15729: The Diversity—And Divertsity—Of Denver…

 

Denver Ad School presents its latest graduating class. Um, despite the promotional diversion, DAD is not to be confused with DEI…

15728: BHM 2022—Shutterstock and Pocc.

 

Adweek reported on a diversity doubleheader celebrating Black History Month and the Lunar New Year: Shutterstock partnered with Pocc to offer grants totaling $6000—that’s six $1000 awards—to artists from Black, East and South-East Asian backgrounds. Um, thanks for contributing the crumbs. At least they didn’t advertise the promotion with royalty-free stock photography.

15727: BHM 2022—Coca-Cola Beverages Florida.

 

This advertiser is proud to be the 4th largest Black-owned business in the USA—and proud to Photoshop products into what looks like a royalty-free stock image.

15726: The Fantastic Four Of Adland…?

Advertising Age published a story spotlighting “4 Black Creatives” who are actively advocating for diversity in Adland. The article title, which appears below, brings up two points worth critiquing and examining:

 

1) While Walter T. Geer III and Derek Walker definitely categorize as creatives, does the designation really apply to Bozoma Saint John and Jerri DeVard, whose careers have mostly been in Chief Marketing Officer roles? Don’t mean to be nit-picky, but get your facts straight, Ad Age editors.

 

2) While all four leaders should be commended for their proactive DE&I dedication, why must diversity be delegated to minorities? Indeed, there are quite a few Madison Avenue minorities publicly fighting for equality. And why not spotlight the minorities who spoke out and got blackballed, blacklisted and blacked out? Sadly, there are far more than 4 such individuals out there.

 

Seems like progress will be actual and authentic when Ad Age publishes articles like this one that are titled, “How 4 White Creatives Are Nurturing The Diversity The Ad Industry Needs.” Unfortunately, at this point, it would be mighty challenging to find even 1 White person to fit the bill.

 

How 4 Black Creatives Are Nurturing The Diversity The Ad Industry Needs

 

From shining a spotlight on young talent to advocating for inclusion, these individuals are leading by example

 

By Karim Mohamed

 

According to a recent Ad Association All-In census, Black talent makes up 3 percent of the advertising industry workforce, and at the C-suite level just 1 percent is composed of Black talent.

 

But do we really need another report to tell us there’s a major diversity problem in the advertising industry? And should we assume from these findings that there is a lack of Black talent?

 

It’s time Adland owned up to the fact that the lack of Black representation is not because of a lack of Black talent. The industry is simply not dedicating the required energy to supporting and activating Black talent in the market.

 

Diversity comes with a lot of discussion and promise—it’s a box-checking panel at industry conferences—but then goes on the back burner behind pressing client needs. Some of the energy dedicated to winning business and creating campaigns needs to be diverted to actively recruiting the diverse talent at all levels of an organization, not just the entry-level jobs.

 

My journey to a career in advertising was full of rejection, unexpected detours and trying to shoehorn my way in the door. It is hard to find the motivation to keep going when faced with obstacles others never encounter. The good news? There are several Black leaders in the industry challenging the status quo and inspiring many to forge ahead and envision themselves in leadership positions.

 

From shining a spotlight on young Black creatives to advocating for diversity and inclusion, these individuals are leading by example, and are the driving force for change that the industry desperately needs:

 

Bozoma Saint John, chief marketing officer, Netflix

 

Bozoma Saint John has a formidable reputation as a trailblazer and industry change agent. As Netflix’s first Black woman in a C-suite role, Saint John has had a career to which any marketer would aspire. At first, Saint John wasn’t familiar with the advertising industry and worked as a temp for Spike Lee’s ad agency, Spike DDB. From there, she started to climb the career ladder.

 

Her experience has led Saint John to be very vocal about the importance of bringing your authentic self. In a Stanford Business article, Saint John said, “I’m very intentional and showing up very Black, very femme all the time, because that’s who I am. And my hope is that in doing so it actually allows other people to show up in the way they are.” Saint John advocates for young professionals to show up with their whole selves and to never speak or dress a certain way that doesn’t reflect their authentic selves.

 

Walter T. Geer III, executive creative director, VMLY&R

 

Walter T. Geer III is always willing to have difficult, public conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion. He often talks about the lack of diversity and how brands fail to accurately execute their diversity messaging. Geer spoke out against LinkedIn and directly reached out to the platform’s CEO after several shared experiences where people complained their posts centered on diversity and anti-racism were removed from the platform without warning. “I would love to have a candid conversation with you about how Black voices on LinkedIn are being blocked by your algorithm," Geer stated in his post. "Not only has this occurred to me numerous times, but I can point to many other individuals who have had the same problems.”

 

Geer continually works to hold brands accountable for their diversity initiatives. Geer also works in partnership with the 4A’s foundation, Dear Black Talent, a strategic platform focused on addressing the diverse talent shortage in advertising and putting Black talent first.

 

Jerri DeVard, founder, Black Executive CMO Alliance

 

Jerri DeVard is nurturing the next wave of upcoming talent. She has created an intimate and trusted space for Black marketing C-suite leaders to share, connect and create. As founder of the Black Executive CMO Alliance, DeVard believes in paying it forward to create opportunity, access and equality for the current and next generations of Black marketing leaders. DeVard created the organization to create, allies, action and accountability—and achieve meaningful corporate diversity.

 

DeVard is a great lesson in doing whatever it takes to get your foot in the door. Your path may not always be what you expect it to be, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for you. DeVard progressed by putting herself in a position where she knew she would be successful and had networks of support to get her to the next level.

 

Derek Walker, founder, Brown & Browner

 

Derek Walker is a fearless leader and advocate who is never afraid to speak out about the ad industry and its lack of diverse talent, specifically Black professionals. Walker’s brutal honesty about diversity led to a regular post that shines a spotlight on talented Black professionals in the industry. “Businesses say that they support diversity and inclusion but the reality of it is their actions don't bear that out,” said Walker. “Some agencies purport to be champions—but have no African Americans or Black staff. Publicly, people know what to say. Privately, they let me know how they really feel about me.”

 

Walker has also called out LinkedIn for removing posts without warning centered on diversity. Walker inspires diverse professionals to remain authentic to themselves.

 

We have a long road ahead, but the time for talk without action is over. There are a host of Black luminaries in the industry lighting the way, and it’s time we listen to them and follow their lead. When you are the only Black face in a crowd, it is all too easy for imposter syndrome to set in, and it’s easy to imagine how many talented individuals have likely left the industry for an easier path. As a young Black person in the ad industry, it's inspiring to discover people that look like me doing amazing things in advertising. They should be celebrated—not just during Black History Month—as they chart a route in which others can see themselves succeeding.

 

The time is now. We must let the courage of those who have traveled the path show us the way to a better future.

15725: BHM 2022—Marshall University.

Kudos to Marshall University for being among the very few Black History Month celebrators to: 1) create a message on strategy with the official theme for BHM 2022 and; 2) not resort to using royalty-free stock imagery.

15724: BHM 2022—USPS.

 

The USPS mails it in for Black History Month with a commemorative stamp featuring Sculptor Edmonia Lewis. Here’s the postal PR:

 

Edmonia Lewis

The 45th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors sculptor Edmonia Lewis (circa 1844-1907). As the first African American and Native American sculptor to achieve international recognition, Lewis challenged social barriers and assumptions about artists in mid-19th century America. The stamp art is a casein-on-wood portrait of Lewis, based on a photograph taken in Boston between 1864 and 1871. Art director Antonio Alcalá designed the stamp with original art by Alex Bostic.

 

15723: BHM 2022—Healthcare Equality Network.

During this month of celebrating Black Health and Wellness, take time to gain familiarity with Healthcare Equality Network.

15722: Super Bowl Commercials Represent Super Bullshit—And Systemic Racism.

Advertising Age published a looooong report—definitely not worth reading in its entirety—on how the annual Super Bowl commercials showed limited progress in terms of diversity and inclusion. The opening sentence says a lot:

 

“As Madison Avenue approaches year two in its commitment to create a more diverse and inclusive ad industry, most Super Bowl advertisers are either still struggling to create commercials that depict true representation or don’t appear to be trying at all.”

 

Um, why the fuck would Ad Age state that Adland is approaching “year two” in the quest to reach DE&I nirvana?

 

For starters, the lack of color in Super Bowl spots has been officially recognized since at least 2010, when Cyrus Mehri sought to bring legal action against the industry. The scenario, incidentally, was reported by Ad Age.

 

In 2020, it was recorded that divertsity—ie, the prominence and promotion of White women in Super Bowl advertising—had spiked. The second scenario, incidentally, was reported by Ad Age and the same reporter behind the latest revelation.

 

Madison Avenue’s “commitment to create a more diverse and inclusive ad industry” is not approaching year two—it’s closer to year twelve. And that’s just in regards to acknowledging the exclusivity prevalent in Super Bowl campaigns.

 

If you examine the complete history of systemic racism in Adland, the total jumps to at least 60 years. That’s year LX, to use the Super Bowl’s lexicon.

 

Madison Avenue is an undisputed discrimination dynasty.

 

Super Bowl Ads Show Limited Diversity And Inclusion Progress

 

While some advancements have been made, representation is hard to quantify

 

By Jeanine Poggi

 

As Madison Avenue approaches year two in its commitment to create a more diverse and inclusive ad industry, most Super Bowl advertisers are either still struggling to create commercials that depict true representation or don’t appear to be trying at all.

 

Ahead of this year’s Big Game, Ad Age asked every advertiser with plans to air in-game commercials about how they prioritized diversity and inclusion in the creation and production of their ads. This included how they approached casting, diversity within the agencies they worked with, and the makeup of those working on the production. While some brands had very clear action steps and outlined ways they implemented these practices in the conceptual and production phases of their ads, many could not provide specific details on the makeup of who worked on their ads. Others continued to provide cookie-cutter DEI mission statements that simply said they support the cause without disclosing much detail.

 

While a majority of the brands with planned Super Bowl ads participated in this article in some way, Toyota, Crypto.com, Procter & Gamble’s Gillette, Turkish Airlines, and Colgate-Palmolive’s Irish Spring declined to participate in the story. And WeatherTech, Kia, Carvana, Salesforce and Rocket Mortgage did not return multiple requests to comment before publication.

 

One of the biggest issues in attempting to measure diversity and track progress both in front of and behind the camera involves guidelines that prevent requiring crew members or cast to disclose information around accessibility status, with multiple brands, including Pringles parent Kellogg, crypto trading platform eToro, and BMW citing these guidelines as hurdles to providing detailed data.

 

“We are at the starting point in corporate America where companies recognize the need for that data and we are helping them navigate it,” said Rich Ferraro, chief communications officer, GLAAD. “We are starting now to help agencies ask those questions, and while participation needs to be totally optional, the ad industry isn’t doing it.”

 

[Feel free to read the full report here.]

15721: BHM 2022—Publish Standard Black History Month Editorial. Check.

 

Adweek published a perspective from Carta Head of Inclusion, Equity and Impact Mita Mallick titled, “BHM Is Not a ‘Check the Box’ Exercise.” In Adland, BHM doesn’t even rate ‘Check the Box’ status. Rather, it’s a task annually delegated to Chief Diversity Officers—including Heads of Inclusion, Equity and Impact, as well as other Human Heat Shields—and typically forgotten by March 1st or much sooner.

15720: BHM 2022—Field Museum.

 

Field Museum in Chicago exhibits its BHM spirit by saluting African Americans’ contributions to science and museums.

15719: BHM 2022—Museum Of Science + Industry.

Museum of Science + Industry Chicago built up Black Creativity: Architecture for Black History Month.

 

15718: BHM 2022—Overreaction Of The Week.

 

Advertising Age announced nominations for its ‘Leading Women 2022’ awards. Perfect. The White women’s bandwagon steamrolls Black History Month. Hell, Ad Age editors even chose to illustrate the story with a White queen chess piece.

15717: BHM 2022—Google.

 

A Google Doodle saluted Toni Stone—the first woman to play professional baseball in a men’s major baseball league. However, Google continues to strike out with its own diversity efforts.

15716: BHM 2022—Ulta Beauty.

Ulta Beauty celebrates BHM with an Ode to Black Beauty, delivered by Poet and Artist Jasmine Mans. Lovely, except the film was orchestrated by McCann Worldgroup, whose reflection of Black beauty is… oh, never mind. At least they didn’t ask former McCann Health CCO Jeremy Perrott to weigh in.

 

15715: Nielsen & Procter & Gamble & Media & Racism.

 

Advertising Age reported Nielsen and Procter & Gamble are teaming up on the launch of “a Diverse Media Equity program to help bridge measurement and other structural gaps that have excluded minority-owned media companies from receiving their fair share of ad spend.” Gee, that sounds like a confession of systemic racism in the media world. The sudden spike in creating initiatives designed to bring equity indicates recognition of inequity. Surely Nielsen and P&G were aware of the “measurement and structural gaps” that led to crumbs for minority-owned media. According to Ad Age, P&G is providing seed funding for the effort. Um, it would probably make more sense to simply write a check to Byron Allen instead.

 

Nielsen And P&G Look To Help Minority-Owned Media Beat Data Hurdles That Block Ad Spending

 

The efforts include expanding access for minority-owned radio stations to Nielsen data, even if they can’t pay for subscriptions

 

By Jack Neff

 

Nielsen is launching a Diverse Media Equity program to help bridge measurement and other structural gaps that have excluded minority-owned media companies from receiving their fair share of ad spend.

 

The effort includes a new report quantifying reach and impact of diverse-owned media outlets and expanding access for minority-owned radio stations to Nielsen data, even if they can’t pay for subscriptions.

 

As part of the effort, Procter & Gamble Co. is joining Nielsen to provide seed funding for a $130,000 reimbursement program with the National Minority Supplier Development Council to help cover certification fees for diverse-owned media suppliers. The fund will help provide around 200 publishers with Minority Business Enterprise certification, often required by large companies to qualify for diverse investment.

 

This comes as Madison Avenue looks to shift more media dollars into minority-owned media companies, as media leaders like Byron Allen call for a more equitable share of those budgets. Over the last year agencies like GroupM and Magna, as well as brands like General Motors and Verizon, have made pledges to increase how much of their media budget they are allocating to Black-owned and minority-owned media channels.

 

Nielsen’s first report on diverse media reach and audience profiles finds Black-owned TV stations reach as much as 41% of all adults in smaller local markets where they’re present, while Black-owned radio reaches more than 1.2 million people ages 12 and up.

 

Hispanic-owned local TV reaches 61% of viewers 18 or older in the top 101 U.S. markets where they’re present, including 24% of Asian Americans, 33% of Blacks and 39% of Hispanic viewers, according to the report. Asian-American-owned TV stations reach more than 200,000 adults 18 and up in the top 48 U.S. markets, while Native American-owned radio reaches nearly 800,000 listeners across the U.S.

 

“These are our first steps to bring forward some of the most important metrics that the industry has asked us for about diverse media entities,” said Stacie M. de Armas, senior VP of diverse consumer insights and initiatives, DE&I practice, Nielsen.

 

“We have aggregated really important data for national television, local radio and local television,” de Armas said. “These essentially are numbers that can be used by planners and buyers looking to invest in diverse-owned entities in whatever market they're interested in.”

 

Canela Media, a Latina-owned media company that has participated in Nielsen’s pilot initiative, started initially with one measured campaign and increased that to five within one week.

 

“Our partnership with Nielsen has enabled us to deliver the granular level of transparency and measurement our clients demand,” said Isabel Rafferty, founder and CEO of Canela Media, in a statement.

 

Carlos Santiago, co-founder of the Association of National Advertisers Alliance for Inclusive Multicultural Marketing and president and chief strategist of consulting firm SSG, said in a statement that the Nielsen report data “gives media buyers a view into the impact of diverse media and will facilitate increased investment from media agencies and major advertisers.”

 

Marketers and agencies — including P&G, Unilever and WPP’s GroupM — have lobbied Nielsen in recent years for better measurement of minority-owned media as they look to increase spending there. But the media companies are often smaller players in smaller markets that are harder to measure accurately, and they often can’t afford subscription fees for Nielsen data, said Gonzalo del Fa, president of GroupM Multicultural, during Ad Age Next: CMO virtual panel last year.

 

In an interview last year, P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard said his company has been asking Nielsen “how big is the market, so we can really make sure we understand how much inventory and spending is actually available.” As part of that effort, Pritchard said P&G shared its own list of minority-owned media companies with Nielsen.