t look the same at all. Dan is completely bald, Trevor is like a 7’ tall Irishman, and Andrew is like a 5’6” guy from Brooklyn. [Laughter] They don’t look anything alike actually.

They also report to Val Difebo and Linda Sawyer. I don’t know, I don’t walk around saying all white men look alike. We just look at people as individuals.

Your head of diversity in New York, Felicia Geiger, was recently let go. Are you eliminating the position?

Vonda LePage, EVP, director of communications: We’re eliminating the position. One of the philosophies we lean into is that everybody at Deutsch, from the CEO to the receptionist, owns diversity. And we wanted to really make sure that everybody was stepping up and owning it. And by having one person who owned it, which is what that role was, kind of took the responsibility off everybody else. And so now our diversity efforts are spread much more through, not just HR departments, but other departments.

13175: Unilever’s Universal Lies.

Adweek reported Unilever is using its Dove brand to address beauty ideals for women in India. Um, Unilever is behind the Fair and Lovely skin-lightening product, which makes the Dove effort a fairly lovely act of hypocrisy.

Dove’s Latest Mission? Revamping Beauty Ideals in India

Brand hopes to spark change with new short film

By Kristina Monllos

Dove’s got a new short film, Let’s Break the Rules of Beauty, which champions a more inclusive approach to beauty for Indian women.

The 50-second short, from Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker, Pan Nalin, showcases a variety of women whose look and style doesn’t necessarily fit the Indian beauty ideal of “youthful looks, fair skin, long black flowing hair and a trim figure.”

“[This] is the first Dove Masterbrand campaign created specifically for India,” said Victoria Sjardin, senior global brand director, Dove Masterbrand. “India is a country growing and evolving at a rapid pace and yet the traditional beauty ideal remains narrow and restrictive. In fact, our new research suggests 76 percent of Indian women believe that in today’s society, it is critical to meet certain beauty standards.”

According to the brand’s research, the pressure to comply with Indian beauty ideals comes from external, traditional and societal factors and 80 percent of India’s 631 million women believe that they need to look a certain way to do well in life.

“This campaign is designed to encourage India to embrace its diversity in beauty, and spark change against the variety of pressures and influences that are keeping a narrow beauty ideal alive,” said Sjardin. “Our hope is to genuinely start a conversation about expanding the beauty ideal and embracing the varieties of beauty that come from a country with 631 million women, 29 states and 22 languages.”

The digital campaign isn’t the brand’s first effort in India. Hoping to raise the self-esteem of young women in India the brand launched the Dove Self-Esteem Project in 2014. It has already educated 300,000 young people to date and, according to Sjardin, the brand aspires to reach 2.65 million young people by 2020.

13174: Y&R&Hypocrisy.

This National Geographic campaign celebrating cultural differences from Y&R in Brazil is especially heinous and hypocritical when considering the agency’s notoriety for dousing diversity.

13173: Adweek’s Diverted Diversity Issue.

Adweek presented its “Women’s Issue”—filled with plenty of diverted diversity. Funny how the trade publications annually salute White admen, adwomen, media people, young adpeople, etc. Why no “Minority Issue”—besides the fact that it would be damned difficult finding enough adpeople of color to fill an entire issue?

13172: Nutty Professing.

Campaign published a perspective on mental health from Oystercatchers CEO and Founder Suki Thompson. According to Thompson, “While we’ve come a long way in tackling sexism and racism, we’re still burying our heads in the sand when it comes to mental health and mental wellness.” Um, is Thompson crazy? To think adland has “come a long way in tackling sexism and racism” demonstrates a serious lack of mental awareness. Thompson wrote, “Prioritising mental well-being should be just as vital as tackling sexism and racism…” Okay, but let’s hope mental well-being doesn’t receive the same amount of apathy, inaction and indifference as racism—although it will probably join sexism as another diverted diversity smokescreen.

We need to change the conversation about mental health

By Suki Thompson

Prioritising mental well-being should be just as vital as tackling sexism and racism, says Oystercatchers’ chief executive.

At this week’s Advertising Week Europe we came together to talk about stress — possibly the last taboo topic in our industry. While we’ve come a long way in tackling sexism and racism, we’re still burying our heads in the sand when it comes to mental health and mental wellness. In the UK, 70 million days are lost from work each year due to mental ill health.

Matt Atkinson, the group chief marketing officer of Saga; Nabs’ chief executive Diana Tickell; John Neal, performance coach and sports psychologist; Mark Rowland, director of fundraising and communication at the Mental Health Foundation; and Jonathan Harman of the Royal Mail joined me on stage and pulled no punches.

Nabs reported an upsurge of 67 per cent in people calling for emotional support in the last 12 months, with 65 per cent saying at some point in their career they felt unable to cope.

Mark Rowland shared his own story. His brother struggled for years with depression, a significant trigger being a sense of his own perceived failure: that he hadn’t achieved whatever his younger self had defined as a worthwhile life. It owned him and slowly suffocated him. Two years ago, his brother went out for a bike ride and never came back.

I can’t begin to imagine the devastation.

I believe that we’re at a point in time when the cultural wave is crashing. I can openly talk about cancer, and no one doubts I can do my job, yet mention a mental health problem [and that can range from depression to autism] and employers are less likely to offer up employment. That has to stop.

Lessons I learnt

As leaders, do we create or remove stress? Are we doing enough to bring the challenges of stress to the table? Matt Atkinson made a strong point when it comes to agency and client relationships. His view is that clients hold a great responsibility in setting the tone to ensure teams do great things together. “Work out whether you bring support and challenge into the room or just leave behind chaos,” he urged. The tone of conversations, meetings and even emails need to carefully be considered.

John Neal, currently prepping British athletes for the Rio Olympics, uses a brilliant visual device to communicate individual well-being, smartly avoiding what most see as an awkward conversation. His team fill up small bottles of water to illustrate how much space [i.e. capacity] they each have left for training.

And our industry is helping too. Nabs’ Advice Line provides confidential and practical advice on how to handle stress, and master classes give people confidence to talk and understand that it’s perfectly normal to feel that you can’t cope all the time.

Some practical tips

Fitness: Without exception exercise came top of the list.

Know yourself: realising that she is a born organiser, Diana spends time tidying up each evening and prioritising work load to reduce that last minute feeling of stress.

Sleep well: Matt turns off the family Wi-Fi at 9pm, without fail. Data shows that blue and white light late at night [that means TV too] guarantees restless sleep.

Pace yourself and support others: my PA will stop me from filling my diary — “too much Suki — time to breathe.”

Relationships: Mark told us that there is evidence that both home and work relationships can have a dramatic impact on our mental wellness, so don’t be afraid to change and speak up.

And finally, John’s advice: make love, and buy a mattress topper!

We’re at the beginning of a long journey and we need to get our business in shape. Employee health needs to be owned and supported by everyone. “Mental first aid” training should be included in leadership programs and executive coaching. Environments, schedules and cultural norms will need to reflect compassion and kindness.

Our call of action is clear: achieve parity between physical and mental health. We are organising a roundtable bringing together people who want to help lead change in our industry, marketing and agency heads, and experts to develop an agenda.

Please let me know if you want to take part at suki@theoystercatchers.com, or for support contact Nabs on 0800 707 6607 or FREEPOST NABS.

In the meantime, I’m off to buy a mattress topper and several small bottles of mineral water.

Suki Thompson is the chief executive and co-founder of Oystercatchers

13171: Belated 11th Anniversary.

On March 6th, MultiCultClassics celebrated 11 years of confronting common cultural cluelessness.

13170: Russell Simmons Has ADHD.

Adweek reported Russell Simmons is launching a new creative agency to connect brands with hip-hop fans. Are White advertising agencies no longer qualified to handle hip-hop campaigns? But they love hip-hop artists and music!

Russell Simmons’ New Agency Will Help Brands Connect With Hip-Hop Fans

He’s targeting an ‘overlooked and underserved’ audience

By Christine Birkner

This week, hip-hop impresario and Adweek Brand Visionary Russell Simmons launched an in-house creative agency to help brands appeal to young audiences in a new way. The new agency, ADHD, will serve as an in-house creative unit of All Def Digital (ADD), Simmons’ web video platform and media company which manages a unit of social video stars, writers, actors and hip hop artists and has 1.4 million subscribers on YouTube.

Both entities’ acronyms are a nod to younger generations’ shorter attention spans, Simmons told Adweek. “The idea was, if you don’t have ADD, you’re not paying attention,” he said.

The goal of ADHD is to appeal to the increasingly diverse hip-hop audience, which so far has been misunderstood by brands and by Hollywood, Simmons said.

“No one really understands this audience. It’s multiracial, but singularly cultural. It started out 95 percent black, and now it’s 45 percent non-black, and that’s going to keep growing,” he said. “The audience we speak to is overlooked and underserved. A lot of the content Hollywood creates doesn’t serve this audience. We want to help brands frame their messaging in an honest way.”

Hip-hop is increasingly visible in mainstream culture, and brands need to recognize that, said ADD CEO Sanjay Sharma. “Last year, the three biggest media properties in America were Straight Outta Compton in movies, Empire on TV, and Hamilton on Broadway. We know that hip-hop is permeating American and global pop culture, through music, fashion and art, and language,” he said. “We’re connecting brands through authentic, immersive content experiences and helping them reach this audience in a way that a lot of traditional media outlets don’t do.”

ADD works with Samsung, Chevrolet and Nissan, as well as movie studios, and through ADHD, it plans to broaden its scope and offer brands work that’s similar to its YouTube campaigns for the releases of The Boss, Krampus and Barbershop 3, and Vine campaigns for Jurassic World and The Martian.

ADHD will be led by R/GA managing director Josh Mandel, who joined R/GA in 2013 after working at 72andSunny. “We feel like brands haven’t yet recognized the reality of hip-hop as the thread that unites this younger, multicultural audience,” Mandel said. “So many fans of hip-hop are white. Urban isn’t just a racial identity, it’s a cultural identity, and it’s three trillion dollars of buying power, and nobody’s thinking of the market in this way.”

The new agency will help advertisers crack the code in appealing to this audience through genuine content, Simmons said. “There’s a psychology associated with hip-hop culture that’s very brand-friendly. They’re the best brand building community in the world, and they’re also the hardest to reach. They have the best bullshit meter. You can’t patronize them. If brands don’t look honest to them, they’ll tear them down.”

13169: Gustavo Martinez Unplugged.

Advertising Age, Adweek and AgencySpy presented access to the infamous redacted video of former JWT Worldwide Chairman and CEO Gustavo Martinez joking about rape during an agency meeting. Of course, comments at the sites included the obligatory perspectives from idiots whining about political correctness taking the fun out of everything—as well as the morons expressing outrage that Martinez’s monologue led to his job loss. First of all, keep in mind that Martinez was not terminated; rather, he resigned. Second, the video is not the sole evidence representing the charges against him. In fact, his filmed attempt at comedy might be the least nasty act he’s accused of executing. Third, if a politician made similar remarks, he’d face resignation. If the CEO of an advertiser made similar remarks, he’d face resignation. Hell, if a JWT mailroom attendant made similar remarks, he’d be fired. Or at least sent to sensitivity training courses. Was Martinez displaying unconscious bias or conscious racism with his jokes—or cultural cluelessness and stupidity at least? Yes to cultural cluelessness and stupidity. Plus, he displayed ignorance about the concept of comedy killers. As for unconscious bias or conscious racism, well, the jury has not yet been selected to rule on that.

13168: Miller Lite Stays White.

Adweek reported Miller Lite picked its fourth White advertising agency in four years—sans a review. And why would a competitive pitch be necessary anyway? Just roll in a fresh batch of White people to create advertising as bland and stale as, well, Miller Lite.

180LA Wins Miller Lite Creative Account Without a Review

Win marks brand’s fourth agency switch in 4 years

By Patrick Coffee

Less than two years after choosing TBWA\Chiat\Day, Los Angeles, as lead creative agency for the best-selling Miller Lite brand, parent company MillerCoors has tapped the agency’s sister shop 180LA for lead creative duties without a review.

A TBWA spokesperson tells Adweek its Los Angeles office will remain a roster agency for MillerCoors, but 180LA will create the next Miller Lite campaign. Representatives for 180LA have not responded to requests for comment.

“Miller Lite is the original light beer, and we are tremendously proud of this unique beer and brand,” a MillerCoors representative told Adweek. “As we continue to share that pride with beer drinkers, we need partners that will evolve and contribute to that journey with us.”

Both agencies are Omnicom properties operating within the larger TBWA network, and this news follows February reports that the brand had begun “looking for ideas” from other shops in that circle.

“The network of TBWA resources has been invaluable thus far and we look forward to continuing our relationship with TBWA to drive further growth, momentum and excitement for our iconic brand moving forward,” said the MillerCoors spokesperson.

The past few years have marked a somewhat turbulent period for Miller beer marketing.

In September 2014, TBWA\Chiat\Day beat out Publicis’ Leo Burnett to become the Miller Lite brand’s third lead creative agency in just over two years. The company parted ways with FCB and Saatchi & Saatchi before launching the review, and it had been working with Ogilvy & Mather and Johannes Leonardo on project-based work in the interim.

Last summer, MillerCoors also reshuffled its agency lineup for the Coors Light, Leinenkugel’s and Blue Moon brands. The former went to 72andSunny after Coors dropped its former dedicated unit Cavalry—which was founded in 2012 specifically to handle that account—while the latter two brands went to San Francisco’s Venables Bell & Partners. That agency later saw its first campaign for Leinenkugel’s canceled for “straying too far from the brand.”

These account moves preceded the October 2015 news that AB InBev and MillerCoors’ parent company SABMiller had agreed to merge in a deal valued at $104 billion. The terms of that deal required SABMiller to sell its stake in MillerCoors, which later parted ways with head of brand marketing Gannon Jones.

Jones had played a key role in facilitating the TBWA\Chiat\Day win. Several years before joining MillerCoors, he served as director of consumer relationship marketing at Kraft Foods Group when that company was working with the TBWA network.

According to Kantar Media, MillerCoors spent $158 million on paid media to promote the Miller Lite brand in 2015.

Several prominent employees will leave TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles along with lead status on Miller Lite. Last week, Adweek’s AgencySpy blog reported that president Luis DeAnda would be departing after 14 years with the TBWA organization and that he would be accompanied by what a spokesperson called “a very small” number of additional staffers across departments.

Announcements regarding new leadership at TBWA L.A. are expected in the coming weeks. It’s not clear at this time whether the Miller shift precipitated the restructuring.

13167: There’s No Diversity In D&AD.

Campaign reported D&AD created a Foundation Council to address diversity. Look forward to the idiots appropriately awarding themselves a White Pencil. “Diversity and equal opportunities are a hot topic within the creative industries, but despite all the talk there hasn’t been enough action,” explained D&AD Foundation Director Paul Drake. “This is something that we want to change.” By crapping out a culturally clueless, clichéd concept? In the advertising industry, even the organizations that allegedly boast high standards of excellence and breakthrough thinking still settle for the lamest ideas imaginable to solve diversity dilemmas.

D&AD launches Foundation Council to boost talent and diversity

By Omar Oakes

D&AD has launched its first Foundation Council, with a mission to boost its New Blood talent programme and promote diversity.

Havas Worldwide, WPP, Leo Burnett, Wieden & Kennedy and Bartle Bogle Hegarty have signed up to support the initiative.

The Foundation Council is aiming to use the knowledge and experience from 35 years of student awards, as well as running learning programmes such as the WPP New Blood Academy, to deliver industry-led projects that ensure anyone with talent can succeed.

The first council will work on three projects in the first year, such as co-creating the D&AD curriculum based on the themes of the year’s awards. Over the next three years the curriculum will develop into a series of free courses, available globally to help people further their professional skills.

Another project, called Investing in Talent, will comprise a fund to support people who come through New Blood and lack the finance to realise their ideas.

And a new programme, New Blood Shift, will aim to find creative excellence through a free 12-week night school for young people who have not been through the traditional university route. Participants will also be provided with mentoring and the opportunity to work on paid placements.

Paul Drake, the D&AD Foundation director, said: “As a non-profit, D&AD already invests in programmes like New Blood that inspire the next generation of creative talent and encourage the creative industry to work towards a fairer, more sustainable future.

“But we want to do more. Diversity and equal opportunities are a hot topic within the creative industries, but despite all the talk there hasn’t been enough action. This is something that we want to change.”

13166: Prince (1958-2016).

R.I.P. Prince Rogers Nelson.

13165: News From The Ghetto.

Adweek reported Campbell Ewald officially named a new CEO and selected a White woman to serve as new CCO—effectively moving from discrimination to diverted diversity. Oh Ghetto Happy Day!

Campbell Ewald Names New CEO and CCO as Agency Rebuilds After Controversy

Jo Shoesmith will lead creative, Kevin Wertz becomes top exec

By Noreen O’Leary

Campbell Ewald executive creative director Jo Shoesmith will become the agency’s chief creative officer following the departure of her predecessor, Mark Simon, who is retiring after 16 years at the agency.

Her promotion comes amid word that President Kevin Wertz, who has been running the agency since January following the dismissal of its former chief, Jim Palmer, has now officially been named CEO of the IPG agency. Palmer was ousted after being at the helm when agency ecd Jim Houck sent an email in October 2015 inviting staffers to take part in the San Antonio office’s “Ghetto Day” event. That email was leaked to Adweek’s AgencySpy blog earlier this year, and Houck was also later fired.

A Campbell Ewald rep said Simon’s departure on April 30 is not related to the “Ghetto Day” incident. Houck, who reported directly to Simon, was hired last year by Campbell Ewald, San Antonio, to work on the USAA account after the copywriter spent time as a creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Saatchi & Saatchi and SapientNitro, among others.

USAA fired the agency after Houck’s memo surfaced, and the account has since moved to Campbell Ewald’s corporate sibling MullenLowe. Last month, Adweek learned that clients Edward Jones and Henry Ford Health Centers would also leave Campbell Ewald; the latter cited Houck’s email in explaining why it dropped the agency.

Shoesmith, joined the agency last year as ecd from Leo Burnett Chicago where she was svp, creative director, working on brands like Allstate and Hallmark. She will remain based in Los Angeles. She is the first female CCO in Campbell Ewald’s 105-year history and is also the first one to be located outside of the agency’s Detroit headquarters.

In an internal memo, Wertz said of Shoesmith: “In an effort to fully embrace the agency’s open architecture, Jo will continue to be based in Los Angeles and report directly to me. This will be an agency first and I have every confidence in Jo to effectively lead the cross-collaboration across all offices. She will be making her rounds and visiting each of our offices in coming weeks. If you haven’t already had the chance to work with her or meet her, please make sure to introduce yourself and support her in her new role.”

13164: Pioneer Of Diverted Diversity.

AgencySpy reported Omnicom President-CEO-Pioneer of Diversity John Wren vowed to double the number of female creative leaders at BBDO over the next year—which technically makes him a Pioneer of Diverted Diversity. Not sure why Wren only mentioned BBDO, but he also declared, “A critical aspect of achieving our talent development goals is creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. That means diversity in backgrounds, race, gender, age and experience. Quite frankly, we need to look more like the businesses, people and consumers we do business with. Omnicom’s commitment to diversity starts from the top.” However, the corporate commitment does not include sharing EEO-1 data to prove the achievement of talent development goals—which, incidentally, aren’t publicly defined either.

13163: Sir Moron On Money.

Campaign reported on WPP Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell defending his £63 million pay package during an interview at Advertising Week Europe. Sorrell’s self-defense included pointing out that the “market capitalisation of the company has grown from £8 billion to £31 billion.” Okey-doke. At the same time, the latest WPP financial report boasted about the company’s inclusiveness, declaring its workers “represent perhaps the most diverse example of diversity of any single organization.” Yet a few weeks later, Sorrell responded to the Gustavo Martinez debacle by admitting there is a problem with diversity, recognizing the representation of Blacks, Latinos and the LGBT community is “unacceptably low.” Rival holding company IPG claims that its executives with hiring power have their compensation tied to meeting diversity goals. Shouldn’t leaders like Sorrell be held to similar standards of performance? Imagine how his £63 million paycheck would shrink if Sir Moron were held accountable for the exclusivity at WPP.

Sorrell on his pay packet: ‘this is the way to do it’

By James Swift

Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP, has defended his £63 million share-linked remuneration package, saying: “I passionately believe this is the way to do it”.

Sorrell spoke about his pay during an interview with journalist Ian King at Advertising Week Europe in London today.

Answering the question — prompted by last week’s news that 60 per cent of BP’s shareholders voted against the chief executive’s £14 million pay — about whether he was paid too much, Sorrell said: “it’s philosophical.”

“I was 40-years-old and was chief financial officer of Saatchi & Saatchi, where the Saatchi brothers were letting me do pretty much whatever I wanted to do.

“But my dad had always said to me “find an industry you like, go into a company and build a reputation…where people respect what you do and then, if you feel like doing something on your own, start a company.”

“So I borrowed some money against my Saatchi & Saatchi stock invested [in 1985] in a company called Wire & Plastic Products… which was capitalised at £1 million.

“[…]Maybe because I’d gone to HBS [Harvard Business School] and spent two years looking through case studies of what the chairman or chief executives should do and why, I’ve always tried to do things on scale.

“I’ve not been interested in starting something and then flogging it. I’ve been interested in starting something small and then building it in to something big. I’ve always been interested in opportunities and problems in scale.

“…I invested what was a lot of money for me and bought 16 per cent (my partner got 13-14 per cent) and the rest is history. Today the company is worth £21 billion […] But I have taken a significant degree of risk over those 30 years. I have built up a substantial stake in the company […] it’s 2 per cent and its worth — if you do the maths — a considerable amount of money and its where most my wealth is. This is an entrepreneurial endeavour.

“This in my view […] is different and I passionately believe that this is the way to do it. I’m not a Johnny-come-lately picking a company up and turning it around. It’s been 31 years and it has offended all the investment wisdom.

“…I can’t comment on other situations… In the last five-year iteration, our share price has gone from 665p to 1,645p. If there’s a problem then it’s a problem that market capitalisation of the company has grown from £8 billion to £31 billion.”

13162: ABC’s Of Diversity.

Adweek reported ABC President Ben Sherwood declared his network created “all-inclusive” programming to reflect its diverse audience; plus, ABC has worked to bring diversity to its leadership. Does the network’s commitment to inclusiveness extend to its advertising agencies?

ABC’s Ben Sherwood Says Network’s ‘All-Inclusive’ Programming Reflects Its Diverse Audience

Calls Shonda Rhimes ‘Our Elvis’ at Vegas conference

By Chris Ariens

Ben Sherwood says ABC’s programming reflects diversity not simply because it’s good business to do so but “because it’s right.”

Sherwood, the president of the Disney-ABC TV group, was the keynote speaker today at the opening of the 2016 NAB Show in Las Vegas and then took part in a Q&A with Gordon Smith, the president of NAB and a former Oregon Senator. ABC’s new entertainment president, Channing Dungey, was in the front row, seated next to Rebecca Campbell, the head of the ABC owned TV stations group.

“My predecessor, Anne Sweeney, and [former ABC entertainment president] Paul Lee set in motion choices that were based upon decisions that reflect our audience,” said Sherwood, who himself is considered a potential successor to Bob Iger as CEO of Disney. “And now with Channing Dungey, you’ll see that commitment is even greater.”

ABC dominates Thursday nights with dramas produced by Shonda Rhimes (whom Sherwood called “our Elvis” in a nod to Vegas) and has a string of family comedies featuring African-Americans, Asian-Americans and even one starring a gay teenager.

“We are all-inclusive,” Sherwood said. “In a divided nation, we speak to everyone, and our content needs to reflect that.”

Smith asked Sherwood if he bought the notion that this is still a golden age of television.

“Every era wants to have its golden age, and I think we’re in a golden moment for TV,” Sherwood said. “What is unusual about this moment is not about the talent that is making it but the technology that is used to tell a story and distribute it widely. As a democrat with a small d, I’m a big fan of that.”

When Smith asked Sherwood if he had any advice for the ABC affiliates in the room, Sherwood said, “That feels like a trick question. As a recovering journalist [Sherwood is the former president of ABC News], I would never be so presumptuous to wear the hat of our affiliate leaders.”

“The one thing I worry about the most is we should never take for granted that the viewer or consumer or customer of today is the viewer or consumer or customer of tomorrow,” Sherwood said, “and I would exhort our affiliate friends to do that as well. We’re very much aligned here.”

Sherwood is meeting behind closed doors with ABC affiliates this afternoon in Las Vegas.

13161: IAB On Diversity.

A MultiCultClassics visitor pointed to IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg’s opening keynote delivered at the 2016 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, wherein Rothenberg declared, “[A]d-blocking is a war against diversity and freedom of expression.” The following excerpt from Rothenberg’s speech is particularly noteworthy—and cringe-worthy:

One of the most transcendent values to which you can devote yourself is diversity.

We are living in a period of racial, ethnic, and religious vilification unlike anything I have experienced in my adult life. Presidential candidates from a major party actually are calling for people to be segregated and penalized on the basis of their religion. Whole ethnic groups, particularly Latinos and everyone practicing Islam, are being demonized. Rules and laws are being proposed that would prevent these people from entering the United States, or staying here, based solely on their backgrounds, divorced entirely from their productivity or family ties here.

When you get back to your office, look around you at work, and pay attention. For these are your friends and colleagues who are under attack. Their skin is black, and brown, and ochre, as well as white. They speak Mandarin, and Spanish, and Hindu, and Farsi, as well as English. They celebrate Diwali, and Kwanzaa, and Ramadan, as well as Christmas and Chanukkah. And they are under assault.

And when they are under attack, you are under attack. For they are the future of the American economy. They are the future of consumption. They are the future of advertising and media. They are your childrens’ classmates, your in-laws, the parents of your future grandchildren.

Um, has Rothenberg visited a typical advertising agency in the past, say, 50 years? If he were to accompany any of the attendees back to their offices, and looked around, and paid attention, he’d see the friends and colleagues do not have black, brown and ochre skin tones. They do not speak Mandarin, and Spanish, and Hindu, and Farsi, as well as “urban” or Spanglish. They do not celebrate Diwali, and Kwanzaa and Ramadan—or even Black History Month.

Regardless, Rothenberg’s solution is to have the industry invest in iDiverse, the IAB’s culturally-clichéd smokescreen. Because, by golly, colored candidates require special training and tutoring in order to succeed in predominately White advertising agencies—where the majority of staffers were hired via nepotism, cronyism and other assorted isms. Sorry, but ad-blocking is not nearly as big a threat to diversity as adpeople.

13160: Diverted Diversity Discourse.

Adweek published the latest diverted diversity dreck from 4As President and CEO Nancy Hill, who insists the “discourse about gender and diversity in advertising is reaching a crescendo.” Not sure if Hill actually wrote the line or if it’s the work of an Adweek editor, but the words are only valid if the writer means a gradual, steady increase in loudness or force as applied to a fart. That “gender” precedes “diversity” in the dreary discourse says it all. According to Hill, people have approached her to gush, “This is what I am going to do to make a change.” Of course, Hill offered no clues regarding exactly what anyone is going to do to make any changes. And the 4As leader ultimately presented the same old smokescreen solutions and crescendo of culturally clueless clichés. Hill closed by declaring, “It’s why I am confident that this time is different.” Yes, this time White women are dominating the diversity drivel. (Not surprisingly, the illustration for the Adweek article—depicted above—exclusively features White women.)

Discourse About Gender and Diversity in Advertising Is Reaching a Crescendo

But real change starts at the top

By Nancy Hill

It’s been nearly a month since the 4A’s Transformation conference, where, as many of you heard, read or experienced firsthand, the discourse about gender and diversity in the advertising industry was raised to a new level. We have now reached an inflection point in the conversation: More people than ever are engaged, which is exactly what it’s going to take to make significant and meaningful change.

This time, I am confident agencies and their leaders—men and women alike—are going to take action to ensure that our industry better reflects the population.

The comments I received at Transformation and after the event have been moving, to say the least. One reason I know this time is different is that people have been taking it upon themselves to come directly to me and say, “This is what I am going to do to make a change.”

We at the 4A’s are engaged in numerous initiatives to support gender equality and diversity—from the Glass Ladder series, designed to empower and educate female leaders, to our MAIP multicultural mentorship program.

And we’re going to be doing more. This month, we’re launching a yearlong, multiplatform initiative involving 4A’s events, webinars, salons, content development and enterprising research.

The objective is threefold: to keep the conversation front and center, to hold a mirror up to agencies regarding female and diverse experiences and to offer programs that advance the careers of female and diverse agency professionals.

As part of the initiative, we will be commissioning comprehensive research to provide insight into how women are treated and rewarded at agencies and portrayed in advertising. The first part of the two-part survey will examine female experiences in the industry as they relate to equal pay, equal opportunities for advancement and sexual harassment, among other topics. The second part will look at how women are portrayed in ads and the impact on current and future generations of women.

We expect the findings to be comprehensive and informative with the goal shaping how the conversation about gender and diversity in the advertising industry progresses.

But real change needs to take place within agencies, and it has to start at the top.

As I mentioned at the conference, if you are a CEO, you are also the chief diversity officer. And you need to look at every hire as an opportunity to change the playing field at your own company.

Here are a few places to start to take action:

Revisit your hiring process. Following Transformation, one CEO at a large, independent agency approached me and said, “From now on, I’m not looking at any resume that has a name on it.” Blind applications are one way to help erase unconscious biases when it comes to hiring (or not hiring) female or diverse candidates. Another option is to institute the Rooney Rule and mandate that whenever you’re hiring for an open position, the slate of candidates must be diverse.

Close the wage gap. Look at your staff’s salaries. Is there a gap between what men are making and what women are making? If so, I urge you to fix it if you want to retain and nurture some of your agency’s best talent.

Open the discussion. Make sure your HR department is receptive and reactive to employees’ feedback. “If you see something, say something” shouldn’t just be a slogan on the New York City subway. If you see colleagues, friends, bosses or junior staffers being treated unfairly because of their gender, race, ethnicity, physical ability or any other reason, raise a flag. This is unacceptable behavior, and each agency should have a process in place to address it without making employees fear for their jobs.

I’m encouraged by the progress we’ve made in just the few short weeks since this discussion came to a head. Nancy Reyes became the new managing director at TBWA\Chiat\Day’s New York office, and less than a week into her job as JWT’s new CEO, Tamara Ingram declared her intentions to make diversity a top priority.

This is an industry I fell in love with more than 30 years ago. There is so much good, so much creativity and so much innovation that flows through its veins. I know you all have a passion for this industry as well, and that’s why I’m confident that we’ll do the right things together and move this industry forward.

It’s why I am confident that this time is different.

Nancy Hill (@nhhill) is president and CEO of the 4A’s.

13159: Sprint Is So Ghetto.

Advertising Age reported Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure pulled a video from his real people “listening tour” featuring a White woman calling competitor T-Mobile “ghetto.” First of all, when will Claure realize his brand has a history of bad advertising starring a CEO? Just stay in your C-suite and figure out how to actually turn around your lame company. Native Bolivian Claure must be taking cultural competency courses with former JWT Worldwide Chairman and CEO (and native Argentinian) Gustavo Martinez. In the meantime, expect to see Campbell Ewald make a pitch for the T-Mobile account.