• John Wren, CEO of ad giant Omnicom, laid out steps for the holding company's offices around the world to reopen.
• He said the entire network would continue working remotely until at least May 15 except in some Asian countries.
• Wren said leaders will follow local government guidelines and that anyone uncomfortable returning to the office will not be required to do so.
• According to sources in Omnicom, some executives have already volunteered for salary reductions while others have not.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Omnicom CEO John Wren sent memos to the holding company's 70,000-plus employees about reopening its offices.

"Our leaders worked tirelessly to limit the number of people impacted," Wren wrote on April 23, stating that corporate executives along with "many others" have taken voluntary pay cuts. 

The move comes as China reopens its economy and other countries, including Germany and South Korea, issue guidelines for businesses. The holding company already went through multiple rounds of layoffs across agencies including BBDO, DDB, and all of Omnicom Media Group.

"We have formed a multidisciplinary committee to develop guidelines for how our offices should open once government officials give us the green light to do so," Wren wrote, expressing confidence that Omnicom would "be well-positioned for success as client business returns." 

Omnicom may take extra time to open offices after local governments clear the way 

In a follow-up memo on May 4, Wren stated the entire network would maintain its work-from-home policy until at least May 15, except in certain Asian countries.

He linked to a company guide including tips and requirements, such as each employee wearing a mask and taking his or her temperature before entering the office.

Similar to rival holding company WPP CEO Mark Read, Wren suggested that Omnicom would follow the guidance of local governments but will "take some extra time before opening," using a phased approach and telling all employees who feel uncomfortable that they don't have to come in.

Wren did not address the topic of salaries in the memo. Three people with knowledge of the matter who are known to Business Insider but requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it said these cuts have already begun in some regions, but that certain agency CEOs had not volunteered. 

Omnicom declined to comment.

The full May 4 memo is printed below.

A Message from John Wren 

As we begin another week, I want to share some much-needed good news about the exceptional work by our agencies and their recent award wins, as well as provide an update on our return-to-office plans.

Most recently, Ad Age revealed its 2020 A-List and our performance was outstanding. Goodby Silverstein & Partners, TBWA and BBDO were all named to the top ten for Agency of the Year, adam&eveDDB was named International Agency of the Year and TBWA\Media Arts Lab was named Creative Agency of the Year. For the sixth year in a row, adam&eveDDB was awarded Campaign UK's Agency of the Year and Manning Gottlieb OMD won Media Agency.

In addition, all three of our global creative networks — BBDO, DDB and TBWA — came in the top five for The Drum's World Creative Rankings, and Omnicom was named the most awarded holding company. On the PR front, Marina Maher Communications was named an Agency of the Decade by PRovoke.

Congratulations to all on these achievements.

The work you've been doing around COVID-19 continues to be impressive. OMD helped increase awareness around Draft-A-Thon, which raised over $100 million for COVID-19 relief. Several of our healthcare agencies are working tirelessly with their clients on clinical trials for drugs being used to treat Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), one of the most dramatic issues of COVID-19. A group of 25 individuals at Harrison & Star and SSCG Media Group worked around the clock to support the Emergency Use Authorization of remdesivir for COVID-19, and it has just been approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In Helsinki, TBWA helped its client develop a hands-free door handle that minimizes the spread of the virus. Addressing the rise of domestic violence during this pandemic, TBWA is working with a client to promote a hand signal that will silently inform others if a person is in danger. These are just a few of the countless examples I've heard of, and I want to thank you for your hard work and ingenuity.

As of now, except in certain markets in Asia where our people have already returned to the office, we are maintaining our work from home policy until at least May 15.

That said, many markets around the world are preparing to end lockdowns and re-open their economies. With this in mind, a cross-functional committee developed Returning to the Office Safely guidance for you and your agency leaders. The guidelines will be implemented by each office and will be tailored for local regulations and the specific needs of your agency.

You can access the guidelines at returningsafely.omnicomgroup.com.

As part of our plan to return to the office safely, we sent out a brief survey last week. More than 30,000 of you responded to the survey. Thank you. Our committee used your feedback to inform the recommended guidance.

While each of our agencies is still in the planning process, I want to reassure you of a few things:

• First, our offices will not open before local governments and public health officials give us the green light to do so, and even then, we will take some extra time before opening.
• Once we open our offices, it will be under a phased approach so we can maintain proper social distancing.
• We know many of you are juggling both professional and personal responsibilities. You'll be informed of our plans in plenty of time to discuss your particular situation with your manager so we can do our best to accommodate you.
• And finally, please know that anybody who is not comfortable returning to the office as we gradually transition back and maintain social distancing will not be required to do so and should speak with their manager.

As always, your safety and well-being remain our top priority, and we will do our best to keep you informed on any new developments. In the meantime, stay safe and continue to take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Sincerely,

John

SEE ALSO: WPP CEO lays out how the ad giant will reopen its offices around the world and why they may never return to full capacity

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button

Hello and welcome back to the Advertising and Media Insider, your weekly industry news fix. I'm Lucia Moses, deputy editor here. 

The future of work

As the curve flattens, CEOs are starting to plan for a return to work. This past week we spoke to CEOs of the giant holding companies and their agencies who gave an early view into how work will — and won't — change.

• Patrick Coffee spoke to WPP CEO Mark Read, who laid out how the ad holding company giant would reopen its offices guided by its China operation, which is at 90% capacity and may stay that way indefinitely.
• Patrick also got a memo from Omnicom CEO John Wren outlining how employees should prepare for wearing a mask and taking their temperature before entering the office.
• And WPP's PR firm BCW told Sean Czarnecki that some of its remote work will stay that way now that the firm has seen how it can still win business without spending time and money flying people around the world.

Triad's cautionary tale

Lauren Johnson had a great read about the lessons of Triad Retail, which just shut down.

Triad once had retail behemoths Walmart and Sam's Club as clients, but its revenue evaporated as Walmart and other customers decided to handle their ad sales themselves. Some agencies dismiss the in-housing trend, but it all but wiped out this company.

Read the full story: The cautionary tale of a marketing agency that ad giant WPP acquired for $300 million and shut down 4 years later

Who's running YouTube

Recently we learned just how big YouTube's ad business is: A whopping $15 billion. Lauren, Hugh Langley, and Amanda Perelli identified 33 people who keep the platform growing with advertisers and creators — and keep it out of trouble with regulators, of course.

Read the full list here: The 33 insiders who wield the most power at YouTube

Here are other great reads from the media and advertising teams:

• 76% of marketers plan to slash their advertising budgets this year, and ad holding companies could bear the brunt of the cuts
• The cocreator of 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' describes running a virtual writers' room for season 8 and what video chat has changed about the creative process
• Amazon's ad business is spiking, but ad buyers say the coronavirus reveals the commerce giant's weaknesses versus Google and Facebook
• Meet the 20 most powerful WarnerMedia execs and their top deputies. Here are the leaders who will help HBO Max battle Netflix and define AT&T's TV future.
• Data reveals how large the decline in paid Instagram influencer posts has been in recent weeks, as the ad market sputters
• Facebook and Google got hit hard by the coronavirus, but their massive ad businesses will come out stronger in the end
• An influencer-marketing agency shares its guidelines for brands that want to run social-media campaigns during the pandemic and what to avoid
• Anheuser-Busch InBev's global chief marketing officer reveals how its $1 billion innovation unit ZX Ventures is helping the company weather the coronavirus

So long for this week. Remember that if you're getting this email forwarded, you can sign up for your own and share it with others by clicking here. 

— Lucia

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

• The pandemic has upended the advertising business as marketers slash spending, retool their messages, and shift dollars online to adjust to a population in crisis.
• A recent Gartner survey found 76% of 250 marketing executives expected the coronavirus to impact their spending this year.
• We asked CEOs of companies like WPP and Weber Shandwick in mid-April how they think the pandemic will change their operation, their industries, and the world.
• This feature is part of a series based on conversations with more than 200 CEOs on how business will be transformed by the coronavirus. To read more, click here. 

The pandemic has upended the advertising business and sped up existing trends. Marketers have slashed spending, adjusting their messages, and shifting dollars online to adjust to a population in lockdown and weathering job and health concerns. People are doing more of their shopping online and increasingly turning to streaming TV for their entertainment while in lockdown.

A recent Gartner survey found 76% of 250 marketing executives expected the coronavirus to impact their spending this year.

To understand how the pandemic is affecting advertising, we asked CEOs of companies like WPP and Weber Shandwick in mid-April three questions: How do they think the pandemic will change their operation, their industries, and the world?

Some common themes emerged. Technology will be used more broadly within the workplace and on behalf of clients and data will become even more important as marketers want to know what's happening in real time. 

There will be a shift to more remote work as CEOs have seen employees can be effective working from home, health fears persist, and there's a chance to reduce real estate costs. 

"We used to think that idea-making had to have a human touch. You had to be in the room, you have to be throwing stuff at each other and eating pizza," said Gail Heimann, CEO of Weber Shandwick. "Idea-making can completely thrive in this virtualized world."

While layoffs have cut across advertising and media companies, some still see opportunity in the crisis. Influencer marketers say there's been an explosion in content consumption on influencer channels. Public relations sees a greater chance to take share from traditional ad agencies and consulting firms as marketers pause campaigns but still look for ways to get their message out. 

"Advertisers don't want to be next to difficult news," said Richard Edelman, CEO of PR giant Edelman. "We can actually be part of the news cycle with stories of companies and brands stepping up, of companies in some way changing their supply chains."

And companies that bet on streaming TV expect to capitalize as advertisers follow the audience there.

Scroll down to see the full responses, edited for clarity, from Evan Asano of MediaKix, Ricky Ray Butler of BEN, Harris Diamond of McCann Worldgroup, Richard Edelman of Edelman, Jeff Green of The Trade Desk, Gail Heimann of Weber Shandwick, Donna Imperato of BCW Global, Mark Read of WPP, John Saunders of FleishmanHillard, Arthur Sadoun of Publicis Groupe, and Sir Martin Sorrell of S4 Capital.

Reporting by Patrick Coffee, Sean Czarnecki, Lauren Johnson, Amanda Perelli, and Tanya Dua.

SEE ALSO: Facebook and Google got hit hard by the coronavirus, but their massive ad businesses will come out stronger in the end

Donna Imperato, CEO of BCW Global: 'Large global firms are going to become more of a challenge to the consultancies because we're much quicker.'

Crisis, public affairs, and healthcare are our largest practices globally to begin with, so the mix will probably stay the same in terms of our offering. Branding and technology hasn't been as hard hit as consumer/branding. Corporate is holding its own because purpose has become even more urgent than before.

The one area that's doing really well is data analytics. Demand has been crazy because clients want to know what's happening in real time.

PR is moving up the value chain. Our business is influencing key stakeholders as well as the public at large. We always recommend that clients prepare for crises and they think, "Well, that's not going to happen. It's not what I have to spend money on now." I believe that's going to open up.

Large global firms such as BCW are going to become more of a challenge to the consultancies such as the McKinseys because we're much quicker.

We're presenting new business online and a lot of that will remain. We won't need as much real estate because more people will start working from home. That's a cost saving and they become more productive.

Ricky Ray Butler, CEO of BEN: 'There is immense opportunity for entertainment to be a source of light and joy in these trying times.'

The entertainment ecosystem is changing rapidly in light of the current climate. More people than ever are at home binging content across their devices, yet the industry is facing production freezes and delays in content creation. In response, we've seen late night hosts take to YouTube, musicians livestream concerts on Twitch, and the overall convergence of traditional celebrity and social media. This period of time will undoubtedly cement the importance of digital strategies in entertainment moving forward.

At BEN, we've seen a massive uptick in branded content and influencer marketing. There is immense opportunity for entertainment to be a source of light and joy in these trying times, and brands are helping empower creators to make those moments as impactful as possible. For those in the entertainment industry, now is the time to invest — not hesitate. That means investing heavily in digital strategies, technologies that enable remote production, and flexible work solutions. 

Beyond the entertainment ecosystem, this period of time is reshaping our understanding of "connectivity." Even with digital communication at our fingertips, it's easy to feel isolated. More than ever, it's important to take a beat to interact, check in, and support those in your life — whether they're your employees, friends, or industry peers. We will come out of this stronger and more resilient.

Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman: 'I think it's time for PR to take share from advertising.'

I think it's time for PR to take share from advertising. Blackouts have been imposed because advertisers don't want to be next to difficult news. We can actually be part of the news cycle with stories of companies and brands stepping up, of companies in some way changing their supply chains.

[PR] should try to have our own ideas, our own ability to do content creation, our own ability to set up channels of communication. The classic PR business of me pitching you a story is a shrinking pie. But we still need to communicate, arguably more now than ever because there's fake news and distortion and people in politics saying whatever they say.

We're going to really have to be sharp about standing up and having good content. PR is going to have to stop being a one sided exercise where everything's great and this product is perfect and — no. If you are going direct to end-user, you better be somewhat more objective and not pretend to be media but pretend to be sourced and third-partied.

We have to have our own creative, we have to make up our own channels, we have to be very data oriented. We have 150 people in research who are finding data and saying, "Go this way and here's why your creators should be like this." That's how we have to prove also that we sell stuff or improve reputation. It shouldn't be so squishy.

John Saunders, CEO of FleishmanHillard: 'Good communications in COVID-19 times is an operational advantage.'

Our work for clients has transitioned to dealing with COVID-19 as it effectively resets or breaks the structures that our institutions, industries, and society have been built on. 

If we are not helping clients with a COVID-19 related crisis, we are developing best practices for the return to the workplace.

We are developing scenarios that re-imagine new products and services, new ways of holding virtual events, new ways of engaging consumers.

We are examining the tension for companies between their commitment to purpose and the pragmatic realities of surviving in the post-COVID world.

We are analyzing how the evolving political and social landscape will change our view of who is influential and what impact the changing power dynamics will have on supply chains.

There is huge opportunity to demonstrate the value of PR like never before given unprecedented access to the C-suite and recognition by them that good communications in COVID-19 times is an operational advantage.

But there will be consolidation. Many boutique agencies won't survive and the work we do will become more sharply focused on resurgence and recovery — at least for the next 12 months. 

Harris Diamond, CEO of McCann Worldgroup: 'We've had to look at everything, such as talent and production contracts, and review almost every way we work.'

I think we're all learning as we go along. The pandemic has accelerated a lot of what was already taking place, and it's changing the way we operate and work.

We've always had offshoring, but we're finding now that we're offshoring major productions in ways where we didn't really understand how well it could be done. For example, we have work that is now being created in Latin America, produced in Asia, and about to be broadcast in the US. That has implications for the way we build out our business, and it's all going to evolve very quickly over the next three to four years as new platforms and supply chain concepts emerge.

Right now we're talking to clients about how to rekindle demand, but first, people have to feel like they can go out again. We're having serious conversations about that with clients, which is a big change from a few weeks ago, when it was just, "What do we do today?" This is happening in every sector. Part of it is a sense of anticipation that we will be reopening soon, whether in the EU, the US, or China.

The way we work is going to change until we have a vaccine, but also after that. For example, we don't need as much real estate. In some cases, we might be more comfortable with a smaller footprint or even without a footprint. Do we really need an office for 10 people in Colorado?

Does infrastructure and things like IT have a much higher priority now? Yes, as does our legal team. We've had to look at everything, such as talent and production contracts, and review almost every way we work to adapt to this new reality. Things that were always in the background are now in the foreground.

I have always believed the most important way to attract people is through the work we do. We're seeing proof of that right now; our people are working exceptionally hard and blurring the line between work and home life. 

We've used a combination of different things with the goal of trying to maintain our people, but unfortunately we've had to do everything from pay cuts and furloughs to layoffs.

Evan Asano, CEO of MediaKix: 'Content consumption on influencer channels has exploded.'

Last summer, we tried an experiment where our team of 50 employees worked four days from home and one day in the office. It worked out great, and so we were well set up for when COVID hit and we couldn't be in the office. We just shifted to a five day work week from home, instead of four.

The way we work hasn't changed too much, but our industry has definitely been affected. 

Across the board, ad spend — whether it's TV, print, or influencer marketing — has definitely dropped.

What happened with influencer marketing is, we saw a lot of brands pause and want to see what was happening, because they didn't want to feel tone deaf with their messaging. We've also seen advertisers in categories that are doing extremely well pause advertising because they don't need it, like some food-delivery services. 

Now, we are starting to see advertisers get back in the game and start spending again. Content consumption on influencer channels has exploded, so without a doubt that's another impact on the industry with views and engagement across the board.

Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe: 'Anyone who thinks that the majority of our clients will come out of this storm acting as they did before, is very wrong.'

Uncertainty is going to be the new norm for a while. 

I'm afraid that anyone who thinks that the majority of our clients will come out of this storm acting as they did before, is very wrong. When factories have been closed for months, and demand has fallen by more than half, you also have to adapt. Not just for the months to come, but for years.

Clients will need even more creative impact to bring the necessary emotional value to justify their prices and reignite desire. Customers will have reduced buying power and justifying margins will need breakthrough ideas. There will be no more space for 'nice to have' campaigns. Our clients will be under tremendous cost pressure, as cash will be king. They will be focused on immediate return on investment for their media spend.

We will have to come with outcome-based solutions if we want to be their partner and stand a chance against the walled gardens, which is why at Publicis we are creating new products and services to help our clients with these heightened pressures for performance and growth. 

Finally, it is way too early to know how our industry will evolve. It will depend on the two points above and how we behave collectively. The marketing industry has taken on a new dimension in the last decade with the arrival of the platforms, consultants and system integrators.

If we want to get out of this together, it will ask for more solidarity, more transparency and a sense of responsibility towards the smaller companies that most of the time are a vital source of creativity. 

Sir Martin Sorrell, chairman of S4 Capital: 'The second quarter will be horrendous for the advertising industry.'

Paradoxically, the crisis has significantly improved the way we operate and made us more efficient with no lunches, dinners or traveling. 

On the people front, we have a relatively young workforce, so the cases of COVID-19 at our company are in the low single figures. Most of our people spend most of their time with our clients, so it doesn't make sense to spend $30-40 million on real estate. We're looking into canceling leases and looking to consolidate. 

In terms of clients, it is very varied, but there's a huge opportunity for us in helping them with first-party data and in-housing. 

Our finances are stable. We have zero debt, and we want to keep it that way. The second quarter will be horrendous for the advertising industry, but we anticipate some companies seeing a V-shaped recovery coming out of it. We're watching our balance sheet like a hawk.

The coronavirus will have a threefold impact more broadly. As consumers consume more media more at home, digital and online purchases will explode, and e-commerce will take off. We were already seeing the demise of newspapers and magazines, but the transition from analog to digital will also speed up. All this will in turn accelerate the digital transformations of companies and enterprises.

In media, the strong will get stronger. The platforms may have problems with small businesses suffering in the short term, but will come out with more power in the long term. The streamers will come out on top of linear. The advertising holding companies, meanwhile, will be weighed down by the albatross of the analog.

Jeff Green, CEO of The Trade Desk: 'The biggest loser in all of this will be traditional linear TV.'

We're all operating with a lot of near-term uncertainty. At some point, however, we do know that the economy will recover. As that starts to happen, companies will market aggressively to capture market share. So the long-term winners will be those that are planning, not panicking, right now. 

We're convinced that we will play an important role in the economic recovery from C19.  Some sectors that have paused substantial portions of advertising will aggressively spend to promote recovery as we start to emerge from this. That's because consumers are re-evaluating everything, and consumer spending is driven by advertising and, in turn, advertising drives economic growth. So a great deal of share shifting will happen as a result of this economic change. We're helping major advertisers adapt to the current environment while working with them on strategic plans for the various stages of recovery, so that we can help them grow and gain share on the other side of this. Most sectors are trying to make every campaign dollar work as hard as possible. That means applying data and focusing on media that is measurable and comparable.

The biggest loser in all of this will be traditional linear TV. As more consumers stay at home and binge watch series on-demand, and as cost pressures force many viewers to cut back on the most expensive elements of their TV bundles, cord cutting is only going to accelerate. At the same time, the traditional upfront season, where many broadcasters generate the majority of their ad revenue, has been upended. Many advertisers are embracing this shift. With connected TV, they get to apply data to their massive TV campaigns for the first time and they are eager to do that.

On a more macro level, the only workable solution to this pandemic is a comprehensive systemic approach, where all the stakeholders understand the risks and take common action for the common good. I'm very hopeful that this approach is not something we lose once we emerge from this particular emergency. We need the same thinking applied to other global crises, whether it's climate change or clean water. 

Gail Heimann, CEO of Weber Shandwick: 'Idea-making can completely thrive in this virtualized world.'

Things change every day, so we need to be incredibly agile and incredibly flexible so that we not only serve our clients, we also do the best thing for the business.

The virtualization of business has democratized the way we work. It's working well in terms of delivering client work and it's working well for the gestalt of our organization. That will stay in some way.

We used to think that idea-making — to get to the creative part of the business — idea-making had to have a human touch. You had to be in the room, you had to be kicking it around. You have to be throwing stuff at each other and eating pizza. But idea-making can completely thrive in this virtualized world.

However reentry happens in the most secure and protected way, there are people who will be happy to be back in an office environment, when it is safe to be there.

Data will remain an important part of what we deliver for our clients for sure. COVID-19 will put a lens on the kinds of technologies we deploy to do our work and the kinds of technology consulting that we offer our clients. Whether that translates into massive investment, I can't say. 

Some 40% of our business is "digitally fueled." As we move towards the next chapter, whatever it looks like, we know technology has an absolutely huge role to play. We have a mandate to have the depth of knowledge and insight and predictive capabilities to counsel our clients.

Mark Read, WPP CEO: 'We have produced work in 4 days that could have previously have taken 4 months.'

We've just had a decade of innovation in six weeks that has changed the way we work, communicate, meet, shop, and educate our children. 

Which changes will stick and which will not stick is still not clear. I am continually asked if there will be more people working from home, and I am sure the answer is yes. But I also know that many people long to get back to an office and to have the interaction with colleagues that makes working, well, not just working, something more rewarding.

At WPP, there's no doubt we will fly less, meet more by video. But there will also be more fundamental changes in the way we work — faster, more agile and more collaboratively. 

We have produced work in 4 days that could have previously have taken 4 months. We will be more collaborative as an organization, working more closely with our colleagues across the different brands that make up WPP as I have seen our culture change and grow in just a few weeks. There will be more demand for the technology-driven services in which we have invested significantly and now integrated into our overall offer. 

There will no doubt be tough times ahead, but our industry, and WPP, will come through this.  And when we do, our clients will value what we do as much as ever — the ability to envision the future and deliver growth.

• The CEOs of the five largest advertising holding companies addressed employee concerns about growing racial tensions in the US over the past few days.
• WPP and Publicis held calls where black employees recounted their experiences with discrimination.
• Omnicom and IPG sent memos condemning racism, while Dentsu laid out a plan including mandatory anti-racism training for employees.
• Some black Publicis employees expressed skepticism about the company's commitment, though.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

As thousands protested the deaths of George Floyd and other African Americans, the largest ad agency holding companies — WPP, IPG, Omnicom, Dentsu Aegis Network, and Publicis Groupe, along with MDC Partners and S4 Capital — addressed racism and discrimination with their workforces.

Repeated studies have shown that these companies continue to struggle with diversity— as do their clients.

Publicis and WPP held emotionally charged meetings where black employees shared their experiences

Publicis Groupe US chief diversity officer Ronnie Dickerson Stewart met May 29 with more than 2,000 participants. Two attendees described it as an emotional discussion of the African American experience where white executives primarily sat on the line and listened.

CEO Arthur Sadoun then sent a video to all staff on May 31 in which he promised to focus on employees' safety and mental health.

Some black Publicis employees remained skeptical. One who is known to Business Insider but requested anonymity because they aren't authorized to discuss the matter expressed doubt that Publicis agencies are really dedicated to diversity. This person said they are optimistic but that Sadoun and other executives don't "get a pass" because they might be less familiar with the black American experience.

Dickerson Stewart said she "know[s] for a fact that [Sadoun] understands completely what's going on and what's required."

She also said employees were encouraged to share their experiences without a filter.

WPP CEO Mark Read also expressed support for black employees during a June 1 conversation hosted by global head of culture Judy Jackson, according to an employee who was on the call. Another person said more than 1,000 employees joined the conference.

Dentsu laid out a multi-step plan to improve diversity efforts

Jacki Kelley, CEO of the Americas at Dentsu Aegis Network, in a June 1 memo quoted Martin Luther King's speech "The Other America," which called a riot "the language of the unheard." She asked employees to be "actively anti-racist."

"What do I say to my black colleagues, partners and friends when the reality is, I can never fully understand their experience?" she asked.

Kelley wrote that Dentsu had "missed a step" in its past diversity efforts and said the company would:

• Mandate anti-racism training for staff
• Host an open forum where black employees can share their experiences
• Work with nonprofit group the Ad Council to develop an anti-racism campaign similar to LGBTQ rights effort "Love Has No Labels"
• Share related resources with staff
• Ensure greater diversity at the executive level
• Commit to unspecified "tangible actions" to address discrimination in the US

Kelley wrote that the company would set achievable goals and regularly update staff on Dentsu's progress.

Mark Penn and Martin Sorrell called on employees to challenge themselves

MDC Partners CEO Mark Penn told employees in a June 1 memo to "have uncomforable conversations" and listen to black colleagues "knowing that it is not their job to fix the state of race in America right now."

S4 Capital executive chairman Sir Martin Sorrell addressed Floyd's death, calling it "heinous" and asking employees to "let me know ASAP the one or two things we can DO as a firm to right these terrible wrongs."

"We're seemingly back to 1968, but most of you wouldn't have lived through that," Sorrell wrote, citing the launch of SpaceX's first-ever commercial space flight as a rare bright spot in recent weeks.

IPG said it would seek to create a more diverse culture

In staff memo June 1, Omnicom CEO John Wren described how employee and bird-watcher Christian Cooper was involved in "a racist incident in New York City's Central Park" last month when a white woman called the police and claimed he was threatening her.

Wren wrote that Omnicom is "proud of the inspiration [Christian Cooper] has offered to so many throughout the world" and called George Floyd's death a "tragic and heartbreaking" event that transcends politics.

IPG CEO Michael Roth said IPG would review its incentive programs to create "a more equitable and diverse culture," work more closely with groups representing black, Asian, and LGTBQ employees, and continue supporting the United Nations' UNWomen Unstereotype Alliance, which was created to counter sexist imagery in advertising.

"[W]e are facing an enemy that is even more evil than a virus that has literally shut our world down," he wrote in a staff memo, suggesting that the twin plagues of racism and COVID-19 could inspire people "to stand as allies."

Spokespeople for the five companies either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to inqueries.

Got more information about this story or another ad industry tip? Contact Patrick Coffee on Signal at (347) 563-7289, email at pcoffee@businessinsider.com or patrickcoffee@protonmail.com, or via Twitter DM @PatrickCoffee. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

SEE ALSO: CEOs of the biggest ad holding companies including Omnicom and Dentsu say offices will reopen slowly and staffers won't be required to come back

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

• Former PR executive Nyree Wright sued Omnicom PR firm Porter Novelli in November 2019, alleging the company discriminated against her on the basis of race and gender.
• She claims Porter Novelli hired her for a consultant-turned EVP position, then fired her after less than two months after assigning her a project that was not in keeping with her contract.
• Omnicom denied her claims, stating she didn't suffer any legally valid damages and that she wasn't discriminated against.
• Click here for more BI Prime coverage.

Public relations veteran Nyree Wright sued her former employer Porter Novelli and its parent, holding company Omnicom, in late 2019, alleging she was discriminated against on the basis of race along with claiming tortious interference and breach of contract.

Wright, a 20-year PR vet, told Business Insider that she was an SVP at rival Publicis firm MSLGroup when Porter Novelli hired her for a consulting role that was designed to evolve into a full-time position as EVP of reputation management with an annual salary of $225,000.

The filing states that in Wright's first month on the job in October in 2018, Porter Novelli gave her 10 days to launch a public affairs and policy campaign for the American Public Transportation Association.

Wright told Business Insider that the assignment went beyond her contract, which stated that she would specialize in crisis PR, reputation management, media training, new business efforts, and IPOs and acquisitions.

According to the filing, Wright's manager terminated her less than one month later, claiming she was "not a good fit for the position."

Wright, now a full-time lecturer at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, said she did not experience any direct racism during her tenure but that she was the only Black executive in the firm's DC office at the time.

According to her suit, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, "Ms. Wright is African American, and therefore a member of a protected class. Defendant [former Porter Novelli global president Jennifer Swint] is white. Defendants' actions discriminated against Ms. Wright by reason of her race ... Defendants' termination of Ms. Wright was based solely on her race and not her performance."

Omnicom denied Wright's claims

Omnicom stated in a filing that Wright had not suffered any legally valid damages and that all actions against her were taken "for legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons."

A Porter Novelli spokeswoman said the company cannot comment on ongoing legal matters.

"Porter Novelli is a Purpose-driven organization that has and is deeply committed to enforcing policies prohibiting discrimination and retaliation on the basis of gender, race, age, disability, sexual orientation or any other legally protected status," she wrote.

Omnicom and Swint, who is also named as a defendant in the suit, did not respond to requests for comment.

Wright's suit claims the firm damaged her reputation and her ability to earn further employment and demands back and front pay.

In April 2019, Omnicom offered her an initial settlement of $11,496.22 that would have required her to sign a nondisclosure agreement, according to a document. She declined. According to a March scheduling order, the case is scheduled to begin pretrial hearings on November 16.

Related documents are embedded below.

Got more information about this story or another ad industry tip? Contact Patrick Coffee on Signal at (347) 563-7289, email at pcoffee@businessinsider.com or patrickcoffee@protonmail.com, or via Twitter DM @PatrickCoffee. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Pathologists debunk 13 coronavirus myths

• Employees at Omnicom Group-owned ad and public relations agency GMMB asked for a list of proposed reforms and a conversation about "systemic racism and inequity" at the firm.
• GMMB is a campaign favorite for progressive causes, and has counted Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, and Hillary Clinton as clients. It's now working with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
• The agency responded by naming its first Black partner, Micheline Kennedy, and pledging other steps.
• The development comes amid Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd and companies are held accountable for their record on diversity and inclusion.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Staff at GMMB, a public relations and advertising juggernaut in politics, sent a letter to the firm's partners on June 11 signed by more than 130 employees asking them to address "systemic racism and inequity" at the firm, according to an email shared with Business Insider.

The letter proposes sweeping reforms across hiring, staffing, client work, procurement, administrative work, and thought leadership. You can read the letter in full below. 

Founded in 1983, GMMB is a campaign favorite for progressive causes, having in the past had such clients as Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton and now, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden. Owned by one of the largest PR firms in the world, Omnicom Group's FleishmanHillard, the agency also has had Emily's List, the Democratic Governors Association, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as clients.

Employees said they wrote the letter in response to a campaign GMMB launched, #TogetherAgainstRacism, to raise funds for racial justice organizations as Black Lives Matter protests take place. The campaign ignited backlash from former and current employees who criticized the firm as having a lack of diversity on its leadership team and for actions they said were racist.

Business Insider spoke to 12 former GMMB staffers, five of whom identify as Black, indigenous, or of color. Eleven of them said that while GMMB touts its work for figures like Obama and Mandela, the political advertising and communications firm fails to live up to its stated values.

The 12 former staffers said that over the past decade, employees have criticized the agency for failing to promote people of color, listen to their feedback, include them on strategic work, and having a culture of microaggressions.

GMMB responded to the employees' letter with a statement Tuesday saying it named its first Black partner, Micheline Kennedy. Kennedy has been with the firm since 2012 and specializes in issues comms, global health, and social justice.

The company also said it would hire a growth and diversity officer as a first step toward addressing employee concerns. GMMB said it would also continue working with a Black-owned external diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant and renew efforts to hire and retain people of color.

"We appreciate the very thoughtful and careful feedback we've heard from our staff," GMMB partner Susan Feeney told Business Insider. "We worked really hard to make GMMB a place of inclusion and diversity, but we've fallen short."

Read the full letter below:

GMMB Partners:

Over the last two weeks, as the country has reached a boiling point over the pervasive racism in our country and mourned for the Black women and men who have lost their lives, many GMMBers have felt helpless, heartbroken, and frustrated. Some of us have experienced this evil that's plagued America for all our lives, while some are confronting it for the first time. But as a GMMB family, we're continuing to support each other, starting from our morning team check-ins through coming together to march for justice.

In light of the recent comments of our respected former colleagues on GMMB's social channels and in the spirit of the #TogetherAgainstRacism campaign, many of us believe that it's past time to not only have an honest conversation about systemic racism and inequity within our own walls (even if they are virtual, for the moment), but to implement reforms that eradicate it from our workplace.

The ideas below represent the collective effort and thinking of over a majority (130 and counting) of current GMMBers, across a broad range of levels, teams, and offices, as well as backgrounds. These proposed reforms come from some GMMBers who have been at the firm for over a decade and some who have been here for less than a year, but all of them are rooted in GMMB's values to:

• Respect All
• Aim for Applause
• Put Passion Forward
• Break the Mold
• Deliver Real Results
• Uncover Possibilities
• Do What's Right
• Think Family

The outline below is intended to reflect a sincere desire to engage senior leadership in constructive, respectful dialogue, serve our clients even more effectively, and make the firm a better place. 

 

Proposed GMMB Reforms

Hiring

In order to ensure that GMMB's staff is representative of the world and the issues we advocate for, we propose that GMMB:

• Review existing hiring policies and personnel involved in the decision-making process to ensure objective, merit-based standards are being applied
• Make specific, measurable, and public commitments to improve Black representation at all levels throughout the firm, especially in senior and leadership positions
  Commit to meeting these requirements at a team, as well as agency-wide, level
• Make specific, measurable, and public commitments to improve all BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation at all levels throughout the firm, especially in senior and leadership positions and within the GMMB internship program as a pipeline for new staff
• Commit to meeting these requirements at a team, as well as agency-wide, level
• Share a timeline and goals for increasing diversity of senior staff (at the VP, SVP, MD, and Partner levels)
• Extend agency outreach to a more diverse representation of colleges and universities
• Foster a culture of inclusivity and access by revisiting policies around Partner referrals for intern and AAE candidates
• Track and publicly report workforce diversity data to create accountability for both our agency and the communications field at large

Staffing

We propose that GMMB create a more equitable and healthy work environment by making the following commitments to:

• Define within the GMMB handbook, and implement across all offices, an explicit no-tolerance racism policy for GMMB staff and contractors, including mechanisms to report racist incidents
• Develop an internal process of reviewing exit interview data to identify supervisors/coaches who receive objective, consistently negative feedback and providing training or other corrective measures for improvement
• Tying Partner, MD and SVP compensation and/or bonuses to metrics on individual success in hiring, developing, and promoting Black and BIPOC staff members versus managing and retaining primarily white teams
• Increase transparency of wages and pay bands for staff, and where there are disparities, introduce a wage equity plan to ensure that Black women, Black men and people of color are being compensated fairly
  • It is not enough anymore to say that Omnicom precludes us from sharing this information, we should lead by example.
  • Note: Per the National Labor Relations Act, companies covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) cannot limit employees' concerted activities for the purpose of "collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection," according to Section 7 of the NLRA. (Source)
• Include a diverse representation of junior and mid-level staff on GMMB's decision-making committees and working groups, particularly in the D&I committee
• In close collaboration with junior and mid-level staff, develop a new and trusted system for reviewing supervisors and reporting concerns about supervisors and senior staff within GMMB's organizational team structure
• Create a series of team-specific plans to invest in the career growth and development of staff at all levels, including non-account staff (accounting, operations, creative, digital, media, production), with an emphasis on supporting BIPOC staff members, and review that plan regularly at team meetings
  • Regularly surveying who supervisors are coaching and mentoring to ensure there is equity in that pool.
• Create and make available within three months a standardized list of core competencies expected from each position and what is required to be promoted
  • Create a standardized list of responsibilities for managers related to coaching and professional development for the employees who report to them
• Commit to greater transparency and timeliness around results of firm-wide surveys, including sharing:
  • • Breakdowns of responses to questions such as "Do you see yourself here in five years?" by junior, mid, and senior level staff
    • Making complete survey results available to staff, along with GMMB leadership's plans to address key learnings
  • Make updates to the annual firm survey findings report, including:
    • Incorporating feedback from exit interviews
    • Reporting the demographics of people who are promoted versus those who leave GMMB, broken down by level

Clients

As the center of our business, it is imperative that GMMB's anti-racism efforts extend to our client relationships. We propose:

• A new business review board, with representation across the firm (including junior and mid-level staff), that discusses potential new clients during the RFP process and ensures honesty around diverse staffing for those RFPs and eventual projects
• Greater transparency around existing standards for what kind of clients we bring on, and a commitment to an annual agency wide discussion about updates to those standards
• Developing and implementing anti-racist standards for all new clients we take on, and inclusion of a specific no-tolerance racism policy in all existing and future client contracts, with a clear system for handling both overt and covert racist words and actions, and an outline of when GMMB will cut ties with clients over racist interactions
• Greater transparency with our existing clients to evaluate and address whether they are perpetuating systemic racism, directly or indirectly
  
  • For political clients, an understanding of where they stand on issues central to GMMB's values (with an emphasis on racial justice, police violence, and militarization)
• Ensuring staff members of diverse backgrounds are identified to work on issues where it hurts the firm's credibility not to have any people of color, such as our political or environmental work that has a racial justice component
• Developing a clear and consistent policy to allow staff to opt out of working on accounts that do not align with their views/beliefs without fear of retribution
   

Vendors

We propose that GMMB commit to using our purchasing power for good by:

• Committing to annual agency-wide reporting on the percent of money spent with POC vendors and contractors
• Actively seeking out new minority-owned businesses and vendors to work with on future projects
• Conducting conscientious media buying, ensuring that the millions of media buying dollars that come through GMMB every year are not used to support sites and platforms that are actively harmful or perpetuating misinformation and/or racially insensitive content
  
  • This can be achieved by further developing and committing to regular reviews of the existing blacklist, as well as greater transparency across the firm of where our ads go

Staff Wellness & Support

In order to better support Black, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ staff, we propose that GMMB:

• Create and invest in spaces for diverse GMMB team members, including:
  
  • Formal or informal networks for specific employee groups including APIA, Black, Latinx and LGBTQIA+ issues. Based on the group's needs, these can take the form of a listserv, Teams Chat, or regular events
  • A diversity and equity GMMBook Club that highlights the work of unique authors, and focuses on important issues including race, gender, and ability
• Prepare to respond to moments of national outrage and mourning over racism and police brutality by developing a plan for when and how GMMB will:
  
  • Encourage employees, especially Black employees, to take time off whether it's for mental health or to protest/take other action
  • Offer support for GMMB employees arrested or injured peacefully protesting
  • Create time and space for all staff to process major national crises, potentially including shutting down the office as appropriate 
  • Enable staff to take action, and activate our extensive network to support response efforts by fundraising, raising awareness, or taking other action
     

Administrative 

In order to ensure that these efforts contribute to real and lasting change within GMMB, we would like to see a GMMB charter/agreement stating how these efforts will be sustained over the long-term, and commitments including: 

• Developing of a well-known and easily accessible place for anti-racist resources for GMMB staff (on Box and in offices)
• Setting aside a specific annual budget to cover fees for BIPOC employees (especially junior-level) to defray the cost of joining professional organizations for minorities like Colorcomm and the Black Public Relations Society
• 15 percent of GMMB's social, digital, and media presence dedicated to elevating the voices of people of color and highlighting the tangible ways that GMMB is moving past just supporting these issues to actively perpetuate anti-racism
  
  • GMMB Social commits to at least 2-3 posts per month 
• A focus on racial inequities in GMMB's service and charitable activities, including:
  
  • Celebrating Juneteenth as an official GMMB Day of Service
  • Allowing minority-led/owned organizations to continue using our office space for annual meetings and conferences, for example like our relationship with Colorcomm
  • Integrating racial justice work into +Service offerings, with at least two annual events dedicated to this issue
  • At least 15 percent of GMMB's end of year donations made in service of fighting racial injustice
  • A set amount of time for staff to do pro-bono work/volunteer trainings on issues or causes that can't afford to pay us normal rates (with a goal of networking to increase the potential for creating new business)
• Inclusion of the charter and zero-tolerance racism policy in onboarding for new hires, as well as external versions to be included in client contracts and available on the GMMB website
   

Thought Leadership

As a values-led organization, GMMB has the potential to be a thought leader around systemic inequities in our society in a way that benefits both staff and clients. We propose:

• A commitment to using GMMB's strengths to cause the effect for today and tomorrow, by committing leadership time to:
  
  • Developing white papers and webinars on effective PR strategies for Black and POC-led organizations that are not yet established enough to afford hiring a PR firm
  • Where possible based on Team 6 conflicts, supporting or advocating for legislation in Congress around racial justice issues including use of force, anti-lynching bills, police reform, and qualified immunity
• Increase awareness of and opportunities for senior leaders to donate time and strategic counsel to efforts that align closely with GMMB's values 

We are hopeful that by sharing this full list with you, we can begin an agency-wide discussion about how to implement these actions or hear directly from you about what we can't do and why. Ultimately, we believe that these changes will make our workplace safer, more supportive, and more productive for all GMMBersーand look forward to turning our ideas into action with you.

Got more information about this story or another tip about the PR industry? Contact Sean Czarnecki on Signal at 734-249-1166, via email at sczarnecki@businessinsider.com, or on Twitter @SeanMCzarnecki.

SEE ALSO: The public relations industry is grappling with a lack of diversity, but a PR trade group is embroiled in disagreements over how much member firms should expose low diversity numbers and pledge to hiring people of color

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship

• GMMB named Micheline Kennedy as its first Black partner after current and former employees criticized the PR and ad agency for having a racism and inequity problem and called for a list of reforms.
• GMMB faced criticism after launching a campaign to raise funds for racial justice organizations amid Black Lives Matter protests.
• The agency made other commitments such as hiring a growth and diversity officer, working with a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant, and working to hire and retain people of color.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

GMMB, a longtime favorite PR and ad agency for the Democratic party, named its first Black partner, Micheline Kennedy, and pledged other steps after employees called for reforms and an "honest conversation" about "systematic racism and inequity."

Owned by Omnicom Group's FleishmanHillard, GMMB works for political figures like presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and organizations like Emily's List, the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Naming Kennedy a partner and committing to hiring a growth and diversity officer are among GMMB's first steps toward addressing employee concerns, the agency said in a statement.

On June 11, staff at GMMB sent a letter with more than 130 signatures asking their leaders to address "systemic racism and inequity" at the company. The letter was written in response to a campaign GMMB launched, #TogetherAgainstRacism, to raise funds for racial justice organizations and which received backlash from former and current employees.

GMMB said in a statement it also would continue working with a Black-owned external diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant, and seek to hire and retain people of color, among other steps.

Kennedy has been with the company since 2012 and co-leads GMMB's diversity, equity, and inclusion committee, the company said.

Before Kennedy was promoted, all but one of its partners is white and half are women. Three of its SVPs are Latinx, one is Black, and one is Asian. Of its VP-level staff, the agency has three Black executives and one is two or more races, GMMB told Business Insider.

The agency also told Business Insider it would also devote 30% of content on its social channels to people of color, establish an internal group for people of color, redouble its partnerships with and source work to "qualified minority business enterprises," and redouble its focus on making D&I a substantive part of every manager's training, day-to-day responsibility, and performance assessment.

"Today we announced specific measures, with more to come, as we listen, take action and re-double our efforts to look at every aspect of our business — hiring and retention, promotion, working with minority contractors, using our social channels to lift up voices of color, and improving the firm's culture," the agency said in a statement.

One former employee said they felt GMMB was taking the issue seriously but that other Black employees were deserving of a promotion, as entry-level positions in some offices like Seattle and San Francisco lack proper mentors for BIPOC employees.

"What they're doing is a result of all of this," the former employee told Business Insider. "So I feel good about that. They needed this pressure to take action they should have a long time ago."

Read the full statement from GMMB below:

We have spent our existence as a firm working to address a wide range of social inequities, and we take the issues of diversity and inclusion very seriously.  We are listening and working internally with our staff. Today we announced specific measures, with more to come, as we listen, take action and re-double our efforts to look at every aspect of our business - hiring and retention, promotion, working with minority contractors, using our social channels to lift up voices of color, and improving the firm's culture.

We are committed to getting it right through focused, intentional and inclusive specific steps that make a difference for GMMB staff. As a firm that has had over (1500) employees over the years, we have tried to create a culture where people of diverse backgrounds feel valued, respected, and see a path toward promotion and leadership. 

While we are far from perfect, our efforts have included ongoing unconscious bias training for all staff and senior leadership, an active internal diversity and inclusion working group, an outside diversity and inclusion consultant, ongoing outreach and recruitment efforts at HCBUs, a paid intern program that seeks to include diverse students, a team structure that attempts to provide a closer relationship between senior staff and junior staff, and partnerships with professional organizations like ColorComm that works to expand networks for people of color. 

We are determined to listen, act and do more. The steps announced today are outlined below.

GMMB will:

• Hire a full-time Growth & Diversity Officer, a senior level professional whose responsibilities will include the shepherding of our efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion in a manner that ensures our intent always translates into action and permanent result;
• Continue its work with an outside diversity equity and inclusion consultant – a  black-owned business with extensive experience in this field – to assess all GMMB's internal systems and structures and help foster an even more equitable and inclusive workplace for all of our colleagues;
• Redouble outreach to communications professionals of color and announce specific recruitment and retention goals to ensure that we significantly improve the representation and retention of people of color at all levels of our firm;
• Step up partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to help increase participation by people of color in both our internship program and our permanent employee candidate pools.
• Devote 30% of the content on our social channels to elevating the voices of people of color;
• Establish in-house Employee Resource Groups for GMMB colleagues who are people of color;
• Redouble our efforts to partner with and source work to qualified Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs);
• And redouble our focus on making diversity and inclusion a substantive part of every manager's training, day-to-day responsibility and performance assessment.

Got more information about this story or another tip about the PR industry? Contact Sean Czarnecki on Signal at 734-249-1166, via email at sczarnecki@businessinsider.com, or on Twitter @SeanMCzarnecki.

SEE ALSO: The public relations industry is grappling with a lack of diversity, but a PR trade group is embroiled in disagreements over how much member firms should expose low diversity numbers and pledge to hiring people of color

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button

• Omnicom, the second-largest advertising holding company by annual revenue, has become the most valuable business in a turbulent industry by share price and market cap.
• Under John Wren, the company's recent financial performance surpassed rivals on the strength of work for clients like AT&T, Apple, and PepsiCo despite a deep recession and a shift away from traditional revenue sources like broadcast ad campaigns.
• Business Insider identified 31 of the most powerful people at the company, based on conversations with current and former Omnicom insiders, earnings reports, and other recent news.
• Click here for more Business Insider stories.

Omnicom Group is not the oldest advertising holding company or the largest by headcount or revenue. Rival Interpublic Group was incorporated 25 years earlier in 1961, and last year WPP employed more than 100,000 people to Omnicom's 70,000 and brought in $16.8 billion to the latter's $15 billion.

But Omnicom is the most valuable one by share price and market cap nearly 35 years after being created by the 1986 merger of ad agencies BBDO (Batton, Barton, Durstine, and Osborn), DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach), and Needham Harper Worldwide.

Under CEO and chairman John Wren, a former accountant who took over in 1997, the company has charted a steady path toward the top of the ad industry while building a roster of big-name clients that includes AT&T, Apple, PepsiCo, Nissan, Google, and McDonald's.

Like its competitors, it faces rapidly shifting consumer behaviors that have seen industry staples like print and broadcast TV campaigns lose their luster.

A proposed merger with Publicis Groupe fell through in 2014. And Omnicom's stock value, like those of its competitors, dropped by around 40% in the early months of 2020 due to the dual challenges of a revenue slowdown and the coronavirus pandemic, which led to tens of thousands of job losses.

But Omnicom has remained resilient in large part due to the work of the 31 executives below. This alphabetical list, including the leaders of the company's biggest agencies as well as its financial executives and heads of innovation and diversity, is based on conversations with current and former company employees and financial reports.

SEE ALSO: Meet the 25 power players who are trying to turn around WPP, the world's biggest ad holding company

Dale Adams, chairman and CEO, DAS Group of Companies

Dale Adams is a quiet but powerful member of Omnicom's corporate management team who has led the Diversified Agency Services Group of Companies since 2011, adding the chairman title in 2013.

Omnicom created DAS in 1990 to better structure its holdings and it's become one of the company's biggest and most profitable divisions, encompassing about 200 companies in 70 countries.

They're organized into seven disciplines including PR, healthcare, retail marketing, and smaller agencies — such as Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Zimmerman Advertising — that operate outside the core trio of BBDO, TBWA\Worldwide, and DDB Worldwide.

Adams, who has a financial background, joined Omnicom when it acquired his own agency in 1991 and held several positions within the company before moving to DAS as chief financial officer in 1996 and becoming president in 2008.

When he was promoted to chairman, John Wren cited Adams' talent for acquisitions and talent retention. Now, the CEOs of each network within DAS report to him.

Florian Adamski, CEO, OMD Worldwide

As the world's largest media-buying agency by revenue, OMD — whose clients include Apple, PepsiCo, and Nissan — is central to Omnicom's standing in the endless holding company horse race.

Florian Adamski rose to the CEO role at OMD in 2017 after leading the holding company's media division in Germany, and Omnicom Media Group CEO Daryl Simm positioned the promotion as a generational change.

At the time of his promotion, OMD desperately needed to recover from the loss of several major accounts including Lowe's, Walgreen's, and Sony PlayStation. Over the next two years, Adamski worked to sell marketers on the real-time data-tracking services behind the network's new motto "Better Decisions, Faster" and helped OMD shoot up from the bottom of the new business pack by adding Mercedes and US Army to its roster while picking up additional business from clients like Activision and McDonald's.

Since taking over OMD, Adamski has named new regional leadership and promoted the network's first CMO to better promote its own services to potential and existing clients. 

Philip Angelastro, EVP and chief financial officer, Omnicom

Insiders call Philip Angelastro the most powerful person at Omnicom beyond John Wren because the two ultimately make final decisions regarding the company's finances. He is also one of advertising's highest-paid executives, bringing in an estimated $7.8 million in 2018. 

A former partner at PwC, Angelastro joined DAS Group of Companies in 1997 to oversee accounting services for all of its agencies. He moved up through the organization, becoming Omnicom's controller and VP of finance, where he cut expenses while standardizing HR operations.

In 2014, Angelastro replaced departing CFO Randy Weisenburger, and insiders say he is among the top contenders to succeed Wren.

Chuck Brymer, chairman and acting CEO, DDB Worldwide

Chuck Brymer is leading Omnicom's third-largest ad agency, DDB, through a state of transition.

He stepped into the role on an interim basis after Wendy Clark left in April to become global CEO at rival holding company Dentsu Aegis Network.

Clark had spearheaded an "agency of the future" model for client McDonald's before DDB lost a significant portion of that business to indie agency Wieden and Kennedy in late 2019. We Are Unlimited, the division created to service McDonald's, later folded into DDB's Chicago office.

Brymer was the former CEO who moved into the chairman role when Clark was promoted in 2018. He's an Omnicom lifer who started his career at BBDO before spending more than two decades at strategy firm Interbrand, where he became CEO. He succeeded late DDB CEO Ken Kaess in 2006.

Insiders say Brymer hadn't been close to DDB's day-to-day operations for several years when he returned to the chief executive role. But he has a close relationship with John Wren and an important role to play as the network looks for its next leader.

Sharon Callahan, CEO, CDM

Healthcare marketing has been a rare growth spot at Omnicom during the coronavirus pandemic, contributing 9.6% organic growth in the first quarter of 2020.

In March, the holding company promoted 30-plus-year veteran Sharon Callahan to one of the key jobs in that area as she took the reins of its largest healthcare network, CDM. Omnicom acquired CDM, a group of nine agencies formerly known as Cline, Davis, and Mann, in 1997 as the major holding companies raced to expand their services to more healthcare and pharmaceutical clients.

Callahan joined the DAS Healthcare division as an EVP in 2008 and saw her stature within the group rise when Omnicom chose her to lead the newly-formed TBWA\Worldhealth in 2016. That network is the product of a three-agency merger, and its clients include big names like Bayer, Roche, and Merck.

Callahan is active outside the advertising community as well, holding top board positions at groups like the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, the Arthritis Foundation, and Victory Fund, which works to increase the number of LGBTQ people in government.

Sophie Daranyi, CEO, Omnicom Retail Group

Omnicom created DAS's seventh division, Omnicom Retail Group, in March 2019. It named UK-based Sophie Daranyi to lead the organization on the strength of her 30-plus years of marketing experience, nearly 19 of which were spent at shopper agency Haygarth.

Shopper marketing — which encompasses e-commerce, social media-driven sales, and in-store promotions — has grown more important for holding companies in recent years as people do more shopping online and smaller agencies pop up to help brands navigate Amazon. 

DAS launched Omnicom Retail Group to unite the agencies that specialize in that field, including The Marketing Arm, TracyLocke, TPN, The Integer Group, and Haygarth, which is now part of the DDB network.

Daranyi previously worked on the client side at beverage giant Seagrams and now oversees more than 2,500 employees in 19 markets.

Katrien De Bauw, global president, TBWA\Media Arts Lab

As global president of TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Katrien De Bauw manages the nearly four-decade relationship between Omnicom and Apple, one of its most important clients.

Parent company TBWA\Worldwide began working with the tech giant on its historic "1984" Super Bowl ad.

Media Arts Lab launched in 2006 to manage Apple's business and employs about 700 people who produce most of the company's ads. The agency is also closely tied to OMD, which handles media-buying for Apple.

Over time, the relationship has encountered bumps including a series of acrimonious emails from Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller that emerged during a 2014 patent trial and preceded Apple's decision to take more of its work in-house, as well as a 2017 restructuring that saw Media Arts Lab pivot toward creating more digital and regionally-focused ads.

But Apple has remained with Omnicom and consistently been one of the ad industry's most-awarded brands.

De Bauw ran the agency's London office before taking over in late 2017 at the tail end of a leadership shift that also saw Media Arts Lab name its first new chief creative officer in more than 15 years.

Mike Doyle, CEO, Ketchum

On June 22, North American president Mike Doyle succeeded Barri Rafferty as CEO of Ketchum when she stepped down to become Wells Fargo's corporate communications. 

Together with FleishmanHillard, Ketchum accounts for about 70% of Omnicom's PR revenue, according to insiders — and its clients include big names like Gillette, Pfizer, Clorox, and Wendy's.

Doyle, like Rafferty, joined the firm in 1995 and initially specialized in public affairs at its Washington, DC, office. He spent a year at NBCUniversal and then launched Emanate, a consumer division within Ketchum, in 2005. He then relocated to New York and moved up the ranks. He was named North American president as Rafferty became the first woman to lead one of the five largest PR firms.

Doyle is active within the LGBTQ community, sitting on the national board of GLAAD and serving as co-chairman of Omnicom's OPEN Network.

Rafferty served as global president, North American CEO, and head of Ketchum's largest office in New York in addition to leading the firm's Global Brand Marketing practice and establishing several new specialty divisions, including Ketchum Digital and Ketchum Sports and Entertainment.

After Rafferty became CEO, Ketchum announced that it would adopt a consultancy model starting in North America and launched two additional practices dedicated to health services and organic food. 

Luke Eid, chief innovation officer, TBWA\Worldwide

Luke Eid has spent more than a decade with TBWA, and as chief innovation officer he is key to helping the agency understand how today's consumers behave and shop.

One insider described Eid, who formerly held top roles in the TBWA\Worldwide's Hong Kong and Sydney offices, as an up-and-coming Omnicom talent who serves as a close advisor to CEO Troy Ruhanen and frequently works with some of the agency's largest clients, most notably Apple.

Before being promoted to a network-wide role in January 2020, he spent nearly six years as global head of innovation and chief digital officer at TBWA\Media Arts Lab.

With global head of operations Tessa Conrad, Eid developed a platform called 10x that helps TBWA develop new ways of working and expand them on a global scale. He currently leads that project and a similar one called \Next.

Tammy Einav and Mat Goff, co-CEOs, adam&eveDDB

London-based adam&eveDDB is one of the UK's most visible creative agencies, working on big-budget campaigns for clients such as PlayStation, Virgin Media, Volkswagen, Diageo, and Unilever.

Tammy Einav and Matt Goff were promoted to co-chief executives after nearly a decade at the firm. Since then, adam&eveDDB signed a new contract with Omnicom to become an international division of the DDB network, opened a New York office after winning business from Samsung, and went through a round of buyouts that saw most of its founders step down.

While relatively small, it remains one of the more successful creative agencies within Omnicom, with an estimated $440 million in annual billings and a 9% revenue increase in 2019.

Einav and Goff have modernized the agency by developing an unconcious bias workshop for all employees and launching affiliation groups for working parents, people from ethnically diverse backgrounds, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Scott Hagedorn, North American CEO, Omnicom Media Group

Scott Hagedorn oversees some of Omnicom Media's most important operations in its biggest region, including digital and programmatic ad buying and data analytics, as it positions itself for the future.

Over the last 16 years, he has played a central role in the evolution of the holding company's most valuable division, which handled more than $33 billion in ad buys around the world last year.

After holding top positions at agencies Rapp and PHD, he founded Annalect, the data science platform that handles Omnicom's search engine optimization and programmatic ad buying work while drawing on anonymized data to help advertisers target individual consumers.

He also led the team that won a review to oversee $2 billion in annual spending for Procter & Gamble North America in late 2015. Omnicom followed by launching its third media agency, Hearts & Science, with Hagedorn at the helm.

Hearts & Science quickly followed that win by securing the AT&T account, meaning its first two clients were also the two biggest advertisers in America. After leading the agency for three years, Hagedorn was named North American CEO at OMG.

Stacey Hightower, CEO, Omnicom Specialty Marketing Group

Stacey Hightower spent several years as a high-level consultant specializing in corporate turnarounds and restructuring moves before joining Omnicom in 2014 as chief operating officer of Group E, a network of firms within DAS that provide highly specialized services to clients.

Group E became Omnicom Specialty Marketing Group in 2016 when Hightower got promoted to CEO.

The network includes One&All and One Hundred, which specialize in charity fundraising and promotion; trademark licensing firm Beanstalk; outsourcing sales agency CPM; and Signature, which designs graphics for fleets of corporate vehicles.

Hightower uses his experience working with the Peace Corps and various NGOs and non-profits to help Omnicom service clients with unusual marketing needs.

The executive, who has an MBA from Yale School of Management, is also a member of the Executive Leadership Council, a group of Black leaders at Fortune 500 companies.

David Lubars, chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO

As chairman and spokesperson for Omnicom's largest agency, BBDO, David Lubars is the most influential creative leader in the company.

Lubars is the son of a former DDB executive whose career follows the evolution of the ad industry from the golden era of broadcast TV to the digital age. He held top roles at several agencies including BBDO. Andrew Robertson, now global CEO, hired him to lead the creative department in 2004.

Since then, Lubars' primary goal has been to embody BBDO's tagline "The Work. The Work. The Work" through big-name efforts like Snickers' long-running "You're Not You When You're Hungry" campaign and "The Talk," a P&G-sponsored series about Black parents talking about discrimination to their kids.

BBDO has adjusted to industry challenges like in-housing and a shift away from long-term contracts to remain one of the largest and most-awarded creative agencies. Lubars often judges events like the Cannes Lions, The One Club for Creativity, and the Radio Mercury Awards.

He has also been responsible for projects like the BBDO residency program, a multi-year effort to recruit diverse talent.

Asit Mehra, EVP, Omnicom

Insiders say London-based Asit Mehra oversees high-profile relationships with several international Omnicom clients including Unilever, SAP, and Samsung, which chose Omnicom's adam&eveDDB as its lead creative agency in the US in 2016.

The company hired Mehra in 2006 after rivals including WPP aggressively pursued him to get closer to Unilever. He had previously led the consumer goods giant's account at IPG, and reports at the time said John Wren beat out former WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell in a bidding war for the executive.

Mehra began his career as a media planner helping clients determine how best to spend their ad dollars. He spent 16 years with IPG before joining Omnicom.

Shub Mukherjee, SVP, investor relations, Omnicom

As Omnicom's investor relations lead, Shub Mukherjee manages the company's relationships with shareholders and analysts and helps oversee public filings regarding key financial matters like quarterly earnings and dividends.

Prior to March's economic collapse, Omnicom's stock price was the steadiest of the major ad holding companies.

Mukherjee is an eight-plus year Omnicom veteran who formerly held top analyst jobs at companies including Credit Suisse, Oppenheimer, and McKinsey.

Jonathan Nelson, CEO, Omnicom Digital

Jonathan Nelson oversees all of the holding company's digital assets and plays a critical role in shaping Omnicom's approach to the consumer data that now powers so much of the ad industry.

While rivals Publicis and IPG acquired outside analytics firms Epsilon and Acxiom, Omnicom licenses first-party data from other sources and uses its own analytics division Annalect to build tools for marketers.

Nelson founded Organic, which is recognized as the first all-digital advertising agency, in 1993, when that word meant building websites and creating banner ads.

Organic grew quickly, went public, then sold to Omnicom in 2002 after the dot-com bubble burst.

Seven years later, Omnicom created the digital CEO role as it became clearer that the future of advertising would go far beyond print and broadcast ads. Since then, Nelson has helped advise the company on digital acquisitions and helped bring its agencies up to date.

Andrew Robertson, worldwide president and CEO, BBDO

BBDO is Omnicom's top creative agency by headcount and revenue, with more than 15,000 employees in 81 countries and clients including Mars, Visa, and Bacardi.

Zimbabwe-born Andrew Robertson joined the agency in 1995 after holding executive roles at WPP agencies Ogilvy and J. Walter Thompson. He led BBDO in the UK and North America before John Wren promoted him to the top executive role in 2004.

Robertson has since become one of Omnicom's more visible faces while holding other industry positions like chairman of the Ad Council, the non-profit behind such PSAs as "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk."

Under his leadership, BBDO has opened more offices around the world and launched new practices like one dedicated to user-generated content.

The coronavirus pandemic hit the agency hard and led to layoffs in the US, UK, and elsewhere, but new and expanded relationships with key clients like AT&T and Ford have kept BBDO Omnicom's biggest brand.

Derek Robson, president and managing partner, Goodby Silverstein & Partners

San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein & Partners has always been an outlier in its independence at Omnicom. It's best-known for the California Fluid Milk Producers Advisory Board's classic "Got Milk?" campaign and recent efforts for BMW, Doritos, and Pepsi.

Derek Robson, who arrived in 2006 after more than a decade with Publicis agency BBH, is lower-profile than GS&P co-founders and chairmen Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein or chief creative officer Margaret Johnson. But insiders say he's the agency's liaison to Omnicom leadership and negotiates finances and other critical issues with holding company leadership.

Robson has helped transition GS&P from focusing on broadcast campaigns to digital, interactive, and multimedia work, helping it win recent accounts such as Liberty Mutual and Sam Adams.

Rita Rodriguez, EVP, Omnicom

Much like fellow EVPs Peter Sherman and Asit Mehra, Rita Rodriguez helps manage Omnicom's client relationships on a global level.

The company hired her in 2010 to oversee cross-agency work for PepsiCo, a client since 1964.

Several insiders called her role critical because Pepsi is a consumer goods giant and it works exclusively with Omnicom on multiple food and drink brands like Gatorade, Tropicana, and Quaker Foods.

One executive called Rodriguez a "conduit" for all the agencies on the Pepsi business, including BBDO, OMD, TBWA\Chiat\Day, and Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

Rodriguez previously served as managing director of Omnicom strategy firm Interbrand and US CEO of The Brand Union, a rival firm owned by WPP. She started her career on the corporate side and held several executive roles at AT&T, now one of Omnicom's largest clients.

Troy Ruhanen, president and CEO, TBWA\Worldwide

As global CEO of Omnicom's second-largest agency network, TBWA\Worldwide, Troy Ruhanen oversees 275 offices across 95 countries handling work for clients such as McDonald's, Nissan, Adidas, and Apple.

Wren hired Ruhanen away from rival Publicis Groupe agency Leo Burnett in 2004 to serve as managing director of BBDO's New York headquarters. He rose through the ranks there to become chairman and CEO of the Americas.

After a 9-year run at BBDO, Ruhanen moved to the corporate team, where he served as EVP helping Omnicom's agencies collaborate across its largest global accounts.

He then succeeded Tom Carroll atop TBWA in 2014 and proceeded to remake the network starting with its New York City flagship operation.

A network insider said Ruhanen is closely connected to all of TBWA's clients and sets the agenda for the entire collective, including dedicated Apple agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab.

Slavi Samardzija, CEO, Annalect

As ad agencies work to convince clients that data can give them unique insights into consumers, Slavi Samardzija has become a quiet but influential figure within Omnicom as leader of analytics platform Annalect.

He spent 15 years at Wunderman, a WPP firm, specializing in analytics and web optimization before Omnicom hired him as Annalect's chief analytics officer.

Once Annalect founder and CEO Scott Hagedorn left to launch Hearts and Science in 2016, Samardzija was the natural choice to succeed him. Now, he helps all Omnicom agencies make the most of Annalect's database drawn from millions of consumers.

Samardzija's biggest project to date was the 2018 launch of Omni, a company-wide "identity graph" resource built with the assistance of companies like Neustar, LiveRamp, and Experian. It helps all Omnicom agencies balance privacy concerns with advertisers' desire to target messaging efforts and ad buys to specific, anonymized consumers based on their web browsing and purchase histories.

John Saunders, CEO, FleishmanHillard

Aside from healthcare marketing, public relations has been Omnicom's only area of growth since the coronavirus pandemic hit. And as CEO of the company's top firm, John Saunders is among the PR industry's most recognizable executives.

In 2019, FleishmanHillard — whose clients include AT&T, Chevrolet, US Army, and Thomson Reuters — was the fourth-largest PR firm in the world after WPP merged Burson and Cohn & Wolfe. Even more importantly, it was one of the fastest-growing.

Saunders has spent about 30 years with the company, forming Dublin-based subsidiary FleishmanHillard Saunders in 1990 and becoming regional president of Europe and the EMEA regions before succeeding longtime CEO Dave Senay in 2015.

FleishmanHillard, like most of its competitors, went through a round of pay cuts, layoffs, and other cost-cutting measures as the effects of the pandemic became clear. But Saunders recently told Business Insider he thinks firms like his can take market share from traditional ad agencies. FleishmanHillard also launched a specialty practice designed to help clients steer their companies through the crisis.

Peter Sherman, EVP, Omnicom

Peter Sherman has a low public profile but an outsized role in Omnicom.

As EVP and head of cross-agency collaboration, he helps manage the company's relationships with clients, working behind the scenes with CMOs. One company vet called him an "air traffic controller for new business" and said he's the closest thing Omnicom has to a chief marketing officer.

Sherman joined the company in 2014 after a stint as North American CEO of WPP's J. Walter Thompson and was quickly promoted to EVP. He was no stranger to the Omnicom organization, having spent more than 16 years at BBDO and managing that network's European operations in a role that saw him lead 35 offices in 18 countries.

John Wren cited Sherman's knowledge of Omnicom's inner workings when announcing his promotion. In one sign of his influence, the executive recently said that, unlike rivals WPP and Publicis, Omnicom has no plans to consolidate or collapse its agencies.

Daryl Simm, CEO, Omnicom Media Group

Daryl Simm oversees the Omnicom Media Group agencies that plan and buy advertising for 2,500 Omnicom clients including Google and Disney.

Simm joined Omnicom in 1998 after 13 years at Procter & Gamble, where he was director of media at a time when most agencies still handled advertisers' media buying and creative work.

He proceeded to separate Optimum Media Direction, which consisted of the buy-side divisions of BBDO and DDB, from those agencies' creative operations to create OMD Worldwide in a reflection of the "unbundling" model that came to define most ad agency structures. That organization later became the backbone of Omnicom Media Group.

As head of OMG, Simm also aligned Omnicom's remaining media agencies under the PHD banner and helped launch both data analytics unit Annalect and Hearts & Science, the holding company's third media-buying entity.

All executives on the ad-buying side of Omnicom ultimately report to him.

Catherine Sullivan, chief investment officer, Omnicom Media Group North America

As head of investments for the world's largest media market, Catherine Sullivan oversees the billions of dollars in ad buys that Omnicom makes on behalf of its clients.

She has worked on both sides of the ad equation. Before joining Omnicom Media Group as president of US investment in 2016, she spent almost 30 years in top sales positions at ABC News and NBCUniversal.

Sullivan, who managed the investment teams at media-buying agencies OMD, PHD, and Hearts and Science, quickly made her influence known by shaking up the way Omnicom interacts with publishers and broadcasters.

She invited executives at media companies from CNN to Google to meet with Omnicom clients and pitch them directly at a "Reverse Upfront" that preceded the traditional Upfront and Newfront events where networks pitch large advertising deals to big brands.

In early 2019, Sullivan was promoted to North American chief investment officer, reporting to North America CEO Scott Hagedorn. Later that year, she said that OMG was negotiating deals with streaming platforms to negate the decline in broadcast TV viewership.

Peter Swiecicki, SVP, finance and controller, Omnicom

According to several Omnicom executives, controller Peter Swiecicki is among the few members of John Wren's inner circle.

Before joining the company's corporate leadership team in 2013, he spent more than 30 years at BBDO, overseeing financial operations at the company's offices in Detroit, Germany, and later at its headquarters in New York.

He now holds CFO Philip Angelastro's former position, and insiders say he and Angelastro are the two people John Wren turns to first when it comes to Omnicom's most important commercial concerns, such as overseeing financial planning and optimizing business processes for all of its companies.

One longtime Omnicom leader said Wren often calls on Swiecicki when he needs candid advice and that the exec "makes lots of big decisions for Wren."

Rochelle Tarlowe, SVP and treasurer, Omnicom

Rochelle Tarlowe joined Omnicom about one year ago where she's tasked with overseeing Omnicom's capital structure and mitigating financial risks across the hundreds of businesses it owns.

She prevously spent more than a decade at Avis Budget Group, rising to treasurer. 

With CFO Philip Angelastro, chief accounting officer Andrew Castellaneta, and controller Peter Swiecicki, she forms the core of the company's financial team.

Insiders say Tarlowe's role has grown more critical during the pandemic with debt and liquidity taking on increased importance as Omnicom tries to avoid the dramatic stock dips that have affected most of its competitors.

Luke Taylor, CEO, Omnicom Precision Marketing Group

DAS created the Precision Marketing Group in 2017 to unite its customer relationship management and direct marketing businesses, and in 2019 the CRM practice was Omnicom's second-largest source of revenue behind traditional advertising.

London-based Luke Taylor was hired to lead the new division, which consisted of agencies Javelin, Organic, Proximity, Rapp, and Targetbase. He had been global CEO of rival holding company Publicis Groupe's DigitasLBi, which was the largest digital agency in the world.

Taylor has since helped lead acquisition and growth strategies as Omnicom looks to gain market share in the category. Other agencies, including brand consultancies Sparks & Honey and TLGG Consulting, direct mail agency Kern, management consultancy Credera, and German AI firm Smart Digital, are now part of Precision Marketing Group.

Taylor has also helped streamline the organization, most recently by folding Proximity into Rapp.

Tiffany R. Warren, SVP and chief diversity officer, Omnicom

Tiffany R. Warren is one of the industry's most visible Black executives, having spent more than 20 years focused on increasing diversity and inclusion at agencies.

As a member of Omnicom's corporate management team, she advises Wren and other executives on making the company more diverse and helps clients achieve related business goals.

Warren joined Omnicom in the newly-created chief diversity officer role in 2009. She had previously launched Adcolor, a non-profit that celebrates people of color and members of the LGBTQ community in advertising, technology, and other creative fields.

Prior to joining Omnicom, Warren worked at Boston-area agencies Hill Holliday and Arnold Worldwide in addition to serving as manager of diversity programs for trade organization the 4A's.

Ed Wise, CEO, Omnicom Health

Omnicom's reliance on its healthcare marketing practice during the pandemic makes Ed Wise's role especially critical. 

Wise was an executive at CDM before Omnicom acquired that company in 1997 and formed Omnicom Health Group, now the industry's largest healthcare network. He oversees more than 4,000 employees around the world.

As the division grew, Wise remained its senior-most executive, overseeing 16 agencies whose clients include some of the largest healthcare and pharmaceutical companies like Amgen, Novartis, and AstraZeneca.

He has also held influential healthcare industry roles outside Omnicom, including chairman of the American Heart Association's board of directors from 2017 to 2019.

• GMMB's human resources director left the Omnicom Group-owned advertising and PR firm as it faces a reckoning over its diversity and inclusion practices.
• In an Ad Age article published two days earlier, former employees said SVP Chandra Krohl disregarded their concerns about diversity and inclusion.
• Previously, GMMB staffers sent a letter to leadership saying there was "systemic racism and inequity" at the agency; the firm later named its first Black partner and promised to take other steps.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

GMMB and its HR director, SVP Chandra Krohl, have "mutually agreed to part ways," according to an email obtained by Business Insider.

Her departure comes as the Omnicom Group-owned political ad and PR firm, along with many companies, is facing growing scrutiny of its diversity and inclusion practices in the wake of widespread protests against racism and police brutality.

In the June 21 email, the GMMB partners said the agency "has benefited from Chandi's experience, knowledge, and dedication. She led important initiatives, such as strengthening the firm's training, performance evaluation, compensation planning process, and the development of skills and career progression metrics."

Two days earlier, Krohl was named in an Ad Age article about racism and microaggressions reported by Black ad agency employees. In the article, five former GMMB employees said they "accuse leadership and HR of fostering and covering up a culture of racism." According to the article, they had raised concerns with Krohl, who is a white woman, and GMMB partners, and said that their concerns were "disregarded."

A GMMB spokesperson told Ad Age the agency is "troubled by the allegations made by former employees, and we take their comments very seriously," adding it is "difficult to investigate anonymous claims without knowing more specifics, and we are prohibited from commenting on confidential personnel matters."

On June 11, GMMB staffers sent a letter to the firm's partners asking for a conversation about "systemic racism and inequity" and proposing 34 reforms. More than 130 employees signed the letter.

Five days later, GMMB named its first Black partner, Micheline Kennedy, and made commitments including continuing to work with a Black-owned external diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant and trying to hire and retain people of color.

GMMB partner Susan Feeney confirmed to Business Insider that Krohl left the firm, but declined to give a reason for her departure, saying, "the content of that email speaks for itself."

Business Insider attempted to contact Krohl multiple ways for comment but she had not replied as of publication.

Diversity and inclusion issues came to a head at GMMB when the firm launched #TogetherAgainstRacism, a fundraising campaign for racial justice organizations. Former employees criticized GMMB, saying it failed to live up to its values.

Business Insider has spoken to 23 current and former employees, most of whom said GMMB has a culture of systemic racism.

Got more information about this story or another tip about the PR industry? Contact Sean Czarnecki at 734-249-1166, via Signal at 734-249-1166, via email at sczarnecki@businessinsider.com, or on Twitter @SeanMCzarnecki.

SEE ALSO: Employees at Omnicom Group-owned ad and public relations agency GMMB asked for a conversation about 'systemic racism and inequity' at the firm and shared a list of 34 proposed reforms

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly

• Current and former GMMB employees who spoke with Business Insider say the advertising agency that's a favorite of progressive and Democratic causes has a "systemic racism" problem.
• While the firm touts its progressive work, these employees say the agency relegated employees of color to administrative work like office chores, failed to promote them equally, and tokenized them to win new business.
• GMMB said it's committed to doing better and announced steps to address employee concerns.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A former employee at the public-relations and advertising agency GMMB said she was drawn to the firm a few years ago based on its reputation for work on education programs like the Common Core State Standards and other progressive causes.

While working as an assistant to a partner, Kaia Lenhart, she was often called on to run personal errands, she said. But she felt these asks went too far when Lenhart, who is white and has adopted children who are Black, asked the Black staffer for tips on how to style her children's hair and to call local shopping malls to find a Black Santa.

"I was angry about it," said the former employee, whose identity is known to Business Insider but who requested anonymity to speak without fear of repercussions. "It also felt sort of disrespectful. If you want to know if there's a Black Santa, why don't you ask yourself? Why do you think because I'm Black that that's OK to do?"

Lenhart, whose clients include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The World Bank, and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, hasn't responded to a request for comment.

GMMB's reputation as a progressive haven has attracted Black, Indigenous, and other employees of color who were inspired by its work.

Founded in 1983, GMMB has supported figures like Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and, now, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden. Two of its founding partners — Frank Greer and Jim Margolis — worked on presidential campaigns for Obama and Bill Clinton. The agency is owned by FleishmanHillard, an Omnicom Group agency. It has about 200 to 250 employees across three offices in San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

But the reality of working there left many of these employees disillusioned.

Business Insider spoke with 26 current and former employees, 15 of whom identify as people of color. Their roles ranged from junior-level positions like assistant account executive to more senior ones like senior digital strategist. The vast majority of them described a culture of "systemic racism" and racial bias that clashes with the brand GMMB built over more than three decades.

They accuse the agency of having pushed out employees of color, tried to silence people who raised concerns, relegated employees of color to office chores, failed to promote them equally, and tokenized them to win new business.

One former employee said that they suffered from stomach pains and headaches they believe were results from the stress of their job and said they were prescribed Lexapro for anxiety and depression. Many said they didn't realize how bad conditions were until they went to other public-relation firms. "It was the worst job I ever had," one said.

On June 11, more than 130 GMMB employees signed a letter to the agency's partners, proposing 34 reforms to hiring, staffing, client work, procurement, administrative work, and thought-leadership practices.

"I think GMMB has good intentions," a former employee said. "It's a tone-deaf organization when it comes to these internal issues around diversity. They suffer from systemic racial bias."

GMMB issued the following statement to Business Insider:

"At GMMB, we recognize that our 38-year commitment to advance equity and opportunity in the world must be anchored in our own firm. We are committed to learning from the past and we take seriously and to heart complaints brought to us. We own them, and though we are not able to comment publicly on individual issues, we have begun an investigation process. Once complete, we will take appropriate action.

"However, reckoning with the past is only a small part of implementing the necessary strategies and programs to becoming an industry leader in diversity, equity and inclusion. It's the beginning of a comprehensive journey that we are taking wholeheartedly with our current staff, new GMMB team members to come, and outside experts and partners who are helping guide us on our path."

Sources said most employees of color had low-status jobs

Most of the firm's people of color are low-level assistants who are paid around $45,000 a year, though some said they made less than that. Their duties include cleaning up and doing personal tasks for senior staff like ordering plane tickets, dog walking, watering houseplants, and scheduling doctor's appointments.

While such personal tasks are common for employees at that level, sources said they felt employees of color got less respect and fewer promotions than white employees. One white former staffer compared it to the 1960s-era "Mad Men."

Former employees said it was common to hear partners complain about millennials wanting to get promoted before they were ready. But they felt the greatest scrutiny fell on nonwhite employees.

Former employees said they challenged GMMB to hire more employees of color but were told they didn't have the skills needed.

One supervisor asked a Black employee to be more "polite" and "approachable," according to a performance review seen by Business Insider. One former employee, who identifies as a person of color, said many of her Black colleagues were questioned about their level of "professionalism."

A routine part of junior-level PR work is to read and summarize news coverage of clients. One Black former employee said her supervisor sat down and read a story along with her. The employee felt as if her supervisor was testing her reading comprehension.

"I was like, this is how low you think of me?" she recalled. "You don't think I can find takeaways and what's high-level? It was insulting, as a college graduate."

Another former assistant of color said their supervisor commented about their gaining weight. They said they complained to HR, but the comments continued. At one point, their supervisor criticized them for ordering plane tickets that were too expensive, prompting them to cry.

In 2016, after an assistant who was a person of color accepted a prestigious job offer, Jennifer Kohl, then a vice president who helped lead the media-relations team, expressed shock at a routine meeting that the employee was so successful, according to two former employees who were there.

"Again and again, she brought it up until the room became very uncomfortable," the former employee said. "Meanwhile, several months later, her white female protege got a new job and [Kohl] couldn't be more thrilled for her. I think she even threw her a party."

One called the incident "horrifying," and several employees who attended the meeting said they complained to HR.

Kohl told Business Insider she never knew of the complaints.

"I honestly feel terrible to hear that I upset people, and if I'd known at the time, I would have addressed it directly and apologized, both individually and to the team as a whole," she said.

People of color struggled to move up

Some said there were some higher-ups, like the partner Jaime Zapata, who mentored people of color.

But overall, they said it was hard for people of color to get promoted because a lot of the low-level tasks assigned to them weren't billable, and many said they had to leave the agency to grow their careers.

"You look like 'the help,'" another Black former employee said. "How dare you have people doing that kind of work and saying you're not strategic enough? Where was the opportunity to be strategic?"

One Black former employee said when they asked for a promotion, they were told they hadn't done enough account work.

"I was furious because I did the work that was assigned and didn't have any agency over the kind of work being done," the employee said.

Some former GMMB staffers say the firm tokenized employees of color to win business

Another major concern raised by most of the former employees who spoke with Business Insider was that the firm regularly used employees of color to market the firm and win new clients.

They said GMMB added employees of color to pitches for big accounts like The James Irvine Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though those employees were responsible only for administrative tasks.

Liz Jewell, who was a senior digital strategist and developer from 2017 to 2018, recalled GMMB moving up the start date of a Latinx staffer so the agency could include the person in a new business pitch.

Another former staffer said when they brought up this practice to their boss, the response was: "This is a reality of GMMB, and this is what we have to do."

"At the time, I almost saw it as a good thing," a white former staffer said of this practice. "We want to reflect our diversity and values. That's how senior staff present it. I bought into that until I had this conversation with a Black employee about what it feels like to have their face on random proposals they didn't have a hand in."

In 2016, to obscure the lack of diversity at the company, GMMB partners decided to use only black-and-white headshots and add mid-level employees to its website's leadership page, said a source with direct knowledge of the process.

GMMB told Business Insider it "never put people of color on accounts they did not work on in order to retain business."

"However, when putting together literally hundreds of proposals, staffers of all races and backgrounds — including gender and LGBTQ — are sometimes added to proposals so the client knows our capabilities if we get the work or at their request," the agency said in a statement. "Going forward we will make sure all employees are consulted prior to adding their resume to a proposal."

Several GMMB employees said their complaints to HR were dismissed

More than a dozen former staffers said HR regularly dismissed their complaints, whether about racial discrimination or other matters.

In 2018, digital team members complained to HR about their directors. Both Black and white people had complained, but the firm labeled only the Black staffers as "troublemakers," with one being put on a performance-improvement plan, Jewell said.

GMMB said in a statement that the agency received two complaints alleging racial discrimination and/or diversity and inclusion in 2019 and that these were "acted upon." Sources, however, said they also raised concerns to supervisors in informal one-on-ones, emails, and office town halls.

Former GMMB employees say they've been disappointed by past diversity-and-inclusion efforts

Over the years, GMMB has taken steps to improve the workplace for nonwhite workers. But even these have felt hollow to some.

In 2018, its diversity, equity, and inclusion committee held a discussion about Colin Kaepernick's taking a knee during the national anthem before NFL games to protest police brutality.

In the Seattle office, employees of color sat listening to "white leadership have their feelings on it, and nobody even recognized they hadn't heard from people of color," a former employee said.

That same year, GMMB hired an outside consultant, Innovation International's Jeffon Seely, who asked GMMB staff to write down incidents of ageism and racial discrimination they witnessed. GMMB said it had since held staff workshops on unconscious bias and developed a "cultural-inclusion survey" to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Nimra Haroon, a former media-relations specialist at GMMB, called the agency's D&I efforts "performative" and said white employees showed little interest in participating in the committee's meetings.

"Anti-racism isn't a hobby or initiative," Haroon said. "The fact we think we need to segment it into a DE&I committee is the problem."

A racial-justice campaign stirred controversy

Companies have faced growing scrutiny about their records on race since the killing of George Floyd following an arrest in Minneapolis in late May.

At GMMB, the long-simmering concerns came to a head in June when the firm launched a campaign, #TogetherAgainstRacism, to raise money for racial-justice organizations. Former employees like Jewell publicly criticized the company online.

"I am speaking up because I do care about the company and its employees, and I want better for you all," Jewell wrote in a LinkedIn post. "You have worked for three decades as champions of progressive policies around the world — it is reasonable to expect you to meet this same high standard internally."

GMMB has announced steps to address employee concerns

After staff members sent their letter June 11, GMMB named its first Black partner, Micheline Kennedy, and announced other steps including increasing hiring and retention of people of color.

"While we are far from being perfect, we have worked hard to create an environment where everyone feels valued and included and we acknowledge at times we have fallen short and we are committed to doing better," GMMB partner Susan Feeney told Business Insider.

HR director Chandra Krohl left GMMB on June 21, two days after being named in an Ad Age article in which sources accused "leadership and human resources of fostering and covering up a culture of racism." A GMMB representative told Ad Age the agency took their comments "very seriously."

A VP resigned over the firm's management and treatment of racial issues

To some, the firm's work is far from done.

GMMB has recently held virtual company town halls to address diversity and inclusion. At one, on June 17, the founding partner Greer said the firm didn't have a problem with systemic racism.

A vice president, Brandon Lee, resigned in response, saying he disapproved of the firm's management, accountability, and handling of racial issues, a source familiar with the matter said.

The next day, Feeney emailed the staff: "Frank and I are deeply saddened that Brandon resigned. And we apologize to those who felt our words fell short yesterday. We respect and value each of you, and sincerely want to reiterate our commitment to listen to you, reflect and carry out specific, structural changes to make GMMB the place we want it to be. We will do better and be better."

Yet one former employee said systemic racism was still embedded in GMMB's leadership and decision-making process.

"It's the partners and leadership who must still be held accountable, must apologize, and stop gaslighting employees who have come forward about racism," the person said, "and must admit they have a systemic-racism problem."

SEE ALSO: Employees at the Omnicom Group-owned ad and public-relations agency GMMB asked for a conversation about 'systemic racism and inequity' at the firm and shared a list of 34 proposed reforms

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship

Hello! Welcome to the Advertising & Media Insider newsletter, your weekly fix of industry news. I'm Lucia Moses, deputy editor here. You can sign up for this newsletter here.

Facebook fallout

For years, industry experts have been saying Facebook's ad business will be untouchable as long as it continues to work for advertisers. Even initially, some wrote off the current boycott as just a self-serving gesture by some lefty brands. But as it's mushroomed to big-name advertisers, you have to ask if this is the moment that could actually dent Facebook's business long-term.

Already, brands are moving their dollars to perceived safer havens like TikTok, Google, and Pinterest.

The view of marketing vet Rishad Tobaccowala is that the big change will be a year or two from now as some of these companies, under pressure at all levels, untether themselves from the platform. Meanwhile, the small and medium-sized advertisers, including the Facebook-birthed direct-to-consumer companies, that are the lifeblood of Facebook's business will keep it humming.

Read more of our coverage here:

• Advertising execs break down why TikTok, Amazon, and TV networks will be the biggest winners of the growing Facebook boycott
• Confessions of a CMO: A Fortune 500 chief marketer on whether boycott statements are just PR moves, if they'll really hurt Facebook, and why it's hard to quit the platform
• Facebook and advertisers are locked in an image war, and advertisers are winning 

Toxic culture at GMMB

A lot of companies are getting examined for their toxic culture, but few share the progressive bona fides of Omnicom's GMMB, the political ad and PR agency whose founders helped elect presidents Clinton and Obama.

As Sean Czarnecki reported, its reputation has attracted scores of people of color to work there, but what they found was a workplace that was rife with what sources called systemic racism. From Sean's story:

Some former GMMB staffers say the firm tokenized employees of color to win business.

They said GMMB added employees of color to pitches for big accounts like The James Irvine Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even though those employees were responsible only for administrative tasks.

"At the time, I almost saw it as a good thing," a white former staffer said of this practice. "We want to reflect our diversity and values. That's how senior staff present it. I bought into that until I had this conversation with a Black employee about what it feels like to have their face on random proposals they didn't have a hand in."

Read the full story here:

Insiders at Omnicom agency GMMB say the workplace is rife with 'systemic' racism, where people of color are tokenized and treated like 'the help'

Can influencers fix Quibi?

As critics pick over Quibi's stumbling launch, some are asking where the streaming service went wrong and how to fix it. One idea is that the new streaming service lean more on influencers and less on traditional talent for its shows. But as Amanda Perelli and Ashley Rodriguez reported, Quibi has had a strained relationship with influencers from the start.

Read more here:

Quibi says influencers are a key part of its strategy but insiders say it repeatedly dismissed 'YouTuber ideas' in favor of familiar TV formats

Here are other great reads from advertising, media, and beyond:

• A TikTok influencer group launched a new 'travel house' with a 26-person trip to Mexico in spite of the pandemic. Now it's eyeing Iceland and Bali.
• Former Snap exec Imran Khan's e-commerce startup Verishop is opening up to 3rd-party sellers
• Kat Schneider quit her VC gig while pregnant so she could launch a vitamin brand for the Instagram generation. Now her $125 million startup, Ritual, is facing its biggest test.
• Quibi insiders explain how its Hollywood roots led to a traditional approach to mobile TV: 'If it can be on YouTube, it can't be on Quibi'
• Google will expand free retail listings to its main search page in a bid to fend off a growing ad rivalry with Amazon 
• YouTube stars reveal their monthly earnings, how much they get paid for 1 million views, and their average CPMs

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading!

— Lucia

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence

• Omnicom Group's GMMB is an advertising and PR firm known for its progressive work, but some former and current employees said microaggressions against people of color were commonplace.
• Many of them said they endured unusual scrutiny, comments about their hair, and difficulty advancing, which took a mental toll on them.
• GMMB has responded to these and other employee concerns by naming its first Black partner, publishing its staff's diversity breakdown, and promising other reforms.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

GMMB is a top Democratic PR and advertising agency known for supporting prominent progressive causes like Emily's List and Democratic candidates like Joe Biden, but some current and former employees said people of color often endured microaggressions while working there.

Founded in 1983, GMMB is owned by FleishmanHillard, an Omnicom Group agency. It has 220 employees across three offices in San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Business Insider spoke with 27 current and former employees, 16 of whom identify as people of color. Their roles ranged from junior-level positions like assistant account executive to more senior ones like senior digital strategist. You can read Business Insider's full story on the concerns those people raised here.

Many of these people said they enjoyed their time at GMMB and that they learned new skills and made some of their closest friends there.

One current staffer of color, for example, said they've had a positive experience at GMMB, their work has been recognized, and they've been promoted consistently. They said the company's recent move to name its first Black partner was a sign of progress.

"I don't believe GMMB is immune to systemic racism, but recognizing that alone is an important step to being on the right path forward," this person said.

But at the same time, many of the current and former employees also said GMMB has institutional problems that couldn't be fixed without public scrutiny.

They said the agency suffers from "systemic" racism which often manifested in microaggressions, or actions and words that indirectly or unintentionally express racism, sexism, ageism, or ableism. They said working there took a toll on their mental health.

"Our hearts are broken that we have to do this," a former Black employee said of speaking out.

GMMB issued the following statement to Business Insider:

"We are outraged by the false allegations being made about us and reported without regard to facts or the truth. Microaggressions are a terrible problem nationwide, including in the workplace. Last year, we engaged a diversity and inclusion expert to ensure that everyone on our staff is properly trained regarding this and all equity issues. We take complaints by our employees very seriously, and are fully committed to investigate and act on all allegations – racial or otherwise – that are brought to our attention."

Black employees describe being closely scrutinized

Some of the sources told Business Insider that senior executives rarely asked BIPOC employees to contribute to account strategy and subjected them to an unusual amount of scrutiny.

"They were called out on minute things that seemingly the white employees would get passes on such as email etiquette," a former white staffer said of Black staffers. "They were dissected at a granular level that was insulting."

In one example, several former employees in the Seattle office, one of GMMB's three, said they saw GMMB call a Black employee difficult to work with and said they had an attitude problem and weren't a "culture fit."

The firm took the employee off accounts, dropped them from client meetings, and placed them on a performance improvement plan. It was the only time several former Seattle employees recalled seeing this happen.

"Instead of thinking, 'How can we really support this person so they can succeed,' their reaction was, 'How can we make it really difficult for them and make GMMB an unbearable place to work?'" a former employee said of the incident.

The Seattle employee in question declined to comment.

GMMB denied in a statement the account that a Seattle employee was discriminated against, saying: "While we do not generally discuss individual personnel matters, we can state that race did not play a role in this matter and that no discrimination claims have been filed against us in Seattle."

Liz Jewell, a former senior digital strategist at GMMB, said that in 2018, Black and white people on the digital team complained to HR about their directors. HR tried to out the employees who complained and the firm labeled only the Black staffers as "troublemakers," with one being put on a performance-improvement plan, Jewell said.

Black employees endured comments about their hair 

Several former Black employees said colleagues and supervisors made comments about their hair that made them uncomfortable.

One former Black employee said a peer once asked, "What's that on your head?" Another former Black staffer said a white human resources rep told them their hair was "wild and crazy."

Two former employees, including Jewell, confirmed that employees made comments to Black staffers about their hair. One, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a junior Black employee asked them if they would tell their GMMB colleagues to stop touching their hair.

People of color said it was hard to advance

Some of the people of color at GMMB were in low-level positions and as such, their jobs often involved administrative duties like billing, buying coffee and lunch, and running personal errands for senior executives.

The firm recently published a staff diversity breakdown and told Business Insider that of its 15 assistant account executives, eight are white and seven identify as people of color. Overall, GMMB said 28% of its 220 staffers, or 68, identify as Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, or two or more races, and that two thirds of its employees of color hold what it calls mid-level, senior level, or executive positions. 

Many of the people who talked to Business Insider said that along with being subject to micoaggressions, BIPOC staffers also were promoted less often than white people. Two former BIPOC employees who were promoted there attributed their advancement to their being "racially ambiguous" or "white-passing." 

"There was an extra hurdle [for BIPOC employees]," a former Latinx employee said. "They were told, 'You're not quite ready, you're not thinking big picture, or your work isn't the right quality.'"

One former Black employee said they were often asked about their racial background by colleagues and that executives said the employee needed more support to "get up to speed" to meet a client.

"I've never worked in a place where, in my day-to-day interactions with my employer, that race was a filter through which we had conversations," the former employee said. "Despite being told I was one of the most talented writers and I had strong relationships with my client contacts, I never went on a pitch. It felt like gatekeeping."

Working at the agency took a toll on some, while the firm has committed to reforms

One former Black employee said that they suffered from stomach pains and headaches they believe were results from the stress of their job and said they were prescribed Lexapro for anxiety and depression. 

The former employee said that working at the firm made them "feel like you're going crazy."

"It took a toll on us, hearing we're not good enough, that we can't get promoted, that our work is not being appreciated," this person said.

After 130 employees signed a June letter asking agency leaders to address diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, GMMB named its first Black partner in Micheline Kennedy and committed to other reforms, including steps to recruit and retain people of color and publishing staff diversity statistics.

SEE ALSO: A PR trade group representing firms including Weber Shandwick and FleishmanHillard is embroiled in disagreements over whether firms should have to reveal how diverse their workforce is and pledge to hiring people of color

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button

Hi! I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider, and welcome to Advertising Insider daily, where we brief you on the top advertising and media news. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send any feedback or tips to me at  ljohnson@businessinsider.com

Today we look at allegations of microaggressions at Omnicom's agency GMMB, the rise of virtual influencers, and the leaders at Twitter who are helping the company recover from last week's hacker attack.

GMMB insiders say the top progressive ad and PR agency has a problem with microaggressions

• Sean Czarnecki reports on alleged microaggressions at Omnicom-owned advertising and PR agency GMMB, which is known for its work for progressive clients and Democratic candidates.
• Many former and current employees said they endured unusual scrutiny and comments about their hair, which took a mental toll on them.
• Some people also said that it is hard for people of color to advance their careers from low-level and administration roles at the firm.

Read the full story here.

• Twitter came under scrutiny last week after a massive hacker attack spread a bitcoin scam, overtaking accounts like Bill Gates and Elon Musk that is now being investigated by the FBI.
• Julie Bort identified the 15 execs leading Twitter who will work on cleaning up the company's image and security issues.
• The list includes several advertising execs including head of sales Matthew Derella, head of revenue products Bruce Falck, and Leslie Berland, head of marketing and HR.

Read the full story here.

Virtual influencer startups say they've seen a spike in interest from brands as the pandemic has shut down many human photo shoots 

• Dan Whateley and Sydney Bradley report that firms that specialize in computer-generated influencers have seen a boom in business during the coronavirus as influencers have to tweak their content strategies with shelter-in-place orders.
• Startups like Brud, Genies, and The Diigitals create virtual influencers to generate revenue from television appearances, brand deals and IP.
• In May, Brud signed a deal with Hollywood talent agency CAA to represent virtual social media influencer and pop star Lil Miquela.

Read the full story here.

More stories we're reading:

• Disney slashes ad spending on Facebook amid growing boycott (Wall Street Journal)
• Netflix sheds $19 billion in market value amid earnings miss and disappointing subscriber-growth forecast (Business Insider)
• SoulCycle poster child Soeuraya Wilson quit on Instagram saying she's tired of being 'used' by a company that only supports activism 'when it is convenient for their bottom line' — we spoke to 2 Black instructors who agree (Business Insider) 
• Advertising giants agree to evaluate mutual definition of hate speech (Axios)
• The second wave of media layoffs is here (Digiday) 

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at ljohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.

— Lauren

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button

• DDB Worldwide has named Marty O'Halloran as its new global CEO and Justin Thomas-Copeland as its North America chief executive officer.
• O'Halloran most recently was chairman and CEO of the Omnicom agency's Australia and New Zealand division, while Thomas-Copeland was global CEO of OPMG Health.
• Forrester analyst Jay Pattisall said that DDB's new leadership signaled Omnicom's aim to use consumer data to better inform email-based customer relationship marketing campaigns.
• Thomas-Copeland is the network's first Black CEO, and his appointment comes as the ad industry is confronting the subject of racism and its record on diversity and inclusion.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

DDB Worldwide, one of the largest agency networks within ad holding company Omnicom, has named 34-year veteran Marty O'Halloran as global CEO and Justin Thomas-Copeland as North American chief executive officer, effective immediately.

Both are internal picks. O'Halloran started as an account director working on the McDonald's business and served as chairman and CEO of DDB Australia and New Zealand for the past 15 years. Thomas-Copeland was most recently global CEO of OPMG Health, the pharma and healthcare division of Omnicom's precision marketing group.

The changes come on the heels of DDB's former global CEO Wendy Clark leaving to become global CEO of rival holding group Dentsu Aegis Network in April. Her responsibilities had been handled on an interim basis by DDB chairman Chuck Brymer.

The news was relayed to employees in a companywide email on Wednesday morning.

The new executives led two of Omnicom's most successful divisions

Brymer said O'Halloran expanded DDB's influence in the Australia/New Zealand region, where he won industry awards and new work from clients like Kmart and LinkedIn during the coronavirus pandemic. He praised Thomas-Copeland's work on precision marketing, the use of consumer data to inform email-based customer relationship marketing campaigns.

DDB clients include Volkswagen, McDonald's, Unilever, Mars, and Johnson & Johnson.

"At Omnicom, we place considerable emphasis on succession planning, which is why we continually invest in our talent," read a statement from company chairman and CEO John Wren. "Marty and Justin are well known within Omnicom as transformative leaders with unique insight into creating successful global brand experiences."

The appointments indicate a shift toward data-driven marketing 

Forrester ad industry analyst Jay Pattisall said the new appointments signified Omnicom's desire to combine creative and data in campaigns. He compared the moves to WPP's decision to merge data marketing firm Wunderman and creative agency J. Walter Thompson to create Wunderman Thompson in 2018.

"It's an interesting signal on what Omnicom leadership sees in DDB's future," Pattisall said. "Appointing its most trusted operators — including the engine of its precision-marketing function — to lead DDB suggests that precision-marketing will play a bigger role with DDB creativity."

Thomas-Copeland is also the network's first Black CEO, and his appointment comes amid growing conversations around tackling racism and promoting diversity and inclusion in the industry. Omnicom was among the ad holding companies that addressed employee concerns about growing racial tensions in the US after George Floyd's killing. 

"Clearly, Omnicom recognizes that the industry is watching who they appoint to leadership positions at this point," Pattisall said. "So the optics are convenient."

SEE ALSO: Meet the 31 executives leading Omnicom, the world's most valuable advertising network, during a global pandemic and recession

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: July 15 is Tax Day — here's what it's like to do your own taxes for the very first time

Hi! Welcome to the Advertising Insider daily for July 28. I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at ljohnson@businessinsider.com

Today: Quibi's partnerships with publishers to build buzz, Omnicom's diversity numbers, and Facebook's upcoming earnings.

Quibi is paying a network of digital media sites to write about its original shows, borrowing a tactic from Netflix, Hulu, and other streamers

• Ashley Rodriguez reports that Quibi is working with bloggers like Static Media to create content about its shows. Static Media's posts about Quibi are labeled as paid for by Quibi.
• The shortform video app launched to disappointing downloads in April and categorized the partnerships with bloggers as market research. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon also pay publishers like PopSugar and The Atlantic to write about shows with the goal of building buzz around programming.
• Quibi has also beefed up its social media strategy in recent weeks and added a screenshotting feature that can be used to create memes about content.

Read the full story here.

• Patrick Coffee reports that Omnicom CEO John Wren released diversity numbers for the holding company showing that 5.5% of its employees are Black, 10.3% is Hispanic, and 11.1% is Asian.
• The numbers are similar to Omnicom rivals IPG, Dentsu, Publicis, and Havas.
• Wren outlined a number of steps that Omnicom is taking to diversify its staff including expanding its diversity and inclusion team and working with a larger group of related nonprofits.

Read the full story here.

More stories we're reading:

— Lauren

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship

Hi and welcome to the Advertising Insider, weekly edition. I'm Lucia Moses, deputy editor. To get this in your inbox daily, click here.

This week: Ad fraud won't go away, the influencer metrics that matter, and agencies announce diversity steps. 

Ad fraud's newest targets

Online ad companies are trying to stamp out a new ad fraud scheme, and its existence shows 130 million things wrong with the digital ad industry. Well, maybe I exaggerate. But that's the amount that Hydra, as it's called, is estimated to be costing advertisers.

In a nutshell, Hydra creates fake app traffic, defrauding marketers whose ads never get seen by actual humans. Experts agree it's more sophisticated than past ad fraud operations because the impressions are being sold through many networks, which makes it easy to escape detection.

The online ad industry never seems to be rid of fraud. A few reasons experts tell me this is the case:

• It's where the money is ($333 billion, to be exact). As much as ad companies throw resources at the problem, fraudsters keep one-upping them.
• The total amounts of fraud operations sound impressive, but its impact on individual advertisers is easier to ignore. 
• It's hard to get online ad companies to do the coordination needed to take down fraudsters. While other industries like banking have established threat-sharing systems, online ad companies aren't crazy about revealing vulnerabilities to competitors.
• It's not in marketers' interest to focus on it. Considering the average CMO tenure is getting shorter, they have bigger, more visible fish to fry. Other than Uber suing its agency in 2017 for allegedly running fraudulent ads, when was the last time you heard of a marketer taking action on fraud?

Read more: Inside Google and others' struggle to stop an advertising-fraud scheme that's skimming $130 million from the industry

The metrics that matter in influencer marketing

With the pandemic cutting into ad spending, brands that are still spending want to know they're getting results, and influencer marketing campaigns are no exception. With all the attention on fake followers, brands are paying less attention to the number of followers, and holding influencers to higher scrutiny, Amanda Perelli and Sydney Bradley report. 

In other words, goodbye reach, hello "super likes."

Read more: The Instagram metrics that brands are using in 2020 to decide whether to hire an influencer and to measure campaign performance

Ad agencies announce diversity steps

Protests against racism and police brutality have Corporate America examining their past diversity efforts and asking why they've fallen short. Advertising agencies, which determine so much about how people see the world, have a particularly bad record. In 2006, the top five holding companies had to be dragged into committing to change after the New York City Commission on Human Rights called out their poor history in minority hiring.

Now, changes are afoot.

Omnicom committed to expanding its employee-resource group, its diversity and inclusion leadership team and work with a larger number of related nonprofits, and requiring unconscious-bias training for all employees. Havas said it would track its diversity numbers each quarter and publicize them annually, diversify its internship program, rethink its recruiting processes, and require executive training, among other steps.

It's just the beginning, but as one industry critic said of Havas, it's an "incredible start."

Read further:

• Ad giant Omnicom releases diversity numbers showing 5.5% of US staff is Black — read the internal memo outlining CEO's 8-step action plan
• Fewer than 3% of US executives at ad giant Havas are Black. Read the deck outlining its ambitious plan to increase diversity.

Other stories you should check out in media, advertising, and beyond:

• VCs pick 6 hot media startups to watch this year that are focused on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok creators
• Current and former staff at gaming giant Ubisoft make new allegations of sexual harassment and HR failures, warning senior staff exits won't alter 'deep-rooted, toxic' culture
• 9 YouTube creators break down their exact monthly incomes from the platform — from under $600 to over $140,000
• Amazon wants to put a waist-high robot in your home. The secretive project's facing high staff turnover, doubts over a $1,000 price tag, and visits from Jeff Bezos.
• McDonalds is permanently closing 200 locations across the US as it reports lowest quarterly profits in 13 years
• How the Hamptons got even bougier in summer 2020

Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

— Lucia

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly

• In a memo to all staff, Omnicom CEO John Wren released numbers showing that 5.5% of all US employees and 2.7% of executive-level managers are Black.
• Wren outlined an eight-step plan to enhance the company's diversity efforts by expanding the company's employee-resource group OPEN.
• Omnicom's numbers are comparable to those of competitors such as IPG and Havas, which have similarly outlined plans to increase diversity in recent weeks.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Omnicom on Monday became the last of the major ad holding companies to announce a new diversity and inclusion plan, releasing partial US demographic numbers in an internal memo from Chairman and CEO John Wren that went out to all staff.

According to a graphic accompanying the memo, Omnicom's total staff is 5.5% Black, 10.3% Hispanic, and 11.1% Asian. At the executive-manager level, employees are 2.7% Black, 4.9% Hispanic, and 7.2% Asian.

The numbers are similar to those of its rivals IPG, Dentsu, Publicis, and Havas, all of which released their totals in recent weeks. WPP, the largest holding company by global head count and revenue, pledged to spend $30 million on diversity efforts over the next three years but has not shared numbers.

An Omnicom spokeswoman declined to comment beyond providing the memo.

CEO John Wren pledges 'systemic equity' by expanding Omnicom's employee resource group OPEN

In the memo, Wren said the fact that many Black Omnicom employees feel like outsiders at their agencies is "not acceptable" and that the company and the industry at large must do better. 

He outlined plans for OPEN 2.0, an expansion of the employee-resource group Omnicom People Engagement Network, writing that the company would expand its diversity and inclusion leadership team and work with a larger number of related nonprofits, while working to help employees of color advance in their careers and require unconscious-bias training for all employees.

Some prominent Black executives have questioned the industry's long-term dedication to diversity. Last month, Steve Stoute, the founder of the NBA's agency Translation, called out Wren by name in an interview.

Read Wren's memo below:

We are a people business, so it has long been our mission to foster diverse and inclusive workplaces where all our people feel comfortable, confident and supported. Racism and discrimination have no place in society or at Omnicom.

Since May, following the tragic acts of racism in the U.S., our agency and network leadership, Black colleagues and diversity champions across our organization have held Town Halls, Safe Room Discussions, Panels and Educational Forums to share thoughts, fears and reactions to current events, as well to discuss actions we can take to address inequalities. I was particularly moved by one of our OPEN Conversation panel sessions celebrating Juneteenth that many of our Black colleagues feel like outsiders at their agencies and don't have a sense of belonging in our industry. That is not acceptable to me or anyone at Omnicom, and I, together with our entire leadership team, am committed to effect change. 

Understanding and providing transparency in where we currently stand is a necessary first step in committing to change and paving a path forward. With this in mind, below is a breakdown of Omnicom's workforce diversity in the United States.

It's clear that we, and our entire industry, need to do more to truly reflect the businesses, communities and consumers we serve. And from your feedback, we have heard loud and clear – words are just words if actions don't follow.

The result of our many discussions is OPEN 2.0, an action plan that builds upon the progress we've made thus far to achieve our ultimate goal: systemic equity throughout Omnicom. Our mission is to attain equal representation, development, support and retention of marginalized groups, and, in particular in the United States, for our Black, Hispanic, Asian and Indigenous professionals and all People of Color. OPEN 2.0 is a framework though — it can be used to support any marginalized group in any one of our markets.  

OPEN 2.0 specifies eight Action Items that will help us move toward achieving systemic equity faster and more effectively. These Action Items were carefully considered, and their highlights are provided below:

• Action Item #1:  Expand the OPEN Leadership Team – The team, which is led by our Chief Diversity Officer and currently includes 15 Diversity Champions who are dedicated full-time to our DE&I efforts, will be expanded and further supported and empowered. The CEOs of each network and practice area will have a diversity director as a direct report.
• Action Item #2:  Attracting and Recruiting Talent – Together with the OPEN Leadership Team, our agencies will promote our DE&I programs and initiatives and establish themselves as the best places to belong.
• Action Item #3: Development – We will establish the Talent Advocacy Program, a program that will pair an individual with a mentor who is in a position of influence and can advocate for the individual's success and advancement.
• Action Item #4: Retention – We will establish the Talent Advancement Program, a networking system within Omnicom that will allow our HR/Recruiting professionals to source talent from across all Omnicom agencies and offices to more efficiently and effectively provide career advancement. 
• Action Item #5: Clients – We will establish a Client DE&I Communications Program to regularly update clients on our DE&I initiatives and accomplishments, and we will expand our current supplier diversity programs.
• Action Item #6: Community – To complement our current partnerships with nonprofit organizations, we will identify additional organizations that our agencies enthusiastically support and offer our professional services on a pro-bono basis to advance their goals.
• Action Item #7: Mandatory Training – We will further expand our training programs designed to create awareness and sensitivity to issues regarding DE&I, such as global, mandatory unconscious bias training.

Being able to measure our progress against these Action Items and hold our leaders accountable is crucial to our success and the success of OPEN 2.0. Action Item #8: Accountability will do just that.

Systemic equity will only happen if every one of us contributes and takes responsibility. Moving forward, each and every agency will have specified actions, with deadlines, to ensure advancement of DE&I initiatives, and executives will be held accountable for executing the actions.

Our progress and effectiveness of implementing the Action Items will be measured by establishing Omnicom-wide key performance indicators (KPIs). Senior executives of Omnicom and the CEOs of each of our networks and practice areas will work with our DE&I leaders to set the KPIs in an Annual DE&I Plan. These KPIs will not be taken lightly — they will become part of our everyday operations and an important factor in executive compensation.  

We have always said our people are our number one priority, and this plan puts our words into action. Small gestures, quick reactions and disparate efforts will never be enough to create the systemic equity we strive to achieve. OPEN 2.0 was developed to maintain our energy and focus for years to come, and it will create the type of change we know you are asking for and deserve.

Thank you to everyone who shared their feedback with me and our leadership teams. From the beginning, you inspired the mission of OPEN 2.0 and drove the Action Items within this plan.

Achieving systemic equity takes a lot of work. Let's get started.

Sincerely,
John Wren

Got more information about this story or another ad industry tip? Contact Patrick Coffee on Signal at (347) 563-7289, email at pcoffee@businessinsider.com or patrickcoffee@protonmail.com, or via Twitter DM @PatrickCoffee. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

SEE ALSO: Fewer than 3% of US executives at ad giant Havas are Black. Read the deck outlining its ambitious plan to increase diversity.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US-based ad agencies employed more than 200,000 people last year.
• The coronavirus has significantly weakened the biggest agency holding companies, but they remain a source of high-paying and extremely competitive jobs.
• To find out how much people make at these agencies, Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2019 disclosure data for the five biggest ad holding companies: WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, and Dentsu.
• The lowest-paid positions in HR and accounts paid around $50,000-60,000, while chief creative officer salaries ran higher than $800,000.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Every year, US ad agencies pay top dollar for talent to fill a wide variety of roles, ranging from entry-level account and HR managers to executives who oversee the creative and media buying for clients.

The five biggest ad holding companies — WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, IPG, and Dentsu — entered 2020 with new optimism after losing significant market share to digital platforms like Google, Facebook, and The Trade Desk. 

But the pandemic proceeded to cripple the industry as advertisers slashed spending. A recent Forrester report estimated that agencies would shed 52,000 jobs through 2021, with many gone for good.

Yet a basic LinkedIn search reveals that agencies continue to hire, especially in areas like tech and healthcare marketing that have been less dramatically affected by the pandemic.

US ad agencies source talent from all over the world, and when they file paperwork on behalf of international employees, they're required to list base salary rates. The US Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification releases that information every year in one huge data dump.

The listed salaries are determined by "prevailing wages," or industry standards for similar jobs with similar qualifications, which are also listed in the OFLC data.

Business Insider analyzed the five largest holding companies' fiscal year 2019 disclosure data for all foreign workers applying for both permanent green card visas and temporary H-1B, H1B1, and E-3 visas to determine what these companies' agencies paid employees.

These numbers don't include every type of visa or pay rates for US-born employees or any form of compensation beyond base salary. They also do not include CEOs, who almost universally bring in seven figures or more.

Spokespeople for the five companies either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

WPP paid healthcare executives $178,000 and top creative leaders up to $880,000

WPP employs around 100,000 people in over 110 countries. Among its largest agencies, including Mindshare, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Wunderman Thompson, and Grey, WPP filed for at least 66 US visas last year.

As the pandemic intensified in April, most WPP employees making over $100,000 agreed to take tiered, voluntary salary cuts of up to 20%. The company ended those cuts in July, though it is not clear whether the decision applies to CEO Mark Read and other board members. Multiple agencies also laid off staff in May.

Here are salaries and salary ranges for jobs at different WPP agencies:

• Graphic designer: $55,000 to $65,000
• Data sciences associate: $58,000
• Data analyst: $75,000
• Associate director, talent management: $76,500
• Senior people director: $92,000
• IT project manager: $112,000
• Senior art director: $114,000 to $150,000
• Director of finance: $147,700
• Analytics lead: $160,763
• SVP, strategy and development, healthcare: $178,000
• Global strategy director: $177,000 to $197,000
• Chief creative officer: $830,000 to $880,000

Omnicom paid chief strategy officers up to $500,000

Omnicom employs more than 70,000 people in over 100 countries. Among its top companies, including BBDO, TBWA, DDB, and Omnicom Media Group, Omnicom filed for at least 50 US visas.

In an April memo, CEO John Wren confirmed a coming wave of layoffs that would ultimately eliminate around 6,100 jobs in the second quarter. He also said Omnicom's executive leadership team would cut its pay by one third and that he would waive his own salary in full until September, though about 95% of his 2019 compensation consisted of cash bonuses and restricted stock options.

Here are salary ranges for jobs across Omnicom agencies:

• Creative strategist: $50,000 to $60,000
• Human resources coordinator: $54,850
• Copywriter: $55,000 to $65,000
• Accountant: $62,000 to $72,000
• Platform account manager: $87,000 to $97,000
• Marketing manager: $114,046
• Data scientist: $125,000
• Brand manager: $145,000
• Account director: $170,000
• Group account director: $220,000
• Chief digital officer: $275,000 to $375,000
• Managing director: $430,000 to $470,000
• Chief strategy officer: $300,000 to $500,000

Publicis paid the global lead for Verizon, one of its biggest clients, $550,000

Publicis employs around 80,000 people in more than 120 countries. Among its top companies, including Saatchi & Saatchi, Epsilon, Publicis Sapient, Starcom, and Zenith, Publicis filed for at least 353 visas last year.

Several Publicis agencies cut jobs in the UK and US in May, and sources told Business Insider that some executives had taken voluntary six-month pay cuts. CEO Arthur Sadoun previously announced he would reduce his own salary by 30%, though it accounted for less than one-third of his total 2019 compensation.

Here are salaries for jobs across Publicis agencies:

• Senior analyst: $58,500
• Associate director, search marketing: $66,000
• Engineer: $75,000
• Account manager: $78,000
• Ad operations supervisor: $80,000
• Copywriter: $85,000
• Account supervisor: $96,000
• Senior social scientist: $123,000
• Solutions architect: $155,000
• Associate finance director: $177,000
• SVP, technology: $206,000
• SVP, group creative director: $270,000
• President, global client lead, Verizon: $550,000
• Chief creative officer: $830,000

IPG paid an executive creative director up to $350,000

IPG employs about 54,000 people in 100 countries. Among its largest companies, including McCann Worldgroup, Acxiom, FCB, Huge, and IPG Mediabrands, IPG filed for at least 52 visas.

On IPG's recent earnings call, CEO Michael Roth said the company had cut 1% of its global workforce, or around 5,000 jobs, in the second quarter. Some staff who were initially furloughed have since been laid off. Roth took a 2.2% pay cut for fiscal year 2019, and IPG reduced executive-level salaries by up to 25%.

Here are salary ranges for jobs across IPG agencies:

• Human resources and operations analyst: $65,000
• Junior art director: $62,400 to $72,400
• Software engineer: $75,000 to $82,000
• Product design lead: $105,000 to $120,000
• Manager, decision sciences: $104,000 to $124,000
• VP, account director: $160,000 to $180,000
• SVP, director of technology: $170,000 to $190,000
• Associate business partner: $190,000
• Associate creative director: $175,000 to $225,000
• Managing director: $230,000
• Senior director of data analytics: $240,000
• SVP, executive creative director: $300,000 to $350,000

Dentsu Aegis Network paid a group strategy director $240,000

Dentsu Aegis Network is a division of Tokyo-based Dentsu. It employs more than 40,000 in approximately 145 countries. Among its largest companies, including dentsumcgarrybowen, 360i, Merkle, Carat, and iProspect, Dentsu filed for 130 US visas last year.

In April, Dentsu enacted a company-wide hiring freeze as well as top-down, cross-agency pay cuts of 10% or more.

Here are salary ranges for jobs across Dentsu agencies:

• Assistant editor: $43,930 to $58,500
• Account executive: $58,500
• Paid social media lead: $70,000
• Data engineer: $94,000
• Associate director of strategy: $99,362 to $110,000
• Associate director, communications planning: $108,150
• Associate creative director: $124,946 to $130,000
• Director of resource management: $151,840
• VP, director of content: $170,000
• Director of marketing intelligence: $155,000 to $175,000
• Solutions engineering manager: $185,090
• Group strategy director: $240,000

Read more about the ad holding companies:

SEE ALSO: 'Big 4' salaries, revealed: How much Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC accountants and consultants make, from entry level to executive roles

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What makes 'Parasite' so shocking is the twist that happens in a 10-minute sequence

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for August 6. I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at ljohnson@businessinsider.com

Today's news: Disney Plus hits a new milestone but trails behind Netflix's revenue, salary data for top agency roles, and marketers weigh in on Microsoft's potential TikTok acquisition.

• Disney Plus hit 60 million subscribers nine months since launching, a milestone that executives originally thought wouldn't happen until 2024.
• However, Disney Plus' subscribers generate significantly less revenue per paying subscriber than rival Netflix. During the June quarter, Disney Plus' average revenue per paying subscriber was $4.62 while Netflix averages $10.80.
• Disney Plus' average revenue per user was also dragged down last quarter by its price point in India.

Read the full story here.

Read the full story here.

Read the full story here.

More stories we're reading:

• A YouTube creator explains Amazon's efforts to become a major player in the influencer business, from affiliate commissions to livestreaming (Business Insider)
• Houseplant sales are booming and so are 'Plantfluencers,' the social-media creators sharing plant tips, products, and content (Business Insider)
• The face of department stores is radically changing, and could soon look more like a warehouse than a boutique (Business Insider)
• As advertising plummets in Q2, NYT's total digital revenue exceeds print (AdExchanger)
• 'A significant uptick in deal flow': Why Europe is becoming a hotbed of ad tech innovation (Digiday)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at ljohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.

— Lauren

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly

• Big advertising agencies have shed employees, but some smaller independents and in-house brand teams are still hiring.
• As clients prioritize diversity and inclusion, headhunters are looking beyond "cookie-cutter" candidates with traditional portfolios or experience.
• To find work again, laid-off ad pros will have to reinvent themselves, learn new skills, and diversify, recruiters say.
• Here's Business Insider's first list of 13 top headhunters in the advertising industry.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit consumer spending, it also walloped advertising budgets. Agencies, many owned by holding companies, slashed staff. As Business Insider has reported, the cuts have upended the industry.

Still, some headhunters say their clients are hiring. Small and midsize agencies, often leaner and nimbler, continue to grow. Brands needing to pivot post-pandemic are relying on in-house marketing teams and agency partners. And ad pros who know how to position brands to a stuck-at-home audience are in high demand.

Business Insider identified 13 leading headhunters in advertising and marketing communications, considering factors like size, longevity, and clients. They range from sole proprietors to international search firms, along with two in-house talent officers. While their views on the market diverge, they agree that the pandemic, diversity needs, and remote work have changed advertising— and search — forever.

"Agencies are raising the bar. They want specific experiences, styles of work, and levels of talent," said Barbara Tejada, the owner of New York's Mighty Recruiting.

Here are 13 advertising recruiters to know right now, in alphabetical order by last name.

SEE ALSO: Meet 12 top public relations recruiters to know right now

Diane Domeyer, executive director, The Creative Group

As part of the recruiting behemoth Robert Half, The Creative Group has an advantage in its scale — its onsite staff in 40 cities is backed by its parent's 300-plus locations.

Launched in 1999, it's also one of the oldest firms in the space, with deep relationships and experience through business cycles.

"What's changed over the years, aside from a jump to 11.5% unemployment, is the transition to virtual workplaces," said Diane Domeyer, the executive director. "Hiring and onboarding are happening remotely. Employers are lifting geographic boundaries to find top talent. That will be a permanent shift."

Despite the fallout from the pandemic, Domeyer remains optimistic about the industry. "There may be more people looking, but the future's very bright when you think about what organizations have to do to communicate with and engage their customers," she said.

Jenna Garofalo, independent

After years in creative recruitment in-house at JWT, 360i, and Anomaly, Jenna Garofalo went solo in 2019, winning clients like Droga5, We Are Social, and Peloton.

"Creative's my sweet spot, from interns to chief creative officers," she said. "When I started, it was 'stay in your lane,' whether you write or design. Now, grads also know how to code or how to animate. And you have to put that lens on candidates: What other skill sets can you bring to the table?"

Diversity has also altered searches themselves.

"Everyone's open to more than the usual cookie-cutter people," she said. "It's not just about awards they won or which school they went to. It's about nontraditional thinkers with different experiences. You find people not everyone else is looking for."

Manuela Guidi, founder, Manuela Guidi LLC

An advertising recruiter since 1996, Manuela Guidi hires for every kind of need but specializes in finding creatives like art directors, writers, and designers. Guidi, based in Chicago, handles searches worldwide, including in China and Russia.

"When the firm was born, it was much more agency-slanted," she said. "Now, brands are hiring more actively to create in-house departments."

Despite a talent glut, "candidates are as discerning as employers right now," she said. "More than ever, they want to know about a company's culture and commitment to issues. It's been a wake-up call."

A former television executive, Guidi said she still sees new business coming around. "There's been a flattening of hiring, but not a standstill," she said.

Jay Haines, founder, Grace Blue

With 20 headhunters in the US and 30 more elsewhere in the world, Grace Blue describes itself as the largest independent executive search firm in marketing and communications. Worldwide, it handles 140 C-level searches every year, with an emphasis on seniority, said Jay Haines, who founded Grace Blue in 2006.

Clients are split between agencies and brands — Amazon, Ogilvy, and Spotify among them — and many are back to hiring again, Haines said.

"There's a need for hires who can drive growth beyond brick-and-mortar," Haines said. "There's growth in anything that speaks to activities or products done from home. And there's a big uptick in needs from independent agencies. They're more agile, and they're seeing this as a time to scale."

Ashley Jahn, cofounder and creative recruiter, Creative Search Consultants

Half of a rare father-daughter act in creative recruiting, Ashley Jahn founded Creative Search Consultants with her father, Stephen, in 2001.

"We've had clients that long," she said. "Your success in this business is measured on the companies you work for, who you represent, and for how long."

Jahn's roster includes Disney, The Martin Agency, 72andSunny, and Facebook. She said that while the holding companies' performance was mixed, smaller, independent agencies were growing exponentially, and internal agencies were unscathed.

Creatives can no longer specialize in a single area as companies look for people with holistic skill sets, Jahn said. But she said that while the pandemic had created a buyer's market for talent, with turnover constant in advertising, "everyone's looking for the latest, greatest, hottest, newest person — a lot of opportunity and growth comes from moments like this."

Sally Jones, founder, Tangerine

Sally Jones and her team of nine work with clients like the US Tennis Association, Foursquare, Daily Harvest, and WeTransfer to build creative teams.

"We're very considered about who we work with. We'd rather have 20 roles with two clients than two roles with 20 clients," said Jones, who founded the all-women firm in 2002.

Jones said Tangerine has also prioritized diversity for years, long before it became a matter of urgency. "Before we introduce candidates, we're always conscious of how the pool looks and that we've vetted talent that's both diverse and creative," she said.

She said that while the core of Tangerine's work hadn't changed through the pandemic, searches are harder because requests are getting much more specific.

"Everybody's asking for 'T-shaped' talent — a creative who's a designer by trade, or a designer who knows production," Jones said.

Dany Lennon, founder and CEO, The Creative Register

One ad trade called The Creative Register "the industry's most influential talent manager and recruiting company." But its founder, Dany Lennon, prefers to call herself "a casting director for business stories."

"A producer might say they want Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts," she said, "but the casting director knows you won't get them without an amazing supporting cast."

Top-tier creative hires are New York-based Lennon's bread and butter, but she said she's a big believer in people who are hybrids. "You can have a brilliant creative mind on the business side," she said.

The pandemic, she said, has accelerated the industry culling, and while categories like travel and lifestyle have suffered, gaming, tech, and startups are booming.

Diversity concerns have also changed the search process. "If you're a white male, it's going to be harder for you at this time," she said.

Amie Miller, chief talent officer, TBWA Worldwide

A creative powerhouse and awards magnet with clients like Apple, Nissan, and PepsiCo, Omnicom's TBWA employs 11,300 people across 275 offices in 95 countries. The agency's New York office, TBWA\Chiat\Day, has about 50 open positions, especially in healthcare and automotive.

As it reenters growth mode, the conversation has shifted to what kinds of people and qualities it's looking for, and it's a great time for people to reevaluate themselves as companies change what they're looking for, said Amie Miller, the global agency's New York-based chief talent officer.

"Diversity is a huge priority, and it's a new working environment. Is someone a connector?" she said. "Do they bring nimbleness and ingenuity? We talk a lot about hiring on potential and attitude."

Diana Qasabian, managing director, SyndicateBleu

Diana Qasabian, the managing director of SyndicateBleu, a Los Angeles-based arm of the recruiting giant Career Group Companies, said that in a typical year, SyndicateBleu handles "hundreds" of placements for studios, ad agencies, and design firms, and hiring remains active.

"Brands are pivoting and need to promote themselves," she said. "But the trend now is more freelance or temp-to-hire. Clients are getting a little more conservative. And they want more of a chemistry check before they commit."

As work has gone remote, Qasabian has seen high demand to build virtual teams for clients.

For the job hunter, flexibility is key in advertising and creative fields, and skills are transferable, Qasabian said.

"If you were a fashion copywriter, you can write for beauty or lifestyle," she said. "If you worked on car accounts, you can work for an automotive brand."

Eli Rodriguez, director of human resources and talent, Zimmerman Advertising

Clients like McDonald's, AutoNation, and Kay Jewelers have made Fort Lauderdale-based Zimmerman a leading advertising agency specializing in retail brands.

Owned by Omnicom, the firm faced layoffs and furloughs in April because of the pandemic. But Zimmerman's still busy managing gigantic pivots for its roster of brands, said Eli Rodriguez, the director of human resources and talent.

"We're moving clients from traditional media plans to programmatic digital, social, and paid search, so our hiring needs have increased in that space," he said. "Our top needs are anything in digital media — search, video, paid, organic — and retail technologies like analytics, data, UX, UI."

The biggest change is that it's looking for people across the country, Rodriguez said. "We've always moved people to South Florida," he said. "Now that we're all working remotely, you could be anywhere."

Tony Stanol, president, Global Recruiters of Sarasota

Tony Stanol ran global accounts for agencies like BBDO, FCB, and JWT for more than 20 years before switching careers at age 50. A longtime Ad Age columnist, Stanol averages 10 placements annually.

"My breadth of experience is my advantage as a recruiter," said Stanol, whose Florida firm is part of the 240-office Global Recruiters Network. "I know what I'm talking about in the industry."

Agencies make up most of his client base, and despite widespread carnage among agencies, he's having a better year than last thanks to strong pharma advertising and demand for strategic planners and digital strategists, he said.

Gilly Taylor, founder, Gilly & Co.

Now in the third decade with her Los Angeles boutique consultancy, Gilly Taylor's worked with young creatives who've become CMOs, small agencies that have become huge agencies, and startup brands that are now giants.

"We're very much relationship-bound," said Taylor, who worked at agencies in London and LA before launching the firm. "I've never had an issue where someone hasn't worked out."

Along with growing freelance demands from clients, the biggest change she's seen has been in hiring, she said.

"It's now a serious ask, and a couple of larger agencies will only hire diverse candidates," she said. "There's more flexibility in that someone doesn't always have to come from an agency background."

Barbara Tejada, owner/recruiter, Mighty Recruiting

While her business launched with big-agency clients, smaller independents have been faring well during the pandemic and taking up more of Barbara Tejada's time these days.

But with tons of candidates, said Tejada, a longtime internal recruiter who founded Mighty Recruiting in 2013, "agencies are raising the bar — they want specific experiences, styles of work, and levels of talent."

Diversity needs have also shifted her searches, but Tejada said agencies weren't always following through.

"Everyone can say they want diversity, and that's great. But they're still passing on the diverse books," she said. "I've decided I'm not presenting lists of just white men anymore. The industry has to walk the walk."