Thursday, March 31, 2022

15776: David Miami Playing With Fire…?

 

AgencySpy posted on new hires at David Miami, including a fresh ECD to run the Burger King account. Whoa—hold the pickle, hold the lettuce. That appointment is either a whopper exhibition of extreme bravado or extreme buffoonery. The new executive could eventually work on Burger King or at Burger King—as a grill chief. At least there’s no criticism yet from Cindy Gallop.

 

David Miami Strengthens Creative Leadership With 3 New Hires

 

By Kyle O’Brien

 

David Miami has expanded its Miami creative roster with hiring of Jason Wolske as executive creative director and Caro Rebello and Artur Lipori as a group creative director duo. The three hires will report to CCO Rafa Donato, who joined the Miami office eight months ago after over five years at the agency’s São Paulo office.

 

Wolske returns to David Miami after a two-year stint as svp, ecd at Republica Havas and will work on the Burger King account. He previously spent five years at David Miami as group creative director and associate creative director. He has worked on national and global brands including Volkswagen, Coca-Cola and Google, and his work has been recognized by the Addys, Andys, Cannes Lions, Clios, D&AD, Effies, LIAs, One Show and others.

 

“We are elated to have Jason returning as ecd for Burger King. He’s a natural problem solver who understands there are infinite ways to connect with consumers and teammates. He is passionate about finding the most effective and creative solutions possible for clients and teams alike,” said Donato.

 

“My role is to inspire my teams, keep them motivated and help them bring their ideas to life in the most effective and exceptionally creative ways possible by ensuring we have a comprehensive understanding of our clients’ needs,” added Wolske in a statement.

 

Rebello and Lipori most recently served as creative directors at McCann NY, having previously worked together at JWT Brazil, TBWA Chiat NY and Ogilvy NY. The duo’s work has won awards at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, New York Festivals, 4A’s and Caples International Awards. They have worked with brands including Mastercard, Amnesty International, Jameson Whiskey, Motorola, Ikea, Philips, Diet Coke and HSBC.

 

Rebello and Lipori created and led “The Refugee Nation” project for Amnesty International, a highly awarded campaigns at Cannes Lions, winning the Grand Prix for Good, Titanium prize. It also won Best of Show at the One Show. The refugee flag created for the campaign is part of the permanent collection of MoMA and Victoria & Albert Museum.

 

“David is the industry’s role model for bold creativity. It’s exciting to have the chance to join this talented team and create great ideas,” Lipori said in a statement. Rebello added that “David is one of the most respected agencies worldwide for its creativity, inventiveness, and boldness.”

 

The new hires come after a year when the agency achieved 40% growth in revenue, thanks to new clients including Actimel Global, Activia U.S. and global, Bud Zero, Cutwater and TD Bank U.S.

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

15775: Nielsen Rates Itself As Worth $16 Billion…?

 

Advertising Age published a report titled, “Nielsen To Go Private In $16 Billion Deal.” Somewhere, Media Mogul Byron Allen is huddling with his legal team to add more zeroes to the amount he’s seeking for his latest lawsuit against the measuring company.

 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

15774: Omnicom Joins The Great Russian Resignation.

 

Omnicom finally announced, albeit via quiet press release, that it is withdrawing from Russia, a move that will affect an undisclosed number of Russian employees—including comrades who have served the White holding company for decades. The statement claimed that Omnicom “has been planning an orderly process to ensure continuity of services for clients and to provide a future for its Russian colleagues.” Is Fathom Communications being offered as a substitute vendor?

 

Omnicom Announces Decision to Discontinue Operations in Russia

 

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) today confirmed it is withdrawing from Russia and working with local partners to dispose of all of its investment positions.

 

It has been planning an orderly process to ensure continuity of services for clients and to provide a future for its Russian colleagues, some who have been with Omnicom for decades. It expects to finalize details shortly.

 

As the violence and humanitarian crisis continues in Ukraine, Omnicom’s number one priority remains the safety and well-being of its more than 200 colleagues and their families there. It is in constant contact with its Ukrainian agency leaders and is supporting its people with much needed humanitarian assistance, including transportation, accommodations, visa and working papers, translation services, relocation support, supplies and medical support.

 

Omnicom continues to keep its affected colleagues in its thoughts and hopes for peace.

Monday, March 28, 2022

15773: Bad Apples & Poor Apple TV+…

 

Adweek published a lengthy report titled, “Will Smith Slapping Chris Rock Overshadows Apple TV+’s Historic Oscar Win,” whining about how the Apple TV+ streaming breakthrough was upstaged by the Smith + Rock screaming brouhaha. Ironically, the Adweek report also spent more screen space on the TKO versus CODA. Poor Apple TV+ was denied its monumental moment. Oh, the humanity! Heaven forbid anyone should feel slighted that proper respect was not awarded to the fifth Best Actor Oscar in history going to a Black man.

15772: Will Smith v Chris Rock, Round Zillion.

 

There is already plenty of commentary regarding Will Smith smacking Chris Rock at the Academy Awards show—including discussions about race-based inequities and gender-based insults—but here’s one more.

 

The New York Post wondered if Smith could lose his Oscar should the Academy enforce its 2017 code of conduct that “emphasizes the importance of ‘upholding the Academy’s values,’ like inclusion, fostering supportive environments, and ‘respect for human dignity.’”

 

The Post story stated that when the code of conduct was issued, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Dawn Hudson wrote, “There is no place in the Academy for people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates recognized standards of decency. The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, or nationality. The Board of Governors believes that these standards are essential to the Academy’s mission and reflective of our values.”

 

Indeed, the Academy was quick declare that it “does not condone violence of any form” after the Smith-Rock altercation. 

 

The scenario poses a diversity-related dilemma for sure. After all, if Smith were reprimanded for his violent outburst, could Rock also be subject to disciplinary action for his joke? As has been reported, the recipient of the off-color remark—Jada Pinkett Smith—is affected by alopecia, an autoimmune disease. In short, Rock’s “G.I. Jane” joke could be deemed as publicly shaming a person with a disability. That’s grounds for dismissal in most professional settings.

 

The incident definitely presented opportunities for a variety of teachable moments. And it underscores the need for forgiveness across the board. In the words of Marvin Gaye:

 

Father, father

We don't need to escalate

You see, war is not the answer

For only love can conquer hate

15771: The 3% Conference Moves To 0%...?

 

Advertising Age reported the 3% Conference is shuttering after a decade of divertsity defending and patronizing partying. Ironically and hilariously, the announcement was delivered during Women’s History Month.

 

Also under consideration for nixing is the vaunted 3% Certification stunt, a move that would eliminate an easy heat shield for White advertising agencies to purchase and promote.

 

As always, 3% Movement Madam Kat Gordon provided fuzzy commentary, including, “…but I’m 56 years old and if I feel like I have 10 more years to give to this issue, which it would be so great to do, I just don’t think that putting on events for the next decade is the highest use of my brainpower.” Is Gordon saying that she intends to eventually retire from the cause? Sorry, but that smacks of entitlement and privilege. Does a true advocate for social change ever stop fighting for justice and equality?

 

Can’t help but wonder if Gordon is surreptitiously fishing for bailout investors—and volunteers—to keep the annual soiree afloat. Surely Cindy Gallop will march to save the conference, albeit mostly to prevent the loss of a paid speaking engagement for herself. Hey, don’t be surprised if the “certified” White advertising agencies cough up cash—and much more than 3% of their allowable tax-deductible donations.

 

The 3% Conference Ends After A Decade

 

The event is a casualty of COVID, but the group’s mission will live on with ‘capsule’ and virtual efforts

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

The 3% Conference, perhaps the premiere industry event championing diversity and female leadership in the industry, is ending after a decade, Ad Age has learned.

 

The event, which regularly drew nearly 2,000 attendees, attracted a veritable who’s who of top-level speakers and panelists including David Droga, now CEO of Accenture Interactive; Cindy Gallop, founder of Make Love Not Porn and If We Ran the World; Vita Harris, global chief strategy officer of FCB; and Margaret Johnson, partner and chief creative officer, Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

 

But the realities of COVID have caused the event’s organizer, the 3% Movement, to change course. The group will be retooling its programming to offer more year-round virtual content and shorter “capsule” in-person events, and may drop its certification program, said Kat Gordon, founder and CEO of the 3% Movement.

 

Market conditions have also changed: When the 3% Conference started, only 3% of creative directors were female; now that number is up to 29%.

 

Finding more bandwidth

 

A big part of the decision had to do with how much time and effort the large event took to coordinate.

 

“There was a sense that after 10 years and 28 live events it’s time-consuming work if you do it really well,” Gordon said. “We delivered really thoughtful events that were high production value events where we sweated every detail and everything was beautifully art directed. It got to the point where I realized that even though the events were such a home run and brought in so much money, they took everything. They took a lot of money, they took a lot of my time.”

 

“I started to think about the world we’re living in today versus when 3% launched and there’s so much momentum around racial issues and gender expression and all these other things that relate to the central mission of 3%. I felt like I could not give my highest brainpower to those problems if I was still overseeing” the conference, she said.

 

Gordon is the sole owner and currently the only full-time employee of 3%, which at one point had 10 staffers.

 

“There was a lot I got pulled into that was sales-related, such as selling sponsorships; a lot of people wanted to talk programming ideas with me,” said Gordon. “It was a great honor to do that and I felt there were elements of it that I loved, but I’m 56 years old and if I feel like I have 10 more years to give to this issue, which it would be so great to do, I just don’t think that putting on events for the next decade is the highest use of my brainpower.”

 

She declined to discuss revenue figures but said that virtual events allowed the group to lower costs and ticket prices. Its first entirely virtual event in 2020 amassed 10,000 attendees, including 1,000 students who attended for free. Its hybrid conference last year filled 400 in-person seats, due to COVID restrictions, and “thousands of virtual attendees,” but less than the year prior, Gordon said.

 

‘A lot to tackle’

 

Another offering that 3% will “probably” be moving away from is its certification program, which dissected and evaluated participating agencies’ policies, programs, and systems around women in the workplace. Each certification typically took around two months. Currently, agencies that have been certified are 72andSunny, VMLY&R, Swift, Possible, and Forsman & Bodenfors. Only one agency was certified last year, not because of a lack of interest, but because of difficulties brought on by the pandemic, according to Gordon.

 

“3% certification was born out of no one owning the metric piece [of the lack of women in creative leadership],” said Gordon. “But it became clear that it’s difficult to be both the awareness creator around an issue and the solver for everything that contributes to the problem. That’s a lot for a small organization to tackle.”

 

From now on, the organization will be focused on bringing awareness to organizations like Agency DEI, whose sole focus is measuring the diversity numbers of agencies. Instead of the certifications, the organization could still consult with agencies in various ways, Gordon said, such as by offering them its belonging, inclusion and leadership talent survey to be filled out by employees.

 

Moving forward

 

The organization will now look to launch around eight virtual events annually and around three in-person events, although nothing is definite yet, Gordon said. A virtual roundtable the organization is streaming later this month focuses on the freelance workforce in the industry, hosted by Jill Gray, executive VP, client solutions at VidMob.

 

3% will also be shifting from its “Minicons,” which were essentially one-day conferences that happened throughout the year, to smaller events. “It could be a meetup in New York City in the summer where it’s a cocktail party or maybe there’s a speaker, but it’s not so much conference-driven,” said Gordon. “We would love to find more opportunities to bring capsule content into other events like South by Southwest or the 4A’s, or even an agency conference.”

 

“Our sponsors have been asking for years for more year-round ways to support our community and have their conference sponsorship have a lasting impact,” Gordon added. “This enables us to meet sponsor requests, world health realities, and bring more people into the conversation around diversity and creativity.”

 

The organization will continue its virtual mentor matchmaking event, launched last year, where young female talent “speed dates” for 15-30 minutes with various senior female creative leaders from different companies. Gordon is also working on creating a report out of crowdsourced ideas that came out of the last conference around the topic of “isms,” meaning racism, sexism, and ageism.

 

Making a difference

 

Gordon said that stepping back a bit allows her to enact true change herself. In November she took on a “creative entrepreneur in residence” role that she created within San Francisco-based agency Eleven. The goal is to ultimately build a curriculum for “modern creative leaders” as she looks to tackle the challenges creatives are facing amid the pandemic and shifts in the workforce.

 

“We’re in a moment in time where everyone is awake to the realities of the importance of diverse perspectives in creative cultures, women being one group, but there are multiple groups that are underrepresented currently,” said Gordon. “I don’t think this is the kind of mission that will fully solve itself in my lifetime and I’m ok with that. But it feels really good to devote a good portion of my career to trying to make a difference.”

Sunday, March 27, 2022

15770: Doner Global CCO Goes Globe-Trotting…

 

AgencySpy posted Doner Global Chief Creative Officer Tito Melega said adios to the White advertising agency after serving only five months in the role. Hey, whatever happened with Cultura United Agency—Doner’s foray into multicultural marketing? The firm’s LinkedIn profile links directly to the Doner general website. Seems like the White advertising agency has sketchy success integrating Latinx talent… ¡Ay, caramba!

 

Tito Melega is Out at Doner After Just Five Months

 

By Kyle O’Brien

 

Doner hired Tito Melega as its global chief creative officer in October of last year, and after just five months, Melega has departed from his role and the agency.

 

“Doner and Tito Melega have agreed to part ways. The entire Doner team thanks Tito for his contributions and wishes him all the best in the future,” a Doner spokesperson told Adweek. No reason was given for his departure.

 

Melega, originally from Argentina, was brought on at the Stagwell agency for his forward thinking and impressive resume, having worked with brands including Nissan, Ford, Toyota, Sony, ESPN, Amazon, Lexus, Infiniti, Holiday Inn, Miller Lite, Pepsi, United Airlines, and Cisco Systems. Before joining Doner, he served as global chief creative officer at GTB, WPP’s dedicated global Ford agency, as well as creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day, BBDO and Fallon.

 

His past successes include the long-running “Heisman House” for Nissan in partnership with ESPN, and Nissan’s “GT Academy,” turning Gran Turismo video game players into track racers for Nissan. During the pandemic, Melega founded the creative collective Hustle.

 

Doner has not named a replacement for Melega as of yet.

Saturday, March 26, 2022

15769: Fill-In-The-Blank History Month Sale.

 

Wow! Get royalty-free stock images at 20% off—perfect for patronizing promotions to commemorate minorities with crumbs production budgets.

Friday, March 25, 2022

15768: Awarding Faux Philanthropy Is Inherently Scammy…

 

Power of Purpose Awards? More like Power of Patronization.

Thursday, March 24, 2022

15767: Trying to Forget Dementia Advertisement…

 

The 2nd warning sign of dementia is scary—but probably not as scary as the illustration for this banner ad.

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

15766: Insuring Certain Viewers Will Take Offense…

 

This OHRA insurance commercial from the Netherlands shows cultural cluelessness and Mafioso stereotypes are global—it’s amazing that the responsible White advertising agency didn’t show the characters in concrete-wooden shoes.

 





Tuesday, March 22, 2022

15765: Is Latinx Another Name For Xclusivity…?

 

Advertising Age published a perspective from The Third Eye Chief Vision Officer Diana Brooks, who seemingly would prefer to x out Latinx from marketing speak. Brooks is surely not showering the term with XOXOX…

 

Marketers, Please Stop Calling Me Latinx

 

Want a conversation with someone? Don’t blow it by calling them the wrong name

 

By Diana Brooks

 

My first question when I heard the word “Latinx”—right after “How is that pronounced?”—was “Is that what we’re calling ourselves now?”

 

Everyone from brands to universities to media outlets to city governments have started defining my Hispanic demographic with the Latinx brushstroke. Everyone, it turns out, but ourselves. And that has ramifications for marketers. I get why people are going there. Latinx is gender-neutral whereas Spanish is gendered. It’s inclusive. But lumping everyone into one label in the name of inclusivity, by nature, excludes a lot of people.

 

Like me. I’m a second-generation Cuban-American who, like many with ties to Spain or the Caribbean, identifies as Hispanic—which is also gender-neutral.

 

A majority of U.S adults who self-describe as Hispanic or Latino (61%) prefer Hispanic to describe the Hispanic or Latino population in the U.S., and 29% prefer Latino, according to a December 2019 Pew Research bilingual survey of U.S. Hispanic adults.

 

Of the 25% of respondents who have heard of Latinx, just 3% use it to describe themselves—a number that is probably higher among Gen Z-ers. Pew said use is highest—14%—for Hispanic women ages 18 to 29 compared to 1% of Hispanic men in the same age group.

 

Everyone should be empowered to embrace what fits—and reject what doesn’t. As a marketer, though, you have to know the difference.

 

Inauthenticity for the sake of wokeness?

 

There’s a reason why the word feels off for most people in my heritage. Just look at the first six words of its definition: “Latinx is an American English neologism.”

 

Key words: American. English.

 

What business do American English speakers have in changing the way Hispanics and Latinos are addressed? Latinx contradicts the very structure of Spanish and our culture.

 

Yes, for people, gender is a construct. But the Spanish language, like most romance languages, is entirely gender-based. The door—la puerta—is feminine. The car—el carro—is masculine. Am I fighting for the inclusive rights of a door?

 

That creates a challenge when you have to decide whether to put more importance on gender neutrality or cultural connection. For me, gender neutrality is something that must be respected, but it’s not one-size-fits-all. And that means marketers have to respect the fact that calling most Latinos “Latinx” will be, at best, confusing—and at worst, insulting, patronizing and arrogant.

 

Don’t say something simply because it’s woke (or not woke, for that matter). Say it because that’s how people want to be addressed.

 

So, when should you use Latinx?

 

Just because marketers shouldn’t use Latinx as a blanket term doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be embraced for appropriate communities.

 

According to Pew, young adults and college graduates are most likely to have both heard of and use Latinx. Usage is higher among Democrats than Republicans, U.S.-born than foreign-born, women than men. Although the survey doesn’t provide data for gender-noncomforming individuals or members of the LGBTQIA+ community, a brand should absolutely use Latinx when talking to that population.

 

Marketers have to do their homework rather than take 20 percent of the U.S. population—I don’t care if they’re Latino, Chicano, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicanx, whatever—and lump them into a single category. It might be OK to use Latinx for my college-aged daughter. But I know only because I checked.

 

It comes down to marketing basics—and, you know, basic etiquette. You want a conversation with someone? Don’t blow it by calling them the wrong name.