14789: In Adland, Ageism Is The New Reverse Discrimination.

AgencySpy posted on another ex-CCO suing his former employer, although this scenario involves a White man charging ageism—in contrast to the bulging number of White men being charged with sexual misconduct. The main similarity is the CCO’s decision to try his case in the court of public opinion. Given that most firings involve signing a confidentiality release form, it’s funny to witness individuals seemingly violate such agreements by openly sharing the legal details of their grievances. It’s also funny to watch White men—most of whom have done little for diversity and equality throughout their careers—suddenly embrace the role of discrimination victim. In this particular instance, the CCO displayed his court filing via LinkedIn and asked people to submit their own tales of alleged ageism. All of which leads to a funnier situation; that is, someone spending decades in a field driven by exclusivity, buddy systems, politics and cronyism ultimately feels grossly wronged upon being bounced from the White Boys’ Club.

Where was the revolutionary spirit when the truly underrepresented needed boldness and bravery from leaders?

Former Epsilon CCO Disputes Reason For His Firing

By Erik Oster

Epsilon and its former CCO are at odds over whether the agency had sufficient cause for firing him.

Former chief creative John Immesoete is suing Epsilon and its former parent company Alliance Data Systems, alleging that age discrimination led to his firing last November.

John Immesoete filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on Aug. 5, alleging age discrimination, defamation per se and false light. Also named in the lawsuit are Richard McDonald, president of Epsilon’s agency practice, and svp and chief client officer Sandy Kolkey. Immesoete alleges McDonald and Kolkey made false statements regarding his conduct in an attempt to justify his termination, according to the complaint.

McDonald and Kolkey have yet to respond to requests for comment sent via email and LinkedIn.

Epsilon informed Immesoete he was being fired for cause on Nov. 29, according to the complaint. The complaint does not identify the stated cause, but according to Immesoete’s complaint, the 54-year-old believes the company wanted to replace him with a younger creative lead. He shared the legal complaint in a LinkedIn post on Monday.

“We strongly dispute the allegations included in John Immesoete’s public LinkedIn post,” an Epsilon spokesperson said in a statement provided to Adweek. “As a matter of policy, we have no further comment on the pending litigation.”

Immesoete characterized the allegations outlined in his complaint as part of a broader pattern of ageism in the advertising industry.

“These fights are difficult, and I know why a lot of people don’t do them, having lived through it,” Immesoete told Adweek. “You work for a company for a long time, and you give your all, and then there comes a moment in time [when] they just throw you away like a piece of garbage. That isn’t right, and a lot of people aren’t in a position to even fight that.”

He added that tech companies like Epsilon put an even greater focus on presenting a youthful appearance than most ad agencies do. His November dismissal preceded Publicis Groupe’s decision to acquire Epsilon in April of 2019.

A Publicis spokesperson said the company would not make a statement beyond the one Epsilon provided to Adweek.

In the complaint, Immesoete says his problems with McDonald date back to when he was being considered for the president role—he claims McDonald made comments critical of Immesoete’s age, both in person and to other people.

According to the complaint, Epsilon’s decision to fire Immesoete followed a series of events that began when he wasn’t informed of a meeting with the CMO of a global healthcare company, the agency’s largest client. Immesoete alleges this was part of a pattern of exclusion and diminished duties under McDonald.

When Immesoete complained about his absence from the client meeting, he alleges, vice president for human resources Ellen Evans told him not to make a big deal about it at a time when Epsilon was in the process of being sold. According to the complaint, Evans asked Immesoete, “Having been through so many agency presidents now, have you thought about moving on?” (McDonald was the sixth president at Epsilon during Immesoete’s tenure with the agency.)

Evans has not yet responded to requests for comment sent via email and LinkedIn.

According to the complaint, Immesoete subsequently chaired a “huddle” of around 20 people, including McDonald and Kolkey, to retain the account, which was under review. The complaint states that during the meeting, an account supervisor repeatedly challenged Immesoete on his ideas for the client’s account and the meeting ended with Immesoete calling the account supervisor’s comments “stupid,” according to the complaint.

Immesoete alleges in the complaint that McDonald used this animosity between the chief creative and account director and Immesoete’s conduct in the meeting as a pretext to fire him, subsequently telling Immesoete not to come into the office and calling a special meeting of the team that had been in the meeting in question.

According to the complaint, McDonald and Kolkey called Immesoete’s conduct in the “huddle” meeting “inexcusable,” and McDonald allegedly told Immesoete’s assistant later that day that he would be fired and that “your boss said [the account supervisor] was stupid and everything she said and did was fucking stupid.”

Immesoete alleges he has an audio recording provided to him by an anonymous source that contradicts this and subsequent characterizations of his statements in the meeting made by McDonald, Kolkey and others. Whether such a recording can be submitted as evidence may come into question, as Illinois is an “all party consent” state and it’s not clear from the complaint if all parties were aware that they were being recorded.

McDonald informed the agency that Immesoete would be placed on administrative leave, which the complaint characterizes as a “never-previously-used status that painted him as a safety risk and accelerated the rumor mill.”

During the process of being placed on leave, according to the complaint, Immesoete claims he was not allowed in Epsilon’s offices, access to his agency email was cut off and he was warned not to speak to anyone about the details of his administrative leave since he had signed a confidentiality agreement. Epsilon then launched a monthlong investigation the complaint characterizes as a “sham investigation” that concluded with Immesoete’s firing, according to the complaint.

McDonald allegedly sent an agency-wide email that read, “John Immesoete will no longer be with the company,” which the complaint claims was “designed to encourage speculation that Mr. Immesoete was a predator.”

According to the complaint, McDonald informed Epsilon employees not to post anything supportive of Immesoete on social media “because your loyalty to the company could be questioned,” adding, “If you have posted anything, take it down.”

McDonald is also alleged to have told employees not to share with Immesoete any materials he worked on at the agency, preventing him from using anything created during his six and a half years at Epsilon in his portfolio.

The lawsuit claims that “false statements” by McDonald and Kolkey “were made with actual malice” with intent to harm Immesoete or “reckless disregard of his rights.”

It goes on to claim that those statements in conjunction with the agency’s limited internal and external communications regarding Immesoete’s employment status at Epsilon were designed to “convey a false impression about Mr. Immesoete, inside Epsilon and in the advertising community.”

Immesoete is seeking back pay, including benefits and bonuses for the alleged age discrimination against him, front pay as determined by the court, liquidated damages, attorney fees, prejudgment interest and costs. The complaint estimated the value of his salary, annual bonus, benefits and share awards at around $800,000.

Epsilon does not appear to have hired a CCO following Immesoete’s departure. The Epsilon agency practice’s website instead lists three svp, executive creative directors as the highest-ranking creatives at the agency.

14133: Data & Diversity.

Adweek published a spirited call-to-action on diversity from Epsilon Executive Producer and Head of Production Jill Frank, who declared, “The Time to Prioritize Workplace Diversity and Inclusivity Is Now. Is Your Agency Ready?” Um, based on peeking at the Epsilon Leadership Team, Frank’s agency is definitely not ready. And why is the global marketing company delegating diversity to a production officer? With all due respect, an Executive Producer-Head of Production doesn’t typically influence hiring practices. Ironically, Epsilon boasts having “unrivaled data and expertise,” yet the White advertising agency is apparently not acting on the McKinsey data referenced by Frank—and likely ignoring their own personnel data that would show they are far from experiencing the “disruption through diversity” being proposed by Frank. While Frank deserves praise for taking a stand, Epsilon should walk the walk before letting her talk the talk.

The Time to Prioritize Workplace Diversity and Inclusivity Is Now. Is Your Agency Ready?

Foster an environment your employees feel comfortable in

By Jill Frank

Millennials are now the majority in the workforce, and we’re the most diverse group of workers yet. Those of us cuspers who entered the workforce with fax machines and primary landlines are now finding our leadership footing and speaking truth, encouraging diversity and building positive work environments. However, in advertising, we’re inheriting an antiquated agency model: an industry built on storytelling through and by the white male gaze. The white male gaze refers to a way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women, something all too familiar, from the overt days of Mad Men to today’s often subtle, nuanced and complicated landscape.

Disruption through diversity is the only way we’re going to shift the tides and bring about a positive sea change.

As trend and culture-setters, we have an opportunity to radically and immediately incite the conversation and not just partner with, but lead clients, ensuring inclusive, dynamic creative cultures and environments. But frankly, while any form of progress is positive, we’re not moving fast enough.

We have the proof points. A 2015 McKinsey study revealed that companies with more diverse workforces perform better financially. Your client might not prioritize diversity and inclusion, but you can bet driving sales is a top priority.

As education chair for my organization’s internal Diversity and Inclusion Council, I am helping to be a catalyst for change and champion diversity within my workplace and industry. Here’s what you can do.

Make positive consumer connections

Through advertising, we’re asking for consumers’ time, attention and ultimately, money, so at the very least we should make them laugh, ponder, cry—make them feel.

However, lack of diversity in creative translates into one of two outcomes:

Play it safe by trying to speak to everyone and end up speaking to no one. It’s easy to put out forgettable white noise. No feels, which is bad.

Add a little creative ego and general “un-wokeness,” and it’s even easier to put out memorable, horrifically offensive bullshit. See no further than Heineken. All the feels, which includes the bad ones, too.

We want people to pay attention to advertising, of course, but let’s also not offend or delay progress.

Live your brand’s truth

Advertising has a history of discrimination because America has a history of discrimination. As culture curators and creators, we owe it to our clients to lead the way in authentic storytelling.

Look no further than P&G’s honest look at their past history of LGBTQ discrimination. The authenticity shown here is brave storytelling at its finest. There is a richness that comes with real-world experience, and that’s when you pull heartstrings in terms of brand connection.

The same can be said for the truth-telling work National Geographic did calling out their own troubled history with racism.

Fix your lack of diversity problem—today

Hire—and retain—women and people of color. Create a workforce that spans races, sexual orientations, religions and lifestyles. Not in five years, not in two years. Today.

We need a diverse workforce in writing rooms, in brainstorms, in pitches. Across all agency touchpoints, in all levels of leadership, across all departments.

And that’s not to say that women can’t sell beer or men can’t write for tampons. But from initial brainstorms to creative checkpoints to pitches, if you’ve got an all-anything team, you’re putting the work (and your client) at a disadvantage. The best case risk here is you’ll produce bland and irrelevant work. At worst, it’s falling somewhere on the offense-o-meter, rendering your client’s brand as tone deaf and your agency as unemployable. As the head of a production department, I think about this constantly, whether I’m hiring talent for my own team or casting actors. Are enough diverse people, opinions and backgrounds being represented? Leading with diversity in mind means keeping diversity top-of-mind.

Uncover your workforce

If inclusion is the North Star, diversity is the Big Dipper. Fix your diversity problem, and it’s going to lead you straight toward creating an inclusive environment.

Diversity is the spark; inclusion is the enduring flame. An inclusive environment means your associates feel comfortable bringing their full selves to work.

A not new but still under-discussed concept is “covering,” which is hiding or downplaying a known stigmatized identity, the four axes of which are appearance-based, affiliation-based, advocacy-based and association-based.

Here’s an important point of distinction with covering: Everyone does it. The danger of covering in creative workplaces is that voices aren’t heard, stories aren’t told and the best work is not done.

Uncovered creatives are empowered creatives. Cultivating inclusive workplaces should perhaps be the number one priority for creative leadership.

Call me optimistic, but I think advertising is in the midst of a total sea change, if you’re in the right place. Advertising is not dead. It’s more alive than it’s ever been. What’s dead is the sea of sameness.

Jill Frank is executive producer and head of production at Epsilon Agency.