Campaign published a lengthy piece—“The creative zeitgeist”—that asked an international group of adlanders, “Does creativity mean different things to different countries?” Leave it to UK-based Campaign to pose such a culturally clueless question. Interestingly enough, diversity appeared in the comments via a variety of ways:
• Bartle Bogle Hegarty Deputy Executive Creative Director Caroline Pay said, “But now, I’m happy to report, our mojo is coming back and we are seeing greatness across a more diverse pool of brands, sectors, channels, agencies and talent.” Oh really? Sorry, but BBH is still MIA when it comes to diverse agencies and talent.
• 72andSunny Amsterdam Carlo Cavallone said, “The new shops are bringing diversity both in terms of work and skills. They attract talent that is diverse in origin and approach, and this makes for an ‘anything goes’ variety of creativity. Not just driven by big investments, big bangs and big 90-second films but by a combination of technology, social and business awareness, and use of media.” It would be nice to see if Cavallone’s words are rooted in honesty or in smoking too much weed.
• Droga5 New York Executive Creative Director Kevin Brady said, “For the past two years, I have worked with the graham-cracker brand Honey Maid. We presented an idea that connected the wholesomeness of its product to modern wholesome families of all types, from gay to mixed race, and they immediately said: ‘YES!’ They knew they would get some angry letters but they had a point of view and, most importantly, there was a connection to the product that gave them a right to play in that space.” Cool. Except Droga5 is the exclusive antithesis of “modern wholesome families of all types.”
• BETC Chairman and Founder Rémi Babinet—as to be expected from a French person—said nothing about diversity.
• Razorfish Germany Executive Creative Director Preethi Mariappan—as to be expected from a German person—followed Babinet’s lead.
• Fred & Farid Shanghai Creative Director Feng Huang—as to be expected from a Chinese person—mirrored Babinet and Mariappan.
• TBWA\Angola Creative Director Miguel Ries seemed to hype Black stereotypes, covering the “Blacks-are-inherently-more-creative-by-nature” position—and adding references to barbecues, barbershops, slang, music and “the reality in the streets.”
• BBDO India Chairman Josy Paul, on the other hand, said, “Young Indians are questioning the stereotypes of the past and liberating advertising from the traditional clutches of the perfect model-hero archetype.”
• Elephant Cairo Director Ali Ali continued the stereotypes theme when he said, “Let’s be honest. Great ads aren’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the Middle East. Camels, bombs, more camels—we’ve got many stereotypes, and creativity isn’t one of them.”
• Grape Creative Director Vladimir Garev spoke about the “pressing economical crisis” in Russia—although his reduced rubles probably still outshine U.S. multicultural marketers’ crumbs.
• Crispin Porter Brazil Executive Creative Directors Andre Kassu and Marcos Medeiros referred to CPB Hackneyed Honcho Chuck Porter as “our shogun”—which instantly qualified anything they said as sycophantic bullshit.
• McCann Sydney Executive Creative Director Dejan Resic said nothing about diversity, despite hailing from one of the most diverse countries on the planet. Nice.
• JWT Japan Executive Creative Director Go Sohara said some stuff about diversity, but he was actually referring to professional backgrounds: “All kinds of creative people, from architects to artists to TV producers and even restaurant owners, are getting into the creative branding business.” Hey, that’s not quite the kind of diversity JWT claims to be seeking.
It feels like the agencies and holding companies think that if they say the word "diversity" enough, in reference to "diversity of thought" and "gender diversity" "diverse digital offerings" etc., that we'll overlook the lack of any kind of racial diversity.
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