17154: Blackweek Founders Seek Funding And Fandom For New Platform.

 

Advertising Age spotlighted a new venture brought to you by the founders of Blackweek…

 

Why Blackweek’s founders launched a social media platform for experts and thought leaders

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

The founders of Blackweek, a culture-first economic forum and festival launched by agency leaders, are officially entering the social media space with the launch of Subculture, a publishing platform designed for subject matter experts looking to monetize their knowledge as creators.

 

Experts as the new influencers

 

Subculture is currently self-funded by Joseph Anthony, who is also the founder and CEO of Hero Collective and co-founder of Blackweek. He has invested approximately $250,000 to date in the platform, and the team is looking to raise $2 million in additional capital to support product development, AI tooling and user acquisition with a goal of reaching 200,000 users within a year.

 

Alongside Anthony, Blackweek co-founders Walter T. Geer III, Andre Gray and Adan Romero will be playing advisory roles in helping ignite community growth for the platform.

 

Subculture is positioning itself as a next-gen alternative to platforms such as Substack and Reddit. The platform is now live in beta on the web, with mobile apps slated to debut during Blackweek this October.

 

Built for writers, educators, podcasters, coaches, and professionals, Subculture allows users to launch individual channels where they can publish long-form content, share multimedia, engage followers, and monetize through subscriptions, articles, e-commerce and advertising revenue.

 

The platform plans to offer a 60/40 split on ad sales for verified expert accounts only.

 

“We’re not trying to be the biggest. We’re trying to be better, more intentional, more inclusive and more human,” Geer said.

 

A key differentiator, according to Anthony, is Subculture’s focus on expertise over virality. “We think experts are the new influencers,” he said, “and that everyone has an expertise.”

 

How Subculture monetizes

 

While platforms such as LinkedIn encourage professional posting, Anthony argues that it lacks meaningful monetization tools. “LinkedIn doesn’t have a monetization engine,” he said. “Everybody on LinkedIn right now is trying to growth hack... that ultimately results in hopefully a recruiter calling you.”

 

Subculture’s founders believe social media is heading for fragmentation, and that there’s room for platforms designed around smaller “values-driven communities.”

 

“You’re going to see the emergence of these new niche platforms,” Anthony said. “The same reason why BlueSky thinks it can compete with Twitter is because the cultural ideology these things are built on appeals to specific audiences who care about where they share their data, where they share their stories.”

 

Subculture also aims to become a space for underrepresented creators, a response to what the founders see as bias in traditional platforms.

 

“Social media, for the most part, has become somewhat of a cesspool,” Anthony said. “How do we really create a platform that promotes thought leadership, promotes bold ideas and thinking in a safe space where liberal ideas will be accentuated, not suppressed?”

 

A changing online landscape

 

Alternative social media platforms such as Substack have gained popularity recently, with many brands hoping to capitalize on the interest. At the same time, AI search is changing how businesses approach their digital strategies.

 

“Site traffic in the open web is on a massive decline year over year,” Anthony said.

 

As Subculture evolves, AI and blockchain technology will play a role in the platform’s vision for creator empowerment and data ownership. Anthony said the team is working toward building a decentralized infrastructure that allows creators to not only monetize their content but also own their audience and the data associated with it.

 

“If everyone’s data profile that we have is on the blockchain, then you can store your own data… and take that data with you,” Anthony said. “That could be your followers, that could be all of the information that you gathered from your followers.”

 

Anthony framed blockchain as a potential solution to one of the creator economy’s biggest challenges: attribution and compensation in the age of AI-generated content. He gave the example of someone prompting ChatGPT to “write a script in the voice of Issa Rae,” which would yield no compensation for the artist.

 

“If you come to our platform and Issa Rae puts all of her content on our blockchain system, then it becomes a situation where you have to come here to ask that same question—and Issa Rae can charge you a fee,” he said.

17022: Fade To Blank For Blackweek.

 

Adweek reported on an April Fools’ Day stunt from the creators of Blackweek, whereby the group changed its name to Blankweek as a response to the anti-DEIBA+ vibe in Adland and the USA.

 

Can’t help but wonder how Blackweek and its crew will ultimately fare while Adland continues to abandon DEIBA+—along with associated performative PR and heat shields.

 

When White advertising agencies and White adpeople are probed on their awareness of Blackweek, will they draw a blank? Do they already?

 

Blackweek April Fools Stunt Puts a Spotlight on DEI Rollbacks

 

Conference organizers changed the name of the event to ‘Blankweek’ yesterday to spark industry conversation

 

By Cydney Lee

 

Ad industry observers may have noticed yesterday that Blackweek, the industry conference dedicated to unlocking the spending power, influence, and potential of diverse consumers, changed its name to “Blankweek” in response to ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) rollbacks imposed by the government.

 

ADWEEK can confirm that the name change was an April Fools prank meant to drive awareness to the erasure of DEI progress across U.S. companies and culture.

 

“In this environment, [descriptors] like ‘Black,’ ‘female,’ ‘LGBTQ,’ and ‘diverse’ are being erased,” explained Walter T. Geer III, Blackweek co-founder and chief creative officer of innovation at VML North America. “We’re poking fun at that and the fact that so many brands and agencies are cowering down on [DEI].”

 

On Monday, March 31, Geer shared a seemingly truthful LinkedIn post announcing Blackweek had changed its name: “After careful deliberation and conversations with our team and families, and looking at the current climate and movement to erase certain words from the business world, we have made the tough decision to change our name to Blankweek,” he wrote.

 

In the post, he also shared a link to a new Instagram page for Blankweek, which included another link to the conference’s website complete with the new Blankweek name and logo.

 

Other Blackweek founders posted about the alleged name change, including Andre Gray, chief activation officer and head of culture and entertainment at Havas Lynx New York; Adan Romero, evp and executive creative director at Razorfish; and Joe Anthony, CEO and founder of Hero Collective.

 

The war on DEI

 

Recently, in response to a changing political climate, brands including Target, Lowe’s, Molson Coors, and Walmart have reversed their DEI efforts in various ways, from ditching hiring quotas to ending programs and surveys meant to support diverse employees. 

 

This war on DEI reached the highest levels of the federal government earlier this year as President Donald Trump took office. In January, on inauguration day, he signed an executive order “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing.”

 

Since then, Trump has signed a series of orders clamping down on DEI programs, most recently urging Vice President JD Vance to remove “divisive, race-centered ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.

 

These mandates have forced brands and agencies, which made bold promises and set aggressive goals around DEI in the wake of 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement, to re-strategize.

 

For Blackweek’s founders, April Fools presented an opportunity to raise awareness of these reversals by showing “how ridiculous it is to issue these mandates,” said Anthony.

 

“What we’re seeing is a compounding attack on nomenclature, words, and terminology in an attempt to try to make America this homogenous place, which we know is not the foundational principle of what [leads to] great creative ideas,” he continued.

 

While the founders were hopeful that the stunt would not just drive awareness but outrage among diverse pockets of the industry, reactions to Geer’s LinkedIn post were somewhat muted, with many commenters offering their understanding and support of the “tough decision.” 

 

However, Geer said that out of the public eye, others reached out to him directly to reprimand him for the name change and accusing him of “bending the knee.”

 

“I think people would never in a million years expect this,” said Geer. “Never in a million years would they expect us to essentially fold in the moment like what many companies are doing.”

 

Blackweek is here to stay

 

Despite the ongoing retreat from DEI—and the April Fool’s prank—Blackweek is here to stay, and it’s preparing for a strong second year.

 

Blackweek held its inaugural conference in New York City in October 2024. The event was self-financed with support from sponsors like WPP, Dentsu, IPG, and TikTok.

 

In 2025, Blackweek’s founders are looking to expand the event to “an economic forum and festival,” said Gray. The conference will act as a “content accelerator,” highlighting artists and creatives more through programming like showcases, film screenings, and performances.

 

“We’re doubling down on culture, and we need the community to double down with us,” said Anthony.

 

Anthony said that the conference is on track to retain nearly 80% of its sponsors this year, but shared that some prospective sponsors (which he declined to name) have expressed concern around Blackweek’s name “and how that aligns with the current climate.”

 

“The reason why we chose the term ‘Black’ was not necessarily to exclude other communities, but to highlight the cultural contributions and the license that Black culture gives other marginalized and oppressed communities to speak up for themselves,” Anthony said.

 

Update April 1 8:25am ET: This story was updated to clarify that Blackweek aims to reach diverse audiences, not just Black audiences.

16903: Will Trump Trample Adland?

 

Advertising Age presented 33 Adland executives predicting how President-Elect Donald Trump returning to supremacy could impact marketing.

 

The panel featured quite a few representatives of underrepresented groups in Adland, which spiked mentions of DEIBA+ topics.

 

It’s hard to guess what predictions the exclusive majority—ie, White people—might offer on the subject. Probably not much, as the political powershift doesn’t adversely affect Adland’s White power structure.

 

Here’s the color commentary from DEIBA+ defenders:

 

Joseph Anthony, founder, Hero Media

 

The election results will unfortunately embolden and empower the current marketing power base to deprioritize inclusive business practices that include hiring goals, supplier diversity and the prioritization of audiences and insights that may require going outside of the supply chain and solutions providers they want to work with. This will result in the closings of smaller diverse-owned boutique agencies, production companies and consultancies. It will result in an exodus of Black, Indigenous and people of color executives who have to work under duress or on work where they aren’t really contributing, more cultural appropriation and so on.

 

Omid Farhang, founder and CEO, Majority

 

What started with the Bud Light fiasco will only magnify with this election outcome: Fortune 500 brands stiff-arming any and all creative ideas that have so much as a whiff of political undertones, for fear of Kid Rock shooting up their product with an AR-15 on Truth Social.

 

Marina Filippelli, CEO, Orci

 

One thing this election doesn’t change and actually brings to the forefront is the need to understand your audiences at a deeper level. We will likely hear much in the coming days about the Latino vote and that we need to stop treating it as a monolith. This is true of all minority segments in this country, who as we’ve seen, are more complex than we sometimes get credit for.

 

As marketers and brands, it is our job to truly understand how consumers think and how to motivate them based on those insights. The election doesn’t change that. If anything, it heightens the need to better understand the unique subdivisions in our country so that brands don’t make the fatal mistake of thinking that the election results mean that multiculturalism is not important. Whatever your politics, our role as marketers is to help brands connect with their consumer audiences, and anyone who uses the results of this election to turn a blind eye to uniquely targeting their growth segments will suffer in their sales and brand love accordingly.

 

Cindy Gallop, founder and CEO, IfWeRanTheWorld and MakeLoveNotPorn

 

Trump returning as U.S. President means that the closed loop of white guys talking to white guys about other white guys at the top of our industry will feel even more emboldened to keep women out of leadership and power while sexually harassing and grabbing them by the p---y wherever and whenever they feel like it, while shutting down even token DEI efforts completely, because those will now actively disadvantage them business-wise, thereby keeping our industry as racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, ableist and ageist as it’s ever been.  

 

This is why Blackweek, fresh off its inaugural year, becomes even more important as a disruptive force for business change in our industry, why every organization that’s been working to combat all of this for years—AdColor, ColorComm, She Runs It, Asians In Advertising, etc.—will need to redouble their efforts, and why every one of us who believed in a world where a Black woman could lead and steer the future of the nation, now needs to start our own industry—one where we ensure, as I said to the Blackweek audience, that Black women lead and steer the future of advertising.

 

Randy Gudiel, senior VP, media director, Orci

 

With immigration at the forefront, brands should recognize the need to engage multicultural audiences thoughtfully. It’s no longer just about diversity in creative—it’s about understanding the unique values and challenges faced by our communities. Partnering with multicultural agencies will be key, as we bring cultural expertise that resonates authentically.

 

Brands that paused spending pre-election might cautiously reinvest, with a focus on digital and contextual placements to control their message in a highly charged environment. To avoid misalignment, brands will be more selective about where their ads appear and lean on audience segmentation to reach consumers thoughtfully and effectively.

 

We’re seeing a shift in values, especially among multicultural audiences, which increasingly look for brands that align with their core beliefs. For communities impacted by immigration issues, there’s a growing emphasis on supporting brands that actively advocate for diversity, inclusion, and community support.

 

Mike Kapetanovic, founder, marketing consultancy GrowthLab

 

Ad agencies are likely to experience fewer regulations, especially in advertising and media. This anticipated shift toward deregulation may offer a more flexible environment, easing restrictions on content, targeting and campaign spending. As a result, agencies might embrace a bolder, less restrained approach to creative work, feeling empowered to explore new messaging and formats. However, this freedom also brings increased public scrutiny, as brands navigate an intensely polarized landscape where cultural and political stances are frequently under the microscope.

 

On the cultural front, the administration’s focus on national priorities over DE&I initiatives could shift the tone of advertising, with brands potentially moving away from social equity messaging. Marketing budgets may increasingly align with themes the administration emphasizes such as defense, national pride and economic growth, while areas associated with social programs and environmental initiatives could see reduced investment. Agencies will need to balance the opportunities created by deregulation with the risks posed by a politically sensitive climate, weighing the benefits of creative freedom against the potential for heightened backlash in a divided public arena.

 

Adrienne Lucas, global head of DEI and strategic partnerships, The One Club for Creativity

 

Trump has openly criticized DEI initiatives and training, labeling them as “divisive” and “anti-American propaganda.” Under his presidency, many brands may become more hesitant to engage in DEI conversations, fearing potential legal backlash or public criticism. This could lead to a bigger retreat from DEI-related initiatives and spending, a trend we’ve already seen in recent years. That said, bold brands, like Nike and Ben & Jerry’s, may continue to push the envelope with purpose-driven campaigns that resonate with their core values.

 

The cultural shift could also extend to social media dynamics. With platforms like X (formerly Twitter) reducing content moderation and reinstating banned accounts, brands and their influencers may find themselves tangled in harmful or offensive conversations, risking reputational damage.

 

Austin McClelland, VP of PR and earned creative, Spool

 

We can expect brands with core audiences on both ends of the political spectrum to continue being risk averse in their campaign work, brand activations and even partnerships as to not draw unwanted attention, especially as the new administration takes off in 2025. 

 

While personally, as a queer man, I’m disappointed there will be less LGBTQ+ campaigns to work on, it’s not without the benefit of seeing which brands have been performative in their purpose-based or DE&I-focused programs. If there is a brand that has consistently shown up with minority or disenfranchised audiences that no longer does Pride activations, or supports International Women’s Day for example, those audiences can and will take note. If you abandon certain audiences in times where they arguably need the most support, that action has long-term implications regardless of future political climates.

 

Brands may struggle with engaging celebrity talent who have been vocal on either side of the [political endorsement] coin, especially in the new administration’s first year. With regard to the Trump administration specifically, he is transparent and responds directly to dissent with celebrities. We can expect the most vocal of his supporters to follow suit and therefore put any brands that partner with those celebrities at higher risk for heated commentary.

 

Luis Miguel Messianu, founder, president, and chief creative officer, MEL

 

As the nation starts to recover from what has been one of the most divisive elections in our nation’s history, more than ever, advertisers are presented with the opportunity to connect with people through unifying emotional messages. This could be at the national level or within specific cultural communities.

 

Adan Romero, executive VP and executive creative director, Razorfish

 

The result should be a wake-up call for our industry—not a moment to sit back and return to business as usual, because that clearly hasn’t been working.

 

A significant part of the population didn’t vote for the president-elect, and now, more than ever, they feel overlooked and invisible. This is a large, diverse group of people who deserve to see themselves authentically represented in the work we produce and in the teams we build. If brands and agencies don’t step up to genuinely address their perspectives, we risk not only losing credibility but also the chance to stay relevant to a huge part of our audience and workforce.

 

Gabrielle Shirdan, founder and chief creative officer, Kitchen Table

 

“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.”—Malcolm X.

 

Democracy needs a rebrand. The culture needs more safe spaces. Our industry thrives off of communities that are so undervalued, underestimated and unprotected. Now is not the time to cut budgets, cut talent, cut departments or cut hope. Now is the time to “protest” through our work. To use our creative to control the things we can. To tell the stories that haven’t been told. To measure the merit of these mission statements and to prove to 67 million plus that they do matter. Prove to this generation and the next that hate might take office, but it doesn’t win. And hate sure as hell doesn’t sell. We are advertisers, sure. But we are humans first. Always put humans first.

 

Asha Shivaji, CEO and co-founder, SeeMe Index

 

Brands will lean into the values that hit the mark with consumers, whether that’s health equity, climate action or inclusivity. This will not only be seen as positive, but it will also be good for the bottom line.

 

Take inclusivity as an example. The recent macroanalysis by UN Women’s Unstereotype Alliance showed that more inclusive advertising drives +3.5% in short-term sales uplift and +16.3% long-term sales uplift, while SeeMe Index and Circana’s recent study of Inclusive Beauty Drives Sales showed that more inclusive brands are growing 1.5x faster than their less inclusive counterparts. Inclusive marketing will be the path forward for brands in the next four years.

 

Dawn Wade, managing partner and chief strategy officer, Nimbus

 

The election’s outcome has confirmed the fears of many creative and media-buying agencies that the intentionality of carving out creative tactics and specific media audience targeting will be at risk for significant cutbacks or elimination. Our contracts, strategies and tactics are now, more than ever, at the mercy of leadership to understand that equitable inclusion requires tactics that serve minorities and those that DEI initiatives were supposed to safeguard.

 

We anticipate that brands will pull back and use the recent outcomes as an excuse not to do the work, or they will find clever ways to work around the implicit and explicit biases the incoming administration has been pushing.

 

Culturally, we will do what we have always done and make it work. This strengthens our resolve not to get comfortable but to stay alert and look for opportunities to do good despite those who feel that division is best. The reality is that although some tactics and budget reductions will impede progress, the numbers don’t lie. Our country is becoming more diverse each year, and brands that ignore it are only hurting themselves and will lose customers if they embrace division instead of unity.

16599: Blackweek Bulletin.

 

Advertising Age reported on the progress of Blackweek, slated to launch October 15–18 in New York. Organizers said the event has sold roughly 25% of its tickets. This could mean that Blackweek is destined for success. Or it might simply reflect Adland’s diminishing dedication and dwindling interest in inclusion. Indeed, if this were, say, 2020, the extravaganza would have sold out faster than a Taylor Swift concert.

 

What To Expect At Blackweek’s Inaugural Event

 

Inaugural event will tackle VC investment in Black-owned businesses, health equity in Black and Brown communities, the creator economy and more

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

Blackweek, the economic forum and marketing conference meant to show the impact of Black and Brown communities, has signed its first speakers and outlined some of the content planned for its inaugural event.

 

The event’s first speakers are also part of Blackweek’s steering committee advising and guiding the event, which is scheduled for Oct. 15-18 in New York.

 

Steering committee and speakers

 

The committee includes Alia Kemet, chief marketing officer of Shipt; Trevor Edwards, a former Nike president who is now on the board of VF Corp; Cindy Gallop, founder of Make Love Not Porn; Amber Guild, CEO of McCann New York; Ross Martin, president of Known; Madeline Nelson, U.S. head of independent label relations for Amazon Music; Gary Vaynerchuck, CEO of VaynerMedia; Aaron Walton, CEO of Walton Isaacson; and Katie Williams, U.S. CMO of Haleon.

 

“Gender and ethnic diversity was important,” said Joe Anthony, founder and CEO of Hero Media and Hero Collective, Blackweek co-founder, regarding the makeup of the steering committee. “Having certain individuals from the white community was important as well, to show that this is a conference for everyone,” he said.

 

Members of the steering committee will speak or moderate panels during the event and are encouraged to help bring on sponsors.

 

“We definitely want people who have a history of being outspoken and brave,” said Anthony. “We want people who have found a way to also work within the confines of bigger bureaucratic and politically driven companies and environments and are still finding a way to get things done.”

 

Gallop will lead a discussion on Black women being the future of advertising, while Vaynerchuk will lead a session called “The Undeniable Influence of Black Creators,” where he will speak with prominent Black influencers, according to Walter T. Geer III, VML’s chief creative officer of innovation in North America and a co-founder of Blackweek.

 

Guild will lead a discussion on how to get more women into c-suite positions; Kemet will moderate a panel on building a brand through culture and Edwards will lead a talk about his experience at Nike and the power of the Black athlete. Williams will direct a discussion addressing underserved patient populations and the lack of cultural fluency that can create distrust in the healthcare space and Martin’s panel will discuss the creation of the “Jeen-Yuhs” documentary about Kanye West (now Ye) alongside the film’s directors Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah.

 

Five stages, job searches

 

Organizers say Blackweek has sold about 25% of its tickets—early bird pricing is $1,499 and $1,999 for its two packages—and has about half of the panel topics set.

 

There will be five separate stages at the event, according to Anthony. The main stage will feature big personalities and discussions on macro trends, he said. The health equity stage will focus on health-related issues affecting Black and Brown communities. The culture and creativity stage will hit on topics such as marking the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural authenticity in creative work and the creator economy.

 

The advertising and media stage will cover topics such as “combating data bias in advertising, the rise of programmatic ad spend, and how that disproportionately affects Black and Brown publishers,” Anthony said.

 

The innovation stage will focus on the future of tech trends such as AI and Web3, along with VC funding for Black-owned businesses, and startups will speak about what they do or pitch their work. “We’re going to flood that room with Black-owned banks and VCs and other agency executives,” Geer said.

 

The forum will also include a speed-dating style activation where people can search for job opportunities. The steering committee will also help the founders of Blackweek define a potentially “nine-figure” monetary goal they would like to bring to the Black and Brown community at the end of the event by way of hires, funding and more, Geer said.

 

Working with sponsors

 

Sponsored panels will take up about 30% of the slots during the event, Anthony said. One sponsored panel will feature Jon Cook, VML’s global CEO. WPP, VML’s parent company, is a sponsor of the event.

 

“We want to make sure that everyone who touches the stage are individuals who are doing the work and genuinely do care because what we don’t want is someone to pay to get on the stage who’s not necessarily doing the work, but showing up to basically check a box,” said Geer.

 

Blackweek’s founders and sponsors will curate the sponsored sessions together, Anthony said.

 

“We are saying this is what we want you to talk about, and you will sponsor that,” he said. “It’s not like this is 30 minutes for you to promote your DE&I plan.”

16507: Blackweek Rising.

 

Advertising Age reported on Blackweek, a new conference slated to debut in New York on October 15-18, 2024, with an intent to “break the mold of conversations about diversity and inclusion” in Adland.

 

According to Ad Age, Blackweek is the brainchild of “Black and Latino leaders fed up with the state of industry diversity.” To underscore the point, a promotional video for the conference opens with VML North America Chief Creative Officer of Innovation Walter T. Geer III declaring, “The current state of inclusion in this space is bullshit.” Agreed—although much of the DEIBA+ dookie is excreted by White advertising agencies like VML.

 

The Blackweek crew includes Hero Collective and Hero Media CEO and Founder Joe Anthony, who stressed that the group is being “meticulous” and selective about sponsors and conference content.

 

“When we go to all of these events, we’re an ingredient, we’re not the full recipe,” said Anthony. “And we want a platform where it’s all about us.” In short, Blackweek organizers want to move beyond crumbs to full-course meal.

 

The initial plan is to schedule Blackweek during Advertising Week, as many industry decision makers will be in attendance for the latter soiree. However, the goal is to keep Blackweek focused on cultural objectives versus being an add-on to Advertising Week. Hopefully, the conference will not compete with The One Club’s Where Are All The Black People? / Here Are All The Black People sideshow.

 

MultiCultClassics suggests that the Blackweek lineup should feature Sanford Moore, Harry Webber, Hadji Williams, Derek Walker, and Nathan Young. And throw in Adonis Hoffman, Lowell Thompson, and Byron Allen too.

 

Ad Leaders Launch Blackweek, A Conference Meant To Solve Business Problems Through Diversity And Inclusion

 

The October event will also focus on media, creativity, health care and private equity

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

“The current state of inclusion in this space is bullshit.”

 

That’s a direct quote from VML’s Walter T. Geer III in a promotional video for Blackweek, a conference being launched by Black and Latino leaders fed up with the state of industry diversity. The new conference, set for Oct. 15-18 in New York, is meant to break the mold of conversations about diversity and inclusion in the industry.

 

“It’s no secret that inclusion in this industry is under attack,” said Joe Anthony, founder and CEO of Hero Collective and Hero Media, who is one of the founders of Blackweek. “We just haven’t seen the needle move since George Floyd on some of the key statistics that we feel are the metrics to monitor around our upward advancement in the industries where we make a significant amount of contribution but have very little ownership.”

 

In July, a survey by the 4A’s found that the number of agencies run by white executives increased to 90%. In May it was reported that ad spending on diverse-owned media was just below 2%. In 2022, the ANA reported that just over 7% of its members were Black.

 

The founders of the Blackweek conference, along with Anthony and Geer, who is VML’s chief creative officer, innovation in North America, are: Monique Nelson, executive chairman, Uniworld Group; Andre Gray, chief creative officer of Havas’ Annex 88; Adan Romero, chief creative officer, FKA Publicis; Dabo Ché, founder, Ché Creative; and Gabrielle Shirdan, founder and CEO, Kitchen Table.

 

Solutions-driven

 

The conference, to be held at Spring Studios in Tribeca, will focus on trade executives in marketing, entertainment, health care and private equity.

 

“This is a solutions-driven opportunity to come together for real results,” Geer said. “This is not the place where we’re going to come to say ‘We’re coming here to party.’ This is not to come to say ‘We’re going to celebrate us, or we’re going to give awards to us.’”

 

Organizers said the difference between this event and other conferences will be in the type of programming and how it’s meant to directly challenge business problems.

 

“We would love to see a panel on how can a BIPOC agency get the whole account,” Nelson said. “Why are they always just an ingredient? Those are questions that we can pose and certainly I think can have some pretty cogent answers to at the end of a Blackweek, and those are questions that I don’t think get asked at any of these other [conferences].”

 

The conference will have around 30 to 40 events including keynotes, panel discussions and fireside chats. There will also be networking sessions, opening receptions, brunches and social activities. There will be about four or five talk tracks centered around media, advertising and creative, tech, and health care, Anthony said.

 

While BIPOC voices will be highlighted, Geer emphasized that Blackweek is not a DE&I conference. It’s more like a “marketing conference meets an economic forum,” Anthony added.

 

“Eighty percent-plus of the world is non-white. If you don’t have a cultural strategy that truly represents all consumers, you’re missing out on a huge, huge opportunity to maximize your impact. So let’s all make a lot of money together by knocking down those obstacles that impact our ability to get to the truth of how we can add value to that,” Anthony said.

 

Sponsors and cost

 

Anthony said the group is being “meticulous” about sponsors, and while starting to have deep conversations with some, they didn’t want to sign anyone until more information about the event was made public.

 

“We want every sponsor to come in and have an intentional purpose and have shown a track record or desire to want to improve and help us achieve our message of equity and empowerment,” Anthony said.

 

Blackweek won’t be targeting a large audience in the thousands, Geer added.

 

“It’s about how do we keep it small and tight and keep the right individuals in the room to have these right conversations, so when people come here, we don’t expect that someone’s going to sit off to the side and not do anything and just be there to listen,” Anthony said.

 

The goal for the “premium ticket” event is to target senior executives, Anthony said. With early bird pricing available through March 31, two separate packages are available at $1,499 and $1,999.

 

“That is an indication of how we’re trying to focus on a certain class of individual within these industries to maintain the high-level decision maker and individuals that can actually have the ability to affect change. That’s really where we want to start, and then we’ll start opening up the aperture in subsequent years,” Anthony said.

 

‘We’re not on those stages’

 

The goal was to hold Blackweek simultaneously with Advertising Week, Anthony said. Since Advertising Week hasn’t yet posted a date, Blackweek is scheduled for mid-October, which will potentially be around the same time as the established New York ad industry event.

 

“The intent [is] to disrupt at that moment while Advertising Week is going on,” Anthony said. “Everyone’s going to be in town at that same time, so there are no excuses that you can’t hop on the subway or hop down a few blocks to come down. Any executive or leader that has made any type of commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion should put their money where their mouth is, and this is where they should actually be attending.”

 

The founders said they would try to adjust the date if it would help executives attend both conferences.

 

“The reality is we’re not on those stages with the frequency that we need to be, and that was one of the inspirations for us to do this as well,” said Anthony, referring to events such as Advertising Week, the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and SXSW. “When we go to all of these events we’re an ingredient, we’re not the full recipe, and we want a platform where it’s all about us. We are the curriculum, we are the topic, we are the focus versus being a bolt-on.”

 

“To every single one of the trade organizations, if there is even an area for DE&I, it is really small way off to the side somewhere,” Nelson said. “If you don’t get your best friends to come and support you, no one may ever see what you presented.”

 

When asked if people will pay to be on stage at the conference, Anthony said “nothing is off the table” but the group is not “trying to have people pay to basically placate the culture.”

 

“What we’re focused on is a very meticulously constructed programming curriculum of people who need to be on the stages because they deserve to be on the stages versus people who’ve paid to be on the stage to self-promote whatever they’re doing,” Anthony added.

 

No gray area

 

Beyond sponsors, Hero Media is funding the event along with contributions and services from the rest of the founders.

 

Nelson, for example, is helping with sponsorship and soliciting some of the creative output, while Geer is helping with promotion and providing connections, Anthony said.

 

In total, led by Hero Media, the group plans to spend nearly $3 million on the conference.

 

Hero Media, along with creative agency Hero Collective, helped produce the promotional film featuring the founders talking about the reasons behind Blackweek’s launch, which will be shared on social media. “The reason why we call this Blackweek and the reason why we went with this black-and-white motif is because there's no gray area in the truth,” Anthony said.

 

Nelson said Blackweek will have a different focus than conferences like ADCOLOR and CultureCon which also have diversity elements, and doesn’t see the new conference as a challenger to other such events.

 

“There is room for all of us to play a multitude of roles, and each one is important,” said Geer. “We will be a force for change and a space where everyone is welcome.”