16319: McCOVID-19…?

 

DDB Azerbaijan created this campaign for Mickey D’s in Georgia, which is trying to communicate that fries bring smiles—but kinda feels like a CDC promotion for masking.

16272: COVID-19 & Crumbs.

 

An image used to promote COVID-19 vaccinations for Latinx audiences has been recycled to hype flu shots. Ad Council, AMA, and CDC seem to be saying, “We have time for our loved ones. But not much of a budget—so enjoy these crumbs.”

16260: Why Pfizer Pitch Was Pfft.

 

Advertising Age announced that Pfizer handed its global account to White holding companies Publicis Groupe and IPG after a massive shootout reportedly involving numerous White holding companies and incumbent Dentsu.

 

Not surprisingly, the Ad Age piece made no references to non-White advertising firms. In short, it looks like multicultural marketing professionals were excluded from the pitch process—which is outrageous on at least three levels:

 

First, people of color receive unequal attention from the global healthcare system. Indeed, no one denies that the system is infested with systemic racism. Pfizer’s apparent disregard for DEI in selecting its marketing partners reflects a harsh reality too often exposed in society—and especially in Adland.

 

Second, Pfizer rose to prominence in recent years with its vaccine for COVID-19—an infectious disease disproportionately affecting people of color. Again, the company appears to be ignoring its biggest audiences.

 

Third, Pfizer Global CMO Drew Panayiotou declared, “Health care is a local thing. So how do we think about products that are global that are made for the world, but connect them the right way locally?” Um, if the definition of “local” encompasses community culture—as well as standard geographics and demographics—how does the Big Pharma enterprise hope to authentically connect by engaging with White holding companies that have failed to attain any semblance of cultural competency and basic human empathy?

 

Perhaps Ad Age simply neglected to probe for the DEI components of the Pfizer-Publicis-IPG conspiracy. The White holding companies undoubtedly hyped—i.e., lied about—their respective heat shields and fabricated multicultural capabilities.

 

Yet in the end, this scenario represents sick, sickness, and sickening aspects of the healthcare and marketing industries.

 

On a positive note, Pfizer offers a new category for Byron Allen to file a lawsuit.

 

Pfizer Awards Global Account To Publicis And IPG—Behind One Of The Year’s Biggest Reviews

 

Under a new CMO, the pharma giant is switching up its marketing strategy

 

By Adrianne Pasquarelli

 

Pfizer rose to a new level of prominence as one of just three main providers of the COVID-19 vaccine and booster shots. Now, as emergency restrictions have eased and many have moved past the pandemic, the pharmaceutical giant is changing the way it markets its brand, with a new chief marketing officer, and, as of today, a new agency roster.

 

Pfizer has awarded its “integrated global engine” to Publicis Groupe and named Interpublic Group of Cos. its lead creative partner, three months after initiating a massive review incorporating advertising creative, media, PR and production duties.

 

It is a major victory for both Publicis and IPG, which beat out multiple holding companies in one of the industry’s most hotly contested—and lucrative—reviews of the year. MediaLink was the consultant on the review, which kicked off in February. Dentsu’s Carat was the incumbent on U.S. media, while global media is handled by various agencies across the globe.

 

Publicis, by handling data and tech, media and creative production, will help form the new Pfizer marketing machine. Last year, New York-based Pfizer spent $2.8 billion on worldwide advertising, up from $2 billion in 2021, according to the company’s financial documents. Yet the bulk of the $100 billion brand’s spend is in the U.S., where Pfizer ranked as the 36th largest advertiser, spending $1.49 billion in the U.S. in 2021, according to Ad Age’s Datacenter.

 

“Pfizer is a leader,” said Drew Panayiotou, who was hired as the drug company’s first global chief marketing officer in the fall after working as CMO of Verily, Alphabet’s life sciences research arm. “We are looking at how the company goes to market and how to continue to be a leader—to do things that others don’t do in the industry in service of driving science and driving breakthroughs.”

 

IPG was not immediately available for comment and Publicis had no comment.

 

“We are proud of the Carat team and our long-term partnership as Pfizer’s U.S. media partner,” said Jacki Kelley CEO, Dentsu Americas chief global client officer. “The progress and success we have shared is a testament to the amazing people on both sides and our critical partners. We are inspired by Pfizer as a company and by Drew’s ambitious agenda for marketing and wish him and everyone at Pfizer continued success.”

 

The marketing restructuring is the culmination of several years of transition for Pfizer, as the company strives to return to its science-driven roots. In 2020, Pfizer spun off its Upjohn generic drugs business, combining it with competitor Mylan Pharma to form a new company, Viatris. That left Pfizer to focus on its health-based innovation and be more agile and science-focused, according to Panayiotou.

 

Last year, Pfizer continued telling its brand story with a redesigned logo—trading its old blue pill for a more modern helix-type symbol that screams science, particularly after the COVID-19 vaccine breakthroughs. Earlier this year, Pfizer amplified this theme with an emotional campaign from Grey New York pitting losers such as fear, sorrow and illness against the winner of science.

 

COVID vaccine momentum

 

Pfizer’s success as an early administer of the COVID-19 vaccine helped catapult the brand into mainstream recognition and appeal beyond the pharmaceutical aisle. Vaccine-awareness campaigns with celebrities including Michael Phelps, Questlove, Pink and Jean Smart attracted even more support. Now, the pharma titan plans to continue its momentum with its new agency partner and revitalized marketing department.

 

“We had spent all those months not knowing what was going to happen with the pandemic, and suddenly, they give us that magical 95% efficacy moment—even my mom now knows what Pfizer is,” said Manuel Hermosilla, assistant professor of marketing at Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School. “That moment imprinted on many of us a re-enchantment with the pharmaceutical industry, that feeling that scientific magic is possible and Pfizer is a company that knows how to make it happen.”

 

Of course, Pfizer’s was not the only vaccine administered during the pandemic. Moderna, backed by the star power of Dolly Parton, and Johnson & Johnson also got brand boosts. Moderna, in particular, has been trying to parlay its COVID-19 gains into more brand recognition. The pharma company recently ran an adtouting its own scientific prowess as more than a COVID-vaccine company. The commercial focused on the mRNA science behind the vaccine and how it can help in other medical areas.

 

A veteran marketer

 

Yet Panayiotou, Pfizer’s new CMO, is a veteran marketer with a plethora of the industry experience needed to continue the brand’s rise. Prior to his two-year stint at Verily, he built a business incubator at Chick-fil-A, led BBDO’s Atlanta office and worked as U.S. CMO of Best Buy. Panayiotou also has marketing experience from the Walt Disney Co. and the Coca-Cola Co., where he developed marketing for Sprite and Fanta. In the mid-’90s, he worked as a product director at Johnson & Johnson.

 

“I got a call to come to Pfizer and what did attract me is the fact that I could build something that doesn’t exist and has never existed before,” said Panayiotou about the opportunity to build up Pfizer’s marketing department into a more agile machine.

 

That reconstruction starts with streamlining the brand’s agency roster. In the past, Pfizer has worked with every holding company. That includes such shops as WPP’s Grey New York, which created the brand’s most recent campaign, VMLY&R, EssenceMediacom, Mindshare and Wavemaker; IPG’s FCB and IPG Health; and Omnicom’s Rapp, PHD, TBWA\WorldHealth, according to Ad Age’s Datacenter.

 

“We clearly realized we needed to have more simplification of our agency structure,” said Panayiotou, noting Pfizer needed to simplify how it goes to market and make integrated marketing easier. “We also wanted to leverage scale.”

 

Global products, local connections

 

The appointment is a big win for Publicis, which has seen a spate of activity of late with its “Power of One” strategy. The holding company, whose revenue jumped nearly 20% last year, was the big winner in LVMH’s North American media review earlier this month.

 

IPG’s Mediabrands, meanwhile, just won U.S. media buying and planning duties for the direct-to-consumer brands at Bristol Myers Squibb.

 

Under Panayiotou, Pfizer has also been building up its internal marketing department, which numbers around 1,000 staffers. The company is hiring for four key areas, including UX and design, to improve the digital experience for patients and doctors; innovation, to better integrate new channels such as telemedicine; data science and analytics, to unearth better insights; and media and performance marketing, to deliver the best ROIs and engagement on campaigns using a data-driven approach.

 

Pfizer is a global company but “health care is a local thing,” said Panayiotou. “So how do we think about products that are global that are made for the world, but connect them the right way locally?”

 

Pfizer is in the midst of a busy 18 months in which it plans to launch 19 medicines and vaccines, including a dozen new medicines and seven expansions. With its new agency partner, the company expects to be smarter and faster with how it markets such products.

 

“The Goldilocks element is to really figure out how to do high-tech and high-touch marketing,” said Panayiotou.

16047: Will R/GA Distributed Creativity Lead To Distributing Pink Slips?

 

Adweek reported on the closing of R/GA office spaces in New York City and San Francisco, a move that underscores the dramatic workplace changes ignited by COVID-19.

 

R/GA CEO Sean Lyons declared the company’s newfangled remote structure “will be the standard for a post pandemic creative company. It embraces global talent across multiple time zones and mean we can be faster, better, and less expensive for clients.” Gee, that almost sounds more amazing than R/GA “throwing out the traditional playbook” for DE&I.

 

The shuttering of offices will probably be celebrated with global strippers via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and FaceTime.

 

R/GA Is Closing Its Current New York and San Francisco Office Spaces as It Continues Restructuring

 

The NYC office opened in 2016 in Hudson Yards

 

By Kyle O’Brien & Jameson Fleming

 

R/GA is closing its current spacious Hudson Yards office space in New York City as well as its current office space in downtown San Francisco as part of a larger structuring under CEO Sean Lyons.

 

Multiple sources confirmed to Adweek that Lyons told the agency the news via email Tuesday night.

 

As part of the restructuring, R/GA is moving away from its city model in the U.S. and instead implementing a country model with five disciplines powering the business. With the emphasis away from cities, R/GA, in partnership with IPG, is opting out of its leases in New York and San Francisco, Lyons wrote in the email obtained by Adweek.

 

“Today, 45% of our US staff live far from our offices, and 80% of our project teams bring together talent from more than one location,” Lyons wrote in the email. “The ability to bring talent together from everywhere is the backbone of our Distributed Creativity model. Now we need the infrastructure that supports it.”

 

Lyons noted in the email that currently only about 40 employees a day, plus a few clients, use the “cavernous” office on a daily basis. Lyons said that the agency will eventually reopen a smaller hub in New York in 2023. With employees all over the country, the agency will consider other physical hubs in the U.S. where employees are concentrated or near clients.

 

“We are increasing our investment in travel so we can bring teams together in our physical locations, or wherever groups of R/GA people are based. (A bar bill in Atlanta is a better use of budget than an empty room in Hudson Yards.),” Lyons wrote.

 

The current New York and San Francisco offices will close on Dec. 23. The New York office, which first opened in 2016, was the subject of Workplace: The Connected Space Documentary. For the film, Gary Hustwit explored the spacious 10,000-square-foot office on 10th Avenue and 33rd Street that originally housed 800 employees.

 

R/GA’s transformation

 

The restructuring first rolled out in late October, according to Ad Age. It will cover staffing, creative practices, office structure and R/GA’s go-to-market strategy under the term “distributed creativity.” The restructuring was apparently planned before R/GA reported losses of up to $10 million this year from crypto and NFT-related work, according to the story.

 

Part of that restructuring means a reduction of staff. Multiple sources told Adweek the agency recently laid off a number of employees. A previous round of layoffs earlier this year reduced the New York staff by 5%.

 

Additionally, Robin Forbes took on the role of global chief client officer. Forbes will play a key role with the roll out of R/GA’s new distributed creativity model. He was previously managing director of the brand design and consulting practice.

 

“With R/GA rolling out its new model built on our creative practices, I’ve been looking for the right person to take on the global chief client officer role. I am lucky to have that person at R/GA. Robin has been instrumental in leading some of our largest and most successful client relationships,” said Lyons in a statement.

 

R/GA’s global CFO Tania Secor is also stepping down at the end of the year to pursue another opportunity.

 

The new country model includes a new structure that will encompass five practices: Products + Experiences, Connected Communications, Brand Design + Consulting, Media + Connections and Brand Relationship Design.

 

Lyons said the new structure will allow the agency to be more nimble and better serve its clients, adding that many employees’ roles will change as the client base changes, especially as the innovation client base in crypto and other areas have dwindled.

 

Lyons also noted the agency is still working through the remaining management changes and practice placements, and anticipated those changes will be complete by the end of the year.

 

“Over the last 45 years we’ve been known to change our model ahead of the industry but we know radical change is difficult and this means not everyone will fit into this model,” Lyons told Adweek earlier this month, during an earlier round of staff cuts. “Our Distributed Creativity model will be the standard for a post pandemic creative company. It embraces global talent across multiple time zones and mean we can be faster, better, and less expensive for clients.”

15938: Vaccination Ad Inspires, “Ouch.”

 

Veterans Coalition for Vaccination is doing great work. Its advertising, however, is not great work.

15802: Considering COVERT-19 (aka Divershitty).

 

Mad Men lead character Don Draper once said, “If you don’t like what is being said, then change the conversation.”

 

Wannabe Mad Men and Mad Women of the present era continue to apply and execute the concept for diversity. That is, the dominating majority—White men and White women—keep cunningly changing the DE&I conversation, switching the focus in other directions to ultimately avoid addressing the nettlesome true issue.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic and current events have served as perfect covers, providing a variety of diversionary opportunities. What receives more attention than racial and ethnic diversity in Adland? Here’s a review of the latest people, places and things—which are being dubbed COVERT-19:

 

1. White women This clan still commands the lioness’ share of DE&I discussions—despite the inability of White women to even hold long-term interest in their own cause.

 

2. White LGBTQIA+ White people show faux pride in supporting this group over racial and ethnic minorities.

 

3. White old people Old White Guys and Gals rule—and rant like immature adolescents.

 

4. White people with physical disabilities Accessibility trumps inclusivity.

 

5. White people representing neurodiversity Um, never mind.

 

6. White addicts Expect Advertising Anonymous meetings soon.

 

7. Mental health The way this has moved ahead of racial and ethnic diversity is… depressing.

 

8. Sustainability Better to hug a tree than a minority.

 

9. COVID-19 The scoreboard reads COVID-19, BIPOC-0.

 

10. COVID-19 variants Think of these as booster shots for exclusivity.

 

11. War in Ukraine Any chance to create scam ads inspires deceptive defenders of peace and justice.

 

12. Russian withdrawal Hey, it takes time to abandon Russian comrades—at least until there’s a possibility to pitch new business.

 

13. Remote working Need proof of systemic racism? At the next agencywide Zoom gathering, mandate that everyone turn on their video and see.

 

14. Return to office Return to cultural cluelessness too.

 

15. Chief Diversity Officers Hire or promote one to sneakily boost diversity figures—without dramatically impacting the historical diversity deficit.

 

16. The Great Resignation The wave of resigning Whites presents a perfect time to bring in non-White replacements without accusations of reverse racism. But don’t bet on anyone exploiting the moment.

 

17. Psychological safety Wow, now White people don’t feel comfortable being around White people.

 

18. Metaverse Familiar with the 3D virtual worlds? Doesn’t matter—it generates more interest than real, live people of color.

 

19. NFTs Oddly enough, Non-Fungible Tokens are awarded greater respect than, well, regular tokens.

 

The conversation-changing phenomenon deserves a new label. For now, go with COVERT-19—or Divershitty.

 

15676: COVID–19 | Racial Injustice–0.

 

Advertising Age has a section titled, “How Brands And Agencies Are Dealing With COVID Resurgence—A Regularly Updated List.”

 

It’s a safe bet that the feature will be regularly updated and run waaaaay longer than “A Regularly Updated Blog Tracking Brands’ Responses To Racial Injustice.”

15671: COVID–19 | Ad Council–0.

This Ad Council COVID-19 campaign seems disconnected from the work hyped on the organization’s website. Perfect. Even Ad Council is creating confusion and miscommunication over the pandemic.

 

15657: COVID-19 | NBA-0.

A COVID-19 home test endorsed by the NBA? Can’t wait to see Kyrie Irving serving as spokesperson…

15644: The Real Reason For Cowering Like A Dog.

 

Actually, humans should be terrified by New Year’s celebrations—as such festivities are now superspreader events.

15600: Dr. Aaron Rodgers Versus Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

NFL Superstar Aaron Rodgers had the audacity to defend his lies and ignorance by quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and declaring, “You have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that make no sense…”

 

Okay, but MLK also said:

 

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Nothing worthwhile is easy. Your ability to overcome unfavorable situations will provide you with time to demonstrate your true strength and determination for success. Always set your standards high, your greatest achievements lie within the infinite feats you achieve in your life.”

 

And as a self-proclaimed critical thinker who allegedly did lots of research to conclude that getting vaccinated wasn’t right for him, Rodgers should consider the following MLK quote:

 

“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.”

 

Oh, and based on the rules of Offensive Karma, Rodgers effectively fumbled away the Green Bay Packers’ dream of winning Super Bowl LVI.

15590: Returning To The Office—And Returning To The Exclusivity.

 

Digiday reported on results of a survey showing disagreements between senior executives and employees over returning to the office. The story also spotlighted another survey that exposed opinions on the lack of dedication to DE&I initiatives—as well as the failure of people with hiring authority to actively and deliberately engage in progressive change. So, the folks who do decide to return to the office will find the same old White people dominating the halls.

 

Why senior execs and employees are disagreeing on returning to the office and how DE&I initiatives fit into plans

 

By Tony Case

 

Imagine the office just as we left it at the onset of the pandemic: Our lonely desk and chair, which have so patiently been waiting for our return. The kitchen. The conference room. But instead of being populated by our coworkers, all we see around us are our bosses.

 

In a recent survey of more than 10,000 workers globally, the future-of-work initiative Future Forum found that nearly half (44%) of executives currently working remotely want to return to the office full-time, whereas only about one-fifth (17%) of nonexecutive staff do.

 

Executive satisfaction is 62% greater than non-executives, driven by flexibility (51% higher), sense of belonging (52% higher) and work-life balance (78% higher), according to the report. Executives also score 114% higher when it comes to “feeling good about stress and anxiety.” Male executives report the highest scores among experience indicators, including “sense of belonging,” “level of access to resources,” “ability to focus on work” and “overall satisfaction with the working environment.”

 

The report also suggested that as executives plan the return to the office, the Great Resignation shows no sign of letting up. More than half of employees polled (57%) said they were open to looking for a new job in the next year — while for those unsatisfied with the level of flexibility they have in their current jobs, the number jumps to 71%.

 

At San Francisco’s FCB West — which, as the smallest of FCB’s U.S. agencies, functions as a creative boutique — its leadership, as with that of other agencies, has been experimenting with allowing people to work when, where and how that suits them best. It ran surveys and spoke to everyone individually, and what was overwhelmingly and obviously clear was that everyone has different wants and needs.

 

“Some people are eager to get back into the office, others tell us they do their best work from home, and some moved to different cities. They know where they do their best work, and our job is to accommodate that. We want people to be their creative best, so if that’s in a log cabin in the woods working into the night, so be it,” said Simon White, president and CSO of FCB West, which has marketed brands including Levi’s and Ghirardelli.

 

As a small, close-knit team, the agency has been able to pivot to a remote work environment. It now has people working from Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, New York and elsewhere. “One thing we’ve learned is that no one size fits all,” White said. “People do their best work when they are most comfortable.”

 

Flexibility has become not only an essential element of workers’ happiness but also a significant factor in the feelings of underrepresented groups.

 

In the U.S., for example, people of color and working parents are especially dissatisfied with their current work situations, according to the Future Forum survey. Sixty-six percent of Hispanic employees, 64% of Black workers and 63% of Asian staffers said they’re interested in looking for other opportunities, compared to 56% of white employees. Sixty-two percent of working dads and 60% of working moms are open to a job switch, compared to 56% of female employees and 51% of male employees without kids.

 

The desire for flexible work is strongest among women, working parents and people of color. Eighty-seven percent of Asian respondents and 81% of Black respondents want flexible or hybrid work, compared to 75% of white respondents. Eighty-five percent of women currently working fully remotely want flexible or hybrid work, compared to 79% of men.

 

Meanwhile, in a recent survey of 1,000 workers in the U.S. by the human resources support firm Workhuman, employees shared their views on how employers have worked to improve diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in recent months. The survey found that 40% of people of color said their employers had not made noticeable progress around DE&I in the last year. Sixty-six percent stated that their companies’ DE&I plans/status impact their feelings about longevity at the organization.

 

And despite the emphasis on corporate DE&I initiatives and the ongoing battle for talent, recent data from the global recruitment platform Hireutal indicates that 85% of candidate searches are not looking for diverse talent when seeking to fill software engineer positions.

 

Data from more than 31,000 searches highlights a core weakness in diversity hiring strategies, according to the firm — and when searching for software engineers, most don’t even try to find diverse candidates.

 

Hiretual found that recruiters and hiring managers are failing to use available tools to help them source candidates from underrepresented groups, including women and Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American professionals. “The technology is there to help find and hire diverse candidates,” said Steven Jiang, CEO at Hiretual. “Companies now have the option to make a difference — there are no more excuses.”

 

Danielle Sherman — director of people and culture at New York advertising agency Organic, which does work for brands like Carter’s children’s wear and El Pollo Loco — noted that last year the firm established a Career Coaching employee resource group (ERG) in partnership with professional development firm Sayge to support underrepresented talent and accelerate their career paths. The program, which includes mid- to director-level employees nominated by their managers, is focused on skill building and career development. It served about a dozen Organic employees in its inaugural year and tripled in size this year, Sherman reported.

 

It is one more example of how marketing agencies have doubled down on delivering results on DE&I by way of ERGs and other initiatives.

 

“Coaching is proven to help people fulfill their professional and personal potential,” she said. “It is a way to invest in and support the growth and continued development of Organic employees.”