May Be Far in Distance, but Integrated Madison Ave Could Spell End for Some
By Marissa Miley
Published: February 16, 2009
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- No matter who is in the White House or what the lawyers ultimately accomplish, the consumer-facing side of marketing will never inhabit a post-racial world. In a realm where every differentiating factor is examined to place consumers into niches and categories, being judged by the color of one's skin is simply a fact of life.
Behind the scenes, however, it's a different story. That's where the lawsuits, diversity officers and recruiters struggle to change the face of the advertising industry. And what if they succeed? Suppose some years from now general-market shops have fully integrated staffs with knowledge of every cultural and racial demographic -- and reams of quality research. Will the need for agencies that specialize in ethnic marketing disappear?
"If you look at the way things are currently done, [African-American agencies] would go out of business, because we wouldn't have anything to do," said Eugene Morris, chairman-CEO and founder, E. Morris Communications. Since black-owned agencies are routinely passed over for general-market assignments and make their money as ethnic shops, he said, they'd have no business left. Even now, they receive disproportionately small budgets relative to the market contribution they make. "Unless that changes, how can we compete?"
WHAT?!?! Can you fade the Black? Or any other color for that matter? Race is a social precept... so maybe.
See more here.
I wrote about it a lil bit too. https://sites.google.com/site/mayuradocs/PinIt.png
4 comments:
Don't know why the Ad Age reporter didn't draw excerpts from your post on Black agencies.
Also, poor Eugene Morris doesn't have to wait for total integration - he's barely competing right now.
I felt a slight but, I thought I was being self absorbed.
E. Morris... lol. Hey they are on the comeback trail!
Most black agencies are on life support. With the wire about to be pulled. It sucks. There not allowed to pitch for gm accounts, and they are only brought in for the ever shrinking minority business. And the GM agencies are not hiring blacks, so its a bleak situation.
bah-hum-bug! it's true that it's hard to get the nice ad accounts. however, i think if you make something special and powerful and honest and true, you will succeed. we are the zeitgeist of our time & we have prospered autonomously thus far. something they didn't mention in business school, people like watching dinosaurs die.
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