Hasta La Creative!

Wieden+Kennedy’s decision to replace its homepage with a statement on the #BlackLivesMatter movement last week has earned attention and/or praise from quite a few observers and media outlets including our parent company, AdAge and even the Washington Post. This despite the fact that the agency never promoted or discussed it directly.

The message, which started as an internal email written by a black employee, remains on the site as of this post after Hill Holliday removed a similar statement from its home page.

One observer, however, is not quite as impressed.

Brandon Burns is a copywriter and experience designer who has worked for Leo Burnett, MRM//McCann, Proximity BBDO and, for the past year, Wieden+Kennedy Portland.

Today he published a must-read Medium story in which he simultaneously praises W+K’s move and claims that every single agency he worked for previously “engaged in actions that broke the federal laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace.”

What does that mean?

“…while my personal career has been net-positive, along the way I have lost jobs to objectively less qualified candidates, I have fought, and won, a case of racial-based wage depression, and I’ve even had to report a manager to HR for harassment, only to be fired by the accused 24 hours later.”

Burns then asks a big question: will W+K’s tacit support of #BlackLivesMatter change the fact that the vast majority of its leaders, creative and otherwise, happen to be both white and male?

Those looking for a straight-up takedown will be disappointed. Burns acknowledges the agency’s own efforts to address this discrepancy, writing:

“As a hiring manager, I worked very closely with the in-house recruiting team; I am well aware of their valiant efforts to find new talent of all races and genders. Yet, nevertheless, when they share the portfolios of the best candidates with the Creative Directors?—?93% of whom are white males?—?it is, time and again, the white male candidates who are pursued and hired.”

Burns very clearly states that no one at W+K has exhibited racist tendencies to his knowledge. But he also names humanity’s inherent tribal sensibilities as the reason for the ad industry’s overwhelming whiteness, writing, “The creative director always has a reason why he hired, promoted or gave preferential treatment to someone who happens to look like him.”

He goes on to suggest several ways in which any given agency might move from sentiment to action on the diversity front, listing blind portfolio reviews, regular standardized performance reviews, and universal metrics for raises and promotions. His main idea is that agencies define “success” more objectively in order to avoid the sort of (often unconscious) traits that lead white men to hire and promote other white men.

Burns’ post may be the best-written take on the diversity issue that we’ve read, at least in recent weeks. It ends by encouraging white people to simply try and understand minority perspectives rather than reverting to “Wait, you think I’m a racist?!”

A W+K spokesperson has not gotten back to us about the story, just as the agency declined to comment on the site itself.

(Image via LinkedIn)

Last week, Hill Holliday became the second agency (after Wieden + Kennedy) to replace its web presence with a statement addressing the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

The agency’s homepage currently includes only an embedded Spotify playlist and the following statement with link:

If there were ever a time when humanity was in need of love, it’s now.

We don’t just want to take yet another moment of silence.

Instead, let’s hear each other out and become a part of the solution.

#BlackLivesMatter

AdAge initially reported on Wieden+Kennedy’s move with this Wednesday story, and Hill Holliday apparently made the change on Thursday evening at the end of the business day.

If there were ever a time when humanity was in need of love, it’s now. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/i14RzrRugb

— Hill Holliday (@hillholliday) July 8, 2016

The Spotify playlist is somewhat in keeping with the “humanity’s in need of love” sentiment, including such classic tributes of the genre as The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love,” Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s In Need of Love Today” and Lenny Kravitz’s “Let Love Rule.” It also includes a few more openly discordant choices like Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up” and and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”

An agency spokesperson said today that Hill Holliday doesn’t plan to comment on the decision.

In case you weren’t already aware, Wieden + Kennedy has been receiving a fair amount of attention over the past 20-plus hours for turning its website into a note on the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the events of the past week (excluding the horrific shooting spree that killed 5 police officers last night in Dallas).

Around the end of the work day yesterday, W+K’s homepage went down to be replaced by this:

It’s a fairly self-explanatory note in some ways, but the backstory helps put it in the proper perspective.

No one at W+K has spoken directly to us or other publications about the site, and an agency representative declined to comment today.

But sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell us that the change started with an internal email written by a black W+K employee that consisted of the same message seen above. It went out on Wednesday, the morning after the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Again, this was all before the death of Philando Castile and the shooting in Dallas last night.)

We obviously can’t assign any motivations to the person who wrote that email, but it reads like an attempt to convey his/her emotional state to co-workers.

Over the next day, agency leaders discussed this note and decided collectively to place it on the agency’s homepage; at the moment, viewers cannot access any other pages via wk.com. As we understand it, the decision stemmed from a desire to show support for W+K employees internally while also demonstrating to at least a few outsiders that the movement is much more than a hashtag and that it stems from a very real and very raw emotional response to events that feel like they are beyond any given individual’s control.

Some former employees seem to appreciate the gesture.

appreciate this statement from the most diverse, welcoming place i’ve ever worked at. by far. https://t.co/PWbSLeEFym

— yung content ? (@lukashmayyn) July 8, 2016

Of course we have no idea how effective the site will be in that respect, but we see it as a summary of the agency’s own current status. In that way, W+K is so far unique in the ad industry.

We’ve all heard of specialty agencies. There are also some cases like Cavalry, which for a time only made ads promoting various MillerCoors alcoholic beverage brands.

But an agency that only creates work related to marijuana legalization? That’s completely new to us.

Yesterday LBB Online ran a Q&A with Howard Bowler, founder of New York’s Green Point Creative. Bowler is an industry veteran. He spent more than a decade with Grey, where he was an audio engineer and ultimately managed the shop’s post department (according to his LinkedIn profile). After leaving the network to start an audio production company, he appropriately launched a shop dedicated to this one very specific issue on April 20th of this year. But why? Let’s aggregate a bit.

Here’s what he told LBB:

“Green Point is a creative content agency currently tackling the problems of harsh drug policy facing the United States today.

A family member was arrested last year on a possession charge even though he physically had no marijuana on him at the time. Throughout the whole overly complicated legal process I began to do some research on my own and discovered that not only is the War on Drugs a fraud, it is a war against minorities and the poor. Nothing more, nothing less.”

The agency’s site opens with a quote from Richard Nixon’s counsel John Ehrlichman stating that the administration’s War on Drugs was “really all about” punishing two opposition groups: “the antiwar left and black people.” He added, “Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

Here’s the agency’s PSA, released last month, that plays on Nixon’s announcement.

Bowler then tells LBB that his new content agency is an offshoot of the audio company: “If you look at ad agency models, they tend to build in house production units for their creative. We started from the other direction as an audio post company and now expanding into creative content. It’s a very fluid and exciting time.”

Indeed. The agency’s site doesn’t list any clients, which is not surprising given that marijuana use in New York state still falls into a very grey area, especially if it has no official medical purpose.

This is similar to a PR firm/nonprofit advocacy organization we profiled a couple of years ago that was created to serve one type of client: those whose business involves marijuana in some way. The idea was to “prepare corporations” for the inevitable market in which they can openly cater to stoners.

We’re not sure exactly how that went, but Bowler tells LBB that his agency has already moved from radio spots to long-form video ads and “informative new media content,” adding: “The main goal is to continue de-stigmatising marijuana. Shedding that stoner image has always been a huge goal for us.”

Here’s the first PSA, which went live on June 9th.

Legalization is coming to your state if it hasn’t already. But we wonder whether this sort of project will become a trend as well.

MDC Partners has acquired Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors, which will in turn form a “strategic global partnership” with CP+B.

At least we assume that’s the news. The press release does not include the word “acquisition” and mentions nothing about what portion of the agency MDC will own. It does, however, note the newly empowered network’s plan to unleash “an arsenal of extraordinary creative talent” by giving CP+B access to international staffers.

F&B is, of course, best known for the 2013 “Epic Split” campaign for Volvo Trucks starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. This past December Volvo designated Forsman & Bodenfors as its global strategic creative agency, and recent work for the client includes the “Prologue” launch spot for its “Made in Sweden” campaign, arriving ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament and starring Sweden national team captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Last September, the agency also teamed up with Iggy Pop in a spot for  H&M called “Close the Loop.”

Since its 1986 inception, the agency has grown to a team of 300, led by CEO Erik Sollenberg and chairman Anna Qvennerstedt. 

“I love Forsman & Bodenfors,” said CP+B chairman Chuck Porter, in a statement. “They only care about great work, and we share so much DNA they’re like our twin who grew up in Sweden. This business always needs re-invention and I think amazing things will come out of this partnership.”

“What we are creating is a fresh, seamless way to tap into the most potent collection of creative talent in the world,” added CP+B global CEO Lori Senecal. “At CP+B we’re building a modern global model that challenges the conventions of legacy agencies.  What ultimately makes us most valuable to global marketers is creating the boldest most inventive ideas that deliver the highest return on creativity, and this partnership amplifies our mission to do that more consistently and brilliantly than ever before.”

New York–based GlobalHue, which has been named the industry’s top African-American agency by AdAge multiple times and designated “Multicultural Agency of the Decade” by Adweek in 2009, has failed to pay its employees’ salaries for more than three months.

Yesterday, founder, chairman and CEO Don Coleman conceded in an email that the agency has been unable to compensate its remaining staffers since March 15 and that their health care benefits expired on April 31. He attributed this extended to delay to an unspecified financial issue, writing, “We have over a million dollars that has been held up by my bank over a dispute.”

Coleman, who launched the agency in Southfield, Michigan in 1988, wrote, “This is the first time in 28 years we’ve had this problem. There are a number of reasons why.” He then stated that the issue would be resolved “this week.” When asked to clarify, Coleman specifically claimed that all parties currently owed money by GlobalHue will be paid, including any outside vendors and former employees.

In response to a question regarding sources’ claims that GlobalHue will be closing one or both of its offices, Coleman wrote, “No office is closing.” On Monday, however, we spoke to the director of business development at a company called Motor City Computer who said that his company had recently been hired to clear GlobalHue’s Detroit-area location of all computers and related electronics in addition to wiping their hard drives. He told us that his company completed the work for which it was contracted but that it has not been paid by the agency despite repeated queries.Todd Palmer told us that he had begun to post comments on the agency’s Facebook page after he did not receive any response to repeated emails and voicemails.

The agency has worked with clients like Verizon, MGM Grand Detroit and the Bermuda Department of Tourism. Its best-known work in recent years was a 2014 campaign for Jeep starring Bob Dylan that first aired during Super Bowl XLVIII, and an article that appeared Crain’s Detroit Business the following week called the campaign “a step to general accounts.”

In March 2015, a FIAT Chrysler spokesperson confirmed that the company had parted ways with the shop, which had been creative AOR on the Jeep brand for more than five years. That statement came several days after an agency spokesperson confirmed that the organization would move its headquarters from Southfield to Manhattan with the Detroit-area location serving as “a smaller satellite office.” Former EVP/chief creative officer and DDB Chicago veteran Vida Cornelious then went to Walton Isaacson, and Chrysler eventually sent the Jeep business to DDB Chicago after telling us that it did not plan to name a new agency of record for the brand.

GlobalHue’s LinkedIn page currently lists its total employee count as 200-500, but multiple sources have independently told us that the number of staffers remaining in New York is approximately 15-20. We also hear, again from individuals who reached out to us individually rather than using the anonymous tip box, that employees have been told not to come into the office. Two sources claim that the only recent exception to that rule involved a day on which team members were told to be present when a Walmart representative visited the New York office.

Regarding Coleman’s note about a banking dispute, a former freelance creative director tells us that the CEO has been making similar statements to current and former employees since January. This CD claims that he began working for the agency last October but has not been paid for his work since March, and he also says that agency representatives no longer respond to any related queries after initially making multiple reassurances that he would eventually be paid. Today he forwarded us an automatic out of office auto reply that he received on May 18 from former director of finance Christopher Christie. It read, “I no longer work at GlobalHue. Please direct all HR, payroll and benefit questions to [other executives].”

GlobalHue has also recently experienced some changes in its client lineup. In May, a spokesperson for U.S. Bank confirmed that the company had ended its relationship with the organization, which had been its multicultural AOR in late 2013.

“I am very appreciative of my employees who have remained loyal to the agency during this time of disruption,” Coleman wrote yesterday. “And we will be back to normal very soon.”

Last Friday, we wrote about Florida Lottery appointing Tampa-based agency PP+K as its general market agency of record following a review. We noted that a spokeswoman for the Florida Lottery declined to comment to Florida Politics prior to a “safe-harbor period” ending some time on Friday, which coincided with the deadline for losing bidders in the review to file an administrative protest over the decision. Now SaintPetersBlog reports that incumbent agency St. John & Partners has filed a 166-page bid protest.

St. John & Partners had held the account since 2009. Following the review which resulted in St. John & Partners winning the account, Zimmerman Advertising lodged a protest of its own, which held up the award for several weeks.

According to SaintPetersBlog, among the allegations in the bid protest are that Tallahassee consultant David Bishop failed to observe a law regarding a two-year ban on former agency officials lobbying their former employers. The bid protest claims Bishop, a former deputy secretary of the Florida Lottery, lobbied on behalf of PP+K just 15 months after leaving his former position. PP+K maintains that Bishop “never met with any Lottery official privately” and never otherwise “actively lobbied” on PP+K’s behalf. Other allegations include that Florida Lottery broke the state’s Sunshine Law by failing to provide a public hearing discussing “the relative merits of the vendors and arrive at a best value determination and award recommendation,” and that they also never requested a “best and final offer” from participating agencies.

In the bid protest, St. John & Partners asks that Florida Lottery suspends awarding the contract to PP+K, until the decision is resolved either by the court or “final agency action,” either scrapping the award and relaunching the review or awarding it to the incumbent.

An Almap BBDO Brazil outdoor ad for Bayer aspirin has stirred some controversy after being awarded a Bronze Lion at the 2016 Cannes International Festival of Creativity in the Outdoor category.

The ad in question seemingly makes joking reference to non-consensual filming of a sexual act. It depicts two boxes of aspirin with the text:”‘Don’t Worry Babe, I’m Not Filming This’.Mov” — the assumption being that it alludes to a video file. Yikes.

That such an ad would be approved in this first place is bad enough. That a jury at Cannes decided it deserved an award is truly an embarrassment. Attention is being brought to the ad, and the jury which awarded it, thanks to Cindy Gallop tweeting about it, as you can see below.

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In a follow-up tweet, Gallop added, “Don’t use this to sell aspirin, male-dominated ad industry, & don’t award it, male-dominated juries. #canneslions.”

Predictably, those who saw Gallop’s tweets reacted with disgust at the ad, as well as a mix of exasperation and disbelief that a Cannes jury decided it merited awards recognition. Of course this isn’t the first embarrassing incident involving sexism at the festival this year. Just yesterday, VaynerMedia and Thrillist received a fair share of criticism for a party invite intended for “attractive females and models only” which the agency attributed to third party events company iGetIn.

An email invitation for a party hosted by VaynerMedia and Thrillist Media Group, featuring a performance by Wyclef Jean caused a swift backlash, thanks to the line “Please be aware that this specific list is for attractive females and models only.” It went on to request that “Ladies” seeking admittance to the party send “recent untouched photos and/or your Instagram/Facebook links for you and each of your additional female guest [sic],” adding, “once we have reviewed we will send you specific entry details.” Men, meanwhile were advised to “contact the PR departments of the respective sponsors” to request admittance. 

A female ad executive told Adweek that she and two colleagues received the email yesterday. One of them then forwarded the email to industry veteran and women’s advocate Cindy Gallop, who shared the email on Twitter and wrote, “It’s 2016, @vaynermedia @thrillist. This is not how you party at @cannes_lions.”

The email was sent by an events company called iGetIn. One of the women who received the email called the number listed and was told the sexist requests were a “totally normal practice.” Sounds pretty sketchy.

Gary Vaynerchuck seemed genuinely shocked to learn of its nature and quickly responded with a video apology. In it, he claimed he was “mortified” by the email, but accepted responsibility as VaynerMedia CEO. Vaynerchuck also reached out to apologize to the executive who forwarded the email to Gallop.

A Thrillist spokesperson, meanwhile, wrote, “A third party promotions company sent this email without us knowing. We apologize to anyone who was spammed with this but it didn’t come from Thrillist or Vayner. The guest list for the party has been closed for some time and will not include anyone who replies to that email.”

A VaynerMedia spokesperson told Adweek that the agency was not directly involved in the hiring of iGetIn and that “the message  itself was not reflective of the company or its culture.” Adweek reached out iGetIn but has yet to receive a response. 

During yesterday’s sentencing hearing for convicted felon Bill Grizack in North Carolina, the president/partner of The Variable read a statement calling him a “con man…addicted to lying,” contradicting the defense team’s attempts to portray him as a respectable family man who had simply taken a wrong turn in a legitimate attempt to further his own career.

Like the state prosecutor, Keith Vest urged the judge in the case to give Grizack a longer sentence. After we left the courtroom, Vest promised to provide an official statement on behalf of the agency, and he did so yesterday evening.

That statement in full:

As mentioned this morning, here is a follow-up statement to what was shared in the courtroom:

Bill Grizack caused employees to lose their jobs; he caused unimaginable emotional turmoil and he almost destroyed a company whose only fault was an instinct to trust.

For the past three years, we have worked closely with the authorities so that no other company falls victim to Grizack’s duplicity. Since 2013, The Variable has thrived – more than quadrupling agency revenues, tripling the size of our staff and we are currently a reigning Ad Age Southeast Small Agency of the Year. These accomplishments are a testament to the talent and tenacity of our team.

We are happy to officially put this matter to rest and to continue the jobs we love with our focus on the future.

Vest’s release comes after the judge in the case said, “There is just a small amount of gullibility and greed on the part of the victims.”

As noted yesterday, spokespeople for McKinney and Egg Strategy–two of the other agencies that were defrauded by Grizack–have declined to comment on the case. However, according to Grizack’s defense attorney Bernard Desrosiers, McKinney CEO Brad Brinegar said words to the effect of, “My client [meaning Grizack] placed a bet, and it went badly.” Desrosier added, “[Bill] wanted to please people and thought that if he continued working it would pay off.”

We are not yet done reporting on Grizack, and we have already received a fair amount of additional information. Multiple parties have told us that the former executive strategist had been living in the Boulder, Colorado area with his family and “looking pretty healthy” while awaiting sentencing. (When he pled guilty in March, he listed mailing addresses in both Lafayette, CO and West Hollywood, CA).

Another source claims to have recently overheard Grizack tell an unnamed party that he “currently works in four states,” though that statement would no longer be accurate as he has now begun to serve his sentence of 57 to 81 months in the North Carolina prison system.