Is Epidemic Sound engaging in multicultural marketing?
The service offers the most inclusive music license, and probably presents a diverse range of soundtrack solutions created by global artists. Depicting multiracial and multigender thumbs-up images—probably royalty-free stock photography—feels forced too.
Yep, the promotion has all the key characteristics of multicultural marketing—right down to looking like it was produced for crumbs.
Advertising Age reported Arby’s put its creative account in review, meaning the fast-food restaurant may be seeking new White meat—i.e., a new White advertising agency.
Given the anti-woke/anti-DEIBA+ vibe throughout Adland and the USA, is Ving Rhames’ spokesperson status in jeopardy?
Somebody’s gonna get medieval on your ass.
Arby’s puts its creative account in review
By Ewan Larkin and Erika Wheless
Arby’s is conducting a review for its creative business, threatening Fallon’s longstanding relationship with the fast-food sandwich chain.
Arby’s confirmed that it is conducting a review. It wasn’t immediately clear if Fallon is defending the account. The Publicis Groupe agency declined to comment. Joanne Davis Consulting, the consultancy said to be handling the review, was not immediately available for comment.
The agency review comes a few months after Jeff Baker became Arby’s chief marketing officer after several years with Buffalo Wild Wings. Baker served as VP of brand advertising and content at Arby’s from 2014 to 2018.
Arby’s is best known for its iconic “We have the meats” tagline, which Fallon created in 2014 after taking over the creative account from CP&B (now Crispin). The tagline is voiced by Ving Rhames. Rhames made his first on-camera appearance for Arby’s last year in an ad from Fallon in which a woman voices that she hasn’t eaten at Arby’s in a while. “No one has,” says her boyfriend, before Rhames climbs out of the TV to accost the man and make him eat an Arby’s sandwich.
The fast-food chain’s recent ads are for its new ham sandwiches. It also recently made potato cakes a permanent menu item, threatening to sue themselves if they ever take them off the menu again.
The brand’s measured U.S. media spending declined to $138 million in 2024 from $190 million in 2023, per MediaRadar.
Arby’s ranks 20th in Nation’s Restaurant News 2024 restaurant rankings, which are based on system-wide domestic sales from the previous year. Arby’s saw $4.6 billion in U.S. systemwide sales, up slightly from $4.5 billion in 2022, and has over 3,400 domestic locations according to the rankings. Arby’s is owned by Inspire Brands, which also owns Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Sonic, Baskin-Robbins and Jimmy Johns.
In 2021, Inspire Brands picked Publicis Groupe as its media agency of record.
Contributing: Brian Bonilla
Headhunters dissing headhunters sets a new standard for hypocrisy. Also, a ghost would have made a better visual metaphor than a skeleton.
Advertising Age spotlighted student-run advertising agencies—which are allegedly developing the future leaders of Adland.
The content featured photographs of such enterprises—including a shot of students circa 1981—which unintentionally highlighted the industry’s persistent problem, past and present. That is, the images depicted a disappointing DEIBA+ deficit.
The future leaders of Adland indeed.
Inside student-run advertising agencies—how they are building the industry’s future leaders
By Ewan Larkin
David Lubars, who in June will receive one of the industry’s highest honors, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity’s Lion of St. Mark, has spent over four decades in the business, including a celebrated stint as chief creative officer at BBDO Worldwide. But Lubars attributes much of his success to an experience he had long before the heydays of his career: Boston University’s student-run ad agency, AdLab.
“It was invaluable,” said Lubars of the agency, which was founded in 1974 by his father, Walter Lubars, with a small group of students. Today, more than 300 people participate in the program each year, according to faculty advisers.
AdLab is one of several student-run agencies nationwide, including Syracuse University’s TNH and Ohio University’s Next, the last of which opened its doors in October. These shops operate much more seriously than a college advertising club, with real clients, business problems and deadlines. There are executive teams, creative directors, account managers and strategists—all of whom meet routinely to discuss deliverables, production shoots and more.
“It’s like being in the game rather than just practicing foul shots,” said Lubars, recalling his time at AdLab.
Behind the scenes
Student-run agencies largely mimic professional ones, and there are slight nuances to each.
Some of the agencies charge for their services, others don’t. All of the work TNH and Next do for clients is free, with the client covering any costs needed for production, travel and media buys. AdLab, meanwhile, charges brands $500 to sign on as a client, and that fee increases based on the time and services required for the assignment.
There are different ways students can become a part of these programs, too. At Ohio University, students can take Next as a class, an independent study or have it be one of their activities, said Chuck Borghese, a professor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and managing director of Next. TNH members have to apply and pay dues to join the program, said Edward Russell, chair of advertising at Syracuse University Newhouse School of Communications. (Everyone who applies, including those outside of Newhouse, is accepted into the program, according to TNH’s website.)
The amount of time spent working at the agency varies by student, but many say they have their hands full.
“This is a really large time commitment,” said Sofia Lee, a director of accounts at AdLab who oversees five account executives and works with clients including the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the United States Tennis Association. Lee, a part-time student at BU, is taking AdLab as one of her classes, spending about 25 to 30 hours per week on the agency. “It takes up probably 90% of my brain at all times. There’s so much going on at once, and that’s very true to agency culture.” (Lee has an internship at Dentsu Creative lined up for this summer after she graduates.)
Balancing classwork with clients isn’t easy, but student leaders understand that agency life often isn’t. “Working with all of this problem solving, constant changing of deadlines and things like that, it’s just something I have to get used to—hard or not,” said Cole Meredith, president of TNH, who eventually wants to assume a management role at an agency.
At TNH, upperclassmen are also responsible for coaching younger members. Through a program called “Greenhouse,” they educate new recruits on advertising and help them get a feel for working with a team. Eventually, those members move into the “General Body,” composed of various teams that each work with one client throughout the semester.
Like his faculty counterparts at other universities, Russell stressed how capable the students are. “These kids are so good,” he said. “I do two or three things a year. I mean, it completely runs by itself.”
The work runs the gamut
To find new clients, student-run advertising agencies rely on a mix of proactive outreach and opportunities from alumni, which faculty advisers sometimes facilitate. Borghese, for example, helped Next land an assignment with Captain D’s, a seafood restaurant he used to work on during a stint at Omnicom Group’s Merkley+Partners, he said.
AdLab has been able to attract brands given the reputation it has built over time, said Shawn Zupp, professor of the advertising practice at BU’s College of Communication and one of the agency’s faculty advisers.
“The AdLab name is known,” Zupp said, adding that students are trained on how to evaluate inbound prospects.
The agency has worked with several national clients, including Capital One and Wayfair, according to its website. It helped revitalize Under Armour’s presence on BU’s campus by creating a campaign that included digital billboards, out-of-home ads and short-form video clips, all centered around the idea “Embrace Your Game Face.”
Startups are another core type of client for student-run agencies. Next has been working on social media efforts for Beyond Pulse, a wearables company focused on tracking athletes’ performance, development and recovery. The agency has already made a strong impression for its polish and professionalism.
“Their approach is no different from agencies that were charging us ‘X’ amount of money from coast to coast,” said Michael Sup, the company’s co-founder. “I wish I could have them doing more for us.”
Student-led advertising agencies are especially valuable for businesses with a limited budget, such as Parthenon Books, an independent bookstore in downtown Syracuse, which also needs an agency with local expertise.
“The student-run agencies are really good for areas like ours,” said Ann Duddy, an assistant manager at Parthenon, which works with TNH on branding, PR and social media strategy. We’re not looking for an agency “that doesn’t know what our city is all about, who can’t send people over to walk through the store and talk to the people.”
Collaborations with professional agencies offer student-run shops a rare window into the realities of the industry. Through independent agency Known, for example, TNH is getting the opportunity to work with Moderna.
After the biotechnology giant hired Known to handle U.S. media, a TNH member reached out to an alumni at the agency about working together, said Kasha Cacy, Known’s chief media officer. The student-led shop will get the opportunity to respond to real briefs from Moderna, which they may then present directly to the brand, she said.
“If there are good ideas we want to bring in, we can do that,” Cacy added.
For Known, working with TNH is an opportunity in part to give back to ad industry, said Cacy. Traditionally, people started in entry-level roles and learned by working under more experienced professionals. But with the rise of automation, AI and other technologies, that pyramid-shaped structure has flattened—there are now fewer entry-level roles, making it harder for newcomers to gain experience, Cacy told Ad Age.
“This is one potential avenue where you’re giving people more experience in college so that they’re able to jump into roles in different ways once they graduate,” she added.
Lofty ambitions
As the semester comes to a close, student-run advertising agencies will reshuffle their ranks, finding replacements for those that have graduated or, in some cases, decided to study abroad. But interest doesn’t appear to be an issue: Next has doubled its membership total to 24 in recent months, and the phone keeps ringing.
“The alumni are lining up,” said Borghese.
Next will start charging for its services in the coming school year, Borghese said, a shift in strategy that reflects the agency’s long-term aspirations.
“My goal, honestly, is to get into pitches against regional agencies in Ohio,” Borghese said. “My goal is to be every bit as competitive as they are.”
Adweek reported McCann NY nixed the Chief Creative Officer and Head of Growth roles, positioning the moves as restructuring designed to enhance nimbleness and better serve clients.
Is the reengineering an admission that White advertising agencies have too many levels of political power? Or is McCann simply preparing for the inevitable redundancy RIF—i.e., executing preemptive pruning before becoming collateral damage in the impending Omnicom acquisition of IPG?
EXCLUSIVE: McCann NY Eliminates CCO and Head of Growth Roles
Shayne Millington and Suresh Raj will exit the agency as McCann streamlines oversight under North America leadership
By Audrey Kemp & Brittaney Kiefer
McCann New York is eliminating its top creative and growth roles as part of a restructure that will place oversight under regional North America leadership, according to an internal memo sent to staff Monday and obtained by ADWEEK.
As a result, chief creative officer Shayne Millington and head of growth Suresh Raj will depart the agency at the end of the month.
The memo frames the changes as part of an effort to consolidate leadership under regional executives and prioritize roles directly responsible for delivering creative and strategic work.
“Our goal of partnering with our clients to help them find their truth and tell it well means our leaders and teams need to be closer to the work,” the memo reads. “To achieve this, we need to simplify our structure to reduce layers of leadership so that we can put more emphasis on roles that create the work.”
Millington, who has led McCann NY’s creative department for more than nine years, will not be replaced. During her tenure, she led work that made McCann New York the most awarded agency in the city at Cannes in 2023 and was named ADWEEK’s Agency All-Star Creative of the Year in 2024.
Britt Nolan, who joined McCann in January from Leo Burnett, will now oversee creative operations for North America, including the New York and Detroit offices. He will also join the agency’s executive leadership team and work alongside executive creative directors Leo Barbosa, Cuanan Cronwright, and Lance Parrish.
A spokesperson confirmed the changes to ADWEEK: “We are grateful for Shayne’s leadership over the years and for all that she’s done to help make McCann what it is today. We’re excited for what’s ahead with Britt at the creative helm, leading us into our next chapter.”
Meanwhile, Raj’s responsibilities will be absorbed by Michelle Tang, McCann Worldgroup’s North America chief growth officer, who is returning to lead the New York growth team in addition her regional oversight. Tang, who rejoins the executive leadership team, has played a key role in securing key accounts including TJ Maxx and Prudential, according to the memo.
The spokesperson also added that Raj chose to depart on his own terms to pursue a new opportunity.
“During his time with us, Suresh redefined how we approach new business, bringing in new brands for the network—and has been a champion for inclusivity and collaboration and pushed us to think bigger and bolder about how we grow,” the memo states.
The leadership shakeup comes amid ongoing business challenges for McCann, as the agency continues to cycle through high-profile client losses including Verizon and MGM Resorts.
The changes also come as IPG prepares for its proposed merger with Omnicom, announced in December 2024. The deal, which would create the world’s largest advertising holding company, is projected to generate $750 million in annual cost savings—likely through operational consolidations and reductions in overlapping positions.
“Please join me in welcoming Britt and welcoming back Michelle, and in wishing Shayne and Suresh all the very best in their new chapters,” the memo concludes.
Marketing Beat reported Accenture Song/Droga5 was derailed from the Transport for London (TfL) pitch after failing to meet DEIBA+ requirements imposed by the transportation network.
Earlier this year, Accenture Song/Droga5 officially dumped its DEIBA+ goals allegedly set in 2017.
Here’s a sketchy timeline of the White advertising agency’s DEIDICATION:
2016: Proceeds to generate contrived performative PR and heat shields under the guidance of its first-ever Director of Engagement and Inclusion.
2020: Names its first-ever Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion by promoting the aforementioned first-ever Director of Engagement and Inclusion.
2021: Named White AOR for ADCOLOR®.
2025: Aforementioned first-ever Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion bails to assume role of Publicis Groupe US Chief Impact and Equity Officer.
2025: Announces “sunsetting” its DEIBA+ goals (which were likely never publicly defined).
Explaining the decision to eliminate Accenture Song/Droga5 from competing for its business, a TfL spokesperson stated, “We are proud to hold our suppliers to account, making sure they are aligned with our commitments on diversity and inclusivity to help expand opportunities across our supply chain and create equal opportunities for all.”
Looks like TfL saw through the performative PR and heat shields fabricated by Accenture Song/Droga5.
The remaining firms vying for the account should be closely examined to determine if their DEIBA+ initiatives are legitimate—or box-checking bullshit delegated to Chief Diversity Officers, ERGs, and resident representatives of the underrepresented.
TfL removes Accenture Song from creative review after it scraps DEI initiatives
By Tom West
Transport for London (TfL) has taken Accenture Song out of its creative review process following on from the global agency network’s decision to scrap its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals.
Although headquartered in Dublin, Accenture Song has strong ties to the US market and announced earlier this year in a memo sent by CEO Julie Sweet that it would be “sunsetting” its DEI goals set out in 2017.
The move follows the election of Donald Trump as US president, and is in-line with his government’s phasing out of DEI initiatives across the American state machine.
A TfL spokesperson said: “Following our evaluation of Accenture Song/Droga5’s submission, we recently informed them we were unable to continue with their bid for our creative tender contract, as aspects of it no longer met the required criteria.”
“We are proud to hold our suppliers to account, making sure they are aligned with our commitments on diversity and inclusivity to help expand opportunities across our supply chain and create equal opportunities for all,” they added.
“Unfortunately, due to changes in Accenture Song/Droga 5’s priorities in recent months, we were unable to continue with their bid for our creative tender contract as they no longer met the criteria for diversity that we expect from all suppliers.”
According to Campaign, the transport network – which is chaired by London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan – is currently in the process of finalising the results of its creative review.
Accenture Song has so far declined to comment on the news.
However, Shaheen Sayed, head of Accenture UK, Ireland and Africa, said: “I want to be clear that Accenture is fully committed to being a workplace of choice for anyone, across all the countries we operate in, including the UK, Ireland and Africa, free from bias and discrimination. I will ensure we continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards that we have come to expect.”
This campaign advocating for The Leprechaun Law—hatched by White advertising agencies in Ireland, Dublin, and Milan—seeks to generate awareness for Ireland’s outdated hate speech laws. The concept is explained as follows:
Irish citizens are being encouraged to identify as leprechauns in order to enjoy better legal protection from online abuse. ‘The Leprechaun Law’ is a satirical campaign by LADbible Ireland with Folk VML Dublin and VML Milan that aims to expose Ireland’s outdated hate speech laws, which pre-date the internet and leave citizens vulnerable to trolling and online abuse.
While it sounds like a gimmick, the campaign is rooted in legal reality. Under the EU Habitats Directive (2009) leprechauns are classified as ‘protected species’ in Ireland’s Sliabh Foy Loop area, unlike normal Irish citizens.
Social publisher LADBible (with 5 million followers) is now calling on Irish citizens to adopt leprechaun status in protest. The public is being asked to symbolically convert to a leprechaun online or via a pop-up law booth in Dublin — and then share their new ‘leprechaun status’ through a fun TikTok campaign that creates a leprechaun version of the user.
The goal of the initiative is to push for legislation change on hate laws in Ireland, as well as requesting a public consultation as part of any new legislation updates.
If the true goal is pushing for legal revisions to hate laws, hate to say it, but this campaign will fail. It might have inspired greater awareness via a promotional tie-in with Lucky Charms.
Although expect for leprechauns to join other White segments—led by White women, White menopausal women, Old White Guys, White neurodivergent, White conservatives, et al.—claiming victimhood and seizing DEIBA+ status in Adland.
