10014: Omnicom Shows Its True Color.

Read the MediaDailyNews article below. A MultiCultClassics commentary immediately follows.

NYC Pressures Omnicom For Workplace Diversity

By Steve McClellan

The battle over diversity in adland is heating up again in New York.

The city’s Office of the Comptroller has asked four holding companies — Omnicom, Interpublic Group, WPP and Publicis — to publicly disclose detailed submissions required by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to show just how diverse — or not — their workforces are.

According to a spokesman for the Comptroller’s office — which advises funds with investments in the ad companies — only Interpublic responded.

The Office of the Comptroller, headed by John Liu, is taking the fight directly to the shareholders of Omnicom with a shareholder proposal that would require the company to disclose the EEOC filings that annually report a comprehensive breakdown of the company’s workforce by race and gender across all employment categories. The shareholder proposal suggests that this data be presented either in Omnicom’s annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability report, beginning this year.

In his letter to Omnicom chairman Bruce Crawford, Liu wrote: “I am deeply concerned by the underrepresentation of minorities, particularly African Americans, in the advertising industry. These disparities, which can negatively impact individual companies and their communities, persist despite the many diversity initiatives highlighted by the major advertising firms, including Omnicom Group.”

“I am writing to request that the board of directors adopt a policy requiring Omnicom Group to disclose annually the [EEOC report that] details the composition of the company’s U.S. workforce by race and gender across employment categories.” Liu said such disclosure would allow shareholders to “evaluate and benchmark the effectiveness of the company’s overall effort to recruit, retain and promote minorities and women.”

Liu cited a 2009 study that showed that the “racial disparity is 38% worse in the advertising industry than the overall U.S. labor market.” The same study, Liu noted, also found that black college graduates in the business earn 20% less than their “equally qualified white counterparts.”

Liu added that it “is incumbent upon Omnicom to vigorously promote a more diverse workplace. Disclosure is a critical step in this process that will encourage management to integrate diversity into the company’s culture and strengthen accountability to shareholders.”

When Omnicom did not respond to the letter, Liu’s office opted to submit a proposal to shareholders — which according to Omnicom’s proxy materials will be voted on at the upcoming annual meeting May 22 in San Francisco.

The company is urging shareholders to vote against the proposal.

In its proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Omnicom argued that the EEO data does not account “for any company or industry specific factors. It is designed to yield generalized data across all categories of private employers rather than information specific to Omnicom or comparable companies in the advertising industry.”

As a result, Omnicom said, the EEO data “is neither informative nor is it a reliable measure of our commitment to equal opportunity employment. We do not believe that disclosing it will meaningfully further the goal of workplace diversity. To the contrary, this information, which is susceptible to misinterpretation, could be manipulated by those with interests adverse to Omnicom’s and harm the company.

The company also cited steps it has taken in recent years to promote diversity, including the formation in 2007 of The Omnicom Diversity Development Advisory Committee (“DDAC”) to enhance diversity at Omnicom. It also cited its hiring of a chief diversity officer and the formation in 2009 of the Omnicom Medgar Evers Associate Program, which provides financial support and has created numerous internships and other opportunities for students with diverse educational, socioeconomic, political and cultural backgrounds.

The company said it supports Adcolor, an industry coalition, which creates networks of diverse professionals and “champions” of diversity and inclusion. And its Diversity Initiatives Group meets monthly to “share best practices and develop tools to efficiently and effectively incorporate diversity and inclusion initiatives at Omnicom offices.”

It also cited its G23 group, a strategic insights organization founded in 2008 that focuses on the economic and social impact of women in the global economy.

A source at the Comptroller’s office said those efforts were commendable, but that “without some transparency and data, there’s no way to know if the efforts are effective or substantive.”

Meanwhile, “the door is open,” at IPG for a potential dialogue, the source added — but declined to elaborate on what IPG said in its response. IPG officials couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

It was unclear how the city would approach WPP and Publicis — which, like Omnicom, did not respond to letters from Liu. But given that the companies are both based outside the U.S., the New York Comptroller’s Office does not have standing to offer shareholder proposals.

The Omnicom response and recommendation to its shareholders is nothing short of obscene.

“We do not believe that disclosing [the EEOC information] will meaningfully further the goal of workplace diversity. To the contrary, this information, which is susceptible to misinterpretation, could be manipulated by those with interests adverse to Omnicom’s and harm the company.” Leave it to adpeople to be concerned about someone manipulating the truth.

And what’s with the defense featuring all the patronizing smokescreens?

The holding company proudly created The Omnicom Diversity Development Advisory Committee. Um, what do the committee members have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company hired a Chief Diversity Officer. Um, what does Tiffany R. Warren have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company launched the Omnicom Medgar Evers Associate Program. Um, what do program participants have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company sends money to ADCOLOR®. Um, first of all, Omnicom hired the organization’s founder (Warren), so of course it’s going to fund the minority enterprise. But what do ADCOLOR® Award Winners have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

The holding company points to its Diversity Initiative Group. Um, what do the groupies have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

Hey, what does the diversity-loving PepsiCo client have to say about concealing the EEOC information?

Most importantly, what does concealing the EEOC information say about Omnicom?

10010: Minority-Free Mad Men.

Secretary Dawn Chambers was presented via a panning headshot, quick comment and voice through the intercom announcing a caller to Don Draper. Other than that, the latest episode of AMC series Mad Men featured zero minorities.

To compensate for the dearth of diversity, feel free to catch a recent interview with actress Teyonah Parris.

10008: Diversity Striking Out In MLB…?

From USA TODAY…

African Americans in MLB: 8%, lowest since integration era

By Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

ST. LOUIS—Major League Baseball, celebrating Jackie Robinson Day Sunday, has the lowest percentage of African-American players since the earliest days of the sport’s integration, according to research conducted by USA TODAY Sports.

The African-American percentage in baseball this season has dropped to 8.05%, which is less than half the percentage of 17.25% in 1959 when the Boston Red Sox became the last team to integrate their roster. It’s down from 8.5% last season, and a dramatic decline from the peak of 1975, when 27% of all rosters were African-American. Even as late as 1995, the percentage was 19%.

“Baseball likes to say things are getting better,” says former 20-game winner and front-office executive Dave Stewart, who’s now an agent. “It’s not getting better. It’s only getting worse. We’ve been in a downward spiral for a long time, and the numbers just keep declining.”

Ten teams opened the year with no more than one African-American on their opening-day roster. There are nearly 30 more players from the Dominican Republic than the total of African-American players. Foreign-born players account for 28.4% of members of opening-day rosters.

The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers account for nearly 25% of all African-Americans in baseball, while Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd is the lone African-American major leaguer in the city of Chicago.

“I don’t even know what to say,” said Byrd, the only African-American on the field Sunday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis during the 65th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.

“I remember when I came up with the Phillies in 2002, we had six [African-American] players. I thought that was the norm. Now, you look around, and don’t see anyone.

“Will it change? I don’t know. I’m hoping it’s a different story four or five years from now.”

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, aware of the dwindling numbers, said the sport is diligently trying to reverse the trend with their urban academies and annual Civil Rights Game.

“We trying to get better. It won’t happen overnight,” Selig said. “And we’re very comfortable saying it will be better. We are doing great work with our baseball academies and working in the inner-cities. It’s getting better.”

While African-Americans are dwindling on the field, Selig said he’s pleased with the diversity of front offices. Still, Kenny Williams of the Chicago White Sox and Michael Hill of the Miami Marlins are the lone African-American general managers, and Dusty Baker of Cincinnati and Ron Washington of Texas are the only African-American managers.

“I remember Jackie saying 10 days before he passed [in 1972],” Selig said, “he wouldn’t be satisfied until we had a black manager and general manager. If he went through all of our front offices today in baseball, he’d be proud.”

9994: Super Diversity.

From The New York Daily News…

Marvel Comics brings together two special versions of Spider-Man, including one who is dead ringer for A-Rod

Common villain to bring the two heroes from different alternate realities together

By Ethan Sacks / New York Daily News

Comic book geeks’ Spider senses are tingling.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man, Marvel Comics is bringing together two versions of the iconic character — one who is white and one who’s a dead ringer for A-Rod — in a mashup that pays homage to everyday New York.

A new five issue mini-series, “Spider-Men,” available starting in July, uses a common villain to bring the two heroes from different alternate realities.

“For the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man, what everyone was looking for was a Spider-Man story that mattered,” says series writer Brian Bendis. “Well, here you go.”

When Marvel introduced Miles Morales — a half-black, half-Latino teen — as the new Spider-Man in one of its comic lines last year, it made national headlines. Critics grumbled it was a character who would never make it alongside the original Spider-Man known to generations of fans since he was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962.

But Morales got a key stamp of approval from Lee. “Doing our bit to try to make our nation, and the world, color blind is definitely the right thing,” the comic book legend told The News.

Bendis agreed. “Someone had once said to me, ‘When I was a kid, I could only play Spider-Man, I couldn’t play Batman or Superman because my friends would say you’re not the same color, but I could play Spider-Man because when I fantasized about Spider-Man, he looked like me under the mask.’

“That was a big inspiration.”

Yet, despite the uncanny resemblance to the Yankees third baseman, Marvel Comics spokesman Arune Singh said “there is no A-Rod connection whatsoever.”

9987: AMC’s The Pitch Is Pathetic.

Caught the sneak preview for The Pitch, the new AMC series featuring real advertising agencies—McKinney and Wong, Doody, Crandall, Wiener—competing for AOR status. The first prize: an opportunity to hawk breakfast items for Subway to a youth audience.

Couldn’t help but notice all the pathetic sides of the industry on display. Not sure what the appeal is here either, as reality TV shows like The Apprentice have already depicted people concocting campaigns.

Besides Tracy Wong and one Asian-American staffer, the agencies appeared to be predominately White. Old too. In fact, both shops made a point to assign “younger” creatives to work on the shootout. The Old White Guys, however, ultimately forced themselves into the process.

The McKinney team found a viral video featuring a White rapper and actually pursued it as a big idea. Watching the mesmerized McKinney staffers listening to the rapper’s lyrics was nothing short of pathetic. The agency even brought the sell-out rapper to the final presentation.

The McKinney group creative director spent some time bemoaning the challenges of being a woman and mom while serving as a senior-level advertising executive. Boo-hoo, old White lady, boo-hoo. McKinney CCO Jonathan Cude, incidentally, is a mediocre presenter. From a creative standpoint, the agency deserved to lose.

Oddly enough, the lame McKinney concept won—proving once again that White adpeople love hip hop.

9958: Why Don’t Clients Demand Diversity?

Advertising Age reported on an ANA survey showing that 52% of clients will ask their advertising agencies to reduce internal costs over the coming year. Why are clients completely comfortable making demands on nearly every aspect of the business—and expecting agencies to comply without complaint—except when it involves diversity? Hell, clients could solve the dearth of diversity overnight. All they have to do is say, “Make it happen, White boys.”

ANA Survey: 52% of Marketers Will Ask Agencies to Lower Internal Costs

Brands Are Being Asked to Be Conservative With Spending

By Rupal Parekh

Marketing budgets haven’t changed drastically in the past year, yet brands are being asked to be highly conservative with spending, a new Association of National Advertisers study has found.

The spending survey, the sixth the ANA has conducted, was fielded in January via an online poll of its members. Nearly 250 client-side marketers responded.

The good news? Comparatively few plan to cut agency compensation—only 17% of all respondents, which is the lowest since 2008. Instead, they are asking agencies to look internally for ways of reducing costs. More than half (52%) of marketers surveyed will during the course of this year challenge their agencies to reduce costs internally.

In essence, that means marketers are asking agencies to share the burden of being cost-efficient. More marketers today are saying that they are under pressure to tightly manage their controllable spending; last year 77% of respondents said they were asked to control spending, and this year that number jumped to 84%.

“It’s not just marketers who are feeling the pinch,” said ANA President-CEO Bob Liodice in a statement. “All of our partners feel the impact of this year’s projected trends, as modest spending trends undoubtedly affect business processes throughout the supply chain.”

He added: “Though the industry outlook is trending toward stability, marketers need to be careful not to simply rely on short-term answers to solve enduring budget issues.”

Some of those short-term budget cuts that are being made to reduce overhead expenses include professional development and hiring of full-time talent. The survey found that 28% plan to lower investment in training of talent and attendance at conferences, while 21% are planning to use freelancers to fill open positions. The ANA stated that both figures were up from 2011 but was unable to immediately provide a comparative number.

Marketers are also planning to reduce costs in travel significantly—by 68%.

The respondents also said that they are toying with the media mix and using different marketing channels to try and lower costs. Despite the cautious environment, the survey found that nearly half of marketers surveyed (49%) will keep their ad budgets flat. For the 34% of companies that said they will reduce budgets, reductions are expected to be higher than last year, with 33% of those companies expecting to trim marketing budgets by 11% or more.

Some marketers out there are spared from the heat; 17% of respondents said they believe their advertising budgets are slated to go up.

9947: The Sunny Side Of Sunshine.

Advertising Age reported on Sunshine, a film masterminded by commercial director Doug Nichol, and starring freelance producer Jon Benet. The documentary short features Benet’s cynical musings about advertising and assorted topics, delivered during the production of a McDonald’s campaign for TBWA in China. While the film is receiving great praise and viewership on the Web, Mickey D’s and TBWA are not amused.

“We did not authorize it. As a company we don’t encourage releasing our projects without informing us or getting our approval,” said a McDonald’s official in China. “[The marketing team] didn’t authorize any individual to use our project as an example.” A TBWA official added, “TBWA also did not authorize use of any of this footage and we find it disappointing that a director would take it upon himself to show material that wasn’t authorized by the agency or our client.”

Nichol responded to the irked client and agency by saying, “I loved the experience of making the short and being in China and working with the TBWA team there. I’m sorry that they took this the wrong way, and look forward to a few laughs someday over a bottle of Tsing Tao.” Benet said, “I have to admit, if I’d known ‘Sunshine’ was going to become what it has I would have been more careful about the things I said, but I guess since I never expected so much to come of it… I just said what was on my mind, which maybe isn’t always the best idea, especially in terms of my job security.”

Benet’s comment is especially worth considering. After all, when advertising executives have criticized the industry for its lack of diversity—e.g., Harry Webber, Lowell Thompson and Hadji Williams—they have felt adverse effects in regards to job security. Meanwhile, Nichol and Benet exploited a professional scenario that was literally bankrolled by Mickey D’s and TBWA. The duo openly disrespected the client and global agency employing them, as well as Chinese people and culture. Yet it’s a safe bet they will probably experience zero negative consequences regarding their job security. In fact, things are looking pretty sunny for Nichol and Benet right now.

9939: The Hypocrisy Of Diversity.

Kraft is committed to building a culture where talented individuals can contribute their best. Kraft’s agencies have an individual culture—White.


PepsiCo is committed to diversity in everything we do. Provided everything comes from Omnicom.


Sprint believes in inclusion. Team Sprint, not so much.

9935: Being Open With Recruiting Tactics…?

The New York Times reported on a new 4A’s brainchild designed to recruit young people to the advertising industry. The online video looks like someone tried to sneak a diversity initiative into the project too. However, if one really wants to woo a youth audience, don’t do it with work that appears to have been conceived and executed by, well, Old White Guys. The grand scheme is called Open Advertising, which sounds oxymoronic. Wonder if the openness will include revealing the issues surrounding diversity—as well as gender and ageism. Plus, the Digital Set being targeted should be apprised that digital salaries are lower than traditional advertising salaries.

Pitching the Ad Life to the Digital Set

By Stuart Elliott

THE leading trade organization for advertising agencies is intensifying efforts to cast a wider net when recruiting employees with an initiative aimed not only at students, but also at talented younger people who work in other industries.

Executives of the organization, known as the Four A’s, are to describe the initiative during their annual Transformation conference, to be held in Beverly Hills, Calif., beginning on Monday and concluding on Wednesday.

The centerpiece of the initiative, called Open Advertising, will be a video-focused Web site, openadvertising.aaaa.org, that is to go live on Wednesday. It is meant to address a survey last year that concluded the industry was falling short in its attempts to attract and keep talented employees.

The contents of the Web site will be devoted to subjects like creativity, technology and agency work life. Another survey, conducted this year by two Four A’s members, Colle & McVoy and Partners & Napier, found considerable misconceptions on those subjects among the target audience.

“The No. 1 thing you hear from students and young people in other fields is, ‘Wow, I didn’t think you could do that in advertising,’ ” said Andrew Benett, global chief executive of Arnold Worldwide, part of Havas. He is to announce the initiative during the conference along with Sharon Napier, president and chief executive of Partners & Napier, part of Project WorldWide, and Nancy Hill, president and chief executive of the Four A’s.

•

The goal is “to tell the story of the industry in a high-touch, high-engagement way,” Mr. Benett said, and show advertising in a way that makes it appealing to “career switchers” as well as those seeking their first jobs.

Mr. Benett acknowledged that “you can never ‘solve’ the talent problem for the industry, because talent is going to constantly evolve.” But the industry needs to move beyond “a communications effort or a P.R. campaign,” he added, and address its recruitment problems in a substantive manner.

Among the initial participants in Open Advertising, Ms. Hill said, are digital and social media specialists like Razorfish, R/GA, Rokkan and Socialistic as well as agencies like Arnold Worldwide; Deutsch; Euro RSCG; McGarryBowen; McKinney; Mullen; JWT; Rapp; Saatchi & Saatchi; and Y&R.

“Three months ago, I was on a panel and someone asked, ‘How do I get into advertising?’” Ms. Hill said. “We want to make it easy to answer.”

“This is about bringing in a generation that’s been content creators all their lives,” she added, on social media like Facebook and YouTube, “and making advertising the preferred career choice for talent of all stripes.”

To underline the target audience for Open Advertising, anyone will be able to watch video clips on the Web site but to comment, share content or upload work, visitors will need to log in through their Facebook accounts.

The discussion of the initiative is among steps being taken by Ms. Hill and the Four A’s to make the conference agenda more compelling than “a bunch of agency talking heads saying the same stuff over and over,” as she put it.

•

Speakers and panelists are to include Rebecca Campbell, president of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group; Charlie Collier, president at AMC Networks, whose AMC channel presents “Mad Men”; Carolyn Everson, vice president for global marketing solutions at Facebook; Jack J. Haber, vice president for global advertising and digital at Colgate-Palmolive; Jason Kilar, chief executive of Hulu; J.B. Perrette, chief digital officer at Discovery Communications; Robert Pittman, chief executive of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment; Randall Rothenberg, president and chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau; Larry Scott, commissioner of the Pacific-12 Conference; Kristin van Ogtrop, managing editor of Real Simple magazine; and Chuck Woolery, the former game show host who is now a “senior citizen marketing specialist” at Western Creative.

The fact that registrations for the conference, at 1,300, are higher than had been expected indicates that “a lot of people think they’re going to get value out of it,” said Chuck Porter, the 2010-12 chairman of the Four A’s who is also chairman of Crispin Porter & Bogusky, part of MDC Partners, and chief strategist of MDC.

“People are busy, and the Four A’s has begun to understand this is business,” Mr. Porter said. “Nobody feels comfortable flying off to Bermuda.” (In 2000 and 2005, the organization, formerly the American Association of Advertising Agencies, held its annual management conference, a predecessor to the Transformation conference, in Southampton, Bermuda.)

“It’s less about socializing and golfing,” said Greg Stern, a Four A’s board member who is chief of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, and more about offering “a results-oriented conference” with “substantive, significant topics relevant to everyone in the business.”

9931: Living Up To The Hype…?

If Draftfcb Global Chief Talent Officer Cindy Augustine makes good on Draftfcb President and CEO Laurence Boschetto’s multicultural manifesto, she’ll deserve to be named the Most Influential Black in Corporate America.

9924: Invisible Admen And Adwomen.

From Advertising Age…

Silent Minorities: Industry Employees Speak Out About Adland Isolation

Results of Study Called ‘Very Disenchanting, But Not Surprising’

By Ken Wheaton

The average ad-industry employee likely agrees the diversity issue is a very unfortunate situation. One that should be remedied. By someone. But on a daily basis, he’s likely to carry on, figuring for the most part the industry will evolve and that his nonwhite coworkers are content with the state of adland.

The reality, according to a new study, is that a whopping 74% of minority employees in the industry agree that “My experience as an employee from a multicultural background is different from my colleagues’.”

The Impact Study, conducted by cross-cultural talent consultancy Tangerine-Watson, surveyed a total of 831 ad-industry professionals of various races and across general-market and ethnic shops between September and December of 2011.

The study’s numbers likely won’t shock anyone who’s paying attention to the issue. As 4A’s CEO Nancy Hill said, “It is very disenchanting, but not surprising at the same time.” Carol Watson, founder and CEO of Tangerine-Watson, called the results “sad and concerning.”

But one thing this survey provides is actual voices from those responding. What comes through is mostly a sense of resignation tinged with sadness.

“I try to keep my cultural preferences outside of work. … Since there isn’t much diversity I just have to go along with the flow,” wrote one respondent.

Another wrote about feeling excluded “when nobody [in the office] introduced themselves to me.”

“Many other people are allowed to just ‘be.’ As a black man I often have to shield my ‘real’ self a bit. I wish I could be as open as others. It’s something they don’t even recognize.”

Gender came up in a number of comments. Indeed, men (37%) felt more strongly than women (27%) that their experiences were “very much different” than their white colleagues.

Why does any of this matter? Obviously, aside from doing what’s right, it’s good for business to have ad agencies reflect the reality of the world we live in. One of the 4A’s most recent diversity efforts is called “Competitive Edge” for just that reason.

And it can be bad for business when a creative team overlooks important cultural cues in a campaign. For all the social-media outcries in 2011, the No. 10 most-read story on AdAge.com last year was “Nivea Pulls Ad, Apologizes After Racism Accusations.”

But even speaking up to voice concerns about such things comes with its own baggage. “Simply being aware of the presence (or lack thereof) of racial overtones in our advertising concepts and being turned to as the one to call it out is an unwritten responsibility—and I fear an unwritten liability,” wrote one respondent.

And there’s also the worry of being stigmatized as a complainer. Wrote another: “I have been treated differently for expressing negative feelings vs. my white colleagues.”

That’s not to say everything boiled down to race. When asked what they liked least about the ad industry, whites, African-Americans and Asian-Americans all picked “instability” as the top choice. “Instability” was the No. 2 choice among Hispanics, with “challenge balancing work and personal life” being the No. 1 dislike.

That said, lack of diversity does play a major role when it comes time for employees to decide whether or not to say in adland. African-Americans (33%) and Latinos (21%) were more likely to cite lack of racial and ethnic diversity as a very important reason for leaving the industry, compared to whites (4%).

For an industry that’s been hammered over this issue off and on since the late 1960s without a great deal of progress to show for it, keeping the minorities it has is just as important as recruiting fresh talent.

Ms. Watson hopes that the answers to the surveys—as well as a more granular look at the data and follow-up surveys—will provide some guidance for agencies.

Looking at some of the responses regarding those times multicultural employees actually felt included, some of the fixes don’t exactly require an industry-wide initiative. Being invited to meetings, being included in award-submission processes, being consulted on anything from creative to the new offices—these were among the things that made respondents feel more included.

Another step agency employees could take? Perhaps realizing that not everyone sees the time period portrayed in “Mad Men” as something to admire. (Responded one person to the scenario “I feel excluded”: “When they had a “Mad Men’ party.”)

But internship programs and affinity groups and mentoring and reverse-mentoring opportunities were also all mentioned by respondents. And that’s where agency executives and the industry as a whole have to step in.

“I’ve never been shy about saying we have work to do,” said the 4A’s Ms. Hill. “Our actions … have cultural cues we just need to think about, especially when we’re the majority culture.”

Which general-market agencies are doing right by way of diversity? Ogilvy & Mather and Wieden & Kennedy came in tops across the categories among non-Caucasian respondents.

In a statement, Ogilvy & Mather North America Chairman-CEO John Seifert said: “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.”

Regarding Wieden & Kennedy, former employee Jimmy Smith chairman-CEO-chief creative officer of Amusement Park Entertainment, said, “It’s incredible what Dan [Wieden] and Dave [Kennedy] have accomplished … especially miraculous when you consider that Portland [Oregon] is one of the whitest joints on the planet.”

What does Wieden have that others don’t? No. 1, said Mr. Smith, is its client roster. “Cool attracts cool,” as he put it. But it’s not just Nike. “Dan and Dave have love for people of color. Dave has been heavily involved with the American Indian College Fund since I’ve known him. And it’s true: Dan wishes he could be reborn as a Black jazz musician. …John Jay is a partner at W&K and he’s Asian. He helped me immensely with my transition into W&K, and I’m sure he’s helped many others since I left.”

Much of which affirms something else Ms. Hill said. “The clear message in all of this is [that] it starts with the CEO.”

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.

9911: McProgress.

From National News Sources…

McDonald’s CEO retiring

By Associated Press

McDonald’s Corp. said Wednesday that CEO Jim Skinner will retire later this year and be succeeded by the company’s president, a 22-year veteran at the world’s biggest hamburger chain.

Skinner, 67, will step down on June 30 after 41 years with McDonald’s. He was named CEO in 2004.

Donald Thompson, 48, will take over the helm July 1, the company said. In his current job, Thompson is responsible for global strategy and operations for the more than 33,000 McDonald’s restaurants in 119 countries.

He will be the first African American to head McDonald’s, which was founded in 1955.

Under Skinner, McDonald’s has undertaken an effort to upgrade its image by remodeling restaurants and adding menu items like smoothies and oatmeal to try to draw in healthier eaters.

It has also added lattes and other coffee drinks to try to appeal to customers who might otherwise go to Starbucks.

McDonald’s still was able to post strong results through the recession by attracting cash-strapped customers with low prices and limited-time specials.

Recently it has faced challenges including the economic turmoil in Europe, McDonald’s largest market by revenue, and rising costs for its ingredients and labor.

9910: One More Thing…

Advertising Age published “Three Things Agencies Can Learn From Basketball About Team Culture” by Partners & Napier CEO Sharon Napier. The three things are: 1) Winning agencies draft team players, not just superstars; 2) Promote a culture where everyone has a chance to get in the game; and 3) Great team chemistry starts at the top.

For proven success, Napier should add: 4) Put more Blacks on the team.

9906: J.P. Morgan’s Bizarro Planet.

For most White advertising agencies—like the one responsible for these ads—diversity is only inspiration for fantasy imagery.

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.

9889: BBH Heinous Homeless Hotspots.

Read the Advertising Age piece below—then check out the MultiCultClassics commentary that immediately follows.

BBH Turns Homeless People Into Wi-Fi Hotspots at SXSW

Modernization of ‘Street News’ or Dehumanization of Individuals?

By Ken Wheaton

BBH, in a charitable effort meant to help the homeless, is renting them out as wireless hotspots at SXSW. It’s called Homeless Hotspots. The agency sees this as an attempt to “create a modern version” of the “Street News” model, in which the homeless community reports, writes and publishes a print product.

Jon Mitchell at Read Write Web sees it another way.

There’s a wee little difference, though. Those newspapers are written by homeless people, and they cover issues that affect the homeless population.

By contrast, Homeless Hotspots are helpless pieces of privilege-extending human infrastructure. It’s like it never occurred to the people behind this campaign that people might read street newspapers. They probably just buy them to be nice and throw them in the garbage.

Which is exactly what a lot of people do with Street News, BBH’s Saneel Radia told Mitchell. Radia said that content creation wasn’t the top priority—social engagement was. In other words, by making homeless people purveyors of the one thing that SXSW attendees want above all else—a working Wi-Fi connection—they become visible members of society. And the “hot spots” keep all of the proceeds.

Radia went on to say that the effort might include content at some later point.

Wow. There’s serious ignorance and insensitivity at work here. Racism too.

Using the homeless for such self-promotional pap is tired and offensive. Only culturally clueless hacks employ these types of tactics while boasting to embrace the spirit of art, innovation and advocacy. It’s obscene exploitation perpetrated by the privileged. Nothing more.

And in this particular case, it’s even worse.

In 2009, New York City hosted the Diversity in Advertising Career Day, an opportunity for agencies and candidates of color to connect. Bartle Bogel Hegarty allegedly set up an empty table with a sign requesting job seekers simply drop off résumés. In short, BBH isn’t interested in hiring minorities. However, BBH is thrilled to take advantage of homeless minorities to hype the agency’s creativity. Maybe they’ll produce a companion TV commercial and cast Ted Williams as the voiceover. Sorry, but this pitiful act is a new low for White ad shops on Madison Avenue.

BBH should expand its masthead with an additional B—for Bigots.

9879: Where Are All The Black Geeks?

From The New York Daily News…

New York City geeks worried about low black representation in the startup tech scene

As New York’s digital industry grows, some techies worry about shortage of high-profile black entrepreneurs and developers

By Anjali Mullany / New York Daily News

Big Apple geeks say the code to startup success requires major networking. Want to learn programming or rub shoulders with developers over drinks? There’s an event for that.

One thing most of the city’s tech events have in common: relatively few of the high-profile entrepreneurs and developers in the crowd are black.

In New York’s booming start-up scene, African Americans “are absolutely underrepresented,” says Ron J. Williams, co-founder and CEO of Knodes and SnapGoods, startups that help people share goods and knowledge.



Sara Chipps, co-founder of the city’s popular Girl Develop It programming classes for women, says she’s concerned about the New York tech scene’s lack of diversity. “It is definitely not ethnically diverse…it’s mostly Asians and white people,” she said.


Techies say there’s an especially noticeable gap between the number of high profile female black entrepreneurs and developers in New York and their peers.

“In the past when I’ve gone to speak to groups of high school girls. I’ve looked for people that I can bring with me — I want to bring a diverse group with me. When I was getting into this, you want to find someone who looks like you, so you can be like, ‘I want to be like this person when I grow up’. Often it’s very difficult for me to find black and black female developers and as far as entrepreneurs go — I know maybe one or two, but I know dozens and dozens of entrepreneurs, so there’s really no real representation in the community,” Chipps noted.

Is lack of education to blame?

One possible reason: education. The Computing Research Association reports only 4.2% of all undergraduate computer science degrees went to blacks in 2010 – even though blacks account for 12% of the U.S. population. At the Interactive Technology Program (ITP) at New York University, widely considered one of the most creative innovation programs in the nation, the numbers are slightly higher. “We have 6% of the people enrolled this year who identify as African American,” said Dan O’Sullivan, the ITP department chair.

“Certainly part of the problem can be mitigated by having vastly larger numbers of people of color…going into STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics] fields and coming out with engineering and science degrees. There’s no question about that,” said Hank Williams, founder and CEO of Kloud.Co, a tool for organizing cloud service data. (Hank Williams is not related to Ron Williams).

But Ty Ahmad-Taylor, CEO and founder of FanFeedr, a real-time sports website, says there are opportunities for people to teach themselves. “If you’re in New York City, there’s enough low-cost and online resources where someone can fully immerse oneself in the New York tech community if one wanted to,” Ahmad-Taylor said.



While Hank Williams believes not enough blacks are getting relevant degrees, he’s quick to add that “it doesn’t explain the numbers.” Not all careers in the digital technology industry — like social media and venture capital positions — require computer science or engineering training.

“An awful lot of the people who have been successful in tech — particularly in the venture world — don’t have engineering degrees,” Hank Williams said.

Whether or not education is the reason for low black representation in the startup world, Ron Williams says the lack of high profile black role models in the industry is a problem. “If you don’t have folks who look like you, who feel like you, who relate to the same things as you, who are also off doing this interesting thing called tech entrepreneurship, it’s hard to actually get started, it’s hard for you to model behaviors, based on people who look familiar to you,” Ron Williams said.

But Ahmad-Taylor says despite the challenges, it’s necessary for aspiring founders to overcome those feelings. “You shouldn’t be a CEO if you’re going to be limited by those thoughts or that attitude,” he said.

Read the full story here.

9867: Target Colors Not Colored.

Color Changes Everything is the title of this new Target commercial. So how come the acrobat group adding color to everything doesn’t appear to include any colored people?