13598: MC Hammer’s Command Performance.

Didn’t realize the terrible in-store display was part of a campaign including terrible TV commercials. Pray there are no plans for a pool-out.

13597: Bitching About Bullshit.

Campaign published a diverted diversity diatribe from an anonymous working mom, spanking adland for discriminating against women who seek to return to the field after spending time away raising a family. Responding to returnship programs, Ms. Anon declared, “This is bullshit.” Okay, White women having to jump through extra hoops in order to regain their exclusive positions in White advertising agencies qualifies as bullshit. But racial and ethnic minorities having to face flaming, barbwire-lined hoops and impossible obstacle courses—often co-created by White women—just to get into the field at all deserves to be designated as the deepest dookie dreadfulness.

‘This is bullshit’: An open letter to adland from a working mom

An open letter about the recent focus on working mothers in advertising and what this really means

Dear adland,

I read an article in Campaign the other day that has made me really angry.

Recently, loads of attention has been given to moms returning to work in advertising and articles such as “I’m back, pitches” (Campaign, Jan. 20) are lauded and held up as if they should be celebrated.

Can we just look a little bit closer, though? This particular mom had been “out of the industry” for 11 years. She has been raising her family (which is a bloody hard job in itself—much harder than is ever given credit for) but she was also running her own copywriting business.

She has since returned to work on a returnship scheme. This scheme is a step in the right direction and is, at the very least, shining a light on moms returning to work, but should we really celebrate the fact that these creative moms effectively have to return to work as an intern?

She has had a baby, not a lobotomy. Do her previous years of hard graft and experience in the industry count for nothing? Why hasn’t she been brought back in at the level she was at previously? Surely some training could bring her up to speed pretty quickly?

Being a stay-at-home mom is demanding: 14-hour days, without a break. You can’t just book a day off when you need some downtime. Most of the time, there’s not even time for a cup of tea and a biscuit, let alone an intelligent conversation with another adult—both of which you have plenty of time for in the office.

But it also comes with heaps of transferable skills all particularly beneficial for the advertising industry: next-level multitasking, unrealistic deadlines, managing unreasonable demands often with no budget, placating tantrums etc.—as well as a new viewpoint on the world only gained when you become a mom, which changes everything.

Moms are so important in this industry. So many brands want to talk to moms yet have people working on them—client-side and in agencies—with no idea what it’s actually like to be a mom! Because working moms in this industry are scarce. Because the reality is it’s so rigidly inflexible. Or you can have an internship.

I think it’s time for honesty and calling it how it is. This is bullshit.

Moms are the best. Because when we come back to work, we have to work harder than we did pre-children. Because we have to prove ourselves. ALL. OVER. AGAIN. Because we have to show that we can, in fact, do it all. All with a hard stop looming at 5:30 p.m. when we have to race home, collect our children, feed them something moderately healthy, try to ensure some precious time reconnecting and then get them to sleep so we can (usually) go back online and finish the work we didn’t manage to finish in the office.

It’s brilliant for the confidence! And for the “guilt fairy” that pops up several times a day when it feels like neither job is being done to the best of our ability.

We don’t swan off home to put our feet up (which is what everyone thinks when we leave the office “early”).

I am a senior suit working in a top 10 agency. I currently work four days a week in the agency and have one day a week at home with my baby. But, for various reasons, I’m looking for a new challenge.

Several headhunters I’ve spoken to have advised me that I’ll never get a “part-time” role in a new place and I should “go back to work full-time” if I want to change agencies. Some of these headhunters are men, some are women and most of them have families.

How disappointing. I could’ve fallen at the first hurdle.

However, persistence and tenacity have generated the support of some amazing people who have decided that trying to find me a four-day position is not too much hassle, and I am finally getting briefs for great roles in other top-tier agencies. These people are the true beacons really affecting change.

Often in the advertising industry, we look at what we’re doing through rose-tinted Ray-Bans. We are making teeny, tiny, baby steps toward breaking the mold. But we are certainly not smashing it. Yet.

We all need to do more to nurture working moms (and flexible working in general). We live in an “always-on” world, where we shouldn’t feel we’re not present and able to contribute just because we’re not physically in the office. It’s 2017, and Donald Trump is president. Come on—anything is possible.

Love, Anon

13596: Advertising For Change…Or Crumbs?

Adweek reported four White advertising agencies in Atlanta—JWT Atlanta, 22squared, Fitzgerald & Co. and Moxie—joined together to launch the Advertising for Change coalition to promote diversity in the area. Not sure if “Change” refers to revolution or the amount of money behind the initiative. The first concept being executed by the coalition is—you guessed it—a minority internship program. What’s more, the shops turned to the 4As MAIP for direction and guidance; that is, they likely delegated diversity to the trade organization.

“We have as much responsibility to reflect our community as we do our clients’ brands and our own bottom lines,” stated JWT Atlanta CEO Spence Kramer. “Atlanta is one of the most diverse cities in the world, so it’s incumbent on us to attract and retain the best talent for the city. This isn’t about ‘making a number’ or reaching a goal. It’s about doing what’s best for our business.” Um, most sources show Blacks account for up to 54 percent of Atlanta’s population. So the Advertising for Change coalition has a looooooong way to go before their name has legitimate meaning—unless “Change” refers to the amount of money behind the initiative.

Oh, and the illustration accompanying the story (shown above) seems to indicate this is another diverted diversity deal, as the majority of depicted minorities are women.

These 4 Atlanta Agencies United to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in Their Hometown

Advertising for Change coalition wants to help the city stand out

By Erik Oster

Four Atlanta agencies have united to form the Advertising for Change coalition to promote diversity in their hometown.

JWT Atlanta, 22squared, Fitzgerald & Co. and Moxie make up the coalition, which launched today and promotes inclusion both as a better business practice and a way to help Atlanta stand apart as a destination for advertising talent.

“We have as much responsibility to reflect our community as we do our clients’ brands and our own bottom lines,” JWT Atlanta CEO Spence Kramer said in a statement. “Atlanta is one of the most diverse cities in the world, so it’s incumbent on us to attract and retain the best talent for the city. This isn’t about ‘making a number or reaching a goal. It’s about doing what’s best for our business.”

For its first initiative, Advertising for Change collaborated with the 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Intern Program, or MAIP, to promote the Atlanta advertising community to young talent. Each of 10 interns will be assigned to one of the four agencies and then rotate weekly meetings with the other three agencies, exposing them to several different agency cultures instead of just one.

“Advertising for Change worked with [MAIP] to select talented interns from across the country interested in seeing what Atlanta has to offer,” said Moxie president Solange Claudio.

In addition to daily responsibilities at their respective agencies, interns will split into two teams to craft a pitch for the Atlanta-based nonprofit of their choice. At the end of the summer, the two teams will face off and pitch against each other. At the conclusion of the program, one intern will receive competing job offers from all four AFC agencies.

“It’s a unique opportunity,” Fitzgerald & Co. chief talent officer Liza Ramos said. “Each agency will agree on the recipient and extend the intern the same offer. This empowers the AFC Scholar to pick the agency he or she wants to work with, and it upholds our goal of attracting and retaining the best diverse talent in the city of Atlanta—even if the choice is a friendly competitor.”

Planned initiatives from the Advertising for Change coalition include something it calls “portfolio boot camps” and affordable advertising courses designed to help creative professionals transition into advertising careers.

“The state of diversity in advertising has been less than satisfactory for a very, very long time,” said Singleton Beato, 4A’s executive vice president, diversity and inclusion strategy and talent development. “The AFC coalition is an outstanding example of how, by working together, our agencies can help drive the entire industry toward the type of change that can break down the systemic challenges of our past.”

13595: #BringBackTheBlacks With Cheerios.

Advertising Age reported General Mills produced a stunt “to highlight the dwindling number of bees” by removing the Honey Nut Cheerios BuzzBee character from cereal boxes. If only General Mills had put as much effort into its stunt to highlight the dwindling number of Blacks in advertising agencies.

Honey Nut Cheerios Mascot BuzzBee Disappears From Box to Highlight Endangered Pollinators

General Mills Brand Is Encouraging Consumers to Plant Wildflowers

By Alexandra Jardine

Honey Nut Cheerios has removed its bee mascot BuzzBee from cereal boxes in the U.S. and Canada, in order to highlight the dwindling numbers of bees.

The General Mills-owned brand is using the blank space where the bee should be to encourage consumers to plant over 100 million wildflowers this year, in order to ensure a more bee-friendly world. The campaign, #BringBackTheBees, invites families to order and plant free seeds from Vesey’s Seeds by visiting the campaign website.

The brand points out that bees have experienced an unprecedented scale of habitat loss, with more than nine million acres of grass and prairie land converted to crop land since 2008. Approximately 30 percent of all ingredients in General Mills’ products rely on pollination.

Susanne Prucha, director of marketing for Cheerios, said in a statement: “As a General Mills cereal built around nutrition, helping pollinators get the key nutrition they need through fun, family-friendly activities like planting wildflowers is a natural fit.”

13594: Chilliguard Ad Is Weak.

Given how women in India face so much domestic violence and sexual assault, is ChilliGuard offering enough protection? Shouldn’t the spray figure be packing a bazooka and driving a tank?

13593: Commercials For Crumbs.

AgencySpy’s Patrick Coffee presented another belated BHM perspective, examining the ghettoized minority production community. Playing off the diverted diversity directorial drive dubbed #FreeTheBid, the culturally-clueless Coffee delivered a meandering mess that ultimately revealed nothing new. Additionally, the post inspired the standard comments from idiots displaying unconscious bias and conscious racism, as well as visitors criticizing Coffee’s journalistic skills. Um, looking for competent reporting from AgencySpy is like searching for diversity beyond the mailroom from a typical advertising agency. While #FreeTheBid received coverage in all the major trade journals, the minority production community settled for post at AgencySpy—which is probably the best one can expect for companies creating commercials for crumbs.

Production Companies Claim Major Agencies ‘Filter Out’ Minority Directors

By Patrick Coffee

Most commercial directors, like most creative chiefs and CEOs, are white dudes.

That’s not a judgment, just an objective observation. And some people are trying to actively change things. We all remember #FreeTheBid, the effort by Israeli-American director Alma Har’el to get more women helming ads with the help of Pereira & O’Dell and a whole shitload of agencies/clients ranging from 180LA to Coca-Cola. (Here’s the list.)

But it’s not just women who have trouble scoring directing gigs.

According to some members of the multicultural production world (which, as you probably know, is a parallel market just like African-American creative agencies), lots of shops talk the talk on diversity and even build up their own Hispanic teams. But they almost always go back to their friends when it comes time to assign work.

Agencies are able to keep their hands clean by farming out the work of managing bids to freelance producers or sales reps who don’t even have agency email addresses. They often use so-called weasel words that don’t explicitly forbid certain bidders but get the message across clearly.

For example, “submit General Market directors reels ONLY” is barely-disguised code for “no Hispanic, African-American or Asian directors.” We also hear that the inclusion of any non-English work on their reels can immediately end consideration for big agency campaigns.

There’s also purportedly a resistance to “ethnic-sounding” names. That means obviously Hispanic American or African-American directors/producers—because anyone who’s made a Spanish language ad obviously can’t handle campaigns targeted to white people, right? But if they’re French or Italian or German or Swedish, then there doesn’t seem to be as much of a problem. And you know how American agencies feel about Brazil.

Another key phrase is “A-list directors,” which means “don’t bother submitting anyone with ethnic market experience.” Agencies often go for affordability in the end, but this is a way of thinning the herd, so to speak. We also hear that even multicultural or Hispanic agencies tend to do this after being acquired by major holding companies, presumably due to either budgetary concerns or a desire to keep all the gigs within the existing network. Why bother putting your names on the #FreeTheBid list if you keep steering work to the usual suspects?

You’re probably aware that “general market” agencies are moving to keep as much of the multicultural work as possible. A recent job listing for “Senior Hispanic Copywriter” at mcgarrybowen New York requires 3-plus years of agency experience, fluency in both English and Spanish, and “Experience in General Market and Hispanic Market Advertising.”

One can see why the directors and producers who aren’t getting these jobs don’t see it as a stylistic issue or a matter of who’s “a better fit” for the client. And just like the “bid ridding” phenomenon, the brands being advertised are usually unaware of the practice anyway.

Makes us wonder whether independent, multicultural or Hispanic agencies/production shops can survive on their own.

13592: More Diverted Diversity Bullshit.

Adfreak reported on “The Fearless Girl” statue erected by McCann New York as part of a diverted diversity demonstration for State Street Global Advisors. While discussing the sculptor who created the statue, McCann Senior Art Director Lizzie Wilson said, “It was very important to us to work with a female team. We really wanted a female artist to be part of this. We wanted a female photographer. We wanted as much female leadership represented as possible, and as many female hands on the project as possible.” Okay, well that explains why White advertising agencies like McCann didn’t produce similarly elaborate work for Black History Month in February. Identifying and assembling a Black team would have been nearly impossible.

13591: Delayed WTF 34—O&M D&I B&S.

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

Adweek reported Ogilvy shat out a planet-wide restructuring that O&M Global CEO John Seifert dubbed the White advertising agency’s “next chapter”—and the paragraphs on diversity make for some decent toilet reading. Adweek wrote:

New Roles for Diversity, Growth and Communications

Worldwide Chief Talent Officer Scott Murphy will lead the Talent division, managing human resources, diversity & inclusion, learning & development and talent acquisition. As part of this move, Seifert also promoted senior partner, executive director of L&D Diane Fakhouri and senior partner, chief diversity officer Lauren Pedro to lead the global learning and diversity divisions.

In a memo to staffers, Seifert elaborated on the moves:

Our biggest asset as a company is the rich diversity of Ogilvy talent. My confidence in our future is boundless. Our next chapter mission is clear: we are a founder-branded, pervasively creative, modern marketing organization that makes brands matter. We are one Ogilvy. I get more excited about the opportunity in front of us with every interaction I have with the amazing people in this company. I am so grateful to you all for sharing the belief that so many of our leaders around the world and I share: the Ogilvy brand matters more now than ever before.

Donna has been partnering with me on all of our diversity and inclusion initiatives for the past eight years in my previous role as Chairman of North America. She is one of my most trusted and valued partners (and my favorite companion for monthly pizza night!). Given our commitment to expand our diversity agenda in all its forms—and raise performance standards for our industry overall—I’m now counting on Donna to inspire, share, and expand all of our D&I efforts globally.

Wow, that’s elevating delegating diversity to a worldwide level. Missing from the memo is a specific action plan for achieving D&I at O&M.

It seems Ogilvy was inspired by IPG, as the company website currently features a robust Diversity & Inclusion section presenting a potpourri of propaganda.

For example, Ogilvy boasts having 10 professional networks whose objectives include attracting and retaining talent. Not sure how segregated divisions foster D&I. Additionally, the Administrative Professional Network, Young Professional Network and Working Parents Network are among the silos. In other words, admins, millennials and workers with kids receive as much D&I TLC as racial and ethnic minorities—and it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the groups receive more attention than racial and ethnic minorities.

The Diversity & Inclusion section also lists awards the company has collected for combatting exclusivity, employee recognition for honors like winning ADCOLOR® trophies and supplier diversity mumbo jumbo. Why, the only thing left out is EEO-1 data to confirm the O&M D&I initiatives are igniting progress.

In regards to diversity and inclusion, the White advertising agency’s “next chapter” appears to be a reprint of every previous chapter.

13590: International Diverted Diversity Day.

International Women’s Day allowed White advertising agencies and advertisers to celebrate diverted diversity with happiness and hypocrisy. Black History Month primarily presented a handful of segregated print ads featuring royalty-free photography and concept-free executions. On the flipside, International Women’s Day inspired original art events, multi-channel campaigns, digital innovations, blah, blah, blah. DDB changed its name for a day, while Goodby Silverstein & Partners wondered what the world would be like without women—despite only naming its first female partner less than five years ago. Yes, the White women’s bandwagon ran over racial and ethnic minorities and just kept driving.

13589: Most-Liked Are Most Alike.

Business Insider fabricated a list titled, “The 10 most-liked advertising CEOs”—which turned out to be a ranking of predominately Old White Guys (the lone exception being Teads CEO Bertrand Quesada, who appears to be a relatively Young White Guy).

There’s actually a lot to dislike about the most-liked crew. For starters, the ten men were identified using data from Glassdoor. Sorry, but AgencySpy would be a more accurate and credible source for finding likeable candidates—and to be clear, AgencySpy would be a completely shitty choice for such an endeavor. Of course, there are no holding company honchos in the group. Imagine that. Does the lack of women and minorities indicate that White men are best suited to lead advertising agencies? Or is it just that the industry’s White male dominance leaves Glassdoor respondents with no other option but to salute the existing exclusive leadership?

13588: Happy Belated 12th Birthday.

On March 6, MultiCultClassics marked 12 years of publishing. Not sure why y’all continue to visit, but thanks for your support, opposition or indifference.

13587: JWTech Critique Hypocrisy.

Campaign published diverted diversity dumbness from JWT’s The Innovation Group European Director Marie Stafford, who griped the tech industry continues to have a diversity problem. Of course, Stafford only defines diversity as a matter of gender equality. The White woman ought to put things into perspective. For example, while Google admits that females make up a mere 31 percent of its global workforce, Blacks account for a whopping 2 percent of its U.S. workforce. Plus, women lead the new hires and leadership positions versus racial and ethnic minorities by an extra-super-wide margin. It’s also baffling that Stafford would bash the tech industry when she’s a member of a field that is arguably worse in the diversity area, especially considering the many decades that adland has steadfastly refused to embrace inclusion. Oh, and the JWT Commodore Crew is not exactly offering safe harbor to women.

Time for tech industry to end its bro-culture

By Marie Stafford

The European director for J Walter Thompson’s The Innovation Group highlights the lack of diversity at Mobile World Congress.

There’s an inside joke in Silicon Valley called the “Dave rule”: if your team has as many women as it does men called Dave, then gender balance has been achieved.

At Mobile World Congress this year, diversity was no joke: just 23 percent of this year’s attendees were women.

Inclusion is clearly top of mind for organizers; this year the GSMA also hosted the Women4Tech Summit, a one-day program of panels, speakers and presentations aiming to promote gender diversity in telecoms and tech.

The wider technology sector has been wrestling with this issue for years. Despite being avid users of tech, women are dramatically underrepresented in the industry.

In the US, women fill just over a quarter of the jobs in the IT sector, a figure that is actually in decline, down from a peak of 37 percent in the 1990s. The picture is yet bleaker in the UK, where women account for just 17 percent of IT specialists.

The upshot is that many women feel excluded; JWT’s Female Tribes study found that 40 percent of women in the UK feel that most technology is made for men, by men.

Disappointing, yet hardly surprising when a flurry of reports from Silicon Valley paint a picture of a workplace culture that could dissuade even the most enthusiastic girl coder. This year alone, ex-employees have shared hair-raising allegations of sexism and harassment at Uber, Tesla and Magic Leap to name but a few.

A 2016 survey would suggest that such tales are not atypical; a whopping 60 percent of senior women in Silicon Valley report enduring unwanted advances from male colleagues, according to the Elephant in the Valley study released in 2016. In 2012, Bloomberg chronicled the emergence of a testosterone-powered culture, particularly in start-ups, which was dominated by a new breed of young, well-educated white male ‘brogrammers.’

Diversity isn’t just a nice to have, it’s good business sense. So says, Bob Sell, group chief managing director of the Communication, Media and Technology practice at Accenture who opened the Women4Tech Summit. “Diversity drives innovation,” Sell said, pointing to research from the Peterson Institute which has found a strong correlation between gender diversity and profitability.

So how to achieve the right balance? Expanding the pool of potential female talent is essential so encouraging more girls to take up relevant subjects will be key. On both sides of the Atlantic, eight out of ten computer science graduates are men.

Google Spain chief Fuencisla Clemares told the Summit that influencing perceptions of computer science and getting more girls coding is critical. Google is also expanding their talent search to a wider pool of schools and universities and offering work experience. “We’ve built an internship program to expose students from different backgrounds to what life is like in a tech company,” Clemares added.

Visibility matters too. Women and girls need to be inspired by a new generation of Ada Lovelaces, and the earlier the better according to Facebook vice-president Nicola Mendelsohn. “The impact that role models have starts at a really early age,” Mendelsohn said. It’s advice that the event itself would do well to heed: only five of the 45 keynote speeches at MWC this year were delivered by women.

Neatly, it seems technology itself could prove a useful ally for the industry, helping to eliminate unconscious bias from key decisions on who to hire or promote.

“Imagine using machine learning and artificial intelligence to disrupt those key decisions,” according to Dr. Patti Fletcher, leadership futurist at software firm SAP, “Talk about levelling the playing field and creating this amazing culture of inclusion. All of a sudden you’re just focusing on the facts instead of your hunches.”

Retention is another crucial area of focus, and a tough challenge in a sphere where female attrition is a major issue. A US report from 2016 found that women leave the tech industry at twice the rate of men.

Bob Sell urged employers to be more balanced in their approach to talent management. “What about performance proportionality, what about promotion proportionality?” he asked. “What about asking our leaders, if 30 percent of men get promoted this year, did 30 percent of women get promoted this year? That’s not a quota system, that’s a question about how you’re running your business.”

Fittingly, some cheer comes from MWC’s host country. Fuencisla Clemares revealed that not one, not two, but six major tech firms in Spain are led by women, including Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and her own Google. Pause for thought for the bro-grammers of Silicon Valley.

But alongside all these great ideas, the tech industry must shoulder responsibility for the workplace culture it fosters. The best recruiting and retention strategies will falter if companies can’t make women feel welcome.

Marie Stafford is European director for J Walter Thompson’s The Innovation Group

13586: Sorrell’s Sleep-Inducing Commentary.

Business Insider reported WPP Overlord Sir Martin Sorrell said what keeps him up at night isn’t his 3-month-old daughter; rather, his sleepy time is interrupted with worries over Amazon. Hey, why would Sorrell’s child pose any cause for concern? Daddy makes enough money to keep her safe and secure forever. It’s actually WPP workers who should be tossing and turning, wondering how long they’ll remain employed and able to support their families.

The CEO of the world’s biggest ad company says Amazon — not his 3-month-old daughter — is what keeps him up worrying at night

By Lara O’Reilly

As the CEO of the world’s largest advertising group, WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell has been interviewed an awful lot during his long career. And he often gets asked the same question: “What keeps you up at night?”

Speaking on WPP’s fourth-quarter earnings call, 72-year-old Sorrell — whose wife recently gave birth to a daughter — shared his response.

“The answer to the question, ‘What worries you when you go to bed at night and wake up in the morning?’ isn’t a 3-month-old child,” Sorrell said. “It’s Amazon — which is a child but not three months.”

Sorrell has good reason to be worried.

Right now, Amazon’s advertising business pales in comparison to the likes of Google and Facebook. Amazon doesn’t strip out its advertising unit specifically in its financials, but the company’s “other” revenue in North America — believed to consist mostly of ad revenue — grew 60% to $1.3 billion in 2016. eMarketer predicts that Amazon will generate $1 billion in ad revenue in the US in 2017. That compares to estimates of $34 billion in revenue for Google and $15 billion for Facebook.

Sorrell often refers to Facebook and Google as “frenemies.” WPP works with them as a partner when it spends its clients’ marketing budgets on search or social-media ads (WPP spent just under $5 billion of its clients’ budgets with Google last year and $1.7 billion with Facebook), but Google and Facebook also threaten advertising agencies because they have the ability to work with clients directly, cutting out the middle man.

Amazon’s nascent ad business has the ability to do the same. Nobody in the online ad business has more data about the way we shop, how often we shop, and what items we look at and decide not to buy.

Sorrell thinks Amazon is a huge threat to Google when it comes to search. If you’re a sneaker brand, the most valuable place to advertise is when someone is actively searching to buy a pair of sneakers. On Google the person might just be researching, but with Amazon the consumer is most likely in the market to make a purchase right away.

Sorrell described Google as the “friendlier frenemy” of the three online ad giants (as he has done before). He placed Facebook in the middle and Amazon at the unfriendly end of the scale.

“It’s early days with Amazon, you never know what’s going to happen,” Sorrell said. “We put together an agency in Seattle,” the location of Amazon’s headquarters, “specifically to deal with Amazon and cater to Amazon.”

Advertising agencies are also increasingly facing competition from consultancy firms. Firms including Accenture and Deloitte have been busy acquiring independent ad agencies in recent months.

But Sorrell brushed off concerns that consulting firms presented an immediate threat to WPP. He mentioned one pitch, in which WPP’s agency VML was up against firms including Deloitte and Accenture as well as traditional agencies for a $300 million account. (VML won.) But he said there hadn’t been many other occasions in which WPP needed to compete against consultancies for big pieces of business, adding: “I don’t think it’s that significant.”

WPP’s share price was down 7.75% at the time of writing after the ad group warned 2017 had gotten off to a slow start and its projected 2% full-year 2017 organic revenue growth came in below analysts’ expectations. WPP usually forecasts annual organic growth of 3%. Sorrell attributed much of the drop-off to the loss of two big accounts: Volkswagen, which was worth $2.8 billion in bookings, and AT&T, which was worth $1.8 billion.

2016, however, was a good year for WPP. The company reported a 7.4% lift (in constant currency) in net sales to $12.4 billion, while profit after tax increased 7.2% year-on-year to $1.5 billion.

As usual in the quarterly earnings call, WPP also shared its useful slide on all the macro and micro trends affecting the ad business right now:

13585: Creative Bullshit On Diversity.

Campaign published a completely clueless and useless perspective from Acting U.K. Editor Gemma Charles, underscoring the fact that diversity might be a bigger problem for the U.K. advertising industry than its U.S. counterpart.

The first ridiculous statement typed by Charles read, “Due to excellent work by the IPA, in partnership with Campaign, agencies’ ethnic composition has begun to be put under the spotlight…” Huh? The IPA and Campaign only started examining matters together in early 2016, so if those efforts have just begun to put racial and ethnic diversity under the spotlight, it would mean the U.K. is many decades behind the U.S. in ignoring addressing the issue. What makes Charles’ statement extra stupid is the fact that Campaign published a perspective on the diversity dilemma by Jonathan Akwue in 2012. Plus, Media Citizens created a film series on diversity in adland—featuring the culturally clueless Sir John Hegarty—in 2012. Sorry, but to say the racial and ethnic composition of agencies “has begun to be put under the spotlight” is downright dumb. Despite the abysmal lack of progress, the issue has been under the interrogation lamp for quite some time.

The second ridiculous statement presented by Charles involved deflecting the Whiteness of advertising agencies to focus on the Whiteness of clients instead. Charles wrote, “Certainly at the top of the industry, there is a dearth of black, Asian and minority-ethnic marketers. Think about the awards shows, industry dinners, networking events, conferences, roundtables or even Campaign’s Power 100. How often do you sit next to someone from a brand who isn’t white? BAME marketing chiefs such as [Airbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall] are few and far between.” Sorry, but making the “hey-we’re-no-worse-than-the-other-guys” argument is intellectually lazy and arguably racist. Of course, the nimble move completely evades examining the level of diversity at Campaign. The advertising industry has never succeeded in changing clients. On the flipside, clients have the power and ability to change advertising agencies, although their efforts to force diversity have been half-hearted and fully pathetic to date. Oh, and trade journals have zero influence over clients or advertising agencies, except when introducing patronizing award shows.

Marketers should apply creative skills to diversity problem

A view from Gemma Charles

Marketers are adept at finding creative solutions to challenges, so why not apply your marketing nous to this one?

A few weeks ago, an irate Jonathan Mildenhall posted a series of tweets taking aim at what he claimed was a lack of “dark-skinned” Cannes Lions jurors. The high-profile Airbnb marketing boss, who recently described himself as a “mixed-race English kid who grew up on a council estate”, called for the ethnic-diversity agenda to “pick up pace”.

Due to excellent work by the IPA, in partnership with Campaign, agencies’ ethnic composition has begun to be put under the spotlight, but Mildenhall’s concerns could also be applied to brand-side marketers.

Certainly at the top of the industry, there is a dearth of black, Asian and minority-ethnic marketers. Think about the awards shows, industry dinners, networking events, conferences, roundtables or even Campaign’s Power 100. How often do you sit next to someone from a brand who isn’t white? BAME marketing chiefs such as Mildenhall are few and far between.

It may be that there are younger BAME people out there who will one day come bursting through the ranks. However, it’s hard to know as there is no centrally held information about the ethnic breakdown of marketing departments.

Of course, this issue is rooted deeply in socio-economic, educational and cultural trends that go way beyond the marketing industry. In the interests of fairness, I sought out “power” lists across different professions and their top players had a similar complexion to those marketers leading the biggest brands. The exception was Pulse’s list of the UK’s most influential GPs. So my digging found that, by and large, the most powerful jobs in the land are done by white men. What’s that phrase involving Sherlock again?

But we shouldn’t just shrug our shoulders and say: “Oh well, that’s the way it is.” Steps can be taken. Read Rick Hirst on the new apprenticeship levy that will enable large employers to access apprentices. Then ask whether your marketing department has the capacity to take any of these young workers who are likely to have diverse backgrounds.

Do your recruitment practices truly promote equality? Analysis published by the TUC last year found BAME workers with degrees are two-and-a-half times more likely to be unemployed than white graduates. Eschew the tick box and do more than the minimum required by your HR department.

Marketers are adept at finding creative solutions to challenges, so why not apply your marketing nous to this one?

From transparency to disruption, there are 101 issues that marketing leaders are having to grapple, but this is worth making the time for given that the moral and business case for creating a diverse workforce is indisputable.

13584: Vapid Vagina Varsity.

Vagina Varsity launched to hawk Libresse panty liners via BBDO in South Africa. Gee, did the idiots behind this bush-league bullshit draw inspiration from the infamous “Hail to the V” debacle for Summer’s Eve? It appears that the stars of the campaign are two Black women, while the creatives snatching credit for the concept appear to be White women. The agency will undoubtedly insist they deserve a Glass Lion for thinking outside the box.

13583: P&G PC BS.

Advertising Age reported that Procter & Gamble has jumped on the White women bandwagon, dumping all its brands under a diverted diversity digital campaign dubbed #WeSeeEqual. The propaganda was developed in partnership with Badger & Winters, whose Chief Creative Officer presented a sister scheme of sorts to Cannes. “We realized that because we are a leading company of brands, we can use our voice to express our point of view about gender equality,” said P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard. “We believe the world should be free of gender bias. We should have equal representation of men and women. We should have equal voice of men and women. And this should be an opportunity on International Women’s Day to put our point of view out there.” Gee, where was this douchebag during Black History Month? Surely P&G believes the world should be free of racial and ethnic bias too—and should have fair representation of people of color. Yo, My Black Is Beautiful should extend beyond hair care and makeup products.

13582: Phenomenal Girl.

Adfreak reported the late Maya Angelou served as voiceover for the Sport England “This Girl Can” campaign from FCB Inferno. Would Angelou really approve being used by an industry where diversity remains a dream deferred, diverted and denied?

13581: I&C BS.

Campaign celebrated the maiden voyage of its I&C Conference with a report featuring lots of commentary that was I&C—Inane & Contrived.

The piece opened by stating, “One year after the ad industry was shocked into action by the discrimination lawsuit filed against former J. Walter Thompson Chairman and CEO Gustavo Martinez…” Huh? How was the industry “shocked into action” by the lawsuit? Sorry, but there’s been zero measurable progress made as a direct result of the legal proceedings. WPP and JWT have certainly created plenty of smokescreens and propaganda to create an illusion of inclusion, but the rest of the industry has maintained the status quo. And while the White women bandwagon has accelerated, one could hardly attribute the diverted diversity drive to Erin Johnson or Martinez.

Diageo North America VP of Corporate Relations and Constituent Affairs Marc Strachan apparently delivered revolutionary remarks. However, the Campaign report didn’t include attendance figures, so it’s tough to know if Strachan’s words fell on deaf ears or any ears; plus, were there prominent White ears in the Dream Hotel Downtown? “Advertising industry, you can change, but you need to burn down the current system of hurdles, serfdom, exclusion, and then maybe, you can change,” declared Strachan, adding that transformation could come voluntarily or “someone’s going to throw the fucking grenade.” Um, burning down the existing White industry will take more than an f-bomb and grenade. Somebody needs to invent nuclear napalm just to ignite the blaze. And who’s going to start the fire? Whites or minorities?

Campaign also wrote, “The industry stood up and cheered last year when General Mills, Verizon and HP told their agency partners to diversify or lose their business.” Huh? Did the trade publication notice what actually happened with General Mills, Verizon and HP? General Mills ultimately hired White AORs to handle its business, supplementing with women- and minority-owned firms. In short, the food client perpetuated “the current system of hurdles, serfdom, exclusion” referenced by Strachan. And HP is only riding the White women bandwagon versus revving up legitimate change. To say “the industry stood up and cheered” is about as accurate as insisting President Donald Trump greeted unprecedented crowds at his inauguration.

Strachan boldly predicted multicultural agencies will become a thing of the past. Um, multicultural agencies already are a thing of the past. “Many of them will not sustain because they just won’t be able to compete, whether it’s infrastructure, size, resources,” explained Strachan. “We’re going to have to be comfortable with that, the economic reality is going to impact that business.” Okay, but let’s not attribute the decimation to “economic reality,” as the extinction is being executed by White advertising agencies via “total market” terrorist tactics. Plus, even Strachan admitted clients fabricate excuses to avoid employing multicultural agencies as AORs. Minority firms have always had the deck stacked against them. No need to call in the CSI squad to expose how the murder unfolded.

5 vital takeaways from the inaugural I&C conference

By Kathryn Luttner

Campaign US’ celebration of inclusion and creativity included some tough words for the ad industry. Change voluntarily, “or someone’s going to throw the #!&@ grenade,” said Diageo’s Marc Strachan.

One year after the ad industry was shocked into action by the discrimination lawsuit filed against former J. Walter Thompson Chairman and CEO Gustavo Martinez, Campaign US on Tuesday held its first I&C conference, a half-day summit that included frank talk about the industry’s struggles to diversity and a celebration of 16 creative teams that produced work defying stereotypes and featuring underrepresented people.

Speakers at the event, which took place at the Dream Hotel Downtown in Manhattan, included Marc S. Strachan, VP of corporate relations and constituent affairs at Diageo North America; Brad Jakeman, president of the global beverage group at PepsiCo; Tiffany Warren, founder of AdColor and SVP, chief diversity officer at Omnicom Group; Holly Brittingham, SVP, global culture & inclusion at FCB; Danielle Tiedt, CMO of YouTube; Kevin Brady, executive creative director at Droga5; Geoff Edwards, co-head of creative at Creative Artists Agency and cofounder of Saturday Morning; and Jeffrey Bowman, author, founder and CEO of Reframe: The Brand.

To see live coverage of the event, check out #CampaignIandC on Twitter. Below are five key points from the conference that warrant attention and further thought from everyone in the industry.

1. Advertising needs to burn, and Marc Strachan will light the first match

On the cusp of the 40th anniversary of “Roots” and the last day of Black History Month, Strachan declared “the time for talk is over,” and it’s time to burn the industry to the ground—so to speak.

“Advertising industry, you can change, but you need to burn down the current system of hurdles, serfdom, exclusion, and then maybe, you can change,” he said in his fiery keynote speech, adding that there are two ways to transform: voluntarily or “someone’s going to throw the fucking grenade.”

Today, target audiences are no longer homogenous, so to exclude them is to turn a blind eye to potential sales. “Change comes, driven by cash,” Strachan said. “If that’s what you’re trying to do, to hide, it’s no longer acceptable.”

He then rattled off a litany of excuses he’s heard during his 40 years in the business: “‘I don’t know how.’ ‘I don’t know where to look.’ ‘I looked but I couldn’t find.’ ‘We tried, but it didn’t work out,’” and called them “bullshit—all bullshit—hoodwink excuses by professional hoods.”

2. Quotas can work as part of a holistic approach

The industry stood up and cheered last year when General Mills, Verizon and HP told their agency partners to diversify or lose their business. But are quotas really the best solution to a long-ingrained diversity problem? Does anyone even use the word “quotas” anymore?

A panel titled “Are Quotas the Way Forward” suggested that the answer is no. Caitlin Lillie, director of talent at Work & Co., argued that quotas run brands and agencies the risk of making a checklist. If you check off your Hispanics, your LGBTQ, your elderly and your females, magically, you’ve solved diversity, she said. “Then what? What sort of planning are you putting in place to make sure that you’re growing those people?”

Warby Parker’s head of people Susan Lee agreed, providing a real-life example of how her company is experiencing a high turnover rate among LGBTQ, female and multicultural employees. “We have a very young culture,” she said. “We have a really wide range of sexual orientation. We have a large transgender community at Warby; we have people of color; we have women executives. But we have very high turnover in some of these areas because people aren’t feeling like we’re moving fast enough to create an inclusive environment in the company.”

But quotas—for lack of a better term—can work as part of a larger plan, but it won’t be an instant fix, said Paolo Gaudiano, president and CTO of Icosystem. “It’s not as simple as if we employ 50 percent women, all our problems will be fixed. It is true, however, that the kind of misogyny that you see is a little bit less likely to happen” if you employ more minorities, he said. “But you also have to think about the recruitment, the onboarding, inclusion, and it’s really about the complexity of all of these pieces together that has to be taken into account.”

3. Multicultural agencies will become a thing of the past

“Some of the ‘multicultural agencies’ are now just agencies that happen to specialize in a multicultural niche,” said Strachan. Diversity in advertising has come such a long way, he said, now larger holding companies are adopting the same strategies, that will, in effect, cause many multicultural agencies to go by the wayside. “Many of them will not sustain because they just won’t be able to compete, whether it’s infrastructure, size, resources,” he said. “We’re going to have to be comfortable with that, the economic reality is going to impact that business.”

Part of the reason is that millennials don’t see “multicultural” as a silo, but as everyday life. They “interact with people of all colors, all cultures, all backgrounds just as a standard day-to-day,” Strachan said. “You don’t silo. You might go by tribe: I’m a skater, I’m a geeker. I’m an early adopter. And ergo, I think you have a greater opportunity [to] control your future destiny.”

4. Don’t confuse internet comments with public opinion

What happens when a brand produces a progressive or inclusive piece of work, and internet trolls unleash their vitriol in the comments? YouTube’s CMO Danielle Tiedt, in a panel discussion titled “Withstanding the Backlash: How to Stay Brave in the Face of Intolerance,” advised brushing it off.

“Only 8 percent of people on the total internet ever comment on anything—8 percent—it’s tiny,” she said. “And the people who do take time to comment, 70 percent of those only make negative comments ever. I think it’s important to put in context that it’s a very small percentage of people and the people who read comments are even smaller than that, so don’t get too wrapped up in that.”

5. The best idea doesn’t always win

Brands are fond of saying they only care about the ideas, and the best ideas can come from anywhere. But in practice, that may not really be true, said Strachan.

If a multicultural agency presented the best idea in a pitch for a major brand like Ketel One, “a lot of people at my shop would be hard-pressed to give them the business,” he said during a panel discussion titled “Creative Under the (Diverse) Looking Glass.”

The Diageo executives would “lose a lot of sleepless nights; they’d come up with a thousand excuses as why they shouldn’t—or they couldn’t—give them the business: infrastructure, or maybe they can’t handle it financially” he said, “and we are light years ahead of where we used to be.” But in the end, they would likely still not give the multicultural agency the business.

Mark Robinson, SVP at Carol H Williams Advertising, echoed this sentiment, saying that multicultural agencies lack the “deep pockets” of traditional ad shops, which is why they’re bought up by holding companies. “If you’re a multicultural agency whose reason for being is just that you’re multicultural and not that you are good, then you won’t survive. You’ve got to be good first and then expert in your specific subject matter second.”

Geoff Edwards, co-head of creative at Creative Artists Agency and cofounder of Saturday Morning, took it one step further. In order for a multicultural agency to survive, he said, good isn’t good enough. “You have to be exceptional.”

13580: More Garbage From Deutsch.

AgencySpy posted about a Taco Bell commercial created by Deutsch that sparked criticism regarding the brand’s racial insensitivity. Specifically, a version of the commercial showed a White man throwing garbage at a Black woman pushing her baby in a stroller—all taking place in a 1950s-style setting. Of course, the online discussions included the standard volleys between the offended and offended-by-the-offended, with the latter group labeling the former group as overreacting liberals. Meanwhile, Deutsch averted accountability in the matter, reportedly deferring to the client, who responded by stating, “We had no intention of upsetting anyone with this ad and apologize to anyone who was offended. We immediately re-edited the commercial and removed the original version from the air.” Contrary to the offended-by-the-offended’s position, Taco Bell’s apology and re-edit technically concede a mistake was made. Regardless, the teachable moment demands examining Deutsch’s role. Consider the White advertising agency’s history of deceit, extreme exclusivity, nepotism, sexist stupidity, cultural stereotyping and firing its Chief Diversity Officer. Why, the Taco Bell incident could be karma or cultural cluelessness—and probably a heaping serving of both.

13579: Fired Up For Diverted Diversity.

Campaign reported PepsiCo Global Beverage Group President Brad Jakeman boasted of firing a recruiter who failed to identify enough White female candidates for an executive job search. Jakeman warned, “Unless you follow through, I’m sorry, you’re out.” Wonder how many Black candidates were presented for the role. Of course, Jakeman would never be so bold as to make such demands of the White advertising agencies he employs, where diversity is a dream deferred, diverted and denied. He opts to take the easier path by dumping a recruiter, which is roughly the equivalent of replacing a bad barber.

Why the president of PepsiCo’s global beverage group fired a recruiter

By I-Hsien Sherwood

Brands must fight “unconscious, built-in bias at every level,” says the soft drink giant’s Brad Jakeman

Cultivating a diverse workforce isn’t just a social good, it’s a business imperative, according to PepsiCo’s Brad Jakeman, president, global beverage group. And failing to deliver can have severe consequences for a career.

In a conversation with AdColor founder and president Tiffany R. Warren at Campaign US’ I&C conference Tuesday, Jakeman related the tale of an unfortunate recruiter. After requesting a diverse group of candidates for a senior-level position, only one of the 10 resumes he received from this recruiter belonged to a woman. When he complained, the recruiter promised she was doing everything she could to identify talented female candidates.

But a month later, the next round of resumes included only two from women. “You’ve done everything you can, you’ve investigated and exhausted your Rolodex?” he asked the recruiter. She assured him there was nothing else she could do. So Jakeman fired her. “Unless you follow through, I’m sorry, you’re out.”

“I can’t find them,” is a common excuse for not hiring diverse talent, added Warren, who is also the chief diversity officer at Omnicom Group. “It’s like a National Geographic special. ‘Where can we find them?’”

A diversity of talent leads to a diversity of thought, a necessity for a company like PepsiCo, which markets to an audience spread out over 190 countries. “It doesn’t make any sense not to lean into diversity, when by definition, the people we serve are incredibly diverse,” Jakeman said. “It is baked into our business.”

But even at Pepsi, a company run by an Indian-American woman, making progress on the diversity front is an ongoing effort. When the majority of executives at companies nationwide are straight, white men, breaking into the boardroom is tough even without active opposition from the old guard. “We naturally like being around people like us, so there’s unconscious built-in bias at every level” of the hiring process, Jakeman said. Without diversity initiatives, “I would get resumes from—on a good day—90 percent straight, white men. Certainly 98 percent men.” Hence Jakeman’s hard line against enablers of the status quo.

He attributed much of PepsiCo’s current success to its attitude toward diversity. It’s a selling point for customers who are increasingly concerned about the beliefs and actions of the companies that make the products they buy. “It’s a whole movement of ‘I want to know not just what the company makes, but who makes the company,’” he said. It’s an easy sell when the values of the company align with those of the consumer.

A diverse staff also creates better products. Jakeman touted PepsiCo’s focus on innovation and its highly-regarded in-house content creation studio. “We attract a very high level of creative talent,” he said. “For those people to come to a manufacturer of soda, orange juice, oatmeal and chips is something that would only happen if they felt welcome there, if they saw themselves reflected in their colleagues, if their leaders are supportive of them. That just doesn’t happen by chance.”