Oops. Mistakenly thought Earth Day was on March 25, 2023—but that date was Earth Hour.
Today is Earth Day. And the previous days comprised Earth Week.
Regardless, Earth Hour, Earth Day, and Earth Week each received more attention and commitment from Adland than Black History Month.
And that’s the way of the world.
Closing out BHM 2023 with a fake advertisement from Adland’s holding companies.
MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.
The BHM 2023 promotion from Pinterest—reportedly inspired by the iconic Green Book—prompted MultiCultClassics to complete this special Black History Month post, which was originally crafted in 2018 (yet was never published).
The real Green Book served as a guide for Black travelers, identifying relatively friendly services and places.
Seems like the advertising industry could use a special version that shows safe spaces for Black professionals. Of course, the Adland Green Book would be a very thin publication.
Campaign US presented a Black History Month Edition of its 5 Minutes with Campaign video series, featuring Black executives’ perspectives on “issues at the intersection of identity, culture, technology, and advertising.” In short, Campaign spent five minutes with Blacks. Perfect.
Yahoo! takes a Google approach to BHM, redesigning its logo, posting promotional banners, and inviting visitors to search for Bold content of color.
Advertising Age covered a variety of BHM initiatives from major brands. Don’t mean to disrespect anyone, but the report was assigned to and handled by an intern at the trade publication. So, it’s either another example of BHM receiving low priority status or it’s a nice opportunity for the intern. Or both.
TRG—the White advertising agency formerly known as The Richards Group—doesn’t have any BHM-related social media posts. Not surprising, as the firm probably wants to steer clear of color commentary and controversy. In January, however, TRG posted an MLK Day tribute. It’s unlikely that founder Stan Richards was involved, as he might have deemed the concept “too Black.”
Stagwell managed to acknowledge BHM via social media posts—launching an initiative that inspires brands to go beyond celebrating Black history and focus on Black futures. Hard to tell what’s going on here. Is Stagwell seeking to create revenue-generating opportunities by selling clients on promotions like AT&T Black Future Makers or Nike Future Movement? The effort looks as if it’s being delegated to Black ERGs in the White holding company.
Sorry, but the future does not look very different or promising at Stagwell.
Nike presents Future Movement: Black Well-Being—starring Kevin Durant as well as star athletes and artists.
Adweek spotlighted a film commemorating the 10th anniversary of Black Lives Matter created by a Black affinity group from Wieden + Kennedy. The story also mentioned projects hatched by other ERGs at the White advertising agency.
Hey, April will mark the 14th anniversary of the late Dan Wieden acknowledging Adland is “fucked up” in regards to diversity. Don’t expect a film on that milestone moment.
As Black Lives Matter Turns 10, Wieden+Kennedy’s We+Black Reflects On a Decade of Change
The agency debuts an emotional film in observance of special anniversary
By Sara Century
July will mark the 10th anniversary of the widespread use of the phrase “Black lives matter.” Initially spoken by Alicia Garza, who, alongside Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, founded the movement of the same name, these words have inspired millions worldwide and continue to fuel the most important protests of our time.
Looking back over a decade of impact, Wieden+Kennedy Portland’s Black affinity group, We+Black, has created a film tribute to this historic anniversary titled We Still Matter. Featuring clips of interviews with W+K employees, the nearly 3-minute short begins with the emotional response they experienced in light of the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Audio clips of news broadcasts announcing the results of the trial are met with sounds of growing resistance and the chant of “Black lives matter” as these W+K employees gaze head-on into the camera. Set to the tune of original music from W+K employee Nukbeatz (David Henry Jr.), participants share personal reactions to cases of police brutality, including the killings of Mike Brown and George Floyd, as well as the incredible acts of protest that occurred as a result.
Three words that changed the world
“The protests that are happening, not just in the U.S. but seeing that it went global, was honestly just the most beautiful thing to see,” one narrator says. “There are Black 10-year-olds in America who have existed in a world where they’ve constantly just been told that they matter. That’s amazing,” another narrator continues.
This is a continuation of W+K’s employee-helmed films created without clients, including “The Myth,” which combated anti-Asian hate by rejecting the expectations of being a “model minority.” Meanwhile, WKNY’s Black ERG, Noir, delved into the complex feelings the BIPOC community has toward Juneteenth in “Juneteenth Thoughts.” This follows an art show in Portland, also titled “We Still Matter,” a week before the video’s release.
In addition to “We Still Matter,” We+Black is working in partnership with Portland’s public transportation system on an OOH campaign that will last beyond Black History Month through the rest of the year, highlighting local Black-owned businesses.
Advertising Age continues its third-annual Honoring Creative Excellence series to commemorate Black History Month. The latest installment presents Dr. Eric Whitaker on creating Project Brotherhood: a Black Men’s Clinic.
Dr. Eric Whitaker On How Black Creativity Can Change Lives
The executive chairman of Zing Health shares his thoughts on the making of Project Brotherhood: a Black Men’s Clinic
By Dr. Eric E. Whitaker
Ad Age is marking Black History Month 2023 with our third-annual Honoring Creative Excellence package. Today, our guest editor JinJa Birkenbeuel turns the spotlight to Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, executive chairman and founder of Zing Health, a physician-led insurance company.
Here, Dr. Whitaker shares his thoughts on the making of Project Brotherhood: a Black Men’s Clinic.
On my first day at work in a Chicago community health center, I saw 16 patients. Physicians in public health clinics are busy, and I struggled to keep even sketchy case notes. Yet when I went back to update my patient charts, it was as if I had seen the same person 16 times. Every one of them had hypertension, high cholesterol and diabetes. I had signed up for this duty to research Black men’s health, and I was learning that to make a difference I would have to be creative.
In 1998, the life expectancy for Black men in this South Side neighborhood was said to be 14 years shorter than for the rest of the city, and even today health disparities are stark. Our small, overbooked clinic had to reach out to close the gap—many Black men would not even set foot in a waiting room and show themselves as vulnerable. This health inequity set me on a lifelong, entrepreneurial path to give people longer and better lives. I keep returning to these strategies at Zing Health in organizing and marketing Midwest health plans. At 63rd and Woodlawn, though, I started with free haircuts.
Cook County Hospital, which ran the health center, found seed money to organize a male-friendly space at the front of the building, and to recruit social workers to address what we now call the social determinants of health. One of my patients told me, “Doc, one of the best things you can do for my health is to get me a job.” He was right—employment has a salutary effect on well-being, financially and as a matter of self-worth. A drop-in barbershop on Thursday afternoons could groom Black men for interviews, with social workers on hand to coach them on resumes and online job-hunting tactics. A barbershop is a social center—a place to learn and form relationships. Maybe we could earn enough trust to bring them to the back of the clinic for medical appointments.
Project Brotherhood: a Black Men’s Clinic enlisted Black doctors who could relate to what patients experienced in the emergency room, where pain complaints were minimized or treated as drug-seeking. The physicians also joined our focus groups and client discussions around men’s health and men’s responsibilities, participating not as doctors but as peers who had gone through similar trials. In one group, I was the only one in the room who had not seen a man hit his mother. The group sessions and activities outside the neighborhood helped us connect with young men who didn’t think they would see adulthood, and older men who still didn’t see themselves as adults.
In attracting new patients and engaging them in their well-being, Project Brotherhood was a model program. At medical conferences and on “60 Minutes,” we evangelized about its collective spirit. But with many of its clients on Medicaid or paying what they could, Project Brotherhood was hard to replicate outside of a publicly funded medical center.
Still, my corporate ventures try to attack hard problems with the same energy. As a private insurance plan, Zing Health aims to make care affordable for a population with costly chronic illnesses. But if its members trust the medical system and commit themselves to better health, they make their conditions manageable.
Getting people comfortable with their care is still an issue. Only one in five African Americans in the Medicare program choose a private Medicare Advantage plan; walking them through the details of a chronic special-needs plan can be a three-hour process. So, it’s important to have neighborhood outreach and community health workers to meet people where they are. One-third of our members call us every month—making appointments, arranging transportation, looking for medical advice—and those are healing relationships.
Sometimes you walk down crumbling sidewalks past vacant lots and find a rose growing out of the concrete. Project Brotherhood showed me how Black men’s pain is the source of their renewal. I’m inspired by Black Chicagoans and their ability to transform despair and struggle into beauty and art. Our community faces a lot of morbidity and death, and it makes me want to find solutions. That’s all you can ask of the creative impulse.
More About Advertising reported that Dentsu Creative hired Juan Woodbury as Global Head of Branded Content and Entertainment—which is about the closest Dentsu came to acknowledging Black History Month…? Odd too that the story ends with, “And Woodbury will no doubt put on a helluva Christmas party”—as if his role includes entertaining the staff at holiday functions.
Dentsu hires Grammy-winning DJ and adman to head new entertainment division
By Emma Hall
Dentsu Creative has launched an entertainment division and has recruited Juan Woodbury – who this week won a Grammy for his work with performance poet J. Ivy – to run it.
Woodbury becomes global head of branded content and entertainment, based in Chicago. He has previously worked at Leo Burnett and FCB on commercials and experiential for clients including P&G, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Samsung, and at the same time, he has continued to produce music, record his own work, and carve out a career as a DJ and remixer.
At Dentsu Creative’s entertainment division, he will work alongside Cathy Boxall, global head of content, who is based in London. She has been with Dentsu since 2015 and previously worked at NBC Universal and The Walt Disney Company.
Woodbury said: “I’ve long been a passionate advocate of the power of entertainment formats to engage consumers with brands and offer brands a distinctive voice in today’s world. Dentsu Creative firmly shares my passion. The talent and toybox of capabilities at Dentsu provide an incredible jump-start for us to build the industry’s most impactful entertainment offering together.”
This makes sense for Dentsu, which has a good track record with entertainment in Japan, as a route for new growth opportunities. And Woodbury will no doubt put on a helluva Christmas party.
AT&T expands its Dream In Black theme via a Black Future Makers campaign, featuring celebrities and a contest with $25,000 prizes.
Plus, the AT&T corporate website includes a BHM perspective from the Corporate Social Responsibility Director. But there’s nothing from Lily the AT&T salesperson.
After three weeks into February, Publicis Groupe, Havas, and Dentsu are still without BHM-related social media posts. Dentsu managed to spotlight the celebration of Lunar New Year at its San Francisco office, which at least has cultural cues.
Google scored a BHM diversity trifecta with its doodle on February 8—Haitian Artist Lyne Lucien depicted the late Mama Cax, Haitian American model and advocate for people with disabilities.
