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Just when we could’ve used a laugh to lighten the mood here in Seattle, we, along with the other 154,000,000 Super Bowl viewers, were treated to a pummeling of socially conscious ads aimed at the heart. (Okay, there were a few jokes thrown in there, but only fraction of the usual.)
Of course, we can’t talk about the Super Bowl as an advertising event; it’s an advertising season. Just like Christmas advertising keeps creeping closer to Halloween, brands are launching teasers and their actual Super Bowl spots earlier and earlier online. By the time the game came on, I was actually bored of the Budweiser puppy. And I saw the ending of Mercedes’ Tortoise and the Hare race before I started seeing the teasers, which aired during the game. Hmm.
This year leaned to the serious and feel-good. Dads were on trend with not one, but two, car companies (Nissan and Toyota) telling the story of a dad’s relationship with his child through the teens. Both ended with dad crying in his car. Nice sentiment, but I couldn’t help but feel like everyone was working off of the same marketing strategy and desperately trying to link it to their brand. Dove also told the story of how caring for his family makes dad strong. Again, a very nice spot, but the link between the concept and the brand was forced.
McDonalds and Coca Cola took the positivity high road respectively with their “Lovin’” and “Make it happy” campaigns. Both had spots that were just fine. The ideas took off when they started marketing real-time on social to engage some of the 85% of people who watch TV while also looking at their phones (or in my case, my computer and my phone). McD’s gave away items from everyone else’s TV spots in sweepstakes people could enter just be retweeting. They even gave away free pedicures during the toe fungus medication commercial. They ended up getting 1,000,000 retweets by the night’s end. Sure, that’s not even 1% of Super Bowl viewers, but those are people actively engaging with the brand.
The party foul of the night goes to Nationwide Insurance, who went way over the top in trying to start a conversation about preventable deaths by airing an ad with a kid who talks to us about how he is missing out on things his life, like riding a bike and getting married, because he’s…dead. People called BS in a big way because Nationwide is not in the business of death-prevention but insurance. And because, well, it made their kids cry during a happy, family event.
On the flipside, No More, the domestic violence support organization funded by the NFL, aired a powerful spot depicting a real 911 call in which a woman pretended she was calling for pizza so her abuser wouldn’t know. This spot was highly relevant in the context of the Super Bowl given the NFL’s share of domestic violence scandals over the past year. Perhaps that’s why people tolerated depressing interruption better than Nationwide’s spot.
I have to say, I was getting a bit wistful for the big funny spots with celebrities and surprise endings that we have come to know and love on the Super Bowl. There were a few, just not enough, in my view. I loved the incredibly funny Snickers spot set in the Brady Bunch home with Danny Trejo playing Marsha and Steve Buschemi playing Jan in the newest iteration of the long-running “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign.
But the most genius use of a celebrity goes to Clash of Clans for featuring Liam Neeson’s acting as his character from the Taken movies. It was hysterical to see Neeson spew his angry vow of revenge at the characters on his phone while picking up a pastry at a coffee shop. This was my favorite spot of the night.
Also, to my pleasant surprise, there were funny spots starring women as dimensional characters instead of just sex objects—Mindy Kaling for Nationwide (they should have just run that spot twice) and Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman for T-Mobile (again, they should have run that spot twice instead of running the fake PSA starring Kim Kardashian—ick!).
All in all, a pretty good advertising and football season. Minus the last 30 seconds. Next year, Hawks!
(This isn’t an article about mentorship, but something I wrote about branding for the DNA blog. However, there is probably a lesson about personal branding in there somewhere!)
Something Lisa Bennett has learned in her very successful advertising career is that you don’t have to wait to learn from someone you admire. All you have to do is ask questions, seek their advice, and admit to them (and to yourself) that you don’t know everything.
This is, of course, advertising, where people do everything from dress to mentor more casually than in, say, the banking biz. There is a lot of learning going on in agencies, but, as pointed out above, it doesn’t have to be a planned formal event.
We asked top female ad execs who and what helped them navigate their way into the leadership positions they hold. What we found is that women are scrappy about learning. They’re smart about channeling the wisdom of the people they admire and even learning from others what not do. And, they don’t wait for an invitation.
Should we be surprised that nearly all the women we spoke to cited men as their biggest mentors? Maybe not. After all, men make up the majority of our agency leaders. (But worth exploring.) What we know for certain is that the following women have a deep appreciation for those who’ve helped them and want to pay it forward.
Lisa Bennett, EVP/Creative, DDB North Amercica
Lisa experienced plenty of mentorship throughout her career, starting as an art director at Leo Burnett and making it all the way up to ECD before transitioning to DDB, where she now runs creative for all offices on the continent.
“Mentorship comes in many forms,” she says. “From people that thought they were doing me a favor by telling me what to do, to people that did me a favor by showing me what not to do.”
She points to the talented Bob Scarpelli as someone who taught her to be a better creative leader and a better person and helped her navigate two turning points in her career that were ten years apart. He, in turn, taught her what it takes to be a mentor to others
Lisa encourages people to be proactive about learning and says some of her most valuable mentors had no idea they were mentoring her.
“Confidence, curiosity and selflessness are all qualities the best mentors—whether they know they are not—will gladly respond to.”
Susan Credle, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett
One of the most notable creative directors in the industry, Susan never had an official mentor. But when she looks back on her almost 30-year career, she recognizes that she has too many mentors to count.
“I find myself realizing who my true mentors have been based on how often I quote them or tell a story about a time I was with them,” she says.
Susan considers herself a student of some of the best teachers in the business and appreciates how each person has contributed in their own unique way: Phil Dusenberry was a quiet mentor from afar. Charlie Miesmer was a colorful mentor up close. David Lubars told her she had to work to a higher, more difficult standard and welcomed her to the club. Mark Tutssel offered her a creative director position—a job that is only held by females in 3% of the cases. And if Jerry Shereshewsky hadn’t invited her to a particular dinner, she might not be where she is today.
She points to Mike Hughes as continuing to impact her simply through the way he lives his life, as well as to Cindy Gallop for shouting her name in social media, making her feel not only proud, but also the responsibility that comes with leadership.
“Anyone who has ever believed in me more than I believed in myself has been a mentor to me,” she says. “The list is long but they should all know I continue to try my best not to let them down.”
Julie Scelzo, Group Creative Director, DraftFCB
Through many years as an art director, Julie sought out the help of others and learned from many, but it wasn’t until she joined DraftFCB in San Francisco as a CD and met president, Dominic Whittles, that she found her biggest mentor.
She says that borrowing Dominic’s almost zen-like way of dealing with things makes her a better, more authentic leader and gives her a clearer head.
“I think as a woman on the creative side of advertising, I always felt like I had to act like I had a penis to get ahead,” she says. “Dominic has always treated me with complete respect and encourages me to be who I truly am.”
And that’s a lesson that carries over from the office to life.
Julie was also honest enough to bring up what might be a slightly uncomfortable subject, which is the lack of mentorship (or, at the very least, inconsistent mentorship) she experienced from women for over her 17-year career.
“I know there are a lot of women out there who support other women. But there are a lot who don’t,” she says. “Sure I have learned from some, but I have also been belittled by many.” This type of unsisterly behavior was explored in this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB10001424127887323884304578328271526080496,00.html
This is why Julie has made it her mission to continue to support and help grow the careers of other creative women. And she’s in good company. With the help of Kat Gordon’s 3% Conference, we are recognizing that, as an industry, and as female leaders, we could be doing more to help women thrive in advertising. And with organizations such as SheSays, Straight-Up and The Mentory, we’re on our way.
Carol Watson, Founder, Tangerine Watson
As head of the cross-cultural talent consultancy she founded and President of the Board of Directors of The Advertising Women of New York, Carol knows a thing or two about what it takes to make it in advertising.
And she attributes a critical part of her own career development to Denise Warren, her former boss at the New York Times and a mentor who helped her envision a role for herself that didn’t exist yet.
“I would describe myself as a renegade who loves to launch and create new products, which was not what the New York Times was about in the year 2000,” she says. “Denise brilliantly asked all the right questions when it was time for me to move to the next career position at (the company). What was I passionate about? What role would I want to play even if it didn’t exist currently?”
The role Carol described didn’t exist, but that would change months later when the publication launched a teen version in partnership with Scholastic and Carol was asked to head up the advertising and marketing.
“That experience was pivotal in guiding my career decisions moving forward and gave me the confidence to speak from the heart when there is a passion, strength and vision that I believe I can help make come to life that provides a service and value to the industry.”
Tasha McVeigh, Partner, Swirl, Inc.
Tasha is one of the women in advertising who can lay claim to helping build an agency—in this case, a persevering agency that not only weathered the dot-com storm in San Francisco, but kept growing over 15 years to become the successful, creative agency that it is today.
While some might feel daunted by the challenge of helping lead an agency, Tasha feels lucky that she’s had the support and confidence of her biggest mentor the whole way. In fact, he was the one who enlisted her on the adventure.
“I was blessed to meet Martin Lauber early in my career;” she says, ”a person whose enthusiasm, tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit were so contagious that it became impossible to believe that anything was impossible.”
Since then, the mentorship has continued and the friendship has grown. Not surprisingly, Tasha recognizes that same entrepreneurial energy in the agency that the two helped create.
“I’m fortunate to work with partners and colleagues who, together, are an amazing culture of talent and spirit and optimism that make anything possible.”
Sara Azadi, SVP, Group Director, Edelman Digital
Sara soared up in her career at a young age and worked at a small handful of agencies before landing her role as Group Director of Northern California Accounts at Edelman Digital.
Of all the women we’ve spoken to, Sara is the only one who actually has scheduled lunches with her mentor and former boss of nine years, Bruce Bedortha. And though he’s made a serious contribution in helping shape Sara’s career, build her confidence and steer her in the right direction, their mentor relationship is hardly what you’d call “formal”.
“He’s the one I always text for advice or a laugh,” she says. “He always has great lines. Most are not suitable for print, like ‘you can’t the s*#t back in the donkey” or ‘you’re all overpaid kindergarteners and I’m on tantrum control.’”
Sara admits that it’s those personal nuances that make him the perfect mentor match to her fun-loving nature. But she points out that mentorship isn’t one size fits all. One person’s mentor is another person’s boss and nothing more.
“When it comes down to it, it’s a personality fit, a philosophical alignment and (a mentor’s) unwavering kindness and dedication to you, even when you were just a dummy that somehow knew it all.”
Sara believes that mentorship, like making success of most things, takes time and friendship.
And that is a great note to end on.
By Kammie McArthur
http://www.digiday.com/agencies/the-agency-motherhood-chronicles/
A great article from Digiday and complement to our post “Why do we keep losing the moms?” Four women describe their lives as moms at the top of advertising.
I heard a man say the other day say jokingly, “Men are the new women.” I am not sure any of us on either side would wish for a role reversal. But, for a man to even joke about feeling marginalized just because he sees that women are starting (and just barely starting) to not be marginalized? Well, that’s telling! It’s phenomenal that women are starting to be seen for our valuable leadership abilities and leadership potential. It is so great that the business world is starting to see women and their worth in through more realistic eyes. Warren Buffett has always been a man of vision–No wonder he has a wonderful take on women! With that, enjoy this article by Patricia Sellers.
Women, don’t do exactly what your bosses want.
It’s been a lonnnng time since I’ve been fresh out of school, but this would have been good advice then and it’s good advice now. Good reminder to not drop back too quickly on persuading challengers of your opinions and ideas at any level.
By Kammie McArthur
When asked, “Who’s your mentor?” we tend to do a mental search for that mentor archetype—that older, wiser person sitting across from us on weekly coffee dates bestowing pearls of career wisdom between sips of a mocha (or slashes of a lightsaber.)
But if a mentor can be distilled down to what it really is—someone we learn from—well, that broadens things, doesn’t it?
We’re asking people who influence the ad industry to tell us who has influenced their work and careers.
What’s obvious is that no two mentors take on the same form, and that form is not necessarily a boss. For one person, a mentor is a charismatic figure from the past, for another it’s a role model she never met and for yet another, it’s not even a person.
Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Mentor: Hal Riney
A prolific mentor, himself, judging from the many successful agency offshoots from his agency, Jeff explains how his own idea of mentorship has evolved over time.
“When I was younger, I believed the charmingly tyrannical Hal Riney was my mentor,” he said. “But having gone off on my own, I now believe I have an endless supply of equally inspiring mentors in the form of twenty- and thirty-something people who work with me.”
Liz Olson, Business Development Manager, Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago
Mentor: Shelly Lazarus
What happens when you’re a junior woman in the business and you look up, but there are few female role models to be found? If you’re Liz Olson, you find yourself a mentor in someone you’ve never met.
“I would lay in bed at night and obsessively watch Shelly interviews on youtube,” she said. “I marveled at her honesty, her kindness, her charm. In an industry of mad men, I watched her do things her own way. It gave me hope that I could too.”
After three and half years at Ogilvy & Mather and as Liz was transitioning into a bigger role, she finally met Shelly. She said it was the perfect time to connect with someone who could give her perspective, encouragement and clarity through the lens of her own remarkable experience.
“I think that’s what role models are all about—vision. They’re like glasses you never knew you needed,” Liz said. “You just have to seek out the ones that fit you best.”
See Liz’s post about Shelly Lazarus at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-olson/shelly-lazarus-advertising-hall-of-fame_b_3165606.html
Paul Venables, Founder, Creative Director, Venables Bell & Partners
Mentor: Mr. Z
Paul cites someone who probably never stepped foot inside of an ad agency as his most formidable mentor: his high school teacher, Mr. Zahner.
“In 1983, Mr. Zahner ignored the tradition of having committees run things and instead selected me to be the one and only editor of the high school newspaper. He said it was because I was a maverick,” Paul said. “I had to go look up the word to fully understand what he meant.”
Paul said that Mr. Zahner never pushed or prodded him. Instead, he just “expected.” He expected Paul to take risks, try things people thought were crazy and to fail gloriously.
Thirty years later, and unlikely by coincidence, Paul takes a similar leadership approach to his mentor’s.
“As a leader and a boss, I want you to go out and do things that excite you,” he said.
“I don’t want you thinking about what I want. I want you free to push and discover and fail, without looking over your shoulder. I’m here to help, guide and support, no doubt, he said.
“But it starts with your passion, not my demands.”
Lisa Rios, SVP, Director of Brand Planning, Cramer-Krasselt
Mentor: Mark Lantz
In her book Lean In Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg writes about how women, far more often than men, see themselves as less qualified for a job than they actually are.
Lisa Rios, despite her ambitious nature, found herself making a series of lateral moves in her career. She acknowledges that she tends to get a little too comfortable in roles where she is performing well.
She said, “I started to rationalize that I wasn’t the ‘boss type.’”
Lisa holds up her mentor and former boss, Mark Lantz, as the one who called B.S. on her thinking and helped her refocus on taking the next step in her career to run a planning department. Turns out, she’s an ideal fit for the leadership role.
She said, “I’m leading a group of really talented people and working on exciting business in an environment full of people that aren’t the agency ‘boss type.’”
Sometimes a mentor can see us better than we can see ourselves.
Cynthia Maller, Global Creative Director, PayPal
Mentor: Art Center
While Cynthia can name several key people who’ve made an indelible mark on her life, as far as her career goes, she says her most important mentor wasn’t a person. It was her experience at Art Center, where she earned her BFA.
“It was so unbelievably tough, and I don’t mean the ‘I had to walk 10 miles in the snow to get to class’ tough, but the ‘your need for sleep doesn’t matter, your looks don’t matter, your economic status doesn’t matter, your high-school glory days don’t matter, your car breaking down doesn’t matter, your parent’s expectations don’t matter, your tears don’t matter, your bleeding finger cut by your Exact-o doesn’t matter, your nervous breakdown doesn’t matter, your second nervous breakdown doesn’t matter, that so-and-so told you you had talent doesn’t matter, that you think your teacher is an idiot doesn’t matter, that your teacher thinks you are an idiot doesn’t matter, your righteous indignation doesn’t matter, that you think the assignment is lame doesn’t matter, that the dog literally did eat your homework doesn’t matter, that the classmate you thought was your friend just threw you under the bus doesn’t matter, only the work matters’ kind of tough. And I’m forever grateful for the experience,” she said.
The Mentory website is planned to launch in Summer of 2013 and will bring the ad industry a new way to mentor. If you’re interested in being a mentor, go to thementory.com temp page and submit your info, so we can keep you updated.
By Kammie McArthur
Yesterday, at the NY Festivals, four female creative directors spoke on a panel sponsored by The Ad Women of New York and moderated by Brian Morrisey, Editor In Chief of Digiday. (I was lucky enough to be a part of the panel and learned a lot from my co-panelists.)
In addition to one pregnant woman having to run off stage mid-sentence for fear of vomiting (now that wouldn’t happen to a dude!) here are some of the highlights:
There is more room than ever for the female creative voice.
Tiffany Rolfe, Chief Content Officer at Co:collective and a veteran of CP+B, pointed out that advertising is now about forming a deeper, ongoing relationship with consumers and this is something that women are very good at.
We know from Kat Gordon’s 3% Conference stats that 97% of creative directors are male while 80% of purchasing decisions are made by women. More and more, clients are demanding that there be senior female representation on their agency’s creative teams.
It’s not that a guy doesn’t have the talent to craft an ad for a feminine hygiene product or that a woman can’t craft an ad to sell a convertible Porsche. It’s just that when a brand needs to primarily engage women and mothers on an ongoing basis, it helps to have “some” female creative input.
Agencies are beginning to purposefully hire to create that diversity. Over the past five years, I’ve gotten many calls from headhunters for CD jobs at agencies, saying, “They’re looking for a woman.”
Women don’t make as much noise for themselves as men.
There is a notable difference between male and female creatives when it comes to confidently expressing what they want and deserve. This is a concept that Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, wrote about in her book Lean In.
Male creatives are more likely to ask for better assignments and more managerial power, regardless of their qualifications, while women with the same or greater qualifications are more likely to quietly keep working with the hope and expectation that they will be rewarded when it’s time.
Vida Cornelious, Chief Creative Officer of GlobalHue, gave an example that illustrates this disparity.
She said, “A young male copywriter came into my office telling me why he should get to work on a Super Bowl spot assignment.” She said, “I told him, ‘See that woman working away over there. She’s all that.’”
“I told him to get back to work.” She laughed.
While there is an opportunity for women to ambitiously own their true potential and be more vocal, there is also an opportunity for leaders to realize this gender difference and pay attention to the accomplishments of those who might be making noise in their work, but not necessarily in their manager’s office.
The boys club doesn’t really bother us.
It’s true that most creative departments are predominately male, and we’re often outnumbered, but none of us on the panel said that we felt it has held us back or that we were made to feel we didn’t fit in. After all, we’ve all experienced being in a room full of women with one guy blushing at our conversation. It just doesn’t happen at work!
So, why are creative departments so heavily skewed male? Our best guess is that people are just more comfortable hiring people like themselves. As creative leadership starts to get more diverse, so do the hires.
But as Valerie Carlson, ex-creative director at Razorfish, says, “80% of students enrolled in ad schools and art schools are female. Things are going to change drastically.”
Best advice: be yourself.
I don’t have enough fingers to count all the times in my career (mostly early on) when I was told I was too nice to be a creative, and in one case, a creative director. When I was just starting to put together my portfolio, one man told me flat out that he didn’t think I was edgy enough to be a copywriter. His case in point was an ad he’d just seen in a male copywriter’s book that showed a bra hanging off a ceiling fan. He didn’t “think” I could be that edgy.
Luckily, I didn’t listen to him or anyone else, because I knew they were wrong in thinking a young woman’s perceived nice demeanor would prohibit her from being an effective creative person or leader. Over the years I’ve done work just as funny and edgy as any of my male colleagues. Also, as it turns out, empathy is one of the most important traits of effective leaders and leads to happier cultures.
Authenticity and transparency are critical to both creativity and leadership. So trying to model yourself after another gender or personality type doesn’t work.
As Tiffany pointed out, “you’re never going to be someone else.”
Woman or man, success comes from being the best version of yourself.
Wall Street Journal article in response to Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In.
Jody Greenstone Miller has some answers to the questions raised in our previous blog post: Why do we keep losing the moms? Interestingly enough, she sees that ambition is not the issue; it’s the time that prohibits many women from leaning in.
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