Are Ad Agencies Marginalizing Creatives of Color?

For instance Executive Order 13170 instructed government agencies to quottake affirmative actionquot to quotaggressivelyquot contract with businesses that have experienced quothistoric exclusion and underutilization in Federal procurementquot at the rate of at least 23 for small businesses and at least 5 for minorityowned It even dedicated a whole section to advertisingquotEach department or agency that contracts with businesses to develop advertising for the department or agency or to broadcast Federal advertising shall take an aggressive role in ensuring substantial minorityowned entities39 participationamp8230in Federal advertisingrelated procurements Each department and agency shall ensure that all creation placement and transmission of Federal advertising is fully reflective of the Nation39s diversity To achieve this diversity special attention shall be given to ensure placement in publications and television and radio stations that reach specific ethnic and racial audiencesquotSo it would be reasonable to expect EO 13170 to benefit Blackowned advertising agencies and Black media As it turned out not so much In 2007 the Government Accountability Office GAO found that from 20012005 the Department of Defense DoD spent 27 billion on advertising but only 18 of it went to minorityowned firms who were paid on average nearly 84 less than whiteowned firms GAO07877There are some reasonable explanations for this First bidding for a DoD contract is a long complex and grueling process As such larger and wellestablished ad agencies may be better positioned to dedicate the necessary time and people power to the task Second the DoD probably prefers a streamlined process where large quotprimequot vendors though whiteowned would compete for the account by showing how they could still help the DoD meet their small business and minorityowned compliance goals by bundling underrepresented subcontractors into their bidFor instance in 2017 after 12 years of working with McCann the US Army put their advertising account up for review This presented a huge opportunity for the rarest of prizes in the advertising world a lucrative 4 billion longterm 10 years and recessionproof government funded contract Since the competition would be fierce Doyle Dane Bernbach DDB an agency famous for irreverent advertising like Volkswagen39s quotThink Smallquot campaign brought on Joe Anthony founder and CEO of Hero Collective a small Black Owned Creative and Digital Innovation Studio based on his experience working with two of the Army39s previous ad agencies McCann and Leo BurnettAccording to Anthony DDB baited him with a quotteaming agreementquot that would make Hero a preferred partner if they won the Army account and in exchange for creative and strategic support would guarantee Anthony and his team substantial assignments and thereby help put DDB in compliance with Federal requirements to include small and minorityowned businesses The Army review took two years and was contested by McCann and WPP but thanks in part to a pitch deck which included Anthony39s concept of quotthe real life Iron Manquot DDB won the accountBut then came the switchTurns out that during the twoyear pitch process DDB never disclosed Hero to the Army And once DDB won the account and became the quotprimequot agency they rescinded the deal points in their teaming agreement and demoted Hero to an atwill subcontractor Two years of spec work Up in smoke And to this day DDB hasn39t paid Anthony a dimeDDB fooled the Army by offering the temptation of a onestop shop a quottotal marketquot approach where they would bake in the diversity and minorityowned business requirements by offering to subcontract to smaller multicultural agencies likely within their own holding company and even the occasional independent like Hero But they didn39t really mean it And they certainly weren39t going to empower a potential competitor They simply assumed the Army wouldn39t check and that Anthony would be too grateful for the crumbs and too scared to demand what he was promised lest Hero be blacklisted from future subcontracting opportunitiesBut what they didn39t count on was a quotreal life Iron Manquot Anthony suited up with lawyers and is now taking DDB to court for 100 million He39s fighting for what he39s owed and on behalf of all the Black and brown agencies and creatives that have been marginalized for years by whiteowned agencies and their holding companies39 total market bait and switch trick So if he wins Anthony will be a real hero to manyAfter all it was DDB39s own founder Bill Bernbach who once said quota principle isn39t a principle until it costs you moneyquot All those executive orders meant what they said Time to pay upClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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Are Ad Agencies Marginalizing Creatives of Color?

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Christopher Boulton

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Are Ad Agencies Marginalizing Creatives of Color?

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