10648: BHM 2023—W+K & BLM.

Adweek spotlighted a film commemorating the 10th anniversary of Black Lives Matter created by a Black affinity group from Wieden + Kennedy. The story also mentioned projects hatched by other ERGs at the White advertising agency.

 

Hey, April will mark the 14th anniversary of the late Dan Wieden acknowledging Adland is “fucked up” in regards to diversity. Don’t expect a film on that milestone moment.

 

As Black Lives Matter Turns 10, Wieden+Kennedy’s We+Black Reflects On a Decade of Change

 

The agency debuts an emotional film in observance of special anniversary

 

By Sara Century

 

July will mark the 10th anniversary of the widespread use of the phrase “Black lives matter.” Initially spoken by Alicia Garza, who, alongside Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, founded the movement of the same name, these words have inspired millions worldwide and continue to fuel the most important protests of our time.

 

Looking back over a decade of impact, Wieden+Kennedy Portland’s Black affinity group, We+Black, has created a film tribute to this historic anniversary titled We Still Matter. Featuring clips of interviews with W+K employees, the nearly 3-minute short begins with the emotional response they experienced in light of the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

 

Audio clips of news broadcasts announcing the results of the trial are met with sounds of growing resistance and the chant of “Black lives matter” as these W+K employees gaze head-on into the camera. Set to the tune of original music from W+K employee Nukbeatz (David Henry Jr.), participants share personal reactions to cases of police brutality, including the killings of Mike Brown and George Floyd, as well as the incredible acts of protest that occurred as a result.

 

Three words that changed the world

 

“The protests that are happening, not just in the U.S. but seeing that it went global, was honestly just the most beautiful thing to see,” one narrator says. “There are Black 10-year-olds in America who have existed in a world where they’ve constantly just been told that they matter. That’s amazing,” another narrator continues.

 

This is a continuation of W+K’s employee-helmed films created without clients, including “The Myth,” which combated anti-Asian hate by rejecting the expectations of being a “model minority.” Meanwhile, WKNY’s Black ERG, Noir, delved into the complex feelings the BIPOC community has toward Juneteenth in “Juneteenth Thoughts.” This follows an art show in Portland, also titled “We Still Matter,” a week before the video’s release.

 

In addition to “We Still Matter,” We+Black is working in partnership with Portland’s public transportation system on an OOH campaign that will last beyond Black History Month through the rest of the year, highlighting local Black-owned businesses.

15585: Wieden + Kennedy Creates Clichéd Cultural Competency Commitment.

 

AgencySpy posted that Wieden + Kennedy hired the former R/GA Global Director of Culture and Operations to serve as its Global Director of Culture and Operations. Of course they did. It’s a wonder the executive didn’t receive a bump from “Global” to “Galactic.” AgencySpy categorized the announcement under the “Revolving Door” banner. But given all the shifting of minorities in these heat shield roles, a more suitable label would have been “Musical Chairs.”

15070: Is Wieden + Kennedy Two-Faced With Facebook…?

AgencySpy posted on the patronizing paradox of Wieden+Kennedy taking a bold stand on Black Lives Matter (depicted above) until its client, Facebook, landed on the wrong side of the matter. Then again, it’s not the first time the White advertising agency has done the cultural cluelessness cha-cha-cha. After all, co-founder Dan Wieden declared the industry was fucked up in terms of diversity in 2009—and he even collected an ADCOLOR® trophy. Yet nearly a decade later, current W+K Co-President Colleen DeCourcy felt compelled to challenge everyone in the shop to do the right thing better. Plus, there was the art director who claimed to be among only two Black women in the creative ranks at the 600-person company. Hell, it’s not even the first time W+K has been criticized for hypocrisy involving Black Lives Matter. It appears to be another classic case of talking the talk—and marching the march—without walking the walk. The official W+K statement expressed that publicly speaking about Facebook would be “unhelpful” and “unprofessional.” Okay, but doesn’t integrity integrate into the equality equation?

 

W+K Says It Would Be ‘Unprofessional’ to Weigh In on Industry Backlash Against Client Facebook

 

By David Griner

 

On June 17, Wieden + Kennedy released a statement not only in support of Black Lives Matter but also putting clients or potential clients on notice.

 

“If you do not support this sentiment as a client, we’ll gladly support you finding another agency,” W+K wrote in an animated post on Instagram.

 

The statement was bold, but the timing proved somewhat awkward. On the same day, six advocacy groups (including the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League) launched the #StopHateforProfit campaign urging advertisers to boycott Facebook—a major W+K client—in July.

 

That effort, aimed at getting Facebook to curb the spread of hate speech and misinformation on its platforms, has since snowballed into one of the industry’s largest boycotts ever.

 

Some of the world’s largest advertisers, including W+K clients Ford and Coca-Cola, have joined the effort, which comes after weeks of scrutiny over Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg‘s reluctance to fact-check political advertising or flag incendiary posts by President Donald Trump.

 

(For a relatively quick and easy refresher on how this boycott came together, you can check out Adweek’s newest bonus podcast episode with reporter Scott Nover, who’s been covering the story’s rapid development.)

 

Like most agencies, W+K has remained quiet on the boycott despite the movement’s clear traction with brands and equality advocates who normally find themselves marching alongside the outspoken agency.

 

But W+K isn’t like most agencies. It’s proudly independent (unlike the rest of the Facebook agency roster, including Accenture Interactive’s Droga5, Omnicom’s BBDO, Publicis’ Leo Burnett and WPP’s Ogilvy) and famously vocal on social issues—especially around race in America.

 

So, after saying it would drop clients who don’t support the “sentiment” of Black Lives Matter, will W+K stand by Facebook amid criticism of the network from much of the brand community and groups such as the NAACP?

 

Today, the agency sent Adweek an official statement, or rather an official statement declining to make a statement:

 

“There is no debate on the fact that Black Lives Matter to us. We felt it was important as an agency to make that statement public,” W+K agency leadership wrote. “That said, speaking publicly about the challenges our client faces right now is not only unhelpful; it’s unprofessional. Suffice it to say, the intense conversations taking place at Menlo Park are taking place at Wieden + Kennedy.”

 

So there you go. Doesn’t sound like we can expect a high-profile client breakup any time soon, despite the agency’s tough talk on Instagram.

15040: Mickey D’s Silent Video Unintentionally Says A Lot About Advertising Industry.

Advertising Age spotlighted the Mickey D’s “Black Lives Matter” video. Okay, but it must be noted that the fast feeder gave the assignment to White advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy. Perfect.

 

McDonald’s Issues A Silent Video Statement In Tribute To George Floyd And Others

 

Fast feeder is also donating to the National Urban League and the NAACP

 

By Jessica Wohl

 

McDonald’s has long courted black customers, franchisees and restaurant employees. On Wednesday, it posted a 1-minute video to social media that begins with a list of names of George Floyd and others who have been killed, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson and Ahmaud Arbery..

 

“They were all one of us,” red text reads on a yellow background. McDonald’s later says that it is donating to the National Urban League and the NAACP. The background goes from yellow to black as the line “Black lives matter” appears on the screen, followed by the McDonald’s logo. The video was created by Wieden & Kennedy New York. 

 

A day later, McDonald’s returned to add a tweet to its thread and a comment to its Instagram post, which both read: Because some of you are asking, and it matters to us that you all know, McDonald’s does not contribute to presidential candidates.” Those updates came after some people called out McDonald’s in comments on its initial Black Lives Matter posts, suggesting that the company funds President Trump’s campaign. 

14401: Adweek Presents Anglos Of The Year.

Adweek presented its choices for Global Agency of the Year, U.S. Agency of the Year, Breakthrough Agency of the Year, International Agency of the Year, etc. The photographs representing the firms displayed an expected lack of diversity. Wieden + Kennedy, however, appeared to make a covert concerted effort to appear inclusive—even though they admit being fucked up.

14333: Truth Or Con Sequences.

Adweek covered an ADCOLOR® event featuring Wieden + Kennedy Co-President Colleen DeCourcy, who presented a “Moment of Truth” that underscored how advertising executives exhibit untruthfulness when addressing the topic of diversity. DeCourcy apparently drew inspiration from Naomi Wadler’s speech at the March For Our Lives rally, which led to writing impassioned thoughts that she shared with W+K leaders, whereby “she challenged everyone to take a hard look at systemic and unconscious bias that was affecting the hiring and promotion of talent.”

Okay, but why did it take so damned long for DeCourcy to gain inclusivity enlightenment?

After all, it’s been nearly a decade since W+K Co-Founder Dan Wieden acknowledged the dearth of diversity in the advertising industry by declaring, “Now that’s fucked up!” Of course, Wieden went on to nab an ADCOLOR® Award for his alleged dedication to change. Yet critics were still quick to call out the hypocrisy of the White advertising agency’s salute to Black Lives Matter. And less than a year ago, an art director claimed to be among only two Black females in the W+K creative department. Oh, and W+K experienced a sexual harassment scandal too. DeCourcy should listen more closely to Colin Kaepernick’s full message.

In short, while DeCourcy’s perspectives might be undergoing an evolution, it’s happening at the Darwinian pace that adland has maintained forever. About every ten years, White advertising leaders feign interest in embracing people of color and reboot revolutionary initiatives—acting as if the ideas are hatching for the very first time. The recurring phenomena feels like a mash-up of Groundhog Day, the undiscovered country and early-stage dementia.

Final prediction: DeCourcy will win an ADCOLOR® trophy by essentially regurgitating her boss’ rhetoric and repeating the lack of legitimate progress. And that’s the sad truth.

How Wieden+Kennedy Approached a Moment of Truth in Recruiting Diverse Talent

Colleen DeCourcy motivates the team forward

By Doug Zanger

Moments of truth, as a general rule, connote tension or drama, and the person facing them either fails or comes out of it much stronger. That’s why “Moments of Truth” was the theme of this year’s Adcolor conference in Los Angeles, where speakers and attendees shared their stories of the crossroads and crucibles that defined their careers.

For screenwriter and producer Mara Brock Akil, that moment came between the second and third seasons of her early 2000s show, Girlfriends. Akil had never run a show, let alone one with a $25 million budget, and the learning curve had brought her to a tense moment with the Paramount Pictures. In grand Hollywood fashion, Akil turned it all around. The studio executive asked her who the better writers were on the show. She paused, closed her eyes and said, “I don’t know who the better writer is, but I know if you don’t have me on this show, it will fail.” Having made her point, she was able to retain creative control of the show that she created.

Such instances are certainly frequent and career-defining in the ad industry, as well.

Sharing her story on stage at Adcolor, Wieden+Kennedy president Colleen DeCourcy noted her own revelation that she was in her position because she “was one step to the left and one step behind [white men], and therefore something you could let in [to the industry] and not rock the boat too much.”

DeCourcy’s initial acceptance of this fact has, for many years, made way for her own evolution—that she is in a position to make decisions that will help positively impact women, people of color and the LGBTQ communities. As a top leader of one of the world’s most prominent agencies, where she was recently promoted from global CCO to co-president, she is acutely aware of the effect her views can have on shaping the industry.

A galvanizing moment for her was watching Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old student, speak at the March for Our Lives rally. DeCourcy found it a powerful moment and was inspired to put her thoughts about the advertising business down. It was an important stream of consciousness and became an impassioned screed that she shared with the creative leadership at W+K.

Reiterating her belief in them to lead the agency to a more equitable place, she challenged everyone to take a hard look at systemic and unconscious bias that was affecting the hiring and promotion of talent. Working from a place of empathy, she encouraged the agency’s leaders to look at their own career origin stories, reminding them that there were people who helped them improve early on, and to put themselves in the shoes of emerging, yet-to-be-discovered talent.

The agency recognized that not enough women and people of color held creative director positions.

“Somewhere, unconscious bias is happening,” noted DeCourcy. “I’m not blaming [people], but the numbers don’t lie. And [I told] our leaders, ‘We believe in you, but now is not the time for self-protection. It’s a time for magnanimity and to give over what you have … not to protect yourself’.”

The agency, still basking in the glow of it’s Colin Kaepernick work for Nike, has made some recent progress and increased its number of female creative directors. Yet it’s lagging in attracting senior people of color to Portland.

“It’s still not good enough,” said DeCourcy. “But I believe we will get better.”

Given the room to create and build a path forward

What’s troubling to DeCourcy is how people of color don’t really have the luxury of failing, mainly due to the industry’s structure and history of celebrating white male creatives. Ironically, W+K’s culture is built around the mantra of “Fail harder,” yet men and women of color have “one shot—and you have to soar so high. You have to be a Jimmy Smith,” noted DeCourcy, referring to the legendary creative who cut his teeth at Wieden in the 1990s.

A decidedly ongoing bright spot for the agency is the creation of On She Goes, a travel platform for women of color. Recording a podcast for the site at Adcolor, four of the five leaders of the project—Serita Wesley, Rebecca Russell, Farin Nikdel and Vivian Zhang (Becca Ramos was not in attendance)—said they feel they have ample support from the senior team at Wieden. It’s also a compelling microcosm of what’s possible when varied talent comes together.

“[Wieden’s leaders are] impressed with our creativity,” said Wesley, who is also a producer at W+K Studios. “All of the freelancers we brought in—artists, writers—were women of color, and we brought 150 of them into the project in seven months.”

“There was a lot of getting [leadership] up to speed on the condition of women of color, especially in the travel space,” added Russell. “They got out of our way, to an extent, and allowed us the space to do the project in our own way. We did have to be scrappier, smarter, more efficient and figure out how to do things with the resources that we were given. But we also have made that a priority to give an opportunity to as many women of color as we can.”

On She Goes has racked up some good growth in its first year, with visitors from over 100 countries and almost 500,000 video content views, all mainly accomplished organically with a little help from a minimal media budget.

As for the theory that the city and agency aren’t good for talent of color, Zhang also noted that it can be harmful to dismiss certain cities or regions for “lacking diversity,” a claim that’s sometimes made about Wieden + Kennedy hometown Portland, Oregon.

“There is diversity [in Portland] that might not be at the highest [rate],” she said. “But by saying there’s no diversity in Portland, you’re ignoring people who are actually there, who grew up there, who have families and generations there. The more negativity we pour onto it, the more it perpetuates itself.”

13905: Hairy Truth Revealed…?

Campaign spotlighted a game—rooted in hair-related issues experienced by Black women—created by Wieden+Kennedy Art Director Momo Pixel. The article presented an amazing exposé worth noting. According to Campaign, Pixel and one production department worker make up the only Black women “amongst W+K’s 600-plus employees.” Hopefully, the reporter wasn’t thorough in checking the facts for the story. (Note: the reference was quietly updated by Campaign, revising the original sentence that appears below—bolded by MultiCultClassics—to now state that W+K’s creative department is 19% multicultural.) Because if it’s true that the White advertising agency has just two Black women on staff, that’s fucked up beyond belief. Where are Kat Gordon and Cindy Gallop when you need them? Dan Wieden should have his ADCOLOR® trophy revoked. Hell, W+K has a long way to go before receiving certification from The 3% Conference. It’s a truly hair-raising revelation.

Tired of being touched, a Wieden+Kennedy AD creates a game about black hair

By Zoë Beery

Momo Pixel’s latest project blew up online. If other agencies want the same, she said, they need real diversity.

Wieden+Kennedy art director Momo Pixel spends a lot of her time in Portland warding off white women who try to touch her hair. After a conversation with a coworker who was baffled by the phenomenon, she decided to make a game about it.

Nine months later, she had Hair Nah, an 8-bit-style video game where players try to help a black women travel to three different destinations while continuously swatting away pale hands reaching for her hair. Pixel tweeted out a link to her game last Wednesday. Within a day, it had gone viral.

“PR was trying to figure out how to launch it, and I told them, ‘Literally, I’m just gonna make a status and it’s gonna go viral,’” Pixel told Campaign US. “And the game went viral. I told you it was dope, is it not dope? It is the dopest.”

Dope to the tune of over 25,000 retweets and 105,000 game plays, with 16 percent of users (and counting) returning to play more than once. Dope to the tune of widespread earned media, from CNN to Buzzfeed to Fast Company, not to mention international publications in other languages. “Black Twitter is the reason a lot of things go viral, and I knew [the game] would go viral because I’m a black woman, this is an issue I face. And what I go through, others like me go through,” said Pixel.

The art director has been with Wieden since last year, arriving as a copywriter before transitioning to creative this March. She’s been a pixel artist since 2011, crafting physical objects that mimic the look of 1980s-era graphics. This was an opportunity to further develop her self-taught digital pixel art skills, while also trying out game design for the first time.

She took particular inspiration from Leo’s Red Carpet Rampage, a 2016 title riffing on Leonardo DiCaprio’s lack of an Oscar, which she said showed her the value of simplicity and humor in getting a message across. There was never a question of whether this was the right medium for communicating her experiences, she said. “Play is one of the first places you learn things as a child, and that doesn’t go away,” she said. “As adults, people still like the escapism of games, so it was a no-brainer for me.”

This is not the first time W+K has hosted a discussion about black hair. Since this spring the agency has run On She Goes, a travel site by and for women of color, whose most-shared post is also about the frequency with which black female travelers have to defend themselves from hair-grabbers. The platform is part of an ongoing effort at the agency, of which Hair Nah is a part, to experiment with audience development through employee passion projects. In the last year, they’ve also released a politically-tinged food truck, an empathy robot, and a book commenting on America’s gun violence crisis.

The small team that created Hair Nah included six other designers, animators and developers. But Pixel was the only black woman on the team, because the other black woman amongst W+K’s 600-plus employees is in the production department. This mismatch, between her company’s commitment to supporting diversity and its lack of diverse employees, is something Pixel hopes the game will help to change. “I just made a viral game, and I think more things like that would happen if more people of color were employed,” she said. “Advertising needs to get its shit together, because it’s missing out on money [by] going the traditional route of hiring from schools where people like me don’t be.” (Pixel is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design.)

She hopes the game will also attract more creatives of color to the industry. W+K talks frequently of its commitment to diversity, and by supporting this vision, said Pixel, the agency has proven itself a place that such talent can thrive.

“This is the blackest thing to happen to this place,” she said. “They just let a black girl put out a game about white women touching black girls’ hair. That’s a really black thing to do.”

13708: W+K London, B.S. Italian.

Wieden + Kennedy in London created a Babbel commercial that might inspire criticism from Sons of Italy or The National Italian American Foundation. How do you say, “Now that’s fucked up!” in Italian?

13693: W+K Tells WOC To Take Off.

Campaign reported Wieden+Kennedy staffers launched On She Goes, a travel website for women of color. Does the site warn colored girls to avoid trips to adland? Hopefully, the unoriginal effort won’t crash-land like BlackAtlas.com from American Airlines. And if W+K wins a Glass Lion or similarly patronizing prize for the project, well, now that’s fucked up!

Wieden+Kennedy creates an in-house travel site for women of color

By I-Hsien Sherwood

On She Goes brings agency voices and community contributors together to carve out a new space in conscientious tourism.

The web is rife with travel advice, often tailored to the needs of the “standard” tourist: upper-middle class, white, male, American. But the challenges women face on the road are often different, and they’re magnified for women of color.

Racism, sexual harassment and cultural sensitivities about gender roles or dress codes affect women of color more harshly than other travelers, so the advice they seek out to address their concerns needs to come from an intersectional perspective. On She Goes, a new website founded by a group of Wieden+Kennedy Portland employees, aims to fill a void that Fodor’s, Atlas Obscura and Lonely Planet can’t.

“This project was born out of a need for the voices and perspectives of women of color to be channeled and heard,” said Serita Wesley, production editor and member of the six-woman core team from W+K’s publishing department that created On She Goes. “The topic of travel is a major one at Wieden+Kennedy, especially due to the number of International offices. The women of color working on this project heard the call of other women of color that this project was needed more than ever.”

Though newly live this week, On She Goes is already heavy with content. There’s a community forum for visitor questions and conversation, and a podcast hosted by Aminatou Sow, founder of Tech LadyMafia and co-host of the “Call Your Girlfriend” podcast. YouTuber and TEDx Portland host Lindsey Murphy stars in a video series on travel hacks for women of color, with tips from choosing the right power adapter to hair care on the road.

But the bulk of the editorial content is articles from paid contributors, like advice for black women visiting Tokyo or how to travel as a fat woman. At launch, the site boasts 50 articles from 20 different writers. While the site is specifically intended to help meet the needs of women of color, “We welcome anyone who our content resonates with, who finds the information and perspectives we’re sharing helpful, “ said core team member Rebecca Russell, a strategist at W+K.

A section featuring in-depth advice for women traveling to specific cities begins, of course, with an exploration of Portland. Yes, it’s rainy. Yes, it’s one of the whitest cities in America, and women of color can expect a certain level of exoticization. But it has plenty of food trucks owned by people of color and multicultural film festivals. And the pot is legal. Similar examinations of New York City and Los Angeles are forthcoming.

On She Goes began as a project at W+K nearly a year ago—an experiment conducted by the publishing department to see what it takes to build a new content platform with an engaged community. “We were given the opportunity to create something different for an audience of our choice,” said Meron Medhanie, a strategist at W+K. “We knew from personal experience that women of color face different challenges when traveling or preparing to travel, and we wanted to create a site that speaks to those nuances and perspectives.”

They began recruiting other strategists, artists and writers in the agency to build out the platform or to write initial content. Now that On She Goes is live, the publishing department is running it as a W+K property. Shepherding it through the early stages of establishing an audience and adding new features is now part of their job description at the agency—it’s not a side gig or a pro bono project. W+K is currently providing the funding for running the site and paying writers, but though there are currently no ads, the team is open to financial partnerships in the future.

Each quarter, the theme of the site will rotate. For its debut, On She Goes is exploring the mantra “We Belong Here,” a declaration that women of color should be able to feel welcome in whatever communities they visit, tempered by the understanding that it isn’t yet true.

“How many of us have dreamed of being travel writers when we grew up? said Dez Ramirez, core team member and assistant publisher at W+K “Now we have a space to be that writer, and tell the story that we haven’t seen or read yet.”

13546: BHM 2017—Nike.

Nike salutes Black History Month in two ways:

1. Its annual BHM collection.

2. Its Equality campaign that declares, “This field of play. … If we can be equals here, we can be equals everywhere.” Um, except when you’re talking about the advertising field. Now that’s fucked up!

13360: ADCOLOR® Tinny Anniversary.

ADCOLOR® celebrates its 10th year of Pollyannaish partying. Ironically and appropriately, the traditional 10-year anniversary gift is tin or aluminum. The original 2007 press release—which inspired MultiCultClassics commentary—declared the following:

ADCOLOR™ is a first of its kind cross-industry collaboration on the issue of diversity. The Coalition hopes to combine the energies of the marketing, media and advertising communities to stimulate ideas, discussion and solutions to advance diversity goals.

Seems as if the only noticeable accomplishment from the “cross-industry collaboration” is transitioning from a trademarked logo to a registered trademarked logo. Whatever. This year, the conference theme is: Challenge Now. Feel free to peruse the details in the image below.

The full price of admission is $1395, putting the soiree on par with The 3% Conference, in terms of tax-deductible—and arguably societal—contributions. Actually, The 3% Conference might be more successful, as the girl group takes credit for boosting the alleged underrepresentation of White women in creative departments from 3% to roughly 11% over just a few years. Minority underrepresentation, in contrast, has worsened over the past decade.

Then again, has ADCOLOR® ever been honestly dedicated to pushing for progress versus partying? The organization has honored diversity trailblazers like Magic Johnson, Queen Latifah and Nick Cannon, while ignoring legitimate diversity champions like Harry Webber, Sanford Moore and Hadji Williams. Hell, Dan Wieden picked up a trophy instead of the aforementioned trio—which is pretty fucked up. Annie the Chicken Queen and Gustavo Martinez have a better shot at ADCOLOR® recognition than Messrs. Webber, Moore and Williams.

So here’s some unsolicited advice to ADCOLOR® cheerleaders: Challenge yourself now to stimulate ideas, discussion and solutions to advance diversity goals and establish true commitment—and maybe credibility will follow.

13269: Black Voices Matter…?

Responding in part to the phenomena of Black Lives Matter, Advertising Age interviewed Translation Founder and CEO Steve Stoute, Amusement Park Entertainment CEO and Chief Creative Officer Jimmy Smith, 135th Street Agency Founder and CEO Shante Bacon and MING Utility and Entertainment Group President Tara DeVeaux. Here’s an excerpt from Stoute’s statements:

At the root of any societal issue is human truth, especially those truths we find hard to confront. The advertising business has always been about telling stories around human truths, and making those stories accessible to and consumable by the masses.

Today, the truth is that racism is alive and well in this country. The truth is that due to ignorance, lack of education and socially conditioned prejudice, the value of a black life is still being questioned.

How can we as a community come together to speak out against racial injustice, when we perpetuate that very injustice within the walls of our own agencies? We can never properly use the power of this platform as long as the industry continues to perpetuate the same cycle while justifying a lack of diversity not only throughout hiring practices, but in the work that we create.

Just take a look at the numbers—only about 5.85% of the advertising world is made up of African-Americans, and it is the only minority group to have seen a decrease in representation over the last four years. African-American men are one the most underrepresented groups in the entire industry, at just 2.58%. It doesn’t have to be this way.

I want to challenge all agency leads to execute a company-wide diversity check and strategize on creating pathways to improve the diversity of their staff and by extension, the creative. This is not just about diversity in terms of race, but a diversity of perspective.

African-Americans, women and other minorities have so many barriers to entry, and if those walls were torn down, they would bring so much to this community and to the work. In these trying times, we must come together to end racism in all of the places it lives. We cannot be afraid to start that fight in our own backyards.

Does Advertising Age’s decision to create and publish such content help from a diversity standpoint? It’s hard to say. In an industry where cultural cluelessness is so prevalent, White people might not even know how to process the color commentary. Not sure why Advertising Age kept the conversation segregated. Given the Wieden + Kennedy response to recent events, it would have been interesting to get Dan Wieden’s viewpoint—which would hopefully be more thoughtful than gasping, “Now that’s fucked up!” Or maybe have Jeff Goodby wonder, “Why are all the Black people getting shot?”

13063: Hall Of Fame Shame.

Oh, look! The Advertising Hall of Fame 2016 Inductees are essentially a clan of White men and White women. The honorees include W+K Co-Founder and Chairman Dan Wieden. Hey, making it into the Advertising Hall of Fame still doesn’t beat receiving his ADCOLOR® Award, right?

There is no “all” in Hall of Fame.

12460: KFC – FCB + W+K = BS.

Advertising Age reported KFC is flying the FCB coop and landing its account with Wieden + Kennedy. As it turns out, Corporate Cultural Collusion was involved, as the advertiser staged a closed shootout between the two White advertising agencies; plus, KFC CMO Kevin Hochman has professional history with W+K. Now that’s fucked up, albeit not surprising in the world of modern Mad Men. Additionally, one could argue W+K has a conflict of interest, as the agency has been creating commercials for Weight Watchers that slam fast food. But again, in the modern world of Mad Men, such contradictions and hypocrisy are common occurrences. Billings trump ethics, morals and integrity. Hell, in White advertising agencies, ethics, morals and integrity are as rare as ethnicity, multiculturalism and inclusivity.

KFC Parts Ways With FCB, Set To Hire Wieden & Kennedy

Interpublic Shop Has Worked With Yum Unit For More Than A Decade

By Maureen Morrison

Yum Brands’ KFC is set to move its creative account to Wieden & Kennedy from Interpublic’s FCB, an agency the brand has worked with for more than 10 years.

According to people familiar with the matter, both agencies presented ideas to KFC in a closed pitch.

Wieden & Kennedy declined to comment. KFC declined to comment.

That KFC would choose Wieden & Kennedy comes as little surprise, given the chain’s U.S. chief marketing officer, Kevin Hochman, has worked with the agency in the past. As a longtime Procter & Gamble marketing executive on various brands including Old Spice, which Wieden & Kennedy handles, Mr. Hochman is well versed in the agency’s work, having overseen creative like “The man your man could smell like.”

Mr. Hochman joined KFC in January 2014, replacing Jason Marker, who was promoted to KFC’s president post in the U.S.

The KFC account shift to Wieden & Kennedy is the latest in a series of major account moves for Yum Brands. Last summer, Pizza Hut moved its account to Interpublic’s Deutsch from McGarryBowen without a review. Prior to that, Deutsch gradually took on lead duties for Taco Bell from FCB.

FCB has been a longtime agency for Yum Brands. It won KFC back in 2003, and for several years was also the lead agency on sibling brand Taco Bell. Although Deutsch took the lead on Taco Bell, FCB continues to handle marketing-services duties like retail for the brand out of its Southern California office.

The loss of KFC is a blow to FCB’s Chicago office, but the loss is mitigated in part by the newly won Michelob Ultra Beer North America account, which will be handled out of both Chicago and Toronto.

An internal memo sent to FCB employees by Chicago President Michael Fassnacht and Chief Creative Officer Todd Tilford said, “We are fortunate that 2014 has been FCB Chicago’s best year in a long time. We grew our top line by double digits, added 10 new clients to our family, attracted unbelievable talent from all over the world and had our fair share of publicity along the way.” Among those wins is a Nestle health-and-wellness image effort.

Of KFC’s business, the memo said: “We have done incredibly strong work for KFC over the last 10 years, especially over the last 24 months, when we worked unbelievably hard and smart on making KFC relevant for a younger generation. And we were successful. In 2014, KFC was the most social [quick-service restaurant] brand in North America, was ranked as the second most engaging QSR brand by Forbes in November 2014, and enjoyed very strong sales results over the last nine months that outshine the rest of the QSR category. We expect this trend to continue in 2015 while our new work runs nationwide.”

KFC in recent years has struggled to appeal to younger consumers, generally the biggest customers of fast food. Fourth-quarter and full-year earnings for Yum won’t be released until Thursday, but in the third quarter, KFC in the U.S. saw a rebound, with same-store sales increasing 2%. That followed a same-store sales decline of 2% in the second quarter and a drop of 3% in the first quarter.

KFC is Yum’s second-biggest ad spender behind Taco Bell, according to Kantar Media. In 2013, the last full-year of available spending data, KFC spent close to $284 million on U.S. measured media, while Taco Bell spent $327.5 million and Pizza Hut spent $247 million.

Overseas, KFC has had problems with sales, particularly in China, with an Avian-flu scare in 2013 and a food-safety scare last summer following reports that one of KFC and McDonald’s suppliers was blending expired meat with fresh meat.

12396: Verizon’s Diversity Disconnect.

Advertising Age reported Verizon has tapped Wieden+Kennedy for branding work. On the one hand, it’s a clear case of Corporate Cultural Collusion, as the move is certainly tied to the recent arrival of Verizon CMO Diego Scotti, who has professional history with the Portland-based advertising agency. On the other hand, mcgarrybowen is the current Verizon AOR—and a shootout between W+K and mcgarrybowen would be like a pick-up game between LeBron James and Kevin James.

In recent years, mcgarrybowen has won Agency of the Year honors for being a strong-yet-safe shop that delivers conservatively client-friendly creative. But can such a strategy succeed in an age where advertisers must justify marketing expenditures against quarterly earnings?

Then again, does either shop deserve to service Verizon? The company is consistently recognized as a DiversityInc Top 50 Company for Diversity. So why would Verizon conspire with one agency whose co-founder admits diversity in the advertising industry is “fucked up” and another where nepotism and exclusivity reign? There’s a definite disconnect between what Verizon says and does regarding diversity.

Verizon Taps Wieden & Kennedy For Brand, Strategy Work

McGarryBowen, McCann Remain on Telecom Titan’s Roster

By Mark Bergen

Verizon, the nation’s largest wireless carrier, has tapped Wieden & Kennedy for brand work, Ad Age has learned.

According to people familiar with the matter, the marketer is enlisting Wieden to handle creative and strategy work for the Verizon brand and its network. Products and services are excluded from the brief, they said.

Verizon spokesman James Gerace confirmed that the company has tapped Wieden, but declined to provide more detail. He added that McGarryBowen remains agency of record for the wireless business and that Interpublic’s McCann remains AOR for its Fios business.

Wieden & Kennedy declined to comment and referred calls to Verizon.

According to the most recent figures from the Ad Age DataCenter, Verizon Communications is the sixth-largest U.S. advertiser, spending $2.4 billion in 2013. In the third quarter, Verizon added 1.5 net retail connections and posted revenue of $31.6 billion.

The agency addition comes only a few months after Diego Scotti joined the telecom as chief marketing officer. Prior to joining Verizon in October, Mr. Scotti was a top marketer at J. Crew and Conde Nast and was also head of global advertising and brand management at American Express Co., where he worked with Wieden & Kennedy.

Verizon selected McGarryBowen in 2010 as agency-of-record for its wireless business, replacing McCann Worldwide. McCann retained the account for FiOS, Verizon’s broadband service.

Historically, Verizon has remained staid in its marketing—leading with its network accolades—while rival AT&T is more focused on branding campaigns. One of Verizon’s recent attempts at brand marketing, a content-marketing site called SugarString, was folded shortly after its launch.

During 2014, as T-Mobile shook up the wireless industry, AT&T responded with multiple new plans and assertive advertising. Verizon largely did not.

However, in December, the carrier admitted that pressure from competitors had forced it to increase promotional spending during the holidays, which would dampen fourth-quarter profits. The company’s churn rate, or subscriber turnover, remains low at 1% for postpaid accounts. But it has risen this year in the face of steep discounts from T-Mobile and Sprint.

Verizon also has accelerated its retail marketing lately, opening up three flagship outlets in recent months. The company releases fourth-quarter earnings Jan. 22.

Contributing: Maureen Morrison, Malika Toure

12028: Old White Guys Endangered?

Campaign published a piece by High50 Editor-in-Chief Stefano Hatfield titled, “Talking about my generation,” which examined the growing and potentially profitable “superboomers” being ignored by most advertisers. Wondering why brands are not actively wooing an audience that controls 79 percent of U.K. disposable wealth, Hatfield speculated the following:

Can it be as simple as the fact that the average age of an employee in the UK ad industry is 33 (IPA Agency Census 2013) or that only 6 per cent of its employees are over 50?

Wow, 50-year-old employees are yet another minority in the ad game—although excluding mcgarrybowen, it’s unlikely that the elder workers control 79 percent of Madison Avenue’s disposable wealth. Then again, the holding company honchos might control over 79 percent of the wealth. Regardless, given that the U.K. advertising industry appears to mirror the U.S. advertising industry in terms of diversity, it’s safe to presume the boomer percentages hold up for American adpeople as well. In short, Old White Guys may be the industry’s new endangered species.

Sound the alarms! Order the Chief Diversity Officers and Diversity Development Advisory Committee members to start scouring inner-city assisted living facilities and nursing homes for candidates pronto. Why hasn’t the 3% Conference launched a 6% Conference spin-off (hell, Cindy Gallop could run the thing alongside her porn program)? The AAF can add grey to its Mosaic Center, while the 4As introduces GAIP—Geriatric Advertising Intern Program. ADCOLOR® should hand out a Silver Fox Award presented by AARP and Depend. And God only knows what senior citizens like Dan Wieden, Jeff Goodby and Sir John Hegarty could bring to the party. Battle stations, boomers!

11512: Human Rights On Madison Avenue.

Blog Action Day 2013 is focused on the topic of Human Rights. For a quick primer, scan The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

Has the dearth of diversity on Madison Avenue ever been properly framed as a human rights issue? Certainly not in recent years, despite the occasional intervention of the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Rather, today’s diversity discussions tend to dwell on the standard “it’s a good business decision” angle, emphasizing the importance of building staffs that reflect and relate to the U.S. audiences targeted by most major advertisers. Unfortunately, the popular, polite and passive route doesn’t succeed for a couple of reasons.

First of all, the standard “it’s a good business decision” angle has not been proven. In fact, Whites might argue that based on indicators like awards and account assignments, exclusivity works just fine. Because the advertising industry has been predominately Caucasian forever, it would be extraordinarily difficult to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that a diverse company could produce better creative.

Secondly, in situations involving human rights, politeness has never led to dramatic progress. This has been proven time and again. Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stressed non-violence; however, they were not polite in their protests. Polite people are not typically thrown into jails or assassinated. On Madison Avenue, politeness will get you promoted to Chief Diversity Officer or elected to Diversity Advisory Committees—plus, you can win prizes like ADCOLOR® Awards and Pioneers of Diversity honors—but you won’t truly impact change.

The second point is particularly sobering and even offensive when considering the advertising field. The greater society usually comes around to showing respect to rabble-rousers such as Gandhi and Dr. King; conversely, adland has traditionally blacklisted (pun intended) revolutionaries while crowning Whites who essentially expressed the same opinions.

For example, Dan Wieden exclaimed the industry was fucked up in the area of inclusiveness, and he ultimately nabbed an ADCOLOR® trophy. Harry Webber pretty much said the same thing in 1969 and hasn’t been welcome in a White agency since. And although he’s made unprecedented contributions for diversity and equality, as well as produced award-winning campaigns, Webber has yet to be invited to an ADCOLOR® gala.

Jeff Goodby wondered, “Where Are All The Black People?”—and he received praise and accolades for asking. Sanford Moore has posed the question for decades and is still waiting to be thanked for his inquiries and groundbreaking achievements.

John Wren, Michael Roth, John Seifert and other advertising leaders have admitted there’s a lot of work to do in order to end the separate-but-unequal conditions. Lowell Thompson and Hadji Williams offered identical observations and suddenly found a lot less work.

Shunning the industry’s real heroes for human rights makes us look a little inhuman—and it definitely ain’t right.

11210: New Awards For Cannes.

Advertising Age reported Cannes will add trophies for health care agencies and clients in 2014. The special Lions will be doled out two days before the main awards. Side effects include delusions of grandeur. In recent years, the arguably prestigious festival has appealed to overblown—and income-generating—egos through the introduction of honors for innovation, PR, effectiveness and even holding companies. Yet there appears to be no interest in saluting multicultural marketing. Hell, would it be asking too much to set aside an afternoon before the health care event to high-five the minorities? The snub underscores the lack of respect for multicultural marketing and its practitioners—as well as the true global apathy for industry diversity. A weeping Dan Wieden declared his ADCOLOR® Award was the most important trophy he ever received. Knighted hypocrite Sir John Hegarty blathered about the imperative for inclusiveness. Jeff Goodby probably wanders the beaches in Cannes wondering, “Where are all the Black people?” Perhaps an award could be created to recognize the efforts of such noble defenders of diversity. Call it the Adamantium Lyin’.

Cannes Will Add Lions Health in 2014 In Separate Festival

Two-Day Event Before Main Awards Will Target Health Care Agencies and Marketers

By Laurel Wentz

Are health-care agencies and their clients the last group in the ad world that don’t enter and attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in large numbers? The festival is fixing that, with a brand-new Lions Health festival set to debut next year.

The two-day Lions Health awards will be held right before the main Cannes festival starts on Sunday, June 15, 2014. Those awards will replicate much of the main festival, with five juries to judge entries, a Young Lions contest for specialist health care creatives, and a health care Young Marketers Academy. And of course a Lions Health awards show evening.

The festival said Lions Health will cover three areas: health (communication that falls under regulatory restrictions), wellness (communications that aren’t regulated) and sustainability.

Many of the main festival contests are divided into product categories that already include a pharmacy or healthcare category that includes everything from over-the-counter and prescription medicines to anti-hair loss lotions, but they are often overshadowed by more glamorous product categories.

It’s a big market. In the U.S. alone, health care communications agencies had total revenue of $3.62 billion, according to Ad Age’s DataCenter. The biggest network by far is Publicis Groupe’s Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, with U.S. revenue in 2012 of $505 million.

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.