15271: McCann Worldgroup Perfectly Represents The World Of Advertising.

 

Advertising Age reported McCann Worldgroup elevated Singleton Beato to Global EVP Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. Of course they did.

 

“As we move forward into 2021, it is critical that we have the right people at the forefront of our senior leadership team making key decisions about our business and our future,” claimed McCann Worldgroup Chairman-CEO Bill Kolb. “There is another discipline that is equally as important as strategy, creative, account leadership and production, and that is diversity and engagement, which is my top priority moving forward.”

 

First of all, it’s “critical” to have the “right people”—ie, minorities (and not Harris Diamond)—on the senior leadership team because, well, clients are demanding it. A peek at the McCann Worldgroup leadership (depicted above), however, reveals a predominately Caucasian clique that hardly represents a real world group.

 

As for diversity and engagement being Kolb’s “top priority moving forward,” somebody should definitely hold him accountable for that declaration, minimally by measuring EEO-1 data annually. Based on the advertising industry’s record to date, Kolb’s bold statements will be forgotten sooner than the average New Year’s resolution. In short, don’t expect any Black History Month ads from McCann Worldgroup.

 

McCann Worldgroup Promotes Singleton Beato To Global Chief DE&I Officer

 

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

 

First up, McCann Worldgroup promoted Singleton Beato to the new role of global executive VP and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. She has been serving as chief diversity and engagement officer since 2017, implementing and leading “diversity and engagement solutions that drive business performance” across McCann Worldgroup, the network says. In the expanded role, the agency says Beato will report directly to McCann Worldgroup Chairman-CEO Bill Kolb to push “forward an aggressive approach to make the systemic and structural changes necessary to ensure employees, as well as clients and the consumers the agency’s clients serve, feel seen, heard, represented and respected in the workplace, marketplace and their communities.”

 

“As we move forward into 2021, it is critical that we have the right people at the forefront of our senior leadership team making key decisions about our business and our future,” Kolb says. “There is another discipline that is equally as important as strategy, creative, account leadership and production, and that is diversity and engagement, which is my top priority moving forward.”

 

Before McCann, Beato led diversity and inclusion strategy for the American Association of Advertising Agencies and was the director of human resources for J. Walter Thompson (now Wunderman Thompson) prior to that. Among her accomplishments thus far at McCann, the agency credits her as “the visionary” behind its annual “Day For Meaning” event that is aimed at bringing “individual and collective accountability to disrupt and shift daily behaviors and decisions that have traditionally been barriers to inclusion.”