Persuasion Architect Holly Buchanan wrote a post titled "Do We Need More Women and Minority Hiring in Advertising?" on her blog. She takes on the subject without regard to political correctness. I'll give you an excerpt below. You decide if it is worth reading the rest.
"One - if you're talented, you're in advertising, and you're a minority - go the big agency route if you want - but also look at the smaller shops that are doing amazing things and blowing away the competition with their insight and successful track records.
Two - I want to hear from you - what do you think about the whole minority in advertising debate? Good or bad - bring it on. Do you think the whole thing is just a misguided "affirmative action" for advertising that will force agencies to lower their standards in order to hire minorities? Is the attitude of Neil French one that is actually held by many advertising executives - that women are too busy with mommy responsibilities to work as hard as their midnight oil burning male counterparts - is this a view that is more widely held than we think? Is the glass ceiling still firmly in place for women and minorities? Is that why so much advertising aimed at women doesn't work? because too many white men are making the decisions and doing the creative - creating ads that they like?
Or is this just more political posturing by those damn minorities and feminists with nothing better to do than whine and complain.
Speak up!"
I'm not a big fan of large agencies. They're not competitors, they're mostly in a parallel business to Future Now. The ones who do online marketing are usually good for a laugh. Take a look at Jonah Bloom's column in AdAge if you want his take on large agencies and why they have become caricatures of themselves.
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