Kickin’ It Old School. Advertising Age named mcgarrybowen as Agency of the Year, praising the shop’s old-school style. MultiCultClassics also acknowledged the agency’s outdated ways, especially in regards to diversity and nepotism. Ironically, as if to underscore the ultimate ineffectiveness of doing business via the Mad Men method, mcgarrybowen wound up winning and losing the Bud Light account within months—and rumors indicated the agency failed to deliver on digital tactics. Plus, the business went to Translation, a Black-owned shop with virtually zero AOR experience.
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Old News. When it comes to discrimination on Madison Avenue, Old White Guys is the new Black, as evidenced by an Advertising Age story titled, “Aging in Adland: The Gray-Hair Phobia That’s Hindering Older Execs.” A follow-up companion piece by TBWA Worldwide Director of Talent Nancee Martin offered “Six Tips for Older Job Hunters”—which arguably displayed blatant bias from a top executive charged with hiring people.
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Fresh BHM Stereotypes. MultiCultClassics celebrated Black History Month with fake Madison Avenue Ads and More Madison Avenue Ads from White advertising agencies.
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Boschetto Bullshitto. Draftfcb President and CEO Laurence Boschetto proclaimed that by 2014 his agency “will be an organization that no longer uses the term ‘diversity and inclusion.’” The jury is still out regarding whether or not Draftfcb will be around in 2014, with strong predictions that Boschetto will definitely be history before the colorblind deadline arrives. Additionally, Draftfcb couldn’t even prevent the phrase from appearing in its own ADCOLOR® congratulatory ad.
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Omnicompliance…? The Biggest Under-Reported Story of the Year: New York City’s Office of the Comptroller asked Omnicom, IPG, WPP and Publicis Groupe to disclose the diversity of their workforces—and Omnicom refused to comply. Too busy engaging in Corporate Cultural Collusion and Corporate Multicultural Collusion?
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Suit Up. In April, IPG was hit with a $50 million racial discrimination lawsuit. Then another one emerged in August. A judge tossed the first suit, but the accuser re-filed charges later in the year. Of course, IPG insists the claims in the case “remain without merit.” On the flip side, IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth and Draftfcb President and CEO Laurence Boschetto admit the industry has struggled with diversity and discrimination. On Madison Avenue, there will almost always be merit to any claim of unfair employment practices.
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Keeping It Real. AMC reality series The Pitch exposed some not-so-pretty realities about the advertising industry. When the show pitted Bozell (a White agency) against Muse Communications (a minority agency), Jo Muse sought to seize the opportunity and reveal the inequities that non-Whites face in the industry. Alas, Muse’s on-air performance led to charges of racism and ultimately inspired cultural cluelessness from the Bozell team. So what’s the lesson to be learned? Adpeople holding aspirations of appearing on TV series should confine their participation to programs like “The Price Is Right” or “The Biggest Loser.”
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To Sir, Without Love. Sir John Hegarty had the hypocritical audacity to pontificate on the importance of inclusive workplaces, seemingly ignorant to his own agency’s utter lack of commitment to diversity. The pompous douche bag is only interested in anything Black or White if it involves D&AD Pencils.
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The Great White Dope. After writing a couple of inane columns on race as depicted by AMC series Mad Men, Tanner Colby displayed his true ignorance through publishing and promoting his book—Some of My Best Friends Are Black. Colby somehow managed to later position himself as an authority on multicultural marketing, securing appearances at the annual Where Are All The Black People? and Multicultural Health National. In short, an idiot who admits to cultural cluelessness can still become an industry thought leader on diversity. Only in America.
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The Great White Hope. Tanner Colby’s stupidity contrasted the intellectual efforts of Dr. Christopher Boulton, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Tampa, whose “Rebranding Diversity” presentation provided a blueprint for ending the exclusivity on Madison Avenue. But is it possible to disassemble the existing power structure via PowerPoint?
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From Whassup To WTF. As previously mentioned, Steve Stoute and his agency, Translation, made advertising history by winning AOR status for Bud Light. The shop has yet to produce a decent commercial for the brand; however, previous incumbent agency mcgarrybowen never managed to birth a competent spot either. Stoute did allow Anheuser-Busch InBev U.S. Marketing VP Paul Chibe to serve as an executive producer for the Jay-Z “Made in America” film documentary. A couple of photo-ops with Beyoncé should secure the business for the time being.
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An Adwoman’s Prerogative. Digiday published the “Confessions of a Female Ad Exec”—who later confessed to being Socialistic CEO Colleen Decourcy—to broadcast the struggles women face in advertising. Leo Burnett CCO Susan Credle admitted she never thought advertising was tough for a woman. Deutsch NY CEO Val DiFebo explained why she didn’t think of herself as a woman. And The 3% Conference piqued less than zero percent of MultiCultClassics’ interest.
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Conservatively Speaking. Carl Warner elected to declare a dearth of political conservatives in the advertising industry. His argument, however, was countered by conservative commentary from Jim Ferguson, Vinny Minchillo and Jerry Della Femina. Plus, “lapsed” Republican Jeff Goodby produced a pro-Obama video that was so embarrassingly awful, it got pulled down faster than Mitt Romney’s dreams of becoming president.
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All U.S. and U.K. Admen Look Alike. The dearth of diversity in the U.S. advertising industry is not unique after all, as an identical dilemma is present in the U.K. too. The “solutions” appear to be similar as well, with agency honchos on two continents insisting minorities must be recruited and educated about the field at an early age. Plus, U.K. and U.S. trade publications seemingly shower the same White men with praise and accolades. Look for ADCOLOR® to launch in Britain as ADCOLOUR® soon.
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Livin’ La Vida Loca. For Latino advertising agencies, 2012 demonstrated the craziness of marketing to minorities. Following up on a promise to “blow up” the multicultural budget in 2011, Walmart officials appeared at the annual ANA Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Conference to provide a status report. Walmart Senior VP-Brand Marketing and Advertising Tony Rogers gushed, “One hundred percent of the growth [in sales] is going to come from multicultural customers. … Our spending against multicultural customers will grow by at least 100%.” Of course, no actual numbers were offered—after all, 100% more crumbs is still just a bunch of crumbs. Meanwhile, Quaker Oats announced it was unveiling the brand’s first integrated campaign targeting Latinos. It must be noted, however, that Latino agency Alma is likely playing a subservient role to White agency Energy BBDO, and both shops are in the Omnicom network. Also, given that Quaker Oats has been around for over 130 years, it’s pretty appalling that the first integrated campaign is just starting now. Heineken completed the trifecta by dismissing The Vidal Partnership and handing its Latino business to White agency Wieden + Kennedy. Heineken VP-marketing Colin Westcott-Pitt explained the move by saying, “There’s a shift in what consumers are interested in what they believe in and value in life. It trumps where they happen to be from or what their ethnic group is.” A few months earlier, Westcott-Pitt was gleefully discussing exclusively sponsoring a branded entertainment vehicle on the Discovery en Español channel. And does the man really think commercials starring pseudo-debonair White guys with exotic hotties in foreign lands will translate across cultures? ¡Ay, Caramba!
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