16435: Adland USA Employment Buzz & Bullshit.

 

Advertising Age reported employment in Adland USA is now at an all-time high, opening its story by declaring:

 

“Employment in advertising, public relations and related services reached an all-time high in October, adding 2,300 jobs last month to break an employment record set back in 2000.”

 

Sure, economic advances generate positive press. Yet the industry’s penchant for doctoring data and fudging figures—especially regarding non-White staffers—makes things feel suspicious.

 

Where are all the new worker bees?

 

As the business evolves, introducing new media and new technologies, opportunities expand. That is, the numbers are likely growing from a “creator culture” where anyone with a ring light and basic audio system can become an influencer—or fabricate a role that qualifies as belonging in the categories of advertising, public relations, and related services.

 

The bigger question is, who are all the new worker bees?

 

Almost zero companies are hyping success with DE&I—in fact, most admit to lowered numbers for the historically underrepresented. There is a decline in dedication to equality, as heat shields are dismantled, and human heat shields are dismissed. Delegating diversity is being defunded. Discussions for decolonizing never slowed designs for re-colonizing.

 

Are all the new worker bees swarming with diversity or divertsity?

10811: Heineken Heaves Hispanics.

Advertising Age reported Heineken is shifting its Latino creative advertising duties from The Vidal Partnership to Wieden + Kennedy. To clarify, TVP is a Latino agency and W+K is a White agency. Now, it’s not unprecedented for the minorities to lose their crumbs to the White guys—in fact, it’s becoming a common crime. Culprits like General Motors and Burger King immediately come to mind. There are also the White shops that prop up Latino wings to commandeer the overall marketing budget. Think of The Richards Group and its minority unit, Richards/Lerma, who teamed up to create racist talking vaginas for Summer’s Eve. Incidentally, TVP lost its Home Depot business to The Richards Group and Richards/Lerma in 2010. It seems as if for every Walmart promising to increase its multicultural marketing, there are a dozen brands engaging in Shifty Segregation® or complete abandonment of their minority partners. Heineken VP-marketing Colin Westcott-Pitt provided the following excuse for his company’s move:

“There’s a shift in what consumers are interested in what they believe in and value in life. It trumps where they happen to be from or what their ethnic group is. [Wieden & Kennedy] displayed that they can effectively understand the target consumer for Heineken—demographic elements and behavioral and psychographic elements as well. … We have a great relationship with them from a global and local perspective. To be able to consolidate all creative needs into one agency at that level of quality was very important to us.”

Of course, Westcott-Pitt did not elaborate on the mythical shift, although the statement bears similarities to the cross-cultural mumbo jumbo spouted by executive liars including Mark LaNeve, Mike Kappitt and Susan Docherty. Oh, and ADCOLOR® Award Winner Dan Wieden went from declaring, “Now that’s fucked up” to fucking the Latino agency. It’s just a typical—and stereotypical—day in the advertising industry.

Heineken Agency Shift to Affect PR, Hispanic and Creative Roster

Heineken, Amstel PR Moves to Edelman While Hispanic Is Consolidated at Wieden & Kennedy

By Alexandra Bruell, EJ Schultz

Heineken USA has shifted brand PR duties for its Heineken and Amstel brands to Edelman from Publicis Groupe’s MSLGroup, while consolidating Hispanic advertising with Wieden & Kennedy, which already handles general-market creative duties for the brand.

The importer has also picked Zambezi as the creative agency for Strongbow, a hard-cider brand from the U.K. for which it will assume U.S. distribution rights beginning in January. Strongbow, one of the largest cider brands in the U.S., is owned by Heineken USA’s global parent company, Heineken NV, but had been distributed in the states by Vermont Cider Co.

The move follows Edelman’s win over the summer of Dos Equis and corporate PR. Now, in addition to the new Heineken and Amstel brand accounts, Edelman will also assume Hispanic PR duties for the Heineken brand. The marketer cited Edelman’s creativity on the Dos Equis account, on which it has worked for six months.

We had a fairly complex agency structure,” said Colin Westcott-Pitt, VP-marketing for Heineken. “For us, it’s really about forming deeper, stronger relationships with a number of partners.”

An MSLGroup spokesman said, “MSL New York is very proud of our work across the six-year partnership on Heineken, Heineken Light and Amstel Light. We wish the Heineken portfolio of brands continued success as they move forward in the marketplace.”

This move comes on the heels of the resignation of former MSLGroup North American President Jim Tsokanos. Renee Wilson succeeded Mr. Tsokanos in September.

Hispanic creative and PR duties for brand Heineken had been handled by Vidal Partnership. The importer is moving the work—above-the-line Hispanic, including Spanish language and Hispanic creative—from a niche agency to a more general market agency such as Wieden & Kennedy to account for a shift from demographic targeting to psychographic targeting, according to Mr. Westcott-Pitt.

“There’s a shift in what consumers are interested in what they believe in and value in life. It trumps where they happen to be from or what their ethnic group is,” he said. “[Wieden & Kennedy] displayed that they can effectively understand the target consumer for Heineken—demographic elements and behavioral and psychographic elements as well.”

“We have a great relationship with them from a global and local perspective,” Mr. Westcott-Pitt added. “To be able to consolidate all creative needs into one agency at that level of quality was very important to us.”

The Strongbow assignment is a significant win for Zambezi, a small shop based in Venice Beach, Calif. Cider is one of the fastest-growing segments in the alcohol category. Heineken USA is expected to pour significant resources behind Strongbow, naming it one of its top three priorities for 2013, behind its Heineken and Dos Equis brands. The importer said it plans to differentiate Strongbow from other ciders on the market.

“Zambezi’s responsibilities will include strategic and creative development to support further brand growth in the U.S.,” said Matt Kahn, VP-marketing for Heineken USA portfolio brands.

Heineken USA spent $126 million on measured media in 2011 across its brands, which include Heineken and Heineken Light, Dos Equis, Amstel, Tecate and Newcastle, according to Kantar Media.

10182: Calling The Cavalry For Coors.

Advertising Age reported the new WPP agency coalition created to handle Coors will be led by Marty Stock—former Executive VP-Director of Account Management at Draftfcb, the shop that lost the account. Talk about capitalizing on one’s drinking buddies—and riding the Silver Bullet across town. Will Draftfcb file another poaching lawsuit? More importantly, does anyone really care? The new agency coalition is named Cavalry. Not sure if the staffers will be mounted on horseback, but it’s a safe bet there will be a never-ending supply of horseshit.

Coors Calls in Cavalry With New WPP Agency

Former DraftFCB Exec Marty Stock Tapped as CEO of Chicago Shop

By Maureen Morrison, E.J. Schultz

A little more than a month after MillerCoors moved its entire account out of DraftFCB, the WPP agency formed to house the Coors side of the business has opened up shop in Chicago and will be led by beer-marketing veteran Marty Stock.

Mr. Stock, who has been DraftFCB’s exec VP-director of account management on the MillerCoors business, is now CEO of the new WPP entity dubbed Cavalry, which will handle creative and digital for Coors Light, Coors Banquet and any other new products. Mr. Stock is a career-long beer account exec, having worked on the business for 23 years at DraftFCB and predecessor agency Foote, Cone & Belding. Prior to his career at FCB, he worked at D’Arcy on Anheuser-Busch, and Y&R.

Cavalry will call in talent from WPP agencies Y&R, JWT, digital agency VML, branding firm Landor, as well as others, and will start with about 40 full-time employees, some of which will be new hires and some from within the WPP system. Cavalry will be the first to work on digital and creative together for Coors, with digital talent being drawn from VML. (Previously, digital had been handled by Razorfish and creative by DraftFCB.) Cavalry has not yet announced a creative executive.

“We see in Marty somebody who knows the beer business cold … and has a strong relationship with the client, but we also saw something about his ability to be a leader,” said Global Business Development Director George Rogers at WPP, who masterminded the new agency. “What we wanted to do was put him in a situation where he can take what he’s learned and what he’s all about and build a great agency.”

Of Mr. Stock’s departure, DraftFCB said in a statement: “Our MillerCoors team collectively helped Coors Light topple Budweiser as the No. 2 beer in the U.S. and we appreciate Marty’s role in leading and developing those people, many of whom have been reassigned to other accounts at Draftfcb. We wish Marty continued success.”

Mr. Rogers said the new agency is essentially an extension of WPP’s other client-specific agencies, such as Team Mazda and Team Detroit, the Ford agency that was on Ad Age’s Agency A-List in 2010. But for all WPP’s success with its Ford agencies, it also had one shop, Enfatico, formed for Dell that did not fare very well. Mr. Rogers said that Cavalry’s model is very different from ill-fated Enfatico’s for a number of reasons, including the fact that Enfatico was formed and quickly racked up 1,000 employees.

Cavalry is not expected to significantly alter the creative positioning of Coors Light. The brand, which passed Budweiser last year as the nation’s second-largest beer, has long used cold-refreshment messaging and imagery. The agency change was not a “referendum on the positioning of the brands,” Mr. Rogers said.

Rather, MillerCoors seemed to be seeking stability and a deeper bench of creative talent, while looking to more seamlessly integrate digital and traditional creative. Questions have arisen over the last couple years about DraftFCB’s creative chops after it gradually lost much of the U.S. Kraft business and SC Johnson, both longtime above-the-line FCB accounts.

“We are very excited to begin working with Cavalry,” said MillerCoors Chief Marketing Officer Andy England in a statement to Ad Age. “We were looking to solve for two things: one was an above-the-line and digital integrated solution for the Coors family of brands, and the second was access to a very deep creative bench. We believe WPP via Cavalry addresses both of these critical pieces on our business. We are delighted that WPP has chosen to hire Marty Stock as the leader of Cavalry. His knowledge of beer advertising and deep understanding of the Coors family of brands is unparalleled.”

The integration comes as the brewer, like other beer marketers, is putting a new emphasis on digital. “Thinking that everything comes out of TV is the wrong way but it’s a rut that we were falling into,” Mr. Stock said. Speaking about the new model, Jon Cook, CEO and president of digital agency VML, said: “When you know from the very beginning that your role is central … that’s a big factor.”

Beer has historically lagged other categories in digital marketing partly because of concerns over age verification. But brewers are finding ways around those concerns, such as a new age-checking tool on Twitter that spurred MillerCoors to launch a new handle for Coors Light.

New products, which Cavalry will work on, are an emerging priority at MillerCoors as it seeks to win over fickle millennial consumers. “There’s a willingness to try new things that’s probably greater than anything we’ve seen in the past,” Mr. Stock said. The brewer is testing several new offerings this summer, for instance, including Coco Breve, a coconut water-infused clear malt beverage.

9411: Blog Action Day 2011—Food & Mad Ave.

Blog Action Day 2011 focuses on Food.

Madison Avenue has a storied history of using Blacks to sell food. Aunt Jemima, Rastus and Uncle Ben continue to hawk products, joined by contemporary icons like Annie the Chicken Queen, Honey Bunches of Oats Lady and the KFC Dancing Guy.

Of course, Black celebrities have also pitched for Madison Avenue, including Michael Jackson, MC Hammer and Beyoncé for Pepsi; Michael Jordan for Gatorade, Mickey D’s, Wheaties, Coca-Cola and Ball Park Franks; Mr. T, Patrick Ewing and Aretha Franklin for Snickers; Billy Dee Williams for Colt 45; and countless hip-hop artists, recording stars, sports figures, actors, media personalities and more. Hell, even a Black ex-homeless guy received a piece of the action. Indeed, few food corporations have not employed Blacks to promote brands.

Yet when Blacks seek to sell food with Madison Avenue—serving as advertising executives—suddenly there ain’t enough room at the table. Despite individuals such as Roy Eaton (developing Sugar Bear for Post Sugar Crisp), Jim Glover (launching McDonald’s breakfast business) and Caroline R. Jones (writing “We Do Chicken Right” for KFC), who have created unprecedented breakthroughs in the business, Blacks remain virtually invisible at the senior levels and woefully underrepresented overall. Additionally, Black adpeople separated via Shifty Segregation® or multicultural marketing are forced to eat crumbs, watching White agencies feast on the bulk of the marketing budgets. The food clients, meanwhile, remain silent witnesses to the inequities—and have the audacity to run messages declaring commitments to diversity within their own hallways.

It’s enough to make you sick to your stomach.

9391: Latino Marketing Revolution Is Quiet.

Adweek reported on the overall increase in Latino marketing. White agencies are raiding the Latino shops for minorities in order to prop up their own multicultural divisions, essentially engaging in Shifty Segregation®—a phenomenon MultiCultClassics noted in 2010. Additionally, clients are still underfunding the targeted efforts, maintaining the separate-yet-unequal conditions. ¡Ay, caramba!

Hispanic Clout Changes Ad Landscape

Multicultural shops face a downside

By Noreen O’Leary

The sorry state of the economy has eaten up hours of talk at Advertising Week. But in the good news column—for some agencies, anyway—there’s this: ad spend targeting Hispanics has yet to slow down.



The 2010 U.S. Census laid bare what the industry has known for a while: the demographic is exploding. Hispanic consumers now number 50 million—or 1 in 6 Americans—accounting for more than half of the nation’s increase in total population.



So, while growth in general-market advertising is slowing, marketing expenditures targeting Hispanics continue upwards, albeit not at the double-digit increases seen before the recession. In the first half of this year, for instance, Procter & Gamble shifted budgets into Spanish-language media at the expense of general market consumer magazine and TV (both broadcast and cable). And financial services and pharmaceuticals, which traditionally have not been very active in the Hispanic marketplace, are now boosting their ad spends.



For some multicultural shops, however, the good news has a downside: As investment levels increase, so does interest from general-market shops with established, big-client relationships. And their deep pockets means they can lure talent from these smaller agencies. In August, research firm IBISWorld released a list of the top 10 U.S. industries in which the Hispanic market share is growing the fastest. No. 5 on that list? Ad agencies.



“You’re seeing a lot of general-market agencies building their business at the expense of multicultural agencies,” said one industry insider.



Given the changing U.S. population, it’s an obvious business expansion. Last November, for instance, Ogilvy created OgilvyCULTURE, a cross-cultural strategic service practice, picking up work from marketers such as Kodak, Ikea, and British Airways.



Roberto Orci, chair-elect of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, which hosts its annual conference next week in Miami—as well as president of L.A.-based Acento—notes that in certain areas in the U.S., and for certain brands, the Hispanic market is even being considered the general market. His agency, he adds, has participated in general-market reviews, and has gone up against general-market agencies in Hispanic reviews.



Ingrid Otero-Smart, CEO of Interpublic’s Casanova Pendrill, says her Costa Mesa, Calif. agency is more likely to have a client give new Hispanic work to one of its general-market agencies than it is for Casanova Pendrill to come up against general-market shops in a new-business pitch.

Hispanic consumers, as a group, now have more discretionary spending power than any other multicultural segment. Otero-Smart, Casanova’s Pendrill’s chief, seems less concerned about the encroachment of general-market shops on her turf than she is about marketers’ slowness in heeding the wake-up call delivered by the recent Census findings.



“One of the issues we face is, ‘How do we get marketers beyond the 4-5 percent levels of spending?’ Their budgets should be two-to-three times bigger,” she says. “Competition from general-market agencies would be a moot point if that was the case—there would be enough business for everyone.”

8306: 10 X 2010.

MultiCultClassics reminisces, regurgitates and reexamines 10 topics from 2010.

Cyrus Mehri sightings throughout the year.
In January, Jim Edwards at BNET interviewed Cyrus Mehri and discussed the state of legal affairs on Madison Avenue. In February, Mehri announced he was filing charges against advertising agencies with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In May, the civil rights lawyer released a report showing zero minority creative directors worked on commercials for the Super Bowl. The report and subsequent press conference drew a few responses from industry bigwigs, which prompted a rebuttal and color commentary from MultiCultClassics. In September, Mehri teamed up with Janelle M. Carter to offer a perspective that labeled the lack of diversity a great moral issue and business issue. Yet it’s difficult to tell if the majority of adpeople really consider all of this to be a serious issue. Can’t help but wonder if the standard Madison Avenue executive knows Cyrus Mehri from Miley Cyrus.

Two books to turn the page on rampant exclusivity.
White adman John Hunt wrote “The Art Of The Idea”—with plenty of ideas to inspire inclusive environments. The 4As kicked off a proposed series of diversity-related books with “Diversity: How To Do It Right” by Adonis Hoffman. Can’t help but wonder if most Madison Avenue executives will read a subpoena from Cyrus Mehri before perusing these published pieces.

A game-changing promotion that no one wants to play.
MultiCultClassics invented The Cultural Competence Contest, which was unveiled at Transformation 2010, the 4As combined Leadership and Media Conference. Can’t help but wonder if anyone will have the courage to become a contestant.

Advertisers and agencies go on the offensive defensive.
While advertisers typically are almost too quick to pull messages that elicit outrage, two companies stood their ground when accused of insensitivity. Pine-Sol pooh-poohed Pepper Miller’s post, proudly praising its plump spokesperson and “Powerful Difference” propaganda. Meanwhile, MetroPCS and probable employees at The Richards Group complained over Bill Imada’s post, proclaiming that the “Chad and Ranjit” campaign was hatched by an art director of Indian descent. Can’t help but wonder if the Pine-Sol and MetroPCS morons will ever realize that the best defense is no offense—no cultural offense, that is.

Same old, same old from Old White Guys.
Ex-CP+B honcho Alex Bogusky went on the air with former partner Shelton Scott and Lincoln Stephens of The Marcus Graham Project, earning a Delayed WTF from MultiCultClassics. Luke “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This” Sullivan went on the air with Lincoln Stephens and crew, also earning a Delayed WTF from MultiCultClassics. Can’t help but wonder if there are any enlightened White leaders in our ranks.

AOR actually means Anglos Of Record.
What do you call it when minority advertising agencies are prohibited from participating in pitches for Cadillac, H&R Block, Denny’s, MetLife, Transitions Optical, Red Lobster, U.S. Army, California Lottery, Arby’s, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s, Harley-Davidson, El Pollo Loco, Steak & Shake and more? MultiCultClassics calls it Corporate Cultural Collusion. Can’t help but wonder when clients will be called out for the unfair practices.

U.S. Census unintentionally reveals the changes ahead.
The U.S. Census advertising campaign featured a multicultural marketing coalition designed to celebrate racial harmony and billing equality. The corporate kumbaya was short-lived. Lead agency Draftfcb was criticized for being too White, and its President-CEO Laurence Boschetto was bashed for being a bullshit artist. Black agency GlobalHue was zapped for being too shady. Although the overall effort was panned by adpeople with taste, Mediaweek showered accolades and awards in the “Best Multicultural Campaign” and “Best Branded Content” categories of the publication’s Media Plan of the Year competition. Can’t help but wonder how folks manage to accept trophies with a straight face in such instances.

Hip Hop delivers instant cred and crud.
Madison Avenue displays questionable affection for Blacks, but the industry sure loves Hip Hop. The rap range runs from gangsta to garbage. For every Kia Hamsters and Mtn Dew Code Red Jay Electronica there is a Toyota Swagger Wagon and Bounty Hip-Hop Holiday. But Duncan Hines takes the cake—or cupcake—for its Hip Hop Cupcakes. At first, MultiCultClassics believed the public overreacted by seeing Blackface minstrels in the infamous video. However, after studying director Josh Binder’s film library—which includes an obscene Heinz ketchup character ejaculating his tomato seed onto his girlfriend, as well as demeaning stereotypes involving Asians, women and rednecks—Hip Hop Cupcakes appears to be a reasoned, racist recipe. Can’t help but wonder what Duncan Hines will do with its brownie mix.

General Motors drives in crazy cultural directions.
Don’t believe the hype that General Motors has turned itself around. After dumping its Black advertising agency on Cadillac and giving full responsibility to a White agency, the automaker dumped the White agency for another White agency. Then GM dumped the White Marketing VP who admitted she planned to assign additional multicultural projects to White agencies, replacing her with a new White Marketing VP—who wound up dumping White agencies for other White agencies without competitive reviews. The White Marketing VP later hired Spike DDB for Chevrolet and rehired Carol H. Williams for Cadillac before getting promoted to Global Marketing Czar. Oh, GM also appointed a new Diversity VP, who happens to be Black. To complete the bizarro ride, the American Advertising Federation declared the 62nd Annual Advertising Hall of Fame® will honor inductee—you guessed it—General Motors. Can’t help but wonder if the automaker signed a pact with Satan.

Shifty Segregation®—new and improved for 2010 and beyond.
Shifty Segregation® covers a lot of ground on Madison Avenue. It occurs when clients and White agencies conspire to consolidate accounts. It prevents measures patterned after the Rooney Rule from succeeding. It excuses companies who elect to sever professional ties with minorities altogether. Shifty Segregation® is often disguised as “cross-cultural”—which may lead to mandates, manic depression, manifestos and manure sniffing. Can’t help but wonder how long people will continue to tolerate it.

8301: Diversity Book For Madison Avenue.

Craig Brimm pointed out that the 4As online bookstore is selling Diversity: How To Do It Right by Adonis Hoffman. The hype reads:

“Diversity, How to Do It Right” is the first in a new series of “Diversity Best Practices for Agencies” booklets. Written by Adonis Hoffman, senior vice president and counsel in the AAAA Washington, D.C., office, the booklet is a handbook for business leaders. It provides 10 best practices and comprehensive list of practical actions that every business leader and company should set in place for diversity to work in his or her agency.

Haven’t yet perused the book, but if it’s based on Madison Avenue’s SOP for diversity, MultiCultClassics will guess the 10 best practices are:

1. Hire a Chief Diversity Officer
2. Organize a Diversity Committee
3. Launch an Inner-City Youth Outreach Program
4. Film a Diversity Documentary
5. Make a Donation to ADCOLOR®
6. Enter the Cultural Competence Contest
7. Inject Hip Hop into Campaigns
8. Recruit an Army
9. Delegate Diversity
10. Position Shifty Segregation® as Progressive “Cross-Cultural” Initiative

8298: Pigeonholes To Fill.

Based on this actual job listing, it appears the White agencies are indeed buying minority talent for Shifty Segregation® schemes. Oddly enough, Leo Burnett already has a Latino division—Lápiz—operating within the network. And do you really need a Latino Strategic Planner to instruct creative teams to develop concepts featuring soccer, mariachi bands and telenovelas?

Director, Strategy & Analysis: Responsible for understanding consumer psychology & applying that knowledge to the strategic development of advertising, integrated marketing & communications for U.S. Hispanic market. Develop/analyze primary/secondary research, including qualitative & quantitative methodologies to meet research objectives & understand trends & consumer behavior. Conduct focus groups, develop research instruments & design/ execute psychographic segmentation studies. Write Creative Briefs & develop brand architectures. Create/disseminate marketing communications strategies for assigned brands. Actively work with creative teams in development of communication ideas & strategies. Serve as consumer expert on assigned brands. Chicago Loop location. Req’s Master’s degree in Advertising or Integrated Marketing Communications & 3 yrs exp as a Strategic Planner. Exp must be in an ad agency for a Hispanic market. Exp must include design & execution of a psychographic segmentation study (including statistical analysis, creating clusters, interpreting & reporting results). Leo Burnett Company, Inc. Any applicant who is interested in this position may apply online at: www.leoburnett.com. Advertising EOE.

8222: Introducing Shifty Segregation® on Mad Ave.

Wanted to take a moment to sniff the bullshit recently excreted by The Wall Street Journal.

For starters, the headline of the piece—Ad Firms Heed Diversity—is inaccurate. The typical dictionary defines “heed” as follows: to give careful attention to. Hey, Madison Avenue has absolutely failed to give careful attention to diversity for over 80 years, even when faced with political pressures and threats of class-action lawsuits. Ad firms don’t heed diversity; rather, ad firms need diversity.

More importantly, The Wall Street Journal story is not really about diversity. The phenomenon being spotlighted deserves an original term: Shifty Segregation®.

The advertising agencies in the piece—Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, Draftfcb and Crispin Porter + Bogusky—are merely conspiring with clients to rejigger the current segregation in our industry.

Let’s briefly break down the existing Madison Avenue landscape. On one side, there are the White agencies. On the other side, there is the corporate ghetto inhabited by minority agencies. From revenue to resources to respect, the minority agencies remain separate and unequal. And in many ways, Shifty Segregation® won’t change the basic injustices.

Shifty Segregation® literally shifts the segregation. That is, minority executives slide from minority agencies into White agencies and resume their second-class citizenship. Multicultural divisions are nothing more than compartmentalized colored people. Contrary to the rhetoric, minorities won’t regularly assume a seat at the table when it’s time to conceive the big idea for a brand. The hoopla surrounding “cross-cultural integration” is just another smokescreen. Forget U.S. Census figures and predictions. Our industry’s White power structure is alive and well and it ain’t going anywhere.

Shifty Segregation® involves shiftiness too. It allows White agencies to spike their diversity hiring numbers while ignoring the primary objectives behind diversity. For example, if Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners was truly interested in dismantling exclusivity, candidates like Sandra Alfaro would be considered for lead positions on general-market accounts. Instead, White agencies are creating additional minority slots within their hallways—not significantly different than the segregated roles of mailroom attendant, security, receptionist, administrative assistant, janitor and Chief Diversity Officer.

Shifty Segregation® features other shifty components. Clients enjoy the benefits of consolidating their marketing budgets, despite public pledges to diversity supplier programs. Minority agencies lose the cash crumbs that have inadequately sustained them forever; plus, they are further shut out from participating in pitches for general-market assignments. Cyrus Mehri experiences greater obstacles in mounting a class-action lawsuit against Madison Avenue.

Shifty Segregation® is not the new black. It’s the old scam to keep Blacks, Browns and assorted people of color in their traditional places on Madison Avenue.