13733: Bullshit Builds Momentum.

Adweek published patronizing puffery promoting IAM, the high school dedicated to teaching minority youth about the advertising industry—and ultimately recruiting them into the field. Momentum Worldwide CEO Chris Weil penned the pap, and it would be interesting to learn the diversity figures at his company. The only hint of inclusiveness and culture at the agency website can be found via the online store, where MoMo Hammer Pants can be purchased for a mere $179.99.

Want a Robust and Diverse Talent Pipeline? Check Out This High School Dedicated to Advertising

4A’s ‘IAM’ program is a model of how to foster equality early

By Chris Weil

Today’s graduation of the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media marks the ninth year of the 4A’s foray into helping build the next diverse generation of talent in marketing and advertising through its high school student initiative.

The 4A’s partnered with the New York City Department of Education in 2008 to form the first four-year high school in the nation dedicated exclusively to preparing students for careers in the advertising and media industry. That school in Brooklyn, known as IAM, is helping to train the future practitioners in our industry.

We’ve all heard the lament expressed across our industry in recent years about our talent pipeline drying up—young people weren’t learning the right skills to enter advertising or marketing positions, other fields were attracting students who previously would have considered advertising and marketing, and the diversity of the talent didn’t jibe with the diversity of the country’s population.

Those conversations, to be honest, are still occurring because we haven’t done enough to fix the underlying issues—yet. For example, still only 19 percent of people represented in advertisements are minorities, despite the fact that 30 percent of the voting-age population is a minority. That’s just one example of where we still have lots of room for improvement.

Industries of every type—and advertising and marketing stand out because of the cultural visibility of our work—grow when they tap into the varied thinking only possible with a diverse workforce. Diversity leads to marketing messages that are far more effective because they reflect the reality of the society and marketplace. And in our view, diversity has to begin with education and access, which was one of the core issues we addressed with our school programs.

This initiative builds on the 4A’s Multicultural Advertising Intern Program, or MAIP, which has connected aspiring diverse entry-level advertising professionals with prestigious advertising agencies for the last 44 years. But while we have been addressing the diversity issue long before it became a common theme, we know that it’s an ongoing challenge that requires additional solutions.

As we look to the 2017 class at IAM—graduating today—we can see that the program has been a success—and not just for those of us in the field of communications who want to see a more prepared and diverse pool of prospects making their way to our offices. It has been a success for the students.

What has, to me, been the most exciting development of our programs—which includes partnering with the City University of New York in 2014 to launch the first P-Tech (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) of its kind and the Manhattan Early College School for Advertising, or MECA—is that the kids are the biggest winners.

How do we know that our multipronged approach is reaching these students? Some 25 percent to 30 percent of IAM and MECA graduates are entering the advertising field—a generation of students who might otherwise never have even considered the possibility of advertising and marketing. While we can look on those recruitment numbers with pride, it’s also true that the graduation rate at our schools, which is trending at 78 percent, compared with about 64 percent at the average NYC public school, is the best reward.

It would be a dream to see 100 percent of the students enter our business, but by showing the thousands of students who have passed through the halls of the schools that creativity matters, that you can take your passions and turn them into careers, that there are myriad ways to do more in life, that is a reward that we can all celebrate.

By partnering with these schools, we are in effect expanding our society’s creative class—helping more people understand what a career in creativity is all about, inspiring more of them to consider advertising as a promising career opportunity and to understand all the ways they can be a part of a creative industry. Showing a student that his passion for social media can lead to a career or that the gamer playing video games could turn her interest into a life of building digital experiences for others is one of the most important aspects of these programs.

By next year, almost 1,000 ninth through 12th grade students will be studying advertising and marketing. At the same time, the MECA students will also be entering the community college part of their six-year program. They follow a regular high school curriculum—yes, with algebra, English and science—along with an additional specialty in marketing, advertising and design. Their curriculum includes soft skills such as presenting and storytelling; by their junior year, they are certified in Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative. For six years, the students will study not only every part of the agency and advertising ecosystem, but skills that will serve them in any creative field.

While a handful of individual companies have supported some schools, IAM and MECA are the first public schools in the U.S. to earn the support of an entire industry. The 4A’s uniquely offers this support by helping to create the advertising curriculum, teaching the classes, bringing students to agencies and creating mentorship and internship programs. Additionally, we are bringing in marketing clients such as Spotify and Reebok to introduce real-world briefs for the students to solve. This reinforces that the opportunity in our industry is to create work alongside brands that people love and impact our popular culture on a daily basis.

The students who chose to come to these schools have an interest in what we do, and we have a vested interest in keeping them engaged, sharing the excitement of our field and sharing our experiences. They matter more than ever—either as our future communications colleagues or our future customer population—and the more we can connect with them now, the better we will all be for it.

Chris Weil (@chrisweil) is the CEO of Momentum Worldwide; he sits on the 4A’s board of directors and serves as chairman of the 4A’s High School Initiative Advisory Board.

13077: BHM 2016—Advertising Age.

Looks like the best that Advertising Age could do to acknowledge Black History Month was publish a perspective from a student associated with the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media (iAM), MAIP and the AAF Most Promising Multicultural Students Program.

Diversity: It’s a Two-Way Street

Agencies and Candidates Each Have a Part in Enacting Multicultural Change

By Jermaine Richards

A lot is written about the lack of diversity in the advertising world. I’d like to offer a different take: the perspective of a black college student who has been honing his craft in the ad world since the age of 13.

I was introduced to the advertising industry and then the agency, Deutsch, in 2008 through a partnership they enacted with the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media (iAM) in Brooklyn, New York. Over the past seven years, I have worked in varying capacities for Deutsch, learning directly from industry veterans, contributing to creative briefs and participating in client meetings—things few students are given access to. Just as I am bringing a valued perspective to Deutsch, they are investing time and resources in my growth within. For this, I am grateful.

The lack of qualified candidates is often brought up when discussing diversity in the industry. Instead of making excuses, let’s acknowledge—as I have with Deutsch—that this is a two-way street, and agencies and diverse candidates need to express an interest in each other for things to change. Among young multicultural students, from my experience, advertising isn’t discussed as a career. Many aren’t aware that it is an option and thus lack the connections to get started. Some see advertising as a risk for a career.

For agencies interested in seeking out candidates, resources such as the 4A’s MAIP (Multicultural Advertising Internship Program), ADCOLOR, the AAF’s MPMS (Most Promising Multicultural Students), the One Club, and the Marcus Graham Project (just to name a few) exist to connect highly qualified candidates with agencies. As a participant in many of these programs, I can say that these highly selective outlets grab the “right” kind of youth, magnify their awareness, and identify their abilities while harnessing and elevating their talents. These resources are a great way to overcome a lack of connections to give candidates a start. In doing this, students must remember—it doesn’t work if you don’t. So, work and work hard.

These programs are so crucial because barriers to entry for people like myself do still exist. In some places, there may still be stigmas linking to specific races with regard to their work ethic or their ability to perform, brought into question behind closed doors. Oftentimes, these stigmas or stereotypes are false, but perpetuated, with someone’s credibility called into doubt based on where they may come from, or the experiences they haven’t had.

Even though this industry has some of the most intelligent people I have ever met, the reality is that many of them aren’t from the “best” places, schools or affluent backgrounds. Intelligence can be found everywhere and take many forms as it is cultivated by experience beyond an ideal world. It requires an open mind, and if agencies put in the time and effort to work with diversity programs and support the students they produce while remaining open-minded, they will be rewarded with skilled candidates as well as insight beyond their wildest imaginations.

This is an industry where the idea is worshipped, and concepts are applied to create a vision to impact the world. So, why would we close our industry’s doors to a certain kind of person? Would opening the doors to all not help impact all? The aesthetic of a place is one thing—the implementation of experience and insight is another. Agencies should strive for a diverse workforce for this reason. Diversity here means the ability to include within the walls to impact what is outside of the walls. Whoever is able to do that effectively will undeniably be prosperous.

At age 20, I can proudly say that I am an inclusive visual artist, a creative producer and a result of this industry that I have grown in. I have nurtured it, just as it has nurtured me. I am proof that it is possible for the agency world, as an industry, to connect with candidates like myself, impact their development and ultimately mold them into the next generation of what will likely be a more diverse workforce in your company. It is a big picture that I encourage you to take a part in painting. It is a two-way street and an uphill climb to a more captivating ideal for what we call this industry of advertising.

Jermaine Richards

Jermaine A. Richards is a senior undergraduate student at York College studying Communications Technology with a minor in Studio Arts. He has recently been named as one of the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Multicultural Students of 2016. Jermaine has an ongoing internship with Deutsch, New York.

10722: U.K. Mirrors U.S. Dearth Of Diversity.

Campaign published an essay on the dearth of diversity in the advertising industry in the U.K.—and U.K. could easily have been swapped with U.S. That is, it’s the same old bullshit, except delivered with a British accent.

Jonathan Akwue—who participated in the Media Citizens video series spotlighted here last June—examined the problem with the standard thoroughness of a concerned citizen. At least Akwue had the courage to tie class and privilege to the conversation. Yet the perspective ultimately regurgitated contrived “solutions” and clichéd thinking. As always, the field boasting innovative idea masters is rendered absolutely ignorant by its cultural cluelessness.

The stereotypical fixes featured minority scholarships and attempts to reach out to underserved youth—because, by golly, there are no people of color over the age of 12 that might be qualified for or interested in pursuing an advertising career.

An initiative by Beattie McGuinness Bungay—called Ad Scheme—allowed applicants “seven-minute Skype chats with a randomly assigned BMB panel.” Over 400 interviewees played along for the inaugural event last year. Akwue praised the effort, but is granting someone seven minutes really the best way to foster diversity? White advertising executives have to realize it will take much more than that to seriously address matters. As the U.S. has come to admit, finding candidates is just part of the answer—creating environments that will make people want to stay is a bigger challenge. Opening the doors for seven-minute intervals actually sounds a tad insulting and uninviting.

Sir John Hegarty was also mentioned in the piece. Honestly, Hegarty exhibits all the classic characteristics of an Old White Guy and latent racist. Okay, let’s go with passive bias for the sensitive White folks who might take offense to being labeled racist. Then again, here is a man who has suddenly embraced inclusiveness after spending decades gleefully perpetuating exclusivity. When the opportunity to connect with non-Whites appeared, Hegarty’s agency literally did not show up. These morons wouldn’t even give seven seconds.

Akwue’s essay was titled, “Adland must think creatively to bolster diversity.” This is correct—and at some point, someone will hopefully proceed to devise tactics beyond the hackneyed, half-assed schemes of delegating diversity. White advertising people unwilling or unable to be fully engaged and completely committed to the cause are totally useless. Educating minorities to the possibilities must be balanced with enlightening White people to the realities. Cultural cluelessness must be replaced with cultural competence.

Until change happens across the board, expect our peers in the U.K. to run true to form and produce minority internship programmes, Dukes and Duchesses of Diversity, HRH IAM, Buckingham BrandLab and “Where Are All The Black Brits?”

Adland must think creatively to bolster diversity

More needs to be done to increase diversity in the industry, but there are many examples of progress, according to Jonathan Akwue.

Let’s face it: in the UK, we are still hung up about class and privilege. It may not be discussed as much as the weather but, even in 2012, it remains a uniquely British preoccupation.

At last month’s Conservative Party conference, Prime Minister David Cameron sought to combat the claim that his Government is run as an Etonian old boys’ club by asserting that his aim was not to defend “privilege” but “spread it”. This led to a PR stunt by the luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason, which created a limited-edition plum and claret “Privilege Spread”, described as “a recipe that instantly solves Mr Cameron’s conundrum of how to spread privilege”.

Joking aside, discussions surrounding class and privilege are often linked to the thorny topics of equality, diversity and discrimination. The ongoing debate about racism in football demonstrates that these issues are often contentious and controversial.

Within the advertising and communications industries, the discussion is generally more muted. While the casual sexism and racism portrayed in the TV series Mad Men may have been acceptable in the past, these days the overriding emotion seems to be guilt. Many of the advertising industry leaders I’ve spoken to are acutely aware that their agencies don’t reflect the diversity of modern Britain and they are embarrassed about it.

In some ways, the UK industry has pioneered equality issues. For example, Wacl has been in existence since 1923 and currently consists of 130 of the most senior women in the UK’s marketing communications industry.

In other areas, the industry has been slow to catch up. It wasn’t until 2003 that the IPA Ethnic Diversity Group published its first major collaborative work on the topic, examining the employment, portrayal and economic value of minority groups.

The IPA’s most recent report was published last month to coincide with the release of the first 2011 Office of National Statistics Census figures. This provided a more up-to-date picture of the ethnic media landscape, but also provoked headlines in this magazine such as “Adland neglects ethnic consumers”. Cue more hand-wringing, introspection and guilt.

I wanted to take a different approach. Instead of focusing on where the industry is failing, I wanted to highlight examples that are starting to change things for the better. This is not because I believe the problem is insignificant — I just think that inspiration may be a better motivator than guilt.

Diversity as a creative challenge

I’ve often wondered how the advertising industry would tackle the diversity issue if a client posed the challenge as a creative brief. One agency that has adopted an innovative approach is Beattie McGuinness Bungay. In 2011, it launched the Ad Scheme as an attempt to broaden the pool of applicants to the agency. As BMB puts it: “For an industry that talks loud and reaches many, the net it casts to find the people to drive it on is narrow and predictable.”

As part of its mission to address the issue, BMB set aside one day last year in which any applicant, be they “grad, non-grad, Martian or Womble”, could have a seven-minute Skype chat with a randomly assigned BMB panel. More than 400 people played this game of interview roulette within a 16-hour period. The agency was so pleased with the response that it is doing it again on 22 November.

The power of ideas

In 2003, Robin Wight, the Engine president, established The Ideas Foundation. This helps identify and nurture creatively gifted young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through the award of creativity scholarships. I joined the board a year later and have remained on it since.

The charity is backed by many of the industry’s top agencies and, over the past decade, has worked with young people in schools across London and the North-West of England. More recently, it developed an online platform called “I Am Creative”. This enables brands such as BT, Barclaycard, E.ON and Aviva to sponsor briefs that young people respond to. A panel of professionals judge each brief, with the winner receiving a prize and a work-experience placement.

Moving forward, The Ideas Foundation is exploring the feasibility of setting up a new free school to teach creativity to young people who have been excluded from mainstream education.

An ideas meritocracy

I did hear a counterintuitive perspective when I spoke to Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland recently. He pointed out that, in his view, it wasn’t surprising advertising had taken a while to attract ethnic minorities because the industry is so flakey that no first-generation immigrant in their right mind would want to join it. Instead, they would naturally veer towards more established professions such as accountancy or medicine, leaving it to the second or third generations to indulge their creative impulses. He may have a point.

As Sir John Hegarty points out, advertising should be a meritocracy where the people with the best ideas succeed. This seems to be reflected in some younger agencies. For example, the creative department at Engine’s social media unit, Jam, looks like an ad for the United Colors of Benetton. Wayne Deakin, an affable Australian executive creative director, leads the team alongside Chris De Abreu, a Brazilian creative director. Jam’s creative output clearly benefits from their global perspective.

Getting the advantage

Few would deny that “social capital” goes a long way in this industry. Having the right connections, often gained by attending the “right” university, provides distinct advantages. The youth engagement agency Livity has partnered with Google to address this issue.

Over the past three years, they have developed the Advantage programme to give young people from less advantaged backgrounds eight weeks’ training and experience in digital campaign management. Completion of the free course leads to fully paid 12-month digital marketing apprenticeships at some top UK companies.

This year, for the first time, Advantage is running alongside Google’s own agency graduate scheme. This means both groups share industry-leading guest speakers and participants support each other and exchange ideas.

Diversity in advertising

BMB’s Ad Scheme, The Ideas Foundation and Livity’s Advantage are three examples of how the industry is proactively responding to the challenge. There are many others I could have drawn upon.

On 13 November, I will be debating these issues at the IPA with Hegarty, Wight and Ed Vaizey, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries. The event will also launch the documentary Diversity In Advertising, made by Clever Peeps, Media Citizens and The Ideas Foundation.

One could argue that all of these developments are just drops in the ocean, but I see them more like stones. Stones create ripples. Ripples make waves.

Jonathan Akwue is the global client managing director at Engine.

10657: The Future Advertising Candidates…?

The Future Children Project lists Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein among the creators of its official video. After the shoot, Goodby probably encouraged the minority kids to enroll at IAM and consider careers in advertising—because, by golly, it’s just so difficult to find qualified adult candidates of color.

10592: The Problem With First World Problems.

At Business Insider, Jim Edwards questioned the racial stereotypes in the Facebook “Chairs” commercial from Wieden + Kennedy, yet gushed over the First World Problems commercial from DDB. The exploitation of impoverished people from foreign lands is a popular cliché for advertising agencies. MultiCultClassics presents another spin on it all.

10572: Dearth Of Diploma Earners?

Advertising Age published a perspective from Deutsch CEO-North America Linda Sawyer titled, “Want to Reach More Students? Teach the Teachers.” Sawyer opined luring more top college students to the industry requires connecting with professors, and the Deutsch CEO ultimately wound up promoting the Advertising Educational Foundation’s Visiting Professors Program. According to Sawyer, “The VPP is a highly competitive, two-week fellowship for professors of advertising, marketing, communications and liberal arts. A professor can be placed with an ad agency, marketing or communications company or other media company depending upon his area of interest.” Problem is, too few agencies are participating in the program. But why should they? Wouldn’t it be more effective to make kids aware of the field at an earlier age? Why not send students to Sweden or build an advertising-focused high school to groom future candidates? Someone ought to launch “Where Are All The College Students?” to heighten awareness. Damn, Madison Avenue is in trouble when it can’t even persuade White kids to pursue careers in the business.

Want to Reach More Students? Teach the Teachers

We Must Connect Directly With Professors to Improve Their Perception of Advertising

By Linda Sawyer

For years now, we all have acknowledged the need to change the way we pique interest among, and acquire fresh talent from, top college students.

I would like to offer another solution: Influence the influencers by educating the educators. We need to directly connect with the professors, provide them with exposure to our business and improve their perceptions of advertising.

I recognize that part of the problem is that the challenge is far too large for any one agency to tackle on its own. A pooling of resources and a unified front will be required to really make change happen. Fortunately, there is already an organization with the requisite infrastructure in place to make it all possible. That organization is the Advertising Educational Foundation.

The AEF is a nonprofit foundation whose mission is to work toward enriching the understanding of advertising as an essential component of our economic and social system.

This is necessary because many students only hear about advertising in the context of reinforcing stereotypes such as conspicuous consumption, creating false demand for goods and negative gender portrayal. In fact, many of the professors from the top liberal arts universities view advertising as a “trade” and a profession appropriate for a certain type of person who appreciates glitz over substance.

We need to dispel the antiquated notions about our industry by firsthand experience.

The AEF has one such arrangement—the Visiting Professor Program. The VPP is a highly competitive, two-week fellowship for professors of advertising, marketing, communications and liberal arts. A professor can be placed with an ad agency, marketing or communications company or other media company depending upon his area of interest.

The VPP gives professors a greater understanding of the industry. They go back to campus able to give students a more accurate, and often more positive, image of the business. Meanwhile, host companies have an opportunity to develop closer ties to academia—and offer instructors real-world insight into our fast-changing industry.

This past summer, Deutsch hosted Natalie Tindall, who teaches PR at Georgia State University. She described her experience as “a fantastic opportunity to build a rapport with industry leaders.” She was able to “understand what they want in new hires” and “catch up at a time when strategic communication is merging and changing at such a fast rate in the real world.”

But there is one problem. Last year, 75 professors from top schools submitted applications to the AEF. Only 18 agencies participated. That’s 57 missed opportunities.

We need the industry to step up, engage, and commit to hosting professors.

And we need to leverage the AEF’s Visiting Professor Program by significantly ramping up participation.

We all know the power of word of mouth. The professors’ influence on the student body makes a difference.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda Sawyer is CEO-North America at Deutsch

10541: School Not So Cool.

The New York Times reported segregation is alive and well in public schools: “…Whites are still largely concentrated in schools with other whites, leaving the largest minority groups—Black and Latino students—isolated in classrooms, according to a new analysis of Department of Education data.” Imagine that.

Segregation Prominent in Schools, Study Finds

By Motoko Rich

The United States is increasingly a multiracial society, with white students accounting for just over half of all students in public schools, down from four-fifths in 1970.

Yet whites are still largely concentrated in schools with other whites, leaving the largest minority groups — black and Latino students — isolated in classrooms, according to a new analysis of Department of Education data.

The report showed that segregation is not limited to race: blacks and Latinos are twice as likely as white or Asian students to attend schools with a substantial majority of poor children.

Across the country, 43 percent of Latinos and 38 percent of blacks attend schools where fewer than 10 percent of their classmates are white, according to the report, released on Wednesday by the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles.

And more than one in seven black and Latino students attend schools where fewer than 1 percent of their classmates are white, according to the group’s analysis of enrollment data from 2009-2010, the latest year for which federal statistics are available.

Segregation of Latino students is most pronounced in California, New York and Texas. The most segregated cities for blacks include Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington.

“Extreme segregation is becoming more common,” said Gary Orfield, an author of the report who is co-director of the Civil Rights Project.

The overlap between schools with high minority populations and those with high levels of poverty was significant. According to the report, the typical black or Latino student attends a school where almost two out of every three classmates come from low-income families. Mr. Orfield said that schools with mostly minority and poor students were likely to have fewer resources, less assertive parent groups and less experienced teachers.

The issue of segregation hovers over many discussions about the future of education.

Some education advocates say that policies being introduced across the nation about how teachers should granted tenure or fired as well as how they should be evaluated could inadvertently increase segregation.

Teacher evaluations that are based on student test scores, for example, could have unintended consequences, said Rucker C. Johnson, an associate professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Teachers would be reluctant to take assignments in high-poverty, high-minority communities, he said. “And you’re going to be at risk of being blamed for not increasing test scores as quickly as might be experienced in a suburban, more affluent area,” Mr. Johnson said.

The report’s authors criticized the Obama administration as failing to pursue integration policies, and argued that its support of charter schools was helping create “the most segregated sector of schools for black students.”

Daren Briscoe, a spokesman for the Department of Education, said the Obama administration had taken “historic steps to transform the schools that for too long have shortchanged the full potential of our young people and have been unsuccessful in providing the necessary resources and protections for students most at risk.”

Other advocates for minorities said charter schools had benefited their communities, even if they were not racially integrated.

Raul Gonzalez, director of legislative affairs and education policy at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group, said that black and Hispanic parents did not necessarily say “I want my kid to be in an integrated setting.” Instead, he said, “they’re going to say I want my kid’s school to do better than what it’s doing.”

Todd Ziebarth, vice president of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, said he supported more money for transportation to charter schools and encouraging them to pursue more diversity. But, he said, “if a school is relatively homogeneous but is performing really well, we should be celebrating that school, not denigrating it.”

Critics of segregation in traditional public schools and charters said that there was more to education than pure academics.

“Is it possible to learn calculus in a segregated school? Of course it is,” said Mark D. Rosenbaum, chief counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles. “Is it possible to learn how the world operates and to think creatively about the rich diversity of cultures in this country? It is impossible.”

10538: Child’s Play And Other Games.

Advertising Age announced the Innovation in Advertising and Media High School (IAM) picked up a paying account via a story titled, “Agency Run By High-School Students Wins Its First Client.” Meanwhile, agencies run by adult Blacks struggle to stay afloat and/or must continue to plead with advertisers to take them seriously—while the White shops practice Corporate Cultural Collusion to stay in power. Is there a teachable moment here?

Agency Run By High-School Students Wins Its First Client

IAM Advertising Will Work on Promoting PBS Documentary

By Mallory Russell

IAM Advertising, an ad agency run by students from the Innovation in Advertising and Media High School in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood, has taken on its first paying client.

The National Black Programming Consortium/BlackPublicMedia.org will work with IAM Advertising, the first accredited agency in the country run by high-school students, to promote its PBS documentary series, “DC Met: Life Inside School Reform.” The series shows the lives of staff and students at an alternative high school in Washington, D.C. called DC Met.

Being from an alternative high school themselves, these students couldn’t be a better fit for the project.

The filmmakers had their first meeting with IAM Advertising last week. Students were charged with coming up with big, awareness-driving ideas for the campaign.

Series executive producer Jacquie Jones said that while PBS isn’t what most high-school students watch, they hope that these students can create a campaign that “gives kids center stage to talk about their lives” and more specifically a forum to talk about the problems they see with education and solutions that might exist.

And while the team of producers did charge the agency with creating a rich social-media campaign, the students are being given free reign to explore other media as well. “They have a better idea of how to reach their peers than we do,” said Ms. Jones.

In just the first brainstorming session, the students had many great ideas, she said. They became really excited about an idea for a major stunt, for example, something that the producers think could be great to drive press coverage.

“The main benefit for the majority of the clients approaching the agency is that they gain access to a demographic that they’ve never had access to before,” said Nancy Hill, president-CEO of the 4A’s, the principal sponsor of the IAM High School. “[These kids] speak the language of the business and the language of the demographic.”

As with most projects done at the school, a 4A’s-member agency will partner with the students on the campaign—in this case, Digitas. Fees paid to IAM Advertising will be distributed to educational funds administered by the 4A’s. Ms. Hill confirmed that the money will go back into the school.

IAM Advertising opened its doors for business in May. Set up to mirror an actual agency as much as possible, the students are given the opportunity to craft strategy, plan and place media, and produce creative.

The National Black Programming Consortium first formed a relationship with the school in March, when Ms. Jones saw Julius Dunn, the industry liaison for the high school, give a presentation on IAM at TedxHarlem. Students also presented a campaign for Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative at that conference, which was featured on Creativity.

IAM High School, which is part of the New York City Public School System, opened in 2008 and now has more than 300 students in grades 9 through 12. Advertising is integrated into the school’s curriculum and agencies often come to the school to partner with the student on projects.

The school celebrated its first graduating class in June. The commencement address was given by Interpublic Group of Cos. Chairman-CEO Michael Roth, who was involved in the creation of the school. Of the 47 graduating students, 80% were pursuing either 2-year college or 4-year university degrees and a third were planning to pursue advertising-related careers.

10492: Madison Avenue Still Out Of Touch.

USA TODAY reported diversity is spreading to all corners and communities of the United States.

The Huffington Post quoted Antonio Villaraigos declaring the 2012 Democratic National Convention the “most diverse, most inclusive convention ever held anywhere in the United States of America!”

The New York Times ran a headline that read, “With Diversity Still Lacking, Industry Focuses on Retention.”

In other words, Madison Avenue remains woefully out of step—and out of touch—with the rest of society. Are communities targeting inner-city youth with internship programs and special high schools? Did the 2012 DNC include any events like “Where Are All The Black People?” At some point, you’d think the typical Mad Man might feel shame for the pitiful state of affairs. Instead, they pour patronizing pails of discretionary dollars into ADCOLOR® and elect more Chief Diversity Officers—or execute other forms of Delegating Diversity to deflect attention from the real issues.

The industry boasting breakthrough thinkers appears to be completely without an original idea here.

10485: Imparting Wisdom On I’mpart.

Wanted to briefly comment on the I’mpart initiative. While the Advertising Club of New York deserves kudos for “raising the issue of diversity in our business,” it’s always amazing to see yet another industry entity delivering the same clichéd solution. That is, everyone winds up tossing a seemingly large wad of money primarily at inner-city youth. This phenomenon has been repeatedly discussed here here here here here here before.

Granted, $700,000 is a decent chunk of change. But it helps to put things in financial perspective. First, the New York Times indicated the loot would be divided among at least five diversity-friendly efforts. Second, when the Center for Advertising Excellence at Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications launched in 2009, program officials estimated success would require $1 million annually. Third, $700,000 translates to roughly 2-3 creative director salaries on Madison Avenue.

The following suggestion has also been repeatedly discussed here here here before. Specifically, exclusive enterprises like the Advertising Club of New York should create and fund educational courses targeting the over-served White advertising agency veterans. Recruiting minority youngsters won’t reap long-term benefits unless work environments undergo intellectual and spiritual enlightenment, becoming more inviting to non-Whites. In short, today’s Mad Men must replace their cultural cluelessness with cultural competence.

10420: Draftfcb & Jamaica—Opposites Attract.

The New York and London offices of Draftfcb retained the Jamaica Tourism Board account. Look for Diversity Champion Laurence Boschetto to erect an advertising high school for underserved islanders.

10397: Seeking Fresh Meat On Madison Avenue.

4A’s President and CEO Nancy Hill published an Advertising Age column presenting her annual whine for fresh talent. By golly, the dearth of young people has never been more severe—and we must band together to lure them into our ranks. That message should go over well with the veterans being laid off in record numbers. Of course, Hill gushed over IAM, the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media. Yet there are no plans to scour struggling communities in search of poor White kids to recruit. No blueprints to erect special high schools for underserved Caucasians living in poverty. No scholarships or college programs targeting inner-city Anglos. Such philanthropy is reserved exclusively for minority candidates.

10259: Roth & Hill Teach Advertising 101.

U.S. Politics Today reported the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media (IAM) graduated its first senior class via a gala event held at the Brooklyn Museum. Guest speakers included IPG Chairman and CEO Michael Roth and 4A’s President-CEO Nancy Hill. Jetting from Cannes to Brooklyn in the past week must have been grueling for Roth. His commencement address was undoubtedly riveting, although the kids likely would have preferred listening to players and owners from the Brooklyn Nets. Hell, Roth’s highly paid underlings aren’t even interested in hearing the man ramble.

Congratulations to the IAM students, the school’s dedicated staff, and the program’s supporters. Seeing young citizens move forward is always a great thing.

MultiCultClassics has repeatedly stated its position on such endeavors throughout the years. So this will be brief.

Hill inspired the students by sharing she was once told, “‘Anything is possible. Everything is not.’ But if you focus on the anything—the one thing that you really believe in and that you really want—there is nothing, nothing, I assure you, that you can’t accomplish.”

The 4A’s honcho unwittingly revealed the true reasons behind the exclusivity on Madison Avenue. For over 60 years, diversity in our industry has been impossible. And it’s because leaders haven’t focused on anything, don’t really believe in it, and don’t really want it. That’s why nothing, nothing significant has yet been accomplished.

Hill and Roth shouldn’t just deliver speeches to minority youth. The executives must also present lectures to the industry’s majority oldsters, demanding that they create inclusive workplaces. Why simply put underserved kids through school? Send culturally clueless adpeople to diversity training too—and see how many can actually graduate. Don’t stop after handing out scholarships to deserving students for academic achievement. Follow up by delivering pink slips to unresponsive managers for professional failure.

Otherwise, you’ll only be teaching the IAM Class of 2012 their first lesson in Madison Avenue bullshit.

NYC’s ‘Advertising’ High School Awards Diplomas to First Graduating Class

Brooklyn’s High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media (IAM) Was Established in 2008

The High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media (IAM) graduated its very first class of seniors in commencement exercises held today at the Brooklyn Museum.

Interpublic Group chairman CEO Michael Roth delivered the commencement address to the graduates, saying, “Five years ago, when a bunch of us in the industry came up with the idea for IAM, we looked forward to this day, when we’d be seeing you—the first graduating class—completing your studies. What you’ve accomplished is impressive: 48 of you are graduating today, with 80 percent going on to college.”

He continued, “Just as impressive is what you’ve achieved in learning about the business. You have created campaigns for real clients, and presented them before leading industry professionals. This was the idea behind IAM—to prepare you for your future, to open your eyes to the possibilities.”

The 4A’s, the leading trade association for the advertising industry, led the years-long effort to establish IAM High School in 2008 on the campus of the former Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, as a way to educate young adults about the advertising industry, cultivate a more diverse work force and to prepare students for the business world.

“American businesses are realizing that to remain competitive in a global marketplace, there’s value to be found in partnering with public schools to develop the next generation of the labor force,” said Nancy Hill, President-CEO of the 4A’s. “It’s particularly important for the advertising and marketing industry, which is suffering a talent drain to tech and financial firms. This school is now one of the wells we’ll draw from for talent for many years to come.”

Hill added that schools like IAM High School are able to re-engage students in their core academic subjects by showing them the practical use of the skills learned in the classroom. At IAM, students have the opportunity to take workshops in the creative aspects of advertising (copywriting, art direction), in understanding media planning and buying, and in web-site production and design.

Many of the graduates plan to pursue their education by attending 2- or 4-year post-secondary schools. Four graduating seniors—Tevin Jeffery, Meagan Francis, Darren Freeman and Jermaine Richards—received portions of a $60,000 scholarship from the Advertising Club of New York to continue their educations.

Besides the first graduating class, the school has 330 students from grades nine through 12, and some of its milestones thus far are as follows:

• On May 4, 2012, IAM High School opened a student-run full-service advertising agency on campus, and it is working on ad assignments from local Brooklyn businesses

• IAM has formed long-term partnerships with the 4A’s and its member agencies, such as, McCann-Erickson, Deutsch, DraftFCB, Digitas, Publicis, McGarryBowen and Euro RSCG

• Through these ad agencies, the IAM Advertising Agency is working with blue-chip marketers including Jaguar and Google

• In March 2012, IAM students contributed to an integrated marketing campaign for Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative to combat childhood obesity

IAM is the first accredited high school in the country that has advertising and marketing as part of its core curriculum, and it is certified to award Career and Technical Education (CTE) diplomas. It is one of 35 CTE high schools in New York City.

The 4A’s Nancy Hill said that IAM High School is the model for what she hoped will be many other public high schools in cities around the country that will develop advertising-focused curricula to graduate students who are prepared for post-secondary education and the business world.