Small Agencies and the Diversity-Hiring Issue

I completely agree that agencies need to be more proactive in reaching students who will be the future minds of this colorful world.

Formerly in a ad agency, I think the true problem is not just hiring but promote. I will not say the agency's name but is it is one of the power players in the industry. Repeatedly, minority employees were not promoted or fired for doing the same job as the caucasian co-workers who were promoted. This is what we should also worry about. If there is an increased hiring, what happens after their first day, month, year on the job. Are they promoted or are they fired for no reason?

Yes, indeed growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, there wasn't much interest in my own high school and college to give me options. I remember in high school they promoted me to be a model and when I took AP test for the school and I wan 2nd place nation wide they were shock. The staff at that time new little about the Hispanics. I was the only Mexican in a nice neighborhood in the suburbs of Detroit. At college I remember so well when I took a test to guide me on what I wanted to do, it was very ironic that the results were the typical answers of jobs that Hispanics do like farm work or a funeral director or a bus driver. Give me a break I thought. How is it that as a female Hispanic this is the jobs that they were promoting for me? I didn't feel any connection to any of these suggestions.

High School was hard for me, been the only Mexican around almost 98% white students and the rest African American. Many things have change for the Hispanics and I am grateful that now there are good positions for those of us who can do better than what was suggested in a college test. As a business owner in a white market world, it is amazing to see the change of the people and interest in the Hispanic Market. I matter, my services matter and most importantly my culture matters. Diversity is the answer. We are in a world that is changing dramatically. GLOBALIZATION to be clear. As a Hispanic Young Female, I am amaze of this entire people in the advertising market who are taking the time to get to know me and my market. I know for a fact 15 years back this would have never happened. Everyone wants to hire a Hispanic and I know why. The Hispanic Market in the USA is growing tremendously and that means money in their pocket. Major corporations are investing alone in advertising millions per year to grab the attention of the Hispanic Market. But for you to be able to grab the Hispanic Market you must hire people who can identify with the customer. Therefore, companies every where are hiring Hispanics to represent their companies because Hispanics represent big profit for their companies. How ironic is that? Back when I was in College they advise me to look into been a bus driver or a funeral director. If they only new I own my very successful business.

Now for advertising agency you do have to go to high schools such as mine in the suburbs or in Detroit, there is a lot of talent out there, meaning $$$$$ lots of money for your company.

There is one agency in Detroit who hired me, they knew I didn't have any experience in the market and promised to train me. Well they were overwhelmed by work and no one had the time to train me, I felt like I wanted to learn but I also felt lost. In my opinion this is not the way to work or hire people to begin with.

Major advertising agencies specially Hispanic own need to promote this jobs first in the schools, so enough students get the interest and actually go to college and have the experience to do the job. It is frustrating when you are hiring and promised training and then they tell you don't have experience and we have to let you go. You simply don't do that. If you promise to train someone do it and if you need someone with experience hire with experience. Thankfully that gave me the courage to be my own boss and never ever do that to someone else. Detroit advertising agencies, especially Hispanic Agencies need to see the entire picture. Just because you are growing tremendously you can't misstreat your own people that can also be bad for your image as a company? If you are growing is because us the Hispanics are consumers in this market.

Hispanic Agencies must remember to be kind to your own people because thanks of us you have a job in the first place and for the non Hispanic agencies we encourage you to promote education. There are thousands of students with many talents and all they need is someone to give them the option. Host events where kids can learn about advertising all of this will bring $$$$$$$$$$$ in your pockets, you will be surprise of the talent that has been given the option to be a bus driver or a funeral director. Let this people make $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for your companies.
Claudia V.

You know this issue about diversity is sooooo tired with this typical lame response. Of course there's no "racial conspiracy" of a bunch of white ad agencies explicitly saying that we must keep people of color out of our workforce. How do people get hired? It's who you know. Just like in life for the most part, people get hired/promoted etc. based on relationships. If you don't have a social network that includes people of color and you stay in your own pool then of course you are not going to be thinking about diversity unless you are forced to when issues like this "rear their ugly head" or someone realizes that there's money to be made of off Black and Hispanic consumers. People are comfortable in choosing things they are familiar with and given the fact that race in this country is still a factor in all aspects our society to various degrees-what make you naively think that Ad agencies are not affected??? Here's another subtle racial qualifier that you even don't realize you are saying "your black friend who is "smart and a class act" (as opposed to what?) said it diplomatically...He said it diplomatically because HE KNOWS how hard it is to get accounts that are not just the special market/niche ones or to be considered for mainstream accounts. He's not stupid nor is he going to be "Malcolm X" about this lack of diversity so that it affects his relationships and his bottom line. So in the end it's all about who you are comfortable with and it doesn't have to be imagined as some smoke filled conspiracy room. So if you want to feel good about hiring people of color, then start an outreach program at a nearby inner city school or with a historically diverse school or university, form strategic partnerships with minority ad agencies, go to minority job fairs, hire a diversity consultant-just be proactive and quit with this tired lip service cause it's late in the day. Gabriel Tolliver, New York

I think it's amusing that you immediately link "blacks and Hispanics" to inner-city kids without a segway explaining why you immediately linked the two together.

It is sad and embarrassing that someone who is a New York ad agency principal could be so horrifically clueless. It speaks volumes about the state of our industry today.

Let's put aside the fact that Mr. Brownstein feels compelled to tell us that he has a black friend; one who is a "class act." Let's just go to his thesis. He says, "It's been my experience that many inner-city kids love to watch TV commercials." Oh really? Is that his personal experience hanging out with inner-city kids, or his years of professional experience in multicultural marketing? Or is it just a glib, meaningless statement? And since when does the "inner-city" represent all African Americans? Millions of blacks live in the suburbs. I live in a small Connecticut town. These kinds of careless -- indeed thoughtless -- generalizations belie a point of view that "I know all I need to know about black people."

There is absolutely no research evidence to support that assertion that black kids know any less about the ad business than white kids. I've looked. I have interviewed dozens of kids (black and white) trying to get their first job in advertising, including the nephews of ad executives. None of them know anything about the business. Zero. So awareness is not the problem. This is a false argument. But it is typical of ad agency executives to suggest that they are not at fault for their own lack of diversity. It's black people's fault for not wanting ad agency jobs.

If mainstream agencies can't find any minority professionals, how come minority agencies – with LESS glamour, LESSmoney and LESS resources – don't have any trouble finding and hiring minority talent?
Mainstream agencies can't find any minority professionals, but if they need a copywriter with six or more years of light beer experience, they can find him and hire him in less than a week, if the client is big enough. Mainstream agencies have no trouble finding what they want to find.

Perhaps the height of Mr. Brownstein's laughable naivete is his suggestion that all we need is for some copywriter to created a TV show about advertising with a diverse cast. Assuming for a moment that you could even get the show made, which is extraordinarily unlikely, the only networks that would air a show about an ad agency with a diverse cast are BET or the SciFi Channel. Expecting a TV show to transform an industry is like expecting The West Wing to magically transform the White House from Republican to Democrat.

This post looks like putting the blame on anyone but the agencies. I'm a Hispanic creative and I've been turned down from many agencies. I finally found work in a Hispanic shop. I think it's a tribal thing. People hire who they feel most comfortable with.

This is the second article on this topic that could have benefitted from cultural editorial review. Do you have minorities in your editorial department? It's difficult to take these missives seriously.

Is it your intention to kick up dust about this topic or to show leadership and progress on it?

There are no arguements, excuses, or explanations that support the disparities that exist. No amount of comment by racial minorities (mine included) moves the industry toward closing the gap. If this is helping some industry executive make changes - great but I'm inclined to believe these articles are all talk no action. Wendy Manning, Chicago, IL

Unbelievable. "Back in the 60's and 70's" while millions of households were watching "Bewitched", millions of Blacks and Latinos were watching their heroes assassinated, arrested and, at the very least systematically marginalized. When will ad executives own up to their shortcomings and recognize that more than 40 years after the Civil Rights revolution, the advertising business is still appallingly white. Shame on Marc for his bromidic pronouncements. - Eric Shorter, Maplewood

Television... And to think, all this time, I thought it was the combo of unchecked greed, white-skinned privilege, nepotism and insulated myopic world views coupled with generations of clients who've insisted on awarding the lions' share of their accounts to White agencies irregardless of their abilities, capabilities or results they deliver while subjugating ethnic agencies to subcontractor roles or no-roles at all?

Who knew the answer was really a lack of interest in the ad business driven by mass media images, specifically TV?

And since Mr. Brownstein has a Black Friend (never heard that qualifer before) he must be wrong.

Thanks for clearing things up.

So, I guess the solution then is for White agencies to do better commercials and for Hollywood to create better more diverse images that will plant seeds of interest in the minds of our young Black youth, huh?

15 years in the ad world and now I've officially heard it all.

Wow! Interesting discussion.

Dang! I've been tied up with work, otherwise you know I would put in my two centavos much sooner. A shout out to all the Fil-Ams out there.

I dig that people are letting Mr. B have it. That's all part of the dialog, right? And I think it's telling that Marc hasn't tried to defend his post (but this could be simply an issue of not having the time, see my opening para). Because, from what I know, Marc is a white male who assumed the helm of his father's ad agency (and it's HQ'd in Philly, BTW) after a sojourn at other agencies. No worries, Marc. I still have much respect for you and what Brownstein has done creatively in our area.

Two quick anecdotes before I step off this particular soap box. The first goes back to my days as an undergrad at Penn. While I was interning at a small shop (SG Horn...thanks again for giving me a chance Steven!) I found out that the local ad club was holding a student contest for an Anti-Drug billboard (sponsored by Thrift Drug, IIRC). And they were looking for volunteers to go out and speak to the schools (middle school?) about "what makes a good ad".

And so out I went...speaking to a few schools armed with very little besides my internship and any wisdom I could glean from David Ogilvy's books. One of those schools was Little Flower, a racially diverse girls Catholic school. And darned if I didn't get a phone call a few months later from the ad club...a few of the young women I spoke to had won the contest! I was invited to the award ceremony, one of the highlight of my college experience. I wonder if any of those young women went on to advertising careers.

As for an advertising TV show...I'm a Gen Xer and watched my share of "30 Something". To my recollection, there were no minorities on that show (based in Philly, right?) But I can still recall small-agency Michael's confrontations with the fictional large-agency head Miles Drentell...and went on to have a few similar experience on my tour of duty in NYC. Great stuff. If any producers out there want my input on a new version of that show (now featuring minorities!), give me a call. And while I'm on the self-promotion tip, hey Ad Age...if you need a minority small agency principal (50% ownership) to literally add some color to this blog or a future one, I happen to know this guy in Branchburg...

I agree that awareness of advertising careers is a big issue for people of color. However, I think that a tremendous amount diversity awareness needs to happen. Even Marc's message points out that "many inner-city kids love to watch TV commercials -- but they have no idea how the commercials are made". I would contend that there is plenty of opportunity to inform and recruit people of color who live outside of those communities. Moreover, the agencies and the industry's associations need to take as prominent a role in recruiting on diverse campuses and at conferences held by organizations like NBMBAA and NSHMBA, among others. When it comes down to it, people of color want to make good livings. The story needs to be told that the ad industry allows you to make a really good living and that you can have a hell of a lot of fun doing it. That's what keeps all of us here and that's what will make it compelling to a more diverse group.

Are you ready to put some action behind the talk??

Join Wise Connection as a mentor to 14+ age studnets in both Chicago and Baltimore school districts as they write, develop and execute their expereintal marketing plan.

We need mentors and with all the above talk, Chicaho one of the largest Hispanic communities and Baltimore Afro American; some of you must be ready to act or are you all watching reruns of Bewitched.

Michele Tummino
650-814-4071 Mobile
www.wiseconnection.org

I think everyone who has been piling on Brownstein is missing the point. Whether or not he has a "black friend "who is a "class act' is irrerlevant–and attaching those parts of his comments is a symptom of why things never get resolved.

First off, advertising as an industry is currently so crippled, low-paying, and murky-futured it's having trouble attracting any new blood right now–caucasian or otherwise. (I also wonder why anyone, of any background, would want to work in it.)

That said, let's start with recruiting...with holding company ownership sucking the cash away from agencies, with drastic cost-cutting, layoffs, slashing of virtually all training programs, when was the last time you heard of an agency wiling to spend money on serious college recruitment, or showing up at any college to recruit alongside the banks, accounting firms, and pharmaceutical companies? The irony is, smaller agencies would love to do this but simply can't afford to shell out recruiting dollars when they need them to create impressive, unpaid new business pitches against their much larger (and cheaper) rivals.

Let's talk awareness...it's the cobbler's shoes...agencies are legendary for not practicing what they preach to clients. Ask a group of college students to tell you what the following companies are and what they do: BBDO, JWT, Y&R. Probably the same number who can tell you who Spiro Agnew was.

Let's also talk college curriculum...economics is a defined major where learning can be quantified as are chemical engineering, law, pre-med, you get the picture. In short, what you learn makes you minimally ready to grasp your responsibilities for your next step, be it an entry-level job or grad school. Now take a look at the advertising and/or communications programs at schools...pedestrian, boring, and they bear absolutely no resemblance to what is required to work in this field in the real world. What's more, the placement offices of most schools, when it comes to advertising, have irresponsibly underserved their students by not doing their jobs and keeping up with where the jobs are and who might be offering them.

There's plent of blame to go around.

Hey Keith of Stamford Conn. I don't think anybody who's posted thus far is missing the point regarding Marc's naive assessment. Sure your points are valid but nobody likes to talk about the race/diversity issue because everyone is trying to be so P.C. or pseudo progressive about their own perceived lack of racism or ignorance. We all carry it and it's not the Bull Connor redneck variety either-so don't be so quick to want to dismiss it under all this economic blah blah blah. Maybe your comment reflects how much apart of the problem you are. Hopefully Ad Age will allow Marc to respond to the comments his blog generated. I think it's ironic in taking a cursory look at Marc's own company website, I didn't see any notable diversity(janitors and
or cleaning ladies not included) or was there anything mention about what his company is doing to address the issue or be apart of the solution. So if your gonna talk the talk, walk the walk.

Hey Gabriel,
You bring up some good points. I appreciate the issues you take with my opinions as well as your passion. Hopefully the industry will change as fast as we would all like it to. In the meantime, in your professional excellence and personal determination, make yourself impossible to ignore–and an example of why the industry must change.
All the best.

I feel like I want to SCREAM!

The problem is not awareness. There are more than enough minorities who are aware of advertising as a career (at least as well as anybody else).

The problem is not recruiting. All the white guys who have jobs at ad agencies never got recruited. Minority candidates aren't asking to be recruited. They are happy to do the legwork and come knocking on your door.

The problem is HIRING (or the lack thereof). That's the problem. About 10 years ago, in response to hearing all the excuses other companies were making about why they weren't hiring enough minorities, the Sr. Vice President of HR at Xerox wrote an article in the NY Times entitled, "Just shut up and hire."

I think that says it all.

Hmmm...couldn't they let this post be the most recent one until Monday? I doubt anyone is going to jump on Bart's latest post until this here post gets rode out a little bit more.

FWIW, if you visit Mint's site (www.mintadvertising.com...seems to be down right now, better get on that), I'm the short one.

Hey, Mark from Ridgefield.
Stop screaming. Here's a job spec:
I am looking, right now, for a mid-level media planner/buyer to work on very cool account and on some new business. I will hire that person today if they're qualified. If you can send me a candidate, regardless of skin color, who is qualified, and I have the chance to check references, I will hire them.

Send any resumes to keith@rethinkgroup.com

Marc Brownstein, you're either a genuis or a crackpot, I haven't decided which; you've made statements that are decades weary ( the old black friend thing ) followed by your assessment of how 'inner-city kids being majority black, must have better television ad-related roles to motivate them'... who do you think you're foolin'? You can't be that vacumn-packed from social interactions to make such extraneous claims! Since I was a kid, I enjoyed watching the reactions of people at movie theatres to certain action or horror scenes more than watching the movie itself: many such situations caused me to realize early on that this was what I wanted to do with my life. To be able to create a package design or word combination promoting that product or service so well that the target consumer just couldn't say no. I feel I'm in like company here... As a black art director, I find it a lonely but challenging arena, always having to prove my worth moreso than 'the other guy' in the agency. Too many memories kicked up by reading all the previous notes to go into here, but I really believe you were testing the waters by throwing in a few 'shark fins'... -tell these folks the truth compadre!

It amazes me how many of us "minorities" can't talk enough of how unfairly this industry treats us. Look folks, if you think growing up in suburban America as a minority was tough, you'll get no argument from me. As Ms Vargas said, times are changin'. Hispanics will have their say, so will Asians and so will blacks. It may not happen all at the same time, but I'm already seeing the benefits of the influence of Asian cultures in the world and all I can say is, "it's about time"!

Marc, regardless of what everyone here is saying about your poor choice of words, I do know where you're coming from. I worked for Philadelphia's very own George Beach back in the early 90's when his office was a mix of Indian, Pakistani, Afro-Caribbean, Korean, and white. George actively recruited minorities to keep his agency edgy. If Hollywood is any indicator, I think we'll see more minorities in creative agency positions before too long. -- Ken Hong from Hong Kong

Hold on. How does recruiting and hiring minorities in itself make an agency "edgy"? Recruiting and hiring creative people with amazing portfolios who can display a versatile range of skills makes an agency edgy. It's just that agencies and recruiters could do a much better job of reaching out to a wider variety of talent, i.e. thinking beyond just the portfolio schools and more well-known collegiate programs like U. of Texas. Additionally, colleges need to do a better job of getting with the times and bringing in real-world talent from agencies as guest instructors -- not just using professors who used to work in an agency 20 years ago shoveling history about Burnett and Bernbach. How about having students work on campaigns for real (or fake) clients so they can build up their books when they go out into the real world for a job? There are some great ideas here and I completely agree that the ball is in the agency/recruiter/university's court for finding, nurturing and hiring talent. However, excuse me for saying something that may or may not be considered politically incorrect, but I feel obligated to extend myself as much as possible to seek out and hire TALENT first and foremost -- regardless of a person's skin color. And guess what? I've still got myself quite the diverse agency anyway.

As a black female marketer (who has worked on both the agency and client sides), I can tell you it is not just the agencies lacking in its marketing diversity. Trust me...this is a greater issue that spans many industries.

Nonetheless, I think what it comes down to is this: "people hire whom they like and feel can easily assimilate into the existing environment ("one of us" syndrome). That said, if most people on the marketing team are white people from the suburbs well how likely are they to hire the black girl with the dreads from Detroit? And even, if the black girl is also from the suburbs, her chances of getting hired in marketing are still difficult especially if that person has no existing connection to the hiring marketing dept. or agency (i.e. a friend who works there or a parent/uncle that has a a connection to the company/agency). I'm not saying it can't and doesn't happen; rather that people are prone to more easily connect with people like themselves (whether socio-economic, racial, religious, whatever).

So much of this business is about personal connections. In fact, I bet if you asked people how they got started in this business many would say it was via a networking connection. Therefore, if personal connections are in fact the way many people end up working in marketing (whether on the client side or at an agency), then in order to right the wrong I would say you would need to increase diversity representation to allow for more minority referrals?

Or better yet, lets ask companies such as Nike, McDonalds, Verizon, Coca-Cola how they went about diversifying their marketing departments? Was it a mandate from above? Did they do targeted recruiting? What exactly is in their "kool-aid", and how can the rest of the marketing world (clients and agencies) start drinking it? Lets seek answers to the aforementioned questions, and start from there.

Thank you for bringing up this controversial issue. I'm glad that the marketing world has finally admitted that they do have a problem, but recognizing the problem does not solve it. And while I applaud you for coming up with your agency's plan of attack, I hope you realize you can't just take in a minority intern or present to a group of inner-city high schoolers in hopes of solving the problem. Talk can only go so far, and at the end of the day you just need to start filling the marketing halls with more people of color.

The fact remains that with the exception of the creative side of the business, many other roles in marketing can be learned/trained...people just need to be given the opportunity. Is the marketing world ready to give more diverse candidates the opportunity to learn about this business? Lets hope so because the end result will be phenomenal.
Kristena Lucky, Chicago

I strongly oppose the definition of diversity stated in this article, which defines it as "blacks and hispanics". I say this because our industry tries to be at the forefront of trends and contemporary culture but its push for diversity is several steps behind, and its definition is antiquated.

At the micro level where diversity = race, don't Asian Americans, Middle Easterners, and even Native Americans deserve to be recruited too? In response to "inner-city kids", few are aware that Southeast Asian Americans live in some of the worst poverty stricken communities in our country, and face abismal rates of entering or graduating our education system. They should be included in this discussion too.

Perhaps we pick race because it's the easiest thing to see. Taking a step back from our narrow definition, the kind of diversity agencies actually want is a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds.

Where is the discussion here about including and recruiting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender individuals? Women are underrepresented in some cases. Persons with disabilities have no mention here.

The point of diversity is not to fulfill a quota system, but to allow new views to broaden our own and create a new synergistic work environment that actually represents the demographics of this country. The struggle to increase diversity is about increasing inclusion, that does more than talk about it in black and white... literally.