9990: Taking Another Run At AMC’s The Pitch.

A visitor took offense to parts of MultiCultClassics’ review of AMC series The Pitch. Here are the highlights of the gripe:

You rightly bemoan the lack of diversity in agencies like McKinney. (Although the fact that most of the creatives working on the pitch seems to have escaped you. Or don’t women count?) But apparently you have no compunction about discriminating against people based solely on their age.

Why is ageism any more acceptable than racism or sexism? All discrimination is wrong. There are incredibly talented creatives over 40 and even 50. Should you cast them aside just because they may have a few grey hairs or wrinkles? What is this, “Logan's Run?”

OK, to avoid completely rehashing past posts, MultiCultClassics will respond with topline statements and links.

Q. Which group has most benefited from affirmative action?
A. White women. And this certainly holds true in the advertising industry, where White women are pretty well represented in the majority of departments. Granted, there appears to be a dearth of dames in creative director roles, although the McKinney GCD spotlighted in The Pitch proved female creative honchos do exist. Ironically, the theme of the infamous Neil French rant has seemingly been consistently corroborated by White women—including the McKinney GCD. So when it comes to diversity, White women do not count.

MultiCultClassics does not discriminate against people based solely on their age. Boomers and Old White Guys have been criticized at this blog, but primarily for their outdated attitudes and behaviors, which have little to do with how old they are. BTW, the characters on The Pitch displayed age-related bias by giving the assignment to “younger” staffers. Additionally, MultiCultClassics has noted the hypocrisy of elder adpeople crying ageism now that they are in the cultural crosshairs, despite having spent their careers turning blind eyes and deaf ears while nearly every minority group has faced blatant discrimination in our industry. Former passive bigots are suddenly accusing everyone else of bigotry.

For the record, the barbs directed at the participants on The Pitch were not intended for Tracy Wong. The man is clearly an authentic, relevant leader. On the program, he inspired his team to do their thang, provided direction and resources, and finally supported and promoted their efforts. Take a close look at the performances of the McKinney bigwigs. The GCD didn’t offer a single meaningful contribution, while the CCO clumsily forced himself into the process. They made a point to assign the project to “younger” writers and art directors, and then effectively stifled their creativity. McKinney was lucky to encounter conservative, culturally clueless clients and seal a victory, yet the win doesn’t negate their stupidity. The North Carolina-based shop may succeed on reality TV, but actual reality is probably another story.

9982: Kraft Cuts From Conservative ALEC.

From The Chicago Tribune…

Kraft drops membership in conservative group amid protest

By Tiffany Hsu Tribune Newspapers

Kraft Foods joined Coca-Cola in bowing to consumer pressure this week to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative lobbying group that has recently backed controversial voter ID and so-called “stand your ground” laws.

Kraft said in a statement that it has “made the decision not to renew” its ALEC membership, which is expiring. The company, based in north suburban Northfield, was opaque in its reasoning, citing “limited resources” and saying that its involvement with ALEC “has been strictly limited to discussions about economic growth and development, transportation and tax policy.”

Advocacy group Color of Change launched a boycott against Coca-Cola for its participation in ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board, but within hours, the soft drink giant issued a statement saying that it had “elected to discontinue its membership.”

The company blamed ALEC’s support of “discriminatory food and beverage taxes” instead of “issues that have no direct bearing on our business.”

“We have a long-standing policy of only taking positions on issues that impact our company and industry,” Coca-Cola said.

The withdrawals pleased ALEC detractors, which includes the Center for Media and Democracy. The liberal-leaning nonprofit said it had launched a protest campaign in tandem with Color of Change opposing what it said were ALEC’s efforts to deny climate change, undermine public schools and encourage laws that would require voters to present various forms of identification before voting.

Critics of the policies, which have already been implemented in several states, say that they are more likely to shut out minorities, the poor, the elderly and even college students.

Draft legislation from ALEC has also helped fan the debate over “stand your ground” laws, which have played a central role in the February shooting of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

Color of Change, an African American advocacy group co-founded by James Rucker and Van Jones, issued a statement saying that the group would direct its sights at other companies associated with ALEC.

ALEC helps corporations and individuals draft model legislation to send to politicians. Its website says that the group’s mission is “to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty.”

Other members of ALEC’s Enterprise Board include executives from Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, AT&T, UPS and ExxonMobil. In January, PepsiCo quietly pulled itself off the board.

9980: Delayed WTF 17—Mad Ave Assimilation.

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

The half-hearted diversity discussions at the recent 4A’s conference and the announcement of IAM graduates shed new light on the
training consultancy being launched by Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin.

To recap, Vonk and Kestin are starting Swim, a training program for young advertising agency creatives. “With agencies no longer investing time and money to bring people along, it’s pretty much ‘sink or swim,’ and a lot of talented people sink,” explained Vonk. “Careers are stalling, work is suffering, and retention is poor.”

It’s a safe bet that Vonk is talking about White creative staffers. After all, she and Kestin are chummy alums from Ogilvy, where Ogilvy North American Chairman-CEO John Seifert expressed depression over the company’s lame diversity efforts.

Yet Vonk and Kestin inadvertently point out the monumental challenges that minorities face trying to succeed in the advertising industry. Hey, if White creatives require exclusive training, imagine what it must be like for non-Whites. The presumption already exists that minorities depend upon additional tutoring to make it on Madison Avenue—as evidenced by the plethora of segregated internships, inner-city high school initiatives and colored college courses. It appears that Whites feel minorities can’t make it without extra help.

So if Swim indicates even Whites could benefit from special attentive care, the logical next thought would be to believe minorities need super supplemental seasoning.

On the flip side, this really goes back to the arrogance of White adpeople. Specifically, no one ever considers the reality that the group with the greatest urgency for reform is the White majority. The Impact Study showed minorities endure isolation in the field; that is, our industry is not friendly and/or welcoming to non-Whites. But one never hears about philanthropic schemes to enlighten the culturally clueless. No courses are presented for eliminating exclusivity to build inclusive workplaces.

It’s much more pleasant to promote assimilation under the guise of goodwill.

9979: Stove Top’s Plymouth Crock.

In What’s Black About It? by Pepper Miller and Herb Kemp, the authors spotlighted a case study involving Stove Top. To target Black consumers, the brand tapped research showing the audience preferred using cornbread over loaf bread, and referred to the side dish as dressing versus stuffing (see excerpt above). This marketing insight came to mind while viewing the new Stove Top campaign by The Martin Agency—a White shop in Richmond, Virginia—featuring annoyed Pilgrims to position the product as being great for occasions beyond Thanksgiving. Can’t help but wonder how the characters and concept cross over to Black consumers. Or Latinos. Or Native Americans.

Maybe Stove Top will produce a targeted commercial featuring Malcolm X proclaiming, “We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was landed on us.”

9977: The Male-Only Masters Mess.

The Chicago Tribune offered an opinion on the Masters Tournament and Augusta National Golf Club’s male-only membership policy. Hey, somebody should get a comment from Tiger Woods.

Will ‘she’ don the green jacket?

IBM’s Ginni Rometty reduces the Masters to ‘no comment’

As the Masters Tournament eased into its 76th competition on Thursday — the course looked as impeccable as it ever has — a boorish little smudge crept up again.

Tournament host Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., faces an unusually pesky public relations problem this year. While the club regularly incites, and even thrives on, criticism of its male-only membership policy, the issue is generating particular melodrama due to an important tournament partner.

IBM is one of the Masters’ most dedicated and generous sponsors. As a “thank-you” to the global technology and consulting firm, Augusta National traditionally gives the company CEO membership privileges and, of course, the bodacious green jacket.

Ah, but there’s a problem. IBM has a new CEO and it’s a “she.”

Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, who boasts Chicago roots as a 1979 graduate of Northwestern University’s engineering school, oversees IBM as the company’s first female president and CEO. Her predecessor, Sam Palmisano, told The New York Times she got the job last fall “because she deserved it. … It’s got zero to do with progressive social policies.”

So, what about the Augusta membership?

Despite protests and severed sponsorships over the years, the clubhouse maintains its men-only protocol. Reporters grilled Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne this week during his annual news conference, asking whether the club would make an exception for Rometty. Payne offered “no comment” on JacketGate. Club matters are private, he said.

IBM, too. A spokesman told us the firm would not be discussing the membership issue.

Perhaps Rometty is too busy, and savvy, to respond to an anachronous, obnoxious clubhouse policy that doesn’t impact her life, her company or her employees. Yet IBM was one of several corporate sponsors to pull its television ads from the 1990 PGA Championship, which took place at an Alabama golf course that had white-only membership rules.

At what point do corporate CEOs stop looking the other way?

At the very least, Rometty should consider ending IBM’s deeply embedded relationship with the Masters and Augusta National if they don’t offer to her the same courtesy and respect extended to the CEOs of Exxon Mobil and AT&T, the tournament’s other corporate sponsors, both led by men. Closing ceremonies and the hallowed jacket-donning take place Sunday.

If Rometty is not included, or chooses not to participate, she can take comfort in the fact that she won’t have to wear one of professional sports’ homeliest garments: the Easter-egg-hue, brass-buttoned Masters jacket with a Girl Scout-reminiscent badge fastened to the left breast.

As tradition goes, the donning of the jacket is certainly more noble than the winner of the Indy 500 dribbling through a bottle of milk.

But in case you were wondering, yes, even the Indy 500 allows women to drive.

How radical.

9956: C’MON WHITE MAN! Episode 20.

(MultiCultClassics credits ESPN’s C’MON MAN! for sparking this semi-regular blog series.)

Advertising Age provided a snapshot of last week’s 4A’s conference in Los Angeles, including the following excerpt:

It’s been talked about for years, but it bears repeating: Agencies need to commit to hiring a diverse workforce at all levels. If they don’t, they risk creating work that doesn’t appeal to the changing demography of the nation. Speaking openly, Ogilvy North American Chairman-CEO John Seifert said the agency received its latest cultural survey last week, and called it “depressing” because “we hadn’t achieved what we set out to do.”

Ogilvy North American Chairman-CEO John Seifert represents the crème de la culturally clueless on Madison Avenue. He is among the leaders who publicly declare a commitment to diversity, yet personally and professionally don’t do a damn thing to address the situation. Rather, guys like Seifert wring their hands and furrow their brows, feigning deep concern when asked to comment on the subject.

In 2009, Seifert confessed the industry is “not exactly leading the way” in regards to diversity, and he admitted his agency was “not blind to the fact that there is so much more to do to recognize our ambitions.” The remarks were delivered while Seifert was rubbing elbows with Rev. Al Sharpton at the NAACP’s 100th anniversary celebration.

In 2011, Seifert “soft-launched” OgilvyCulture with all the enthusiasm of an Old White Guy attending a Black History Month event. At the time, Seifert admitted, “…[If] there has been a weakness in the marketing communications industry generally, it’s that the makeup of agencies is not reflective” of the consumers to whom they advertise. Regarding OgilvyCulture, Seifert said, “We’re feeling our way; I’ve said to everyone this is going to be messy for a while.” When has an agency leader ever predicted messiness for a new venture except when it involved the integration of minorities?

The Impact Study probably caught Seifert off guard, as the survey indicated minority employees held positive feelings about working at Ogilvy. Seifert responded with a statement saying, “While we are grateful to see our progress recognized, we still have so much to do in attracting and retraining the best and brightest talent from the cross-cultural landscape we serve.” Did Seifert make a Freudian slip, accidentally inserting “retraining” for “retaining”? A week later at the 4A’s soiree, Seifert showed signs of clinical depression over his agency’s failure to meet its diversity goals. What did he see that the Impact Survey participants did not?

Why are passive racists like Seifert permitted to keep their jobs when they consistently fail to create meaningful and measurable results with diversity? In every other area of our business, leaders are held accountable for success. Yet when it comes to replacing exclusivity with inclusivity, it’s completely acceptable to get away with a substandard performance—provided you hone the ability to act with contriteness and fake bipolar mania.

C’MON WHITE MAN!

9944: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners & McCann.

Adweek reported Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and McCann have created a joint agency to handle the Chevrolet account. It’s bad enough that Omnicom manages to keep accounts under the global umbrella via Corporate Cultural Collusion, but this move shows the holding company will conspire with any White agency to seize billings. The new enterprise is called Commonwealth—which probably means that everyone with common skin color can expect to share the wealth.

Goodby and McCann Form New Agency to Handle Chevy in Global Creative Consolidation

Commonwealth is a 50/50 joint venture

By Noreen O’Leary

Agencies at two rival holding companies have become partners in a new company, Commonwealth, formed to work on Chevrolet’s global account. Omnicom’s Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and Interpublic’s McCann Erickson Worldwide, N.Y., have signed on to the 50/50 joint venture after a creative review to consolidate the global business for the General Motors brand.

In the review launched last autumn, GM roster shops Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis Groupe and Cheil Worldwide put forth proposals to the auto marketer.

Chevrolet, GM’s largest brand, previously worked with 70 global agencies. The creation of the new Detroit-based Commonwealth agency follows the recent selection of Carat as GM’s agency for media planning and buying.

“These agency consolidations are expected to create about $2 billion in savings over the next five years, with a portion used to take advantage of key global marketing opportunities and strengthen the focus on our global Chevrolet brand, and a portion hitting the bottom line,” GM global cmo Joel Ewanick said in a statement.

GS&P has been since 2010 the lead creative agency on Chevrolet in the U.S.—the brand’s largest market—and is behind the “Chevy Runs Deep” strategy. McCann Worldwide has overseen the brand in many global markets including Mexico, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan, China and Latin America (Brazil and China are just behind the U.S. as Chevy’s largest markets). Commonwealth will now handle creative in most global regions except for China, India and Uzbekistan, where marketing efforts will continue to be handled by agencies that have been working on the brand in those countries.

Commonwealth will be managed by an eight-person global advisory board, with assignments handled through global hubs in Detroit, Milan, Mumbai and Sao Paulo. The agency’s board includes GS&P co-founder Jeff Goodby who is Commonwealth’s creative chairman; Linus Karlsson, McCann’s chairman, chief creative officer of N.Y. and London; Washington Olivetto, chairman at WMcCann Brazil and CCO McCann Worldgroup Latin America; and Prasoon Joshi, president, McCann Worldgroup South Asia.

9943: American Made Exclusivity.

Advertising Age reported on three former CP+B executives launching a new agency. Made will specialize in “supporting a resurgence in American manufacturing.” But in true American advertising fashion, the staffers do not appear to reflect The New America—so don’t expect any assistance for African American, Asian American, Latino American or Native American businesses. Only in America.

Trio of CP&B Execs Launches Shop to Support American Companies

Breakaway Agency, Made, Will Promote USA-Built Brands

By Rupal Parekh

Three executives from MDC Partners’ CP&B—Dave Schiff, Scott Prindle and John Kieselhorst—are breaking away to form Made, an agency billed as the first marketing firm focused on supporting a resurgence in American manufacturing.

The trio, who say they will specialize in brand-building and communications efforts to help U.S. companies better compete against global rivals, are in the tradition of a number of other CP&Bers who have gone on to open independent marketing firms. They include Boulder, Colo.-based Victors & Spoils, whose founders include former CP&B execs John Winsor and Evan Fry; Stick & Move in Philadelphia, now part of Red Tettemer; and Goodness Mfg., which has Los Angeles and New York offices and was founded by execs who worked together at CP&B for a decade.

While at CP&B, Mr. Schiff was a VP-exec creative director, Mr. Prindle was VP-exec technology director and Mr. Kieselhorst exec design director. Collectively, they worked on clients such as Burger King, Domino’s, BMW’s Mini Cooper, Volkswagen, Best Buy, Sprite and Coke Zero.

“CP&B is a great agency, and I could never see myself leaving to go to another agency,” said Mr. Schiff in a statement. “But this is a mission. We work a lot in advertising, and I want to put every hour into building something I’m deeply committed to. ... More than 5.5 million U.S. manufacturing jobs have been lost or outsourced since 2001, yet if the average American spent 1% more on American-made goods and services, it would create 250,000 new jobs. We feel like we can help make that happen and more.”

Underpinning the strategy is the partners’ belief that the “buy American” mentality won’t fade even after the economy improves and unemployment rates fall. Still, in a global environment, the shop risk shutting itself out of future possibilities to work on exciting business, which could make it harder to hire and retain talent.

Mr. Schiff insists that’s not a concern. “We don’t really think we will run out of exciting opportunities. We believe there are plenty of people who will want to join this movement—both on the client and on the talent side.”

The launch is being funded by an undisclosed venture-capital firm. “One of the reasons we’re confident that we can attract clients and talent is because of how exciting the idea has been to investors,” said Mr. Schiff. “We’re working with a new venture fund that has a ‘brand communities’ focus. They have no other investments in the agency world.”

Asked if Made is launching with clients, Mr. Schiff said it is in discussions with potential marketers. “We are talking with several clients, but we want to build the agency around the mission,” he said. “In our opinion, too many agencies launch around a single big client and essentially become in-house marketing.”

9930: Celebrating Workplace Exclusivity.

Leave it to DDB in Spain to produce a campaign featuring animated resumes—where all the candidates are White.




From Ads of the World.

9918: Mad Women Mirrors Mad Men.

In 1986, ad veteran Jane Maas published her autobiography titled, “Adventures of an Advertising Woman.” Roughly 25 years later, “Mad Women: The Other Side of Life on Madison Avenue in the ‘60s and Beyond” seemingly reworks and repackages Maas’ tale to capitalize on the popularity of AMC series Mad Men.

For blog visitors seeking a legitimate review of the book, Businessweek delivered an honest and accurate critique, and Kirkus Reviews chipped in a polite summation too—rightly opining that “Maas’ memoir will likely not have the impact of her classic 1977 tome How to Advertise (co-written with Kenneth Roman).”

MultiCultClassics will forgo the comparisons and contrasts to the author’s other works, preferring to examine the cultural similarities between the imagery presented in Mad Women and the altered realities depicted in Mad Men.

For starters, Maas attempted to address the inequities, discrimination and harassment present on Madison Avenue, although almost entirely from a gender perspective exclusive to Whites. The book’s index tells the story, where words such as “stereotypes” and “bias” tie to the challenges Caucasian adwomen faced. However, Maas doesn’t really take a stand or condemn anyone, opting for the safer “it was what it was” position. Contemporary activists for gender equality in our industry won’t find an ally in Mad Women.

Regarding race and ethnicity, Maas’ book follows the AMC series by virtually ignoring people of color. It’s interesting to note that while Don and Betty Draper employed housekeeper and nanny Carla (a Black woman), the Maas family included lifelong housekeeper and nanny Mabel (aka Carmen Dyce, a native Jamaican living in Brooklyn, New York). The loyal Mabel receives decent coverage in the book, albeit similar to the role Carla played in Mad Men.

The word “diversity” appears in the book’s index, yet it just leads to a couple of pages discussing WASPs, Jews and gays. Ogilvy & Mather President Jim Heekin once asked Maas, “Do we have too many homosexuals at this agency?” Maas admitted to being dumbfounded and unable to answer the question. Apparently, nobody ever queried if there were too many minorities in the office.

Oddly enough, the only minority reference pertaining to the advertising business comes one page ahead of the pages designated for “diversity” by the book’s index. Here’s the total paragraph:

Mad Men has it right about the lack of diversity at agencies in the 1960s. The only black faces you see on the show are Hollis, the elevator operator, and Carla, the Drapers’ maid. Ogilvy & Mather hired its first African-American copywriter in 1968, and assigned her to my group. The day before Betty arrived, the copy chief of the agency took me aside and told me quite seriously that if I became aware of any “anti-Negro comments or gestures,” I had full power to fire the perpetrator on the spot. Nobody said a word. Betty came quietly, stayed with us for about a year, wrote some effective ads, and moved on to a better job at another agency. She helped us take a big step forward.

Unlike every other individual in the book, Betty is not identified by her last name. It’s difficult to determine who this female Jackie Robinson might be, and MultiCultClassics will happily accept assistance from any knowledgeable visitor to properly recognize the woman. Can’t help but wonder if the lack of last name was an unintended slight or an inability to completely recall the person who “helped us take a big step forward.”

Despite its cheery reminiscing over the advertising industry, Mad Women mirrors Mad Men by reflecting all the cultural cluelessness still present on Madison Avenue today. We haven’t come a long way, baby.

9916: Young Influentials, Same Old Story.

The Young Influentials represent Adweek’s picks for “20 under 40 who are wicked smart and rebooting your world.” As always, our ad world looks predominately, exclusively White. Wonder if any of the influentials have focused their wicked smartness on fostering inclusiveness.

9898: Poached Bad Eggs.

Advertising Age reported Draftfcb is suing Digitas for allegedly poaching talent. Forget the fact that swapping “talent” between the two agencies is akin to floating turds between two toilets. Ignore the reality that Draftfcb has literally and inhumanely dumped hundreds in recent months—and mismanaged thousands more in recent years—meaning anyone with any sense of corporate loyalty would have to be patently insane. Don’t even consider details like Digitas is run by ex-Draftfcb Chief Marketing Officer Tony Weisman, one of the key scoundrels directly involved with the infamous Draftfcb/Walmart debacle, which proves both sides of the current scenario feature an all-star cast of assholes. No, what makes this fiasco exceptionally disgusting is the demonstration of traditional employment practices in the ad industry. That is, the game is played with exclusive connections, cliques and cronyism. Executives with hiring authority migrate from one shop to the next, ultimately recruiting former flunkies and recreating familiar teams. And rest assured, this behavior is happening at Digitas and Draftfcb. Diversity be damned, despite the Draftfcb declaration of multicultural harmony by 2014. What is taking place here is actually closer to reflecting 1914.

DraftFCB Levels Poaching Lawsuit Against Digitas

Agency Alleges Former Employees Wrongly Recruited Former Colleagues to New Shop

By Todd J. Behme, Kate Macarthur

Interpublic Group of Cos.’ DraftFCB has sued two former employees and cross-town agency Digitas, alleging that the pair wrongly recruited former DraftFCB colleagues after joining the Publicis Groupe-owned digital shop.

Chicago-based DraftFCB alleges that Brooke Skinner and Kevin Drew Davis—a senior planning executive and digital creative exec, respectively—violated signed agreements with DraftFCB that permitted them to defect to a competitor but mandated they could not to be involved in recruiting or hiring former colleagues for one year.

“Both of them have violated that agreement, for in the months after they joined Digitas, at least five of their DraftFCB colleagues, with whom they had worked closely while at DraftFCB, have joined them at Digitas,” says the suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois.

The news of the lawsuit was first reported by Ad Age sibling Crain’s Chicago Business.

Ms. Skinner, who was senior VP-planning at DraftFCB, led planning for the S.C. Johnson account business, according to the complaint.

When DraftFCB in July lost its longtime client S.C. Johnson after a review (the business went to Ogilvy and BBDO, and the move resulted in a round of layoffs of DraftFCB), Ms. Skinner left in August to join the Chicago office of Boston-based Digitas.

Rema Waugh, an associate media director who also worked on the S.C. Johnson account and with whom Ms. Skinner “collaborated closely,” joined Digitas 10 days after Ms. Skinner, the lawsuit says. The complaint further states that Ms. Skinner collaborated with Seth Goldberg, senior VP-planning, who also left the agency to join Digitas earlier this month.

Mr. Davis, who was exec VP-head of digital creative, left in October to join Digitas, the complaint says. Since then, three former DraftFCB employees who worked in digital creative have joined Digitas, according to the suit. It says Nick Soonfah-Senior resigned Dec. 1; Matt Weiner resigned Jan. 13 and Morgan Aibinder resigned Feb. 22, and that Mr. Weiner was one of two employees who reported to Mr. Davis at the time Mr. Davis left DraftFCB.

DraftFCB says in the suit that all employees are required to confirm their agreement with a code of conduct that includes a non-solicitation provision. The agency further contends that Digitas knew of the agreements and influenced Ms. Skinner and Mr. Davis to help hire their former co-workers against those agreements.

The agency is asking the court to temporarily and permanently restrain Digitas, Ms. Skinner, Mr. Davis and the other five former employees from directly or indirectly trying to hire any other DraftFCB employees, and for various damages to be determined at trial.

Tony Weisman, president of Digitas’ Chicago, Boston and Detroit region, who joined the agency in 2007 after serving as chief marketing officer at DraftFCB, declined to comment. In an email, a DraftFCB spokesman said: “It is against company policy to discuss specifics around any pending litigation. We will say that if former employees violate non-solicitation agreements that they had willfully signed, we will take the necessary steps to enforce those agreements.”

Poaching suits are often used as a tool in adland to publicly air grievances and try and put an end to employee defections. Back in 2008, the now defunct shop Agency.com sued iCrossing for allegedly carrying out a scheme to steal employees and clients such as 3M and Hilton in violation of non-solicitation clauses.

Often, not very much results from such suits.

About two years ago, another Interpublic Group agency, McCann, filed a poaching lawsuit against MDC Partners’ KBS&P. The suit was quickly settled, and no monetary damages were paid. MDC and KBS&P merely agreed not to solicit any McCann employees for a period of six months.

9621: 30 Under 30 Equals Zero.

From The Root…

No Blacks, Latinos on Forbes’ Under-30 List

Forbes magazine Monday unveiled its list of “30 Under 30” — “These are the people who aren’t waiting to reinvent the world. Forbes, leaning on the wisdom of its readers and the greatest minds in business, presents the 30 disrupters under 30, in each of 12 fields, making a difference right now.”

One field was the media, and Yvonne Latty, who teaches journalism at New York University, was proud to see former student Mary Pilon on that list. “She was a superstar in a year long honors class I taught 3 years ago…loved her!” Latty said in an email.

Then Latty looked for the people of color. There was Maneet Ahuja, a hedge fund specialist at CNBC who is of South Asian Indian background. That was it.

“This is a big problem and one that is just getting worse…depressing,” Latty messaged Journal-isms. “There is this small slice they choose from and we are not represented in the slice that they look at…sad cause these lists shape what the people think are ‘hot’.

“…it is very frustrating for me[.] one minute I am thrilled to see my incredible, talented student on the list and then I look at it again…I don’t see any black faces and scrutinize the white faces to see if one of them just maybe could be latino…then I realize they are not,” said Latty, who is both Latino and black.

Alexandra Talty, a Forbes spokeswoman, told Journal-isms by email on Thursday, “While there are over fifty people of color on our other 30 Under 30 lists, diversity in media remains a national issue, which this list reflects.”

That rationale was rejected in an informal survey of journalists of color familiar with 20-something media people who are “disrupters.”

Read the full story here.