I Like my Retro for Fashion Only

I’ve never hidden my disdain for ad agencies.

I could write a dissertation on the subject; my main concern is the lack of diversity in leadership roles, closely followed by the prevalent egoism and the constant pursuit of being 'clever.' This is just one person's opinion. I have many friends who genuinely enjoy agency life/work, and I have loads of respect for them. What I would love more than anything else is for the industry to move that needle a wee bit more towards equity and embrace the year 2024 instead of living in 1965.

A couple of years ago, I found myself in a brainstorm meeting. The purpose was to spitball some ideas about how we wanted to structure the team. The dudes in that meeting, all in leadership positions, enthusiastically and unironically wanted the studio to be “like Mad Men”. The women in the room stared blankly back at them. I can't speak to what they were thinking but as for myself, my first thought was, "Really? This again? Did I somehow, accidentally, stumble into a time machine and walk into 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000..." Calmly, I had to explain the obvious issue with modeling the studio after Mad Men. For one, the g*ddamn name, you are discounting 50% of the people in this room. And two, that stupid show highlighted an egotistical, narcissistic crap human who took credit for work he did not create (of course I said it much, much, nicer and with a polite smile, like a good girl). I very much hated that show. Alas, let me get to the point.

What prompted this post was an article today from AdWeek:?https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/groupm-dedicate-womens-sports-marketplace-upfront/

The first thing I noticed was the author. A dude. The second thing I noticed were the men quoted in the article. Yes, a couple of women were quoted too, but that isn’t the point. When discussing topics such as women’s sports or any women-centric subject/industry, my expectation is to witness women actively promoting, writing about, and leading the advertising and marketing efforts aimed at women. I've lowered my standards so much over the past 20 years that I don’t expect to see many women in leadership roles in any company, but I do expect women to dominate anything to do with women’s sports. A good example, and one that still bugs the living sh*t out of me, is the 2019 Nike Ad: Dream Crazier that was created by W+K. The short list of credits for that ad includes the following:

2019’s Nike: Dream Crazier – Serena Williams Agency: Wieden & Kennedy - Portland Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke Copywriter / Art Director: Alex Romans, Emma Barnett Executive Producer: Jake Grand, Krystle Mortimore Head of Production: Matt Hunnicutt, Mike Davidson Group Brand Director: Andre Gustavo Brand Director: Luiza Prata Carvalho Brand Manager: Tim Carpenter Brand Executive: William Frazier Global Group Strategy Director: Andy Lindblade Brand Strategy Director: Nate Goldberg

Do I need to point out the obvious? I expected more from W+K. Way back in-none-of-your-business-year, I had the absolute pleasure of working with W+K. At the time, there were maybe, and I mean, MAYBE a handful of Creative Directors in ad agencies across the world that were women (zero VPs, zero Executive CDs). W+K was one of those agencies. I had high hopes. At the time they had a female CD who ran the show. She was the best of the best. Kind, innovative, strategic, incredibly creative,?and a true leader. I very much looked up to her. I expect more from leaders like W+K to get it right when they have an opportunity to promote women or give women at their agency the opportunity to tell women’s stories. They have a boatload of talented folks there, I know they can scrape together a team of women to produce one ad about women in sports, or by God, at the very least, at the executive level, one lone woman. I'm not asking for much here. A more recent example is W+K’s Nike Ad: What the Football. The shortlist credits include:

Nike: What the Football Agency: Wieden & Kennedy Portland Executive Creative Directors: Caleb Jensen, Craig Williams Creative Directors: Kevin Steele and Pedro Izique Art Directors: Ashley Veltre, Jack Welles Copywriters: Ted Malenfant Head of Production: Orlee Tatarka Group Executive producer: Kerli Teo Senior Producer, Brand Lead: Antonio Burnett

Once again, mostly dude soup. I see a lot of articles lately about the death of agencies. Maybe they wouldn’t be dying if they evolved a bit. So many of the big agencies remain incredibly old school. In order to survive they may need a fresh start or perhaps a radical transformation? Some of the changes could be very simple and basic, like hiring and promoting more women and people of color, or maybe it's time for the Boomers to retire. It's a little disheartening when I look up "about this company" and see mostly people who look like aging politicians from Ohio. Boomers have been running the world for far too long, time to practice your golf swing and allow the next generation to try their hand. Another super easy idea is, and stay with me here, hire a mostly if not completely an all-female crew to design, produce, and film ads about women's sports. I know, I know, that's insane. Forgive me.

Another idea for large companies is to forgo the big, costly agencies and give smaller agencies with less overhead a try. I can think of a few I've been impressed with like: foulmouthcreative.com or?workbyhoney.com

You have to make an effort to change the status quo. When I was a full-timer, I did my best to always bring this issue up and googled my heart out to find diverse talent. There are plenty of companies out there to help too, like this one: www.untilyouownit.com

Many of my brilliant female friends have cautioned me from writing my unedited opinion here (btw, this was edited, can you imagine the first draft?). I'm asked, 'What if you alienate an agency or company by your opinions?' My answer is twofold: #1 - I wouldn't want to work for a company that doesn't support diversity, equality, or embrace a difference of opinion, and #2 - if they don't want someone who is passionate, who will push them to be better, then I'm 100% fine working at Home Depot or Costco I’ve always wanted to learn how to drive a forklift anyway.