Press
As the Great Resignation continues, agencies lose workers to brands
“I started to feel a little bit aged out of agency life,” Mimi St. Gelais, who joined Peloton this year as senior director of advertising, told Marketing Brew.
Marketing Brew - Ryan Barwick
You’ve heard of the Great Resignation—the pandemic-era term that loosely describes the cohort of professionals who, lucky enough to work, have found themselves reevaluating their current gigs over the past year, and are looking for something new.
Within marketing, a similar exodus is taking hold; according to a recent survey of more than 400 marketers by We Are Rosie, a firm that connects freelancers with ad agencies and brands, 63% are planning a job change this year.
Some are senior and mid-level employees leaving Madison Avenue for life in-house, whether at a brand’s internal agency or inside its marketing department. Going in-house isn’t a new trend, per se, but the pandemic has accelerated the decision for many in the industry as they find themselves drawn to the perks that the other side can offer.
Take Spice Walker, a senior strategist who left creative and media agency 360i to join AB InBev’s in-house agency, DraftLine, in June 2020 because “going into the beer industry was the safest move I could make,” she told Marketing Brew. “In-house was always at the back of my mind; the pandemic and the opportunity presented propelled it.”
Husani Oakley made the jump to Netflix this summer after serving as chief technology officer at ad agency Deutsch New York. At Netflix, he'll lead creative practices and the company's social content strategy. He told Marketing Brew the pandemic pushed him to make the move.
“We never knew that the past year and a half was possible. Now, anything's possible. Why not take a leap that perhaps two years ago would have made me uncomfortable?” Oakley said.
“I used to have seven clients—now I have 200 million,” he said, referring to the streamer’s subscriber base. “Everyone’s going in-house.”
As Jay Haines, founder of Grace Blue, an executive search firm that recruits for both agencies and brands, puts it, these professionals want to be “closer to the commercial reality of a company as opposed to the execution of a communications plan. It’s a real trend.”
“Growth mode”
The trend partly stems from the fact that opportunities at in-house shops are growing; 44% of 150 B2C marketing executives surveyed by Forrester said they plan on moving more agency work to their in-house teams in 2022.
The In-House Agency Forum said nearly half of its members recently reported that their companies were in “growth mode” and are taking on new “revenue opportunities.” According to the organization, 48% of its members saw an increase in team size over the past 14–16 months.
There are also the new norms of remote working, as many gigs don’t require employees to work in person. Pre-pandemic, one of the toughest sells for brand recruiters was geographic location.
“A lot of places where brands are founded are often not as appealing as the places where agencies live,” said Haines. “Suddenly, the single principal reason not to do something has been taken away, opening up huge opportunities.”
Change of scenery
WPP, one of advertising’s largest holding companies, revealed last year that 73% of its workforce was under the age of 40. And over the past few years, agencies including Doner and TBWA have been sued for age discrimination.
“The harsh reality of agency culture is that ageism exists,” Forrester research director and VP Mike Proulx told Marketing Brew. “Seasoned creative directors command a high salary which is often at odds with the increasing margin pressures of agencies, which was only exacerbated by the pandemic. This perfect storm results in a huge upside for brands looking to bolster their in-house talent.”
Mimi St. Gelais, 44, spent around 15 years in the agency world, working for shops like Wieden+Kennedy and 72andSunny before joining Peloton in March as senior director of advertising. “I started to feel a little bit aged out of agency life,” she told Marketing Brew. She’d considered going client-side for a few years, but was afraid of losing the diversity of work that agencies can provide.
Mapping out the rest of her career, it didn’t feel fulfilling to continually solve “similar problems, shaped differently,” for various clients.
Looking for more family time, Todd Miller joined Experian in 2016 to become the brand’s chief creative director after spending roughly 20 years at various agencies. At the time, there was a bit of a stigma attached to going in-house. “When I changed my LinkedIn, everyone gave me a lot of shit. ‘Oh, you sold out, you care more about your family,’ and uh, yeah, I do,” he told Marketing Brew.
“In-house teams are increasingly attracting solid agency creative directors who are looking for more ‘work-life balance,’” Proulx told us.
$$ > avocados
Agencies are known for offering perks—think sleek offices, beer kegs, avocados, and unlimited vacation days—to offset long hours and back-to-back pitches. But many of those benefits have been stripped away in today’s WFH environment, giving agency employees another reason to reconsider what’s next.
Steve Peck joined financial startup Current as head of brand creative in July after a career spent freelancing for both agencies and brands. He told Marketing Brew that though brands may offer a lower salary, “in-house jobs tend to reward business performance in a way agencies don’t...performance bonuses, stock options that actually reward real business growth.”
Grace Blue’s Haines, agreed, noting that—at least at the senior level—a base salary may be 30% lower, but “you’ll get that straight back in performance plus stock,” he said. “Financially speaking, if you can, if you are willing to invest the time, it is often the case that the compensation is better on the brand side.”
Peck said client demands and uncertainty can also make it difficult for agency employees, specifically creative ones, to do their best work. “If you're running a piece of business, everyone just wants to hold on to that. That doesn’t always make the best environment necessarily for creative work or a general, emotional day-to-day existence,” he said. “Spending four months with no days off burns you out.”
Oakley won’t miss staying up until 4 in the morning for a pitch meeting, or spending the entirety of a 10-hour flight on a pitch deck. So far, St. Gelais has had to work some weekends, but she finds the work to be rewarding.
Of course, the door is never closed, she said. “If I hate it, I can always go back. You’re not stuck brand-side forever.”
Campaign US' 40 Over 40 2021 Honorees Revealed
The next class of Campaign 40 Over 40 honorees has been unveiled, and while conversation about advertising and youth is still as relevant as ever, it has also evolved.
As diversity and inclusion efforts throughout the industry grow, there has been a shift in focus from diversifying only the bottom ranks of employees to including, retaining, promoting and celebrating talent of color in mid- to senior levels.
We can see some of that effort reflected in this year’s list, which is more than half represented by women and more than a quarter by BIPOC executives, such as Triller’s Bonin Bough, eos Products’ Soyoung Kang, Netflix’s Husani Oakley and many more.
That shows slight progress from last year’s list, which was 50% female and 22% BIPOC, but it’s not enough and there’s still a ways to go. Campaign holds the industry accountable for tracking and being transparent in its metrics and it’s important for us to look in the mirror and do the same.
For clients, working with senior talent is rarer and more desirable than ever. Marketers, sick of agencies cycling entry-level staff through their accounts, yearn to work with experienced folks who can cast a more strategic eye over their business during a time of rapidly shifting consumer habits and new business priorities.
New agency models are springing up around this concept. Said Differently, for example, launched by AKQA vets in March, is built around offering clients face time with senior talent and staffing up and down for support through a freelance network.
But as demand for experienced talent grows, so have the demands on experienced, talented people. In addition to meeting client clamor for more speed, agility and customization than ever, many of the people on this list juggled family dynamics, home schooling and the uncertainty of a global pandemic with being leaders at their companies and mentors in their fields. They set an example for talent working from home, creating boundaries, norms and protocols for an entirely new working model that they were also learning along the way.
It’s no wonder, then, that this list is full of CEOs and leaders who led bravely through dark times, from FIG’s Judith Carr-Rodriguez, to Havas North America’s Stephanie Nerlich, to The Martin Agency’s Kristin Cavallo. It also represents marketers who led the way for their brands as business realities rapidly shifted, such as Diageo’s Sophie Kelly, Goldman Sachs’ Fiona Carter and OkCupid’s Melissa Hobley, just to name a few.
The people on this list are valuable multitaskers who met a dark time with grit, determination and fresh ideas. They adapted to a new market and guided their clients and teams along the way while looking out for the health and safety of their people.
A special shout-out to the women on this list, who were most affected by the pandemic and the shift to working from home, and still managed to shine through as invaluable to the industry.
Advertising will always chase youth. Young and fresh sells.
But paying homage to the experienced people behind the scenes — the coordinators, hand-holders and example setters — is just as important.
Because it’s only when we celebrate our own experience and wisdom that we can start to put out more authentic, diverse and age-inclusive advertising into the world.
Super Bowl 2021: Experts Rate the LEaked COmmercials
New York Post - Tamar Lapin
The stars of “Wayne’s World” were reunited, Amazon’s Alexa got replaced by a flirty Michael B. Jordan and Bruce Springsteen made his commercial debut for Jeep.
Celebrity cameos in this year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials veered on the zany and were heavy on nostalgia, as companies tried to relay upbeat, hopeful messages amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But brands also took the opportunity to say something meaningful about our unprecedented times, according to a team of top ad executives assembled by The Post.
“Advertisers are leaning heavily on how 2020 was the worst year in recent memory,” said Jennifer DaSilva, president at Berlin Cameron.
“Most of the spots are optimistic and hopeful as we embark on a new year.”
Here’s what our panel of experts made of the Super Bowl 55 ads:
Amazon – “Alexa’s Body”
“Again, please,” was likely what every woman in America said after seeing this ad, according to Nicole Michels McDonagh, of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners.
Amazon turned its virtual assistant Alexa into a sex symbol with the help of Michael B. Jordan in this fun and memorable ad.
However, some of our experts felt the spot’s sultriness was heavy-handed, especially for a family-friendly product.
“Yes, the sexual innuendo is over-the-top at times, but high marks for sheer entertainment,” said Chris Graves, Chief Creative Officer at Team One.
“Really well-crafted as a film,” Graves added. “And appreciate the attempt to give a somewhat intrusive technology a human face — an extremely good-looking human face.”
Average grade: A
Bud Light — “Last Year’s Lemons”
Bud Light’s spot was a nod to the “lemon” of a year we’ve just had — though “this ad is anything BUT a lemon,” said DaSilva.
Most of our experts enjoyed the clip’s quirky metaphor for 2020 and its take on the age-old adage: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
In the ad, giant lemons raining down on weddings and other parties, and though we’ve seen unexpected objects falling from the sky before, this one was “nicely produced and fun to watch,” said Graves.
“Thank you, Bud Light,” said Jennie Moore, Creative Director at WONGDOODY in Seattle.
“We could either laugh or cry about last year, and this helped me share in a much-needed laugh.”
Overall grade: A-
Uber Eats — “Wayne’s World”
Comedians Dana Carvey and Mike Myers of “Wayne’s World” brought viewers back to the 1990s for this fun ad.
“A lot of brands have made Super Bowl Sunday into ‘Throwback Thursday,'” noted Andy Nathan, founder and CEO of the Fortnight Collective.
“The Wayne’s World local access cable TV show working to help local restaurants makes a lot of sense for Uber Eats and what they promise.”
Add the cameo from Cardi B and the ad becomes even more “fun, eye catching and entertaining,” said Moa Netto, Chief Creative Officer at RAPP US.
SPIN CEO Jimmy Hutcheson added: “The one thing that always hits a mark is nostalgia.”
“In recent years, Super Bowl commercials have tapped into that by resuscitating beloved movie characters,” Hutcheson said.
“Thus, it makes perfect sense that grabbing Mike Myers and Dana Carvey for a Wayne’s World reunion would absolutely make sense and work.”
“Adding current pop icon Cardi B to that equation? Brilliant,” said Hutcheson, “a big win for Uber Eats to appeal to people from multiple generations.”
Average grade: A-
Cheetos — “It Wasn’t Me”
Cheetos enlisted celebrity couple Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis for this ad, set to Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me.”
“I liked how they were able to leverage the cultural power of an iconic song while keeping the product at the center of the narrative,” said Netto.
Eric Stein, Chief Creative Officer at Hooray Agency, agreed on the choice of tune.
“Shaggy steals the show. Mila and Ashton work ‘ok’ as support,” said Stein, who gave the ad a C.
Tim Smith, president of Chemistry in Atlanta, said: “I wanted to like this one but it seemed off.”
“Shaggy and the music was great but the acting and singing of two stars I really like, was awkward.”
Average grade: B-
Scotts Miracle-Gro — “Big Game Commercial”
The slew of celebs making an appearance in this ad felt forced, according to our experts.
It was also another hit at nostalgia with John Travolta’s special appearance.
But event that wasn’t enough to save this spot.
“The Super Bowl ads are teeming with celebs this year, and a big chunk of them seem to be in this spot,” said Graves.
“It’s strangely compelling as you try and figure out how one relates to the next. Then Travolta shows up and all bets are off. All to promote a contest to win a lawn and garden of your dreams? It’s a lot to process.”
Average grade: C
Robinhood — “We are all investors”
Robinhood was recently in the headlines in connection with the GameStop saga, but the investing app’s first Super Bowl commercial fell flat, according to our experts.
“I think Robinhood was smart to use the current PR to reinforce brand awareness on the biggest stage,” said Smith, adding: “Having said that I think they missed the mark on a Super Bowl spot.”
“The spot is beautifully shot but a too quiet for the stage.”
Husani Oakley, Chief Technology Officer at Deutsch NY, noted that “There was probably not enough time to make any changes,” in the aftermath of the stock market madness.
Still, ” I don’t think the spot would have worked well even in a pre-#GameStopGate world.”
“The basic idea — that everyone invests in something, so why not invest via Robinhood — is spot-on, but the execution falls pretty flat, and doesn’t quite live up to it’s potential.”
Average grade: C
The Year in Creativity, 2020
Highlights from a turbulent 12 months, and what's next
The Drum - Tim Nudd
It's been a year of extremes, in just about every sense. And so it's been in advertising, too, where a stunned industry adjusted in days to a whole new way of working as well as radically shifting client needs, all against the backdrop of a global pandemic, the fight for racial justice, and a bruising U.S. election that further divided an already-bitter country. In this climate of fear, many advertisers, not knowing what else to do, made predictably anodyne work. But others, boxed into the same corner, just as predictably did what they always do—found their way out through creativity, and delivered resourceful, inventive, entertaining and truly emotional work that met the demands of the moment, in marketing and beyond. As we wrap up a year to forget, we asked a group of top creatives to pick the work to remember—and to suggest where we might go from here. Thanks to all who contributed, and here's to a brighter 2021.
Husani Oakley
Chief Technology Officer, Deutsch
Project I'm proud of
I'm proud of a lot of the work we've done this year, but in this tumultuous year, what I am most proud of is Deutsch NY's partnership with the School of Visual Arts (SVA) on a program called "Fund the Change." Along with other initiatives to level the playing field for people of color in this industry, we're putting our money and our time where our mouths are with a scholarship and year-round mentoring program. Fund the Change (which comes with guaranteed paid summer internships) is our investment in developing future advertising leaders, and I couldn't be more pleased.
Project I admired
TikTok users recently crowdsourced ideas for an imaginary Broadway musical—within days, songs and choreography were written, sets designed and playbills created. Not long after, Disney's official Twitter account acknowledged the movement, dubbed #RatatouilleTheMusical, and transformed it into a real-life benefit performance planned for Jan. 1. This is the magic that can happen when people who've grown up with the tools of creation in their pockets turn ideas into incredible executions. #RatatouilleTheMusical isn't agency work … but damn, imagine if it had been?
A prediction for 2021
It may not feel like it, but creativity thrives when limitations exist. And boy, 2020 has been a year of limitations. Indeed, 2020 has been an annus horribilis, and we'll be dealing with the ramifications for decades to come—but I expect 2021 will bring us stories we haven't seen before, told in ways we're just experimenting with now. Sure, the continued rise of A.I. out of adtech/martech and into the actual creative process will drive change, but what excites me is the possibility of a human creative renaissance.
How do you solve a problem like... remaining culturally relevant?
Each week, we ask readers of The Drum, from brands, agencies and everything in between, for their advice on real problems facing today’s marketing practitioners.
The Drum - Sam Bradley
Husani Oakley, chief technology officer, Deutsch New York
When an idea reaches the mainstream, it's already too late. The trick is to be clued-in right when the pot of memes, reverence and ideas is about to boil. Seek out and follow people who are creating what will eventually become mainstream, and then follow the people who follow them. You can't rely on algorithms to surface their content because by the time Al detects it, everyone else already knows about it. Also, remember that culture is created outside of the mainstream. Twitter and Tik Tok are great, but places like Triller, Fuser and super-niche subreddits are where the real conversations are happening. Go listen to them.
Ask a Webby Judge: Husani Oakley, Chief Technology Officer, Deutsch New York
Six questions with Husani Oakley, Chief Technology Officer at Deutsch New York. He's also a new member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS) for The Webby Awards.
1. Why are you excited to serve as a Webby Awards judge? What expertise do you bring?
My perspective on the modern Web is colored by my introduction to the old-school Internet — my first computer was a 386 SX running Windows 3.1, and my first encounter with networking was co-sysoping BBSs and spending entirely too much time on FidoNet. And after a career spent in both start-ups and advertising, I’m excited to see what my Internet OG-ness brings to The Webby Awards.
2. What trend or emerging technology are you most excited about in your field of work?
I’d bet $500 that most people say “machine learning” when asked this question, and honestly, that’s my answer, too. But machine learning being used in user-centric ways, adding real value to how people use things instead of just driving efficiency and revenue. Interfaces powered by AI? Voice-based artificial assistants, focused on what a human needs, not what a big company wants? That’s the stuff that gets me out of bed and in front of a keyboard day after day.
3. Why do you think being a part of The Webby Awards community matters?
It’s rare to find a community focused on the Internet that has such a diverse mix of skill sets. It’s also rare to find an Internet award that my parents have heard of. A combination of the two? Doesn’t get better than that. From technologists to pop-culture-makers, The Webby Awards has it all, and I’m honored to be a part of the community.
4. Since so much has changed this year, what is one trend you’d like to see stick around in your industry?
As an Internet OG, I remember assuming that creation of a global network — where anyone, anywhere, can instantaneously communicate with anyone, anywhere — could be nothing but a positive force. And the underlying technologies could only ever be used for good.
I was wrong. We were wrong. And considering the dumpster-fire nature of the world these days, in no small part driven by use (misuse?) of the Internet, it’s gratifying to see more and more OGs admitting that we messed up, big time.
I want that trend to continue. I want us as a society to think about the potential negative impact of technology while we’re making it, not after the damage has already been done.
5. What projects or endeavors are you currently working on, and how will it benefit online communities?
I saw a tweet the other day that referred to a poorly-thought-out ML project as putting some pictures in a “box of math.” That phrase has stuck with me. People who don’t create technology for a living tend to assume that technology — and math — is infallible. Those of us who do create technology know the truth.
So I’ve been giving a talk called “The Robots Are Already Here,” explaining a bit about how machine learning actually works, how poorly-constructed training data builds bias into models — and, most importantly, how our society is using those models to make real decisions that impact human lives. The usual audience for the talk is advertising students; it’s on all of us OGs to get into the heads of the newbies as soon as possible, especially those who’ll end up making business decisions about how to use technology.
Bonus Question: What’s your favorite app that other people haven’t heard of?
I’m a DSLR nerd, and so I’ve been using a Canon 5D as my webcam during the quarantine, but I recently discovered EpocCam — which turns your iPhone camera into a webcam for all your Zoom calls. Pretty neat.
Why brands need to put Black Lives Matter in context
As brands increasingly recognise they need to acknowledge the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, understanding its context – and how other brands have both succeeded and failed in addressing it – is a crucial first step.
Writing in the WARC Guide to brand activism in the BLM era, Husani Oakley, Chief Technology Officer at Deutsch New York, notes that, for brands, attaching messages to critical moments is a dangerous game if they do not first understand the moment itself.
“Addressing matters of racial injustice in marketing without prior preparation has been replete with examples of inorganic, unauthentic messages and, as seen with Pepsi’s infamous 2017 Kendall Jenner spot, instant consumer backlash is the price paid,” he says.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand how the BLM movement arrived at its current position. Moreover, he explains, it is actually comprised of three waves, “which were formed not just by incidents of violence – and murder – against Black people, but also by how social media helped propagate awareness of BLM”.
The Martin Wave began #BlackLivesMatter in 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black teenager, in Sanford, Florida. The Brown Wave which followed the 2014 murder by a police officer of 18-year-old Black teenager Michael Brown Jr saw the movement take to the streets in Ferguson, Missouri with a focus on law enforcement officers murdering unarmed Black people.
If that involved a shift from a hashtag to a community, the May 2020 murder of George Floyd, caught on video, struck a chord with almost everyone. “‘Black Lives Matter’ the phrase, as shorthand for a larger concept, was now mainstream, and what had been a limited movement was now mass mobilised,” Oakley observes.
For clarity, he adds that “Black Lives Matter – the hashtag, the phrase, in all possible permutations – is not ‘Black culture’. It is part of the bedrock upon which the American promise is built.
“That said, embracing Black culture and acknowledging its place in American culture is how brands can show that Black Lives actually Matter.”
Doing that in an appropriate way, he advises, requires an understanding of the history that has brought American society to this moment, an authenticity that avoids any ‘othering’ effect, and diverse teams within brands that reflect the society they create messaging for.
For more, read Husani Oakley’s article in full: The three social media waves of the Black Lives Matter movement – and how they impact marketing in this moment
How do you solve a problem like... remaining culturally relevant?
The Drum - Sam Bradley
Each week, we ask readers of The Drum, from brands, agencies and everything in between, for their advice on real problems facing today’s marketing practitioners.
In this instalment, we ask how brands should go about tapping into popular culture in order to connect with mainstream audiences – made all the more difficult, of course, as culture itself becomes ever more fragmented and decentralised, and as the cost of a getting it wrong grows ever higher. So, how can brands make sure they’re keeping up?
Jodie Fullagar, co-managing director, M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment
For brands to stay ahead of mainstream culture they need to be in mainstream culture. One of the best ways for brands to be culturally relevant in people’s lives is by playing a role in the things people love. When brands engage with consumers through their ‘passions’, in the right way, they will see significant brand and commercial benefits.
Last year, we commissioned a piece of research in partnership with Canvas 8 into the ‘Power of Passions and Future of Fandom’. 74% of fans surveyed said they feel more loyal to companies that sponsor their passion, and nearly 70% are more likely to pay more for a sponsor’s product than a non-sponsor.
So how should brands show up in people’s passions? Firstly, beware of badging and borrowing. Brands need to spend time working out what their role is in that passion. Secondly, brands need to contribute to the fan experience or the industry by bringing something that adds value. Thirdly, commit – it’s a long game, which brings incremental return and value over time.
Finally, and increasingly important, is to show up with purpose. Our research showed that 62% of fans said they want brands to stand up for something that’s important to them.
Nicola Kemp, editorial director, Creativebrief
To keep up with mainstream culture, marketers need to be relentless and consistent in the drive to ensure their organisations and agency partners reflect the diversity of the audiences that they are seeking to connect with. The industry cannot claim to create culture if it doesn’t reflect it within its leadership teams. This isn’t just about diversifying the talent pipeline; it’s about being intentional in nurturing cultures in which all people, regardless of job title, feel they can speak out and be heard. Social listening is a woefully under-utilised marketing tool; but active listening within brands and business is just as vital.
Kendra Eash, partner and creative director, And/Or
The best way to know what’s going on in current culture is to consume current culture. Have an open mind, try it out, watch it, use it – or at least make the effort to understand why people like it. Don’t make assumptions about what a certain target audience will like. Find what you like and relate to that. I think people can see right through creative that has been created from a place of fear with a million stakeholders’ fingerprints on it. And don’t force a fit if there isn’t one there: no one’s thinking about the taste of their soda when they are protesting for human rights. Find a different way in or a cultural moment that actually fits with the brand. Sometimes the best comment is not forcing a comment.
Stuart Lang, founder and creative director, We Launch
The most authentic brands support culture, they don’t hijack it. If a brand is the sum of its parts, then it should take its inspiration from its people and customers. Look around. Look up. Stop. Actively seek out the new, in whatever form it takes. Culture is all around us, waiting to be discovered. Let it inspire your ideas, which in turn will help shape your brand.
Eyewear brand Warby Parker has done this to great effect. Whenever it opens new stores, it connect with local artists from that area to create bespoke murals and stay in touch with the community. In collaborating and giving freedom to brilliant young artists, its brand experience feels constantly fresh, surprising and full of delight. It doesn’t stop there either. Since 2014, it has sponsored the Warby Parker Visionary Scholarship, granted to 2D artists who demonstrate conceptual, material and technical inventiveness.
Whatever you do, just don’t try too hard to be relevant – because if you do, then you never will be.
Ayaan Mohamud, APAC marketing director, Impact
One of the best ways to keep a brand relevant to mainstream culture is to be involved in a grassroots way in mainstream culture through partnerships. We’re seeing more and more of our customers leverage the trust and community influence of micro-influencers to drive brand awareness and sales. When brands partner with influencers to create authentic content relevant to their passionate audiences, we see a significant uplift in performance compared to more tightly ‘managed’ campaigns. Design powerhouse Canva gets this right. It has harnessed the passion of its super fans to drive peer-to-peer recommendations through its rapidly growing affiliate and partnership program.
Lottie Maddison, marketing and development manager, Stormbrands
Brands that ask respectfully for advice from their own people are demonstrating that they are inclusive, diverse, caring and truly living their brand promise. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have seen plenty of first hand ’they should’ve run this past their LGBTQ+ staff first’ moments across different brands marketing and advertising campaigns. Despite best intentions, our world is reactive, fast-paced and in a constant state of flux. The best way for brands to keep up appropriately is to ensure your teams are diverse and represent many different voices. Most importantly, listen, learn and action. It’s better to come from your team rather than coming too late via a ‘boycott this brand’ hashtag.
Marta Swannie, senior creative and innovation director, Superunion
The gaming industry – particularly esports – can help us find the answer here as it home to so many subcultures that the prospect of staying relevant can be daunting to a brand looking to engage. The main takeaway is that when engaging with culture, brands must know when not to get in the way. DHL is a fantastic example of a brand doing just that. It created a loveable robot called EffiBot with ESL that appears at intervals during the games and it is now so ingrained in esports tournaments that crowds chant ”DHL” when it appears. It is not the role of a brand to obstruct, so where they can shine is by complementing or enhancing what is already there.
Husani Oakley, chief technology officer, Deutsch New York
When an idea reaches the mainstream, it’s already too late. The trick is to be clued-in right when the pot of memes, reverence and ideas is about to boil. Seek out and follow people who are creating what will eventually become mainstream, and then follow the people who follow them. You can’t rely on algorithms to surface their content because by the time AI detects it, everyone else already knows about it. Also, remember that culture is created outside of the mainstream. Twitter and TikTok are great, but places like Triller, Fuser and super-niche subreddits are where the real conversations are happening. Go listen to them.
Shazia Ginai, UK chief executive officer, Neuro-Insight
This year has caused a dramatic shift in the mindsets of consumers: as our life context changes, so does our behaviour. As people’s outlooks on life and the world around them change, they expect their chosen brands to adapt too – or risk cognitive dissonance. Campaigns and brand messages need to stay topical and relevant to drive long-term memory encoding as we build associations and memories through stories and experiences.
Understanding your customer and how their circumstances may have changed is crucial to shaping this connection. Our research on gender representation shows that consumers are wired with pre-existing conditioning around binary gender norms, therefore brands need to challenge and shift these stereotypes and themes in mainstream culture to be ahead of the curve.
Rihanna’s Fenty Skin beauty line focused on accommodating diverse skin colours, but realising a much greater step change was required, Fenty then went a step further by building on the brand’s ongoing premise of inclusivity by addressing the issue that skincare is just for women. More brands need to react to cultural changes and movements, but they also need to align to the world that their complex audiences live in.
Cara Van Rhyn, junior planner, Leagas Delaney
In today’s world, there are a plethora of ways for brands to stay informed. Whether it’s staying up to date with trending topics on Twitter, threads on Reddit or questions on Quora, there’s a social platform for everyone and within each one lies a host of interesting cultural insights for brands to tap into. But staying conversant with these is no longer enough. Consumers – specifically younger generations – are increasingly passionate about brands that don’t just talk the talk. They want action. Actively supporting cultural movements by giving back to communities can make all the difference when it comes to staying relevant.
Black Advocacy Nonprofit 600 & Rising Names Inaugural Board of Directors
Several industry leaders are on the list
Adweek - Minda Smiley
600 & Rising, an organization formed last month to advocate for Black people who work in the advertising industry, has formally appointed a board of directors.
The board will help 600 & Rising "execute its mission of dismantling systemic racism in the U.S. advertising industry through effective policy and zealous advocacy," according to the nonprofit.
Members of the board are as follows:
Education chair: Vann Graves, executive director of VCU Brandcenter
Policy chair: Janeya Griffin, chief strategy officer of Concreates
Allyship chair: Mira Kaddoura, founder and executive creative director at Red & Co.
Membership chair: Husani Oakley, chief technology officer of Deutsch
Held agency relations chair: Alima Trapp, senior vice president of strategic planning at Doner
Communications chair: Megan Tuck, vice president at Bliss Integrated Communication
Independent agency relations chair: Chris Witherspoon, president at DNA
The nonprofit was founded by Bennett D. Bennett and Nathan Young- who serve as president and vice president, respectively-shortly after the two spearheaded an open letter to agency leadership signed by more than 600 Black employees who work in the industry.
In the letter, they outlined 12 steps agencies can take to address systemic racism in the industry, one of them being to "track and publicly report diversity data on an annual basis to create accountability."
Since the letter was released, dozens of agencies have agreed to participate in #CommitToChange, an initiative organized by 600 & Rising that asks agency leaders to publicly share their internal diversity data broken down by gender identity, race/ethnicity, seniority and department. Agencies that have participated to date include Wieden+ Kennedy, 72andSunny, R/GA and CPB.
Holding companies have also begun to release their U.S. diversity data; Dentsu Aegis Network, IPG and Publicis Groupe have all done so in recent weeks. For each, less than 3% of people in executive or senior leadership roles are Black.
In addition to naming its inaugural board, 600 & Rising has also formed an advisory council, which it says will "help guide the organization's movements in their critical early stages of growth." Since its formation last month, 600 & Rising has grown at a fast clip: it now represents more than 2,800 Black members and non-Black allies, and has already managed to secure a partnership with the 4A's.
Eight people have joined the advisory council:
Naj Austin, founder of Ethel's Club
Kat Gordon, founder of the 3% Movement
Jessica McGlory, head of growth at Verb
Kiana Pirouz, head of marketing at We Are Rosie
Santi Pochat, head of social lab at Google
Steve Stoute, president of Translation
Derek Walker, founder of Brown & Browner
Mike Warner, chief client officer at Egami Group
Additionally, Gamelle Queen, vice president of finance at Giant Spoon, has joined 600 & Rising as treasurer. While the organization's 501(c)(3) status is still pending, Bennett said the nonprofit will have the ability to receive donations in the coming weeks.
"What you've witnessed in the first 30 days of our existence has been the result of two leaders forcing change in an industry that has been historically resistant to it," Young said in a statement. "Imagine what we will achieve with a team of 18. You ain't seen nothing yet."
Young, who also serves as group strategy director at Periscope, recently helped organize a walkout at the agency to protest its parent company Quad. According to Young, Quad's leadership initially showed resistance to using the phrase "Black Lives Matter" in agency communications following the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He also said Quad recently fudged internal workforce numbers to try and make Periscope appear more diverse than it actually is, another reason why staffers chose to walk out.
He's managed to spur change outside of his agency's walls, too. Last month, after taking to Twitter to criticize French agency Rosapark for its name, its founders said they will "rethink" it. Its three founders, all of whom are white men, have long claimed that the agency's name is not a reference to Rosa Parks, the civil rights activist who famously refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Ala.
The Creative 100: 26 Agency Leaders You Should Be Watching
Adweek - David Griner
Leaders of the agency world used to be seen as names on doors, authors of books and fonts of quippy, quotable wisdom. Today’s best leaders, however, can be found operating at the ground level each day, leading by listening so they can stay in tune with the needs of their teams, their clients and the ever-evolving culture around them. Here are 26 names you should know when it comes to excellence in modern agency leadership.
Photo courtesy Jashiro Dean
Husani Oakley
Chief tech officer, Deutsch New York
Based in: New York
Recent work: Budweiser’s “Be a King” campaign. “We rolled out limited-edition bottles with exact replicas of [soccer star] Sergio Ramos’s tattoos,” he says. “Purchased via select online and physical retailers, once you got your hands on one, you could unlock exclusive content where Ramos explained the meaning behind each tattoo.”
Advice for rising creatives: “Don’t just stay curious about how things work under the hood—act on that curiosity. Figure stuff out, poke and prod. And there ain’t nothing wrong with liking both Mozart and 90 Day Fiancé. Stay engaged with what people out there are talking about.”
Personal mantra: “Every idea can be made better with a little bit of elbow grease.”
‘Do I Really Need That New Smartphone?’ Consumer Tech Brands Adapt Their Marketing For A Changing World
AdExchanger - Allison Schiff
Consumer electronics sales are usually a bellwether of consumer confidence and the broader economy.
But this year, all bets are off.
Although worldwide mobile phone shipments have been declining for several years largely due to market penetration and higher prices, the drop in 2020 is expected to be far more extreme, down to 1.57 billion from 1.81 billion last year, according to CCS Insight. That’s less than in 2011.
“If you’re a device maker, you’re playing a very dynamic game of chess right now,” said Eric Schmitt, a research director and analyst at Gartner.
These challenges – magnified by COVID-19’s effect on supply chain stability and because consumer tech purchases are often discretionary – complicate the process of devising a marketing plan in these uncertain times (cue piano music).
By the numbers
The first quarter was a mixed bag for the big consumer tech companies.
Although Apple’s services revenue grew by more than 17% year-over-year, iPhone revenue for the first three months of 2020 declined by 7% YoY due to coronavirus-related supply and demand constraints, particularly in China which was the first to go under lockdown in late January. But by the same token, wearables, iPads and home accessories – all useful for people trying to work, learn remotely and stay fit while in quarantine – were up 23% year on year, a March quarter revenue record.
At Samsung, Q1 brought decreased demand for its hardware thanks to the pandemic and the cancellation of major live sporting events, including the Olympics and the UEFA EURO 2020 soccer tournament. TV demand declined in Q1, a trend Samsung expects will continue into the second quarter. There’s also pressure on the commercial side, as hotels, bars and restaurants cut the cord on their pay TV service.
But it was another story at Microsoft. Although consumer hardware and services were comparatively weaker than B2B enterprise sales, the move to remote work – and the desire for at-home play – helped buoy demand for Xbox sales, which increased 2% in the quarter (up from an 11% drop last quarter) and for Surface laptops, sales of which rose by 1%.
So demand for hardware is highly variable based on what type of device you’re selling.
“Maybe I can’t buy a new TV right now – but that’s because my kids need new computers for school at home,” said Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence at GroupM. “Maybe a GoPro isn’t very useful to me right now, but a health tracker works quite well for counting the stairs I climb in my apartment building.”
Consumer tech brands have an opportunity to capture these pockets of demand with relevant marketing.
“The question is how to do it in a way that reflects their product and distribution strategy while cutting marketing budget in a way that makes sense,” Schmitt said. “For Q2 and Q3 at least, caution is the watchword.”
Product marketing
Unless the cash flow situation is dire, the worst thing a consumer hardware brand in a highly competitive market can do is go dark, said Rob Gaige, managing partner of consulting at sparks & honey.
“We work with some pretty big tech clients that sell computers, laptops and the like, and we’re advising them not to stop marketing, but rather to change direction,” Gaige said.
For most, that means more brand-focused messaging, adjusting marketing spend with an eye on regional product rollouts and addressing online demand more efficiently. Consumer tech, especially phones and TVs, usually rely heavily on in-store sales.
Samsung, for example, is leaning into online. Demand for mobile handsets is down overall, but ecommerce is increasing. The manufacturer told investors in April that it’s planning to counter the effect of store closures with a focus on improving cost effectiveness and strengthening its online and B2B channels.
Get the message
The message also really matters, said Husani Oakley, chief technology officer at Deutsch.
Consumers are being more price conscious and cautious with their personal budgets, “and by ‘they,’ I mean me,” Oakley joked. “I’m hardly spending any money right now.”
“But the longer this lasts, the more consumers move beyond essentials as electronics and entertainment platforms become more central to our lives than they’ve ever been,” he said. “Any marketing messaging should be cognizant of the situation while still pushing brand values.”
Which doesn’t necessarily mean eschewing performance marketing in an effort to juice sales and try to move the devices that are probably piled up in warehouses right now.
“You can drive to a website,” Oakley said. “But rather than going, ‘Hey, here’s 10% off all laptops,” talk about solving an issue, talk about: ‘Your computer keeps crashing and you’ve got a client meeting coming up … maybe it’s time to upgrade? And we can help.’”
An ESPN Commercial Hints at Advertising’s Deepfake Future
The New York Times - Tiffany Hsu
Unable to film new commercials during the coronavirus pandemic, advertising agencies are turning to technologies that can seamlessly alter old footage, sometimes putting viewers in a position of doubting what they are seeing.
During Sunday’s episodes of “The Last Dance,” the ESPN documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, State Farm ran a commercial featuring expertly doctored footage of the longtime “SportsCenter” anchor Kenny Mayne.
In the ad, a much younger Mr. Mayne is seated at the “SportsCenter” desk in 1998. He reports on the Bulls’ sixth championship title — before taking a turn toward the prophetic.
“This is the kind of stuff that ESPN will eventually make a documentary about,” Mr. Mayne says. “They’ll call it something like ‘The Last Dance.’ They’ll make it a 10-part series and release it in the year 2020. It’s going to be lit. You don’t even know what that means yet.” As a vintage State Farm logo appears in the background, he adds, “And this clip will be used to promote the documentary in a State Farm commercial.”
The producers made the commercial by layering video of Mr. Mayne’s 60-year-old mouth onto footage of his 38-year-old face. To many viewers, the stunt provided a welcome moment of levity in depressing times. Others were made uneasy by the smoothness of the patch, describing it as a type of deepfake.
“We tried to make the joke clear enough so that we weren’t tricking anyone,” said Carrie Brzezinski-Hsu, the head of ESPN CreativeWorks, which created the commercial with the ad agencies Optimum Sports and Translation.
Ms. Brzezinski-Hsu said manipulated footage was likely to appear in future ESPN ads. And executives at several major advertising agencies said they had discussed making similar commercials with their clients in recent weeks.
“We’re so restricted in how we can generate content,” said Kerry Hill, the production director for the ad agency FCB in North America. “Anything that can be computer generated is something we’re going to explore.”
ImageA trivia segment from SportsCenter in 1998 was reworked to become a State Farm commercial in 2020.
A trivia segment from SportsCenter in 1998 was reworked to become a State Farm commercial in 2020.Credit...State Farm
Husani Oakley, the chief technology officer of the ad firm Deutsch, said digitally altered ads should somehow clue viewers into the fact that what they are seeing is not completely real.
“The technology is here, and it’s only going to get better and better, and we have to get used to it,” he added. “We’re exploring ways to have fun with it.”
The ad industry had started to show interest in digital manipulation before the pandemic. In 2018, the ad agency Wieden & Kennedy London collaborated with the artist Gillian Wearing on a deepfake film featuring people whose facial features were blended with Ms. Wearing’s.
This year, the ad firm Goodby Silverstein & Partners worked on an app that allowed users to appear to be doing the dance moves pulled off by Lil Nas X in a Doritos commercial. Executives described the experience as turning “deepfake into dancefake.”
As face-swapping and voice-generating technologies have become more refined and accessible, people on video calls have superimposed Elon Musk’s face over their own as they chat.
Jeff Goodby, a co-founder of the ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, demonstrates an app that grafts a user’s head onto a body that mimics the dance moves in a Super Bowl commercial for Doritos.CreditCredit...Goodby Silverstein & Partners
While the blurring of the real and the fake can be amusing on Zoom or in the promotion of snack foods, it presents thorny ethical issues around consent and disinformation. Pornographic deepfake videos, with real-seeming political figures and celebrities in central roles, have circulated on Reddit. A recent doctored video appeared to show Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès of Belgium linking the coronavirus pandemic to climate change. Ahead of the 2020 vote, Facebook and Twitter have said they are closely monitoring manipulated videos.
On Monday, President Trump promoted a digitally altered commercial promoting his candidacy on his Twitter account. The video relied on doctored footage taken from an Allstate Insurance commercial featuring the company’s pitchman, the actor Dennis Haysbert.
In place of Mr. Haysbert’s head, there is the head of former President Barack Obama. He is seated in a living room with a group of men watching a TV commercial for Joseph R. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. The commercial-within-the-commercial uses audio from a 2017 event during which Mr. Biden talked about having worked as a lifeguard at a swimming pool. “I loved kids jumping on my lap,” the candidate says, as Mr. Obama’s companions shoot him disapproving looks.
The video, which has gotten more than 14 million views, ends with the Trump-Pence logo. It does not include Mr. Trump offering a statement approving the commercial. The Trump campaign and Allstate did not reply to requests for comment.
The grafting of Mr. Obama’s head onto Mr. Haysbert’s body was too crude to fool viewers, but as the ESPN-State Farm ad made clear, the tech is advanced enough to make many people doubt what they are seeing.
Mr. Oakley, the chief technology officer at Deutsch, said that social media platforms might need to eventually develop algorithms to help viewers distinguish ads with real humans from those that have been digitally altered.
“We won’t be able to tell the difference,” he said. “We’ll have to rely on the machines to tell us that the videos were made by machines.”
2 Minutes With ... Husani Oakley, Chief Technology Officer at Deutsch New York
The Star Trek-loving polymath on his creative journey
Muse by Clio - Tim Nudd
Before joining Deutsch in 2018, Husani Oakley was chief technology officer at online investment platform GoldBean for four years, and director of creative technology at Wieden + Kennedy New York for two years before.
Last month, Deutsch New York promoted him from director of technology and innovation to chief technology officer. He leads technology efforts across all clients, including AB InBev, Reebok and Johnson & Johnson, and also runs Great Machine, Deutsch's A.I. innovation studio.
We spent two minutes with Oakley to learn more about his background, his creative inspirations and recent work he's admired.
Husani, tell us...
The town where you were born.
I'm a loud and proud New Jerseyan—born in New Brunswick, raised in Montclair.
What you wanted to be when you grew up.
I wanted to be an astronaut. Specifically, I wanted to be the first human on Mars. But not in the way most kids want to be astronauts; I studied as if I'd already been named NASA's youngest shuttle commander. I grew up in the same town as Buzz Aldrin, so I thought it was fate. Apparently, I was wrong, but if Elon Musk is reading this … Elon, I'm your guy. Call me.
How you discovered you were creative.
Like a Facebook relationship status, it's complicated. I spent most of my childhood balancing art (I'm a musician) and science (hello computer), but didn't have a word for what I thought was my weird in-between creativity until 1997. Opening night of Montclair High School's production of Man of La Mancha, I was the pit orchestra's clarinetist. After the show, my music teacher found me and said, "I heard you. I felt you." Holy shit, I thought. I have the talent to make art that drives emotion? Felt like a superpower.
A person you idolized creatively growing up.
Kurt Cobain, Jonathan Larson and Gene Roddenberry, merged into a single—and obviously very strange—artist.
A moment from high school or college that changed your life.
The day I was suspended from high school for having created and distributed a political flyer. After being thrown out of the building, I called my mom on a pay phone—remember those?!—and told her what happened, fully expecting to be grounded for life. Much to my surprise, that didn't happen; I ended up filing a lawsuit to force a change to the school's freedom of speech policy. That was the moment I fully understood the power of design, creativity and taking risks—and how a combination of those could help change the world. Or at least help change a town.
The first concert you saw, and your favorite band or musician today.
The first go-by-myself, I'm-an-adult-now concert? Jamiroquai, at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Sept. 10, 2001. (I know, right?) And I don't think I have a favorite modern band/musician. The ability to listen to anything, from anyone, at any time, has decoupled era from art. My Spotify favorites span the past 200 years.
Your favorite visual artist.
Everyone should know who Shikeith is.
Your favorite hero or heroine in fiction.
Iowa's own Captain James Tiberius Kirk. Not the bullshit Chris Pine version, to be clear; the original William Shatner interpretation. And while I didn't cheat on the Kobayashi Maru, I always have and always will look to Kirk for inspiration.
The best book you've read lately.
Lights All Night Long, by Lydia Fitzpatrick.
Your favorite movie.
I bet you thought it'd be a Star Trek film, huh? Surprise! It's Shine. But please note, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a close second.
Your favorite Instagram follow.
Your favorite creative project you've ever worked on, and why.
"Human Twitter," Wieden + Kennedy New York for ESPN. We had a couple hundred people in the stands at the X Games spelling out tweets in person, broadcast on ESPN. Fun idea, cool tech, and the adrenaline rush of live TV.
Your favorite creative project from the past year, and why.
BudX Miami was a new frontier. As brands and advertisers, we're undergoing a fundamental shift in the stories we're telling, who we're telling them to, and where we're telling them. Multiple hands/disciplines/talent from Deutsch transitioned this party experience to a content publishing effort.
Someone else's creative project that inspired you years ago.
Halo 3: "Believe" by AKQA blew my mind so much. It pushed me to take a long, hard look at the work I was spending time on and inspired me to leave the big-ecommerce-platform work I'd been doing and move across the country to run technology at a digital creative agency. Along with Subservient Chicken and Elf Yourself, it proved that a brilliant creative idea plus cutting-edge technology could make magic. And due to a combination of the universe believing in irony and good old-fashioned luck, I ended up running technology at the agency [EVB] behind Elf Yourself.
Someone else's creative project that you've been envious of lately.
W+K's work for Facebook. Saw it during the Grammys. So damn good.
Your main strength as a creative person.
I have bizarrely wide-ranging interests and tastes. I can watch 90 Day Fiancé without any shame, and I can also sing along to Don Giovanni. My randomness helps me see patterns.
Your weakness or blind spot.
I have a tendency to start thinking about execution too early in the creative process.
One thing that always makes you happy.
Star Trek. Almost any incarnation—except Enterprise and all the JJ Abramsverse movies. Just hearing a sound effect, or the score, or seeing the colors makes me smile and think that everything'll be OK.
One thing that always makes you sad.
William Warfield singing "Ol' Man River" from Show Boat. Especially the second half. Gets me every time.
What you'd be doing if you weren't in advertising.
I'd be playing woodwind—alto sax and clarinet, baby!—in a Broadway pit orchestra. Or I'd work in the White House. With a different administration, obviously.