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A32    FEATURE
                  Friday 27 OctOber 2017

            Companies are looking for diverse ad teams to avoid blunders



            By ALEXANDRA OLSON                                                                                                  director  at  Unilever,  said
            Associated Press                                                                                                    her  former  company  “al-
            NEW YORK (AP) — CoverGirl                                                                                           ways  had  the  best  inten-
            executive Ukonwa Ojo was                                                                                            tions,”  but  “as  humans  we
            struck when the team from                                                                                           always have the opportuni-
            an  ad  agency  entered                                                                                             ties to make a mistake.” She
            the room to pitch ideas for                                                                                         added:  “It  can  minimize
            revamping  the  cosmetic                                                                                            the  chances  if  you  have
            company’s image. For the                                                                                            the  right  people  around
            first time in Ojo’s more than                                                                                       the  table.”  Having  more
            20-year  career  in  business,                                                                                      diversity  around  the  table
            she  found  herself  working                                                                                        is seen as a safeguard at a
            with  an  African-American                                                                                          time  when  companies  are
            creative director.                                                                                                  under pressure to produce
            That  meeting  would  ulti-                                                                                         lots of video and other mar-
            mately result in a marketing                                                                                        keting content quickly and
            campaign that challenges                                                                                            cheaply  for  Twitter,  Face-
            conventional  ideas  about                                                                                          book, Instagram and Snap-
            beauty. It features celebrity                                                                                       chat, often with no time to
            women  from  a  spectrum                                                                                            test everything out on focus
            of races, ages and profes-                                                                                          groups.
            sions, including Issa Rae of                                                                                        “In  the  good  old  days,
            HBO’s “Insecure,” motorcy-   In this Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017, photo, members of the Droga5 team behind the recent CoverGirl   you  would  have  the  time
            cle  racer  Shelina  Moreda,   campaign talk about that campaign during a meeting at the advertising agency’s headquarters,   to take your TV ad or print
            celebrity chef Ayesha Cur-   in New York.                                                                           campaign  and  do  further
            ry and dietitian Maye Musk,                                                                        Associated Press  testing. You would see how
            69.  “To  have  an  African-  makeover, which replaced  story, right and  really  pres-  a white woman, who then    they  are  rating  A  and  B
            American creative director   the   company’s     familiar  sure-testing. Is it authentic?  removed her top to reveal   ad,” said Gene Fischer, se-
            walk in the room and pres-   “Easy,  Breezy,  Beautiful”  Is there anything that is go-  a  woman  with  a  brown   nior  vice  president  of  me-
            ent  this  to  me,  I  thought,   tagline  with  “I  Am  What  I  ing to be misinterpreted?”  complexion.  Social  media   dia  innovation  at  Publicis
            ‘Oh, my God, this is amaz-   Makeup,”  the  team  from  On  Wednesday,  Kellogg  users accused Dove of sug-         Health  Media.  “The  world
            ing,’” said Ojo, who is Nige-  the  ad  agency  Droga5  apologized  after  the  art-   gesting black skin is dirty.  of social media doesn’t al-
            rian-American.  “I  think  we   had two black creative di-  work  on  its  Corn  Pops  ce-  Dove  pulled  the  video,   low for that.”
            can  see  the  power  of  the   rectors,  Shannon  Washing-  real  boxes  was  attacked  while Kellogg said new art-  Aside  from  trying  to  diver-
            work because of that.”       ton and Ray Smiling.         as  racist.  The  box  shows  work for the cereal box will   sify  their  own  ranks,  some
            Diversity  in  the  advertis-  “The  team  that  worked  cartoon  Corn  Pops  hang-    soon  reach  stores.  Neither   marketers  are  turning  for
            ing  industry  is  becoming   on this idea and this cam-  ing  out  in  a  mall.  The  only  Unilever, the company that   help  to  small  agencies
            a  higher  priority  for  con-  paign came from very dif-  brown  one  depicted  is  a  owns Dove, nor Kellogg has   that  cater  to  specific  eth-
            sumer  product  companies    ferent backgrounds — from  janitor scrubbing the floor.   said  who  was  behind  the   nic  groups.  Being  Latino,
            as they try to reach a new   a  male  and  female  point  Dove  was  similarly  criti-  content.                    a  social  media  marketing
            generation  of  customers    of view, different races, dif-  cized  earlier  this  month  Other  brands,  including   company, has crafted ads
            with evolving sensibilities on   ferent  ages,”  Droga5  CEO  over  a  commercial  for  a  Pepsi,  Gap  and  Nivea,   for  Bud  Light,  Snickers  and
            ethnicity, age, gender and   Sarah  Thompson  said.  “I  body wash. A short version  have  faced  similar  contro-  Coca-Cola.
            sexuality.                   think  that  more  than  be-  of the video on Facebook  versies.                       “My entire company, every
            Many  companies  have        fore,  what’s  important  is  showed  a  black  woman  Ojo,  who  before  joining      employee comes from the
            come to believe that hav-    getting that narrative, that  taking off her shirt to reveal  CoverGirl was senior global   culture  that  we  are  trying
            ing people with a variety of                                                                                        to  appeal  to,”  said  Being
            backgrounds  in  the  room                                                                                          Latino founder Lance Rios.
            can  not  only  produce  a                                                                                          “We know the do’s and the
            smarter  marketing  cam-                                                                                            don’ts.”
            paign  but  also  help  avoid                                                                                       Tiffany  R.  Warren,  chief  di-
            the kind of blunders Kellogg                                                                                        versity officer at Omnicom,
            and  Dove  were  recently                                                                                           the  parent  of  the  some  of
            accused  of  in  today’s  po-                                                                                       the  nation’s  biggest  ad-
            litically  combustible  envi-                                                                                       vertising  agencies,  got  her
            ronment.                                                                                                            start in 1997 through an in-
            Despite efforts by Madison                                                                                          dustry  program  to  recruit
            Avenue to ramp up recruit-                                                                                          top minority students out of
            ing of minorities, just 7 per-                                                                                      college.  Since  then,  how-
            cent  of  the  67,000  people                                                                                       ever,  she  has  often  been
            working as advertising and                                                                                          the  only  black  woman  in
            promotion managers in the                                                                                           the room.
            U.S.  in  2016  were  African-                                                                                      “I know my presence in the
            American,  less  than  5  per-                                                                                      room  had  led  to  a  lot  of
            cent  were  Hispanic,  and                                                                                          meaningful  conversations
            about  1  percent  were  of                                                                                         and  led  to  creative  prod-
            Asian  descent,  according                                                                                          ucts that were more cultur-
            to  the  U.S.  Labor  Depart-                                                                                       ally sensitive,” said Warren,
            ment.  Women  accounted                                                                                             who  is  also  founder  of  the
            for  about  56  percent  of                                                                                         nonprofit group ADCOLOR,
            managers in the industry.    In this Monday, Oct. 23, 2017, photo, people walk by the advertising for a Gap store on New York’s   which promotes diversity in
                                         Fifth Avenue.
            In  the  case  of  CoverGirl’s                                                                     Associated Press  the creative fields.q
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