Hi and welcome to this weekly edition of Insider Advertising, where we track the big stories in media and advertising.

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What we're following this week: 

• Reopening pains
• Fortune walkout
• Apple's China problem

Reopening pains

Reopening talks are heating up. Only about one in 10 companies expects all their employees to go back to the office, a recent report found. But it's the exceptions that make the news.

Bloomberg LP recently made clear it expects staff to come back once they're vaccinated. And employees at Zimmerman Advertising, part of the holding company giant Omnicom, say they're feeling pressured by execs to return, shot or no shot, Lindsay Rittenhouse reported.

There are bound to be more such clashes as companies wrestle with the need for in-person work with providing a safe office environment.

From Lindsay's piece:

Sources said Zimmerman HR and at least in one case, president Ronnie Haligman, started calling them individually last week, first asking how they felt working remotely. The employees said they responded that they were happy working from home.

But while there was no explicit mandate to return, the employees said the execs told them they needed to come back, explaining that the company was having financial troubles due to employees being less productive while remote, and citing the loss of business to remote work.

One employee said an HR executive told them last week that there would be layoffs if employees didn't return and that while it wouldn't be mandated, it would be "highly recommended for me to go back to the office on Monday.""They are bullies," this person said. "I am so disappointed."

Read the full story: Employees at Omnicom-owned Zimmerman Advertising say the agency is pressuring them to return to the office

Also read:

• Mike Bloomberg said in a memo he expects staffers to return to the office once vaccinated — but some were hoping for more flexibility
• Inside L'Oreal's fight to reopen its offices, as employees and executives face off over the company's in-person work philosophy

Walkout at Fortune

Steven Perlberg reports on another flareup between journalists and their bosses over productivity demands. At Fortune, staffers walked off to protest traffic quotas. Steven reports:

Like many publishers, Fortune's lucrative live events business has come to a halt. Fortune launched a paywall in early 2020 shortly before the pandemic took hold, but staffers said it has more recently focused on chasing web traffic.

With that strategy came byline counts and traffic goals beginning last year that have faced internal resistance. Sy Mukherjee, Fortune's union secretary and a healthcare reporter, said he is responsible for producing 250 stories and 4.1 million pageviews this year.

Mukherjee said those targets are unrealistic and not tied to good journalism. "It almost feels like you have to put a down payment in order to do your actual job," he said.

At The New Yorker, unionized staff walked out over pay issues. With a recent uptick in newsrooms unionizing, there's probably more friction like this to come.

Read more: Fortune staffers are walking off the job for a day to push for diversity and to protest new traffic quotas

Also read:New Yorker staffers are preparing for a possible strike as pay negotiations with Condé Nast stall

Apple's China problem

Apple is about to make big privacy changes requiring app developers, like Facebook, to ask users for permission to track them around the web to zap them with targeted ads.

But in China, some of the tech giants are testing a workaround, presenting a big test for Apple, Lara O'Reilly reports.

Apple maintained it will boot any apps that violate its policy. But all eyes will be on Apple to see if it holds firm to its view that privacy is a "fundamental human right" or make an exception for China, a crucial market for the company.

Read more: Apple faces a major test of how it enforces its policies in a key market as China's tech giants explore a way to skirt its privacy changes

Other stories we're reading:

• "They reached a whole new audience": Bombshell Oprah tell-all may give a jolt to Harry and Meghan's budding media empire (Vanity Fair)
• Influencers are rushing to make money on NFTs while the market is hot (Insider)
• This startup just raised $15 million to build out 15-minute grocery delivery as the 'ultra-fast' delivery space heats up (Insider)
• Netflix's original series dominate the streaming TV landscape, but its 'demand share' shrank in 2020 as rivals emerged (Insider)
• Scoop: Facebook explores paid deals for new publishing platform (Axios)

Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

— Lucia

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NOW WATCH: Why these Gucci clothes are racist

Online advertising has long been a double-edged sword for marketers. Automated digital ad buying is efficient, but also means ads can inadvertently end up fueling questionable content and hurt legitimate publishers in the process.

NewsGuard, a company that uses journalists and artificial intelligence to identify misinformation across the internet, has new tools that it says keeps ads off misinformation sites without penalizing quality news sites.

Ad buying giants including IPG Mediabrands and Omnicom Media Group are employing the new tool, called Responsible Advertising for News Segments (RANS).

The tool updates lists that help advertisers avoid websites promoting misinformation and vets lists of credible websites including those focused on Black, Asian, Hispanic, and LGBTQ+ communities. Advertisers can access the tool through demand-side platforms that marketers use to buy ads, their media agencies, or directly through NewsGuard.

Marketers and ad tech companies like DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science have already attempted to control how and where ads appear online. But the automated nature of programmatic advertising means brands can still wind up being associated with misinformation. Many brands react by pulling ads or try to avoid the risk by blocking categories of websites like "news" or keywords like "coronavirus,"harming legitimate publishers. 

NewsGuard says its solution is better than those offered by competitors because it uses human beings to augment technology.

"This is not a problem tech alone can solve," NewsGuard co-CEO Steven Brill said. "Our approach can tell the difference between cancer.org, which is the legitimate site of the American Cancer Society versus cancer.news, which is a hoax site spreading misinformation, without widespread keyword blocking that hurts publishers."

Misinformation has become an increasing concern for company shareholders while programmatic advertising has grown as a share of digital advertising. Home Depot and Omnicom shareholders have filed resolutions asking the companies to investigate whether their ad dollars have helped spread hate speech and misinformation.

Several IPG clients have started using NewsGuard's tools, said Joshua Lowcock, US chief digital officer for Universal McCann and global brand safety officer for IPG Mediabrands. He said that NewsGuard's criteria to classify publishers in its inclusion and exclusion lists helps by showing advertisers exactly why a seemingly innocuous website may actually be unsafe.

"Alternative solutions in the market use keyword and contextual blocking, but don't address if a publisher is legitimate in the first place," he said. 

While advertisers are paying to ensure they're not funding misinformation, the problem will remain unresolved as long as the programmatic adtech platforms like Google and The Trade Desk don't fix the problem, said Lowcock. Others believe that it's virtually impossible to eliminate all risk from online ads due to the scale and speed of programmatic ad buying.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

In April, Zimmerman Advertising — an Omnicom-owned ad agency in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, known for its work with clients like McDonald's — laid off a batch of employees in the pandemic. That day, the founder and chairman Jordan Zimmerman addressed the remaining staff on a call.

Three people on the call said Zimmerman told employees that, while they were spared, they would need to work "two and a half times harder" or he would replace them with the laid-off employees who had "begged" for their jobs.

To some on the call, the comments felt insensitive and threatening, coming at a time when they were on edge after the layoffs and when they had already been working harder during the pandemic.

Fast-forward to this March, when some employees accused the agency of pressuring them to go back to the office, regardless of whether they had been vaccinated or had high-risk family members. In some cases, employees said management threatened layoffs if they didn't return.

Insider spoke to four current and four former Zimmerman employees across seniority levels who felt that episodes like these reflect broader cultural problems at the 500-person agency. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the agency, said they experienced misogyny, racism, bullying, and micromanaging. Two of the former employees said they quit during the pandemic for these reasons; two were laid off during the pandemic.

Several people interviewed felt Zimmerman's culture ultimately reflects its founder. But some identified others, many of whom have been at the agency 10-plus years, as holding sway and perpetuating cultural problems. 

An Omnicom spokesperson declined to comment for this story. Zimmerman did not respond to multiple requests for comment. All but one of the individuals named in this story did not respond to requests for comment.

Zimmerman is 'advertising's bad boy'

Zimmerman Advertising, with its new and stylish building and its founder Jordan Zimmerman, bears all the external trappings of success.

Zimmerman founded his namesake agency in 1984 after receiving his MBA from the University of South Florida. In 1999 he sold it to Omnicom Group. Today the agency works with clients like Nissan, AutoNation, and Hair Cuttery in addition to McDonald's. In 2017 Insider reported his agency was worth $3 billion.

In a 2016 profile, HuffPost described the agency founder as "advertising's bad boy," a successful, hardworking entrepreneur who, for "someone who sleeps only 4 hrs/night, he looks astonishingly fresh and radiant."

"The Zimmerman business card has '24x7' printed on it because he believes that when a client needs you, you have to be there, otherwise someone else will be," HuffPost wrote. "He believes that an insane commitment to be the best will always beat talent, hands down."

According to a website for yacht enthusiasts, Jordan Zimmerman owns a Gulfstream G3 jet and a yacht named "Leading Fearlessly."

Zimmerman wrote a book called "Leading Fearlessly: Transform Your Life and Find Success," copies of which are all over the agency and are often given to new hires. He posts weekly inspirational videos with titles like "Motivation Monday,""Winning Wednesday," and "Fearless Friday."

To some of the people who work at the agency, though, the atmosphere is overbearing and demands people work to excess. They said it's common for junior employees to make $35,000 a year — less than the average $38,000 a year salary for a junior copywriter, for example, in Fort Lauderdale, according to PayScale — and to work up to 60 hours a week, including on weekends.

They said junior employees seem to rarely get raises or promotions, and turnover is high, even for the ad industry. A former employee recalled at least eight such people leaving in less than six months.

Sources described the agency as being an old-school place where managers keep a close eye on employees.

A second former employee said that in 2019 they heard from multiple colleagues that Lee Gonzalez, an agency veteran who as executive creative director was one of the agency's highest-ranking executives, complained that since the ex-employee and their team regularly left the office at 6 p.m., they must not have enough work to do. Separately, a current employee said they heard Gonzalez's comment firsthand.

The second former employee complained about these incidents to their manager, Max Barrios, who told them there was no problem with the team's work but also warned them to stay on Gonzalez's good side or she would make "your life hell."

That same former employee reported the incident with Gonzalez and conversation with Barrios to HR, agency leaders, and Omnicom CEO and Chairman John Wren. The former staffer also reported witnessing group creative directors calling certain junior staffers "stupid" and, in several instances, making some of them cry. Two current employees also told Insider they witnessed group creative directors making junior employees cry.

The former employee said Omnicom investigated then dismissed the complaints and that the agency's head of HR Mike Anderson and an Omnicom lawyer advised them to quit if they were unhappy.

During the pandemic, two sources said the office started pushing to get people to return to the office in June 2020 while many other companies have continued to work remotely to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Some sources said the office stayed open even after they heard several employees got COVID-19 and that the company notified only the people who sat near the infected staffers.

The first former employee said that despite being in a high-risk category, they were not given the option to work from home when they joined during the pandemic in late 2020 until a manager told them a teammate who sat nearby had gotten the virus.

Some said that while working remotely, if their Microsoft Teams status changed to "away," they immediately got a message from a manager asking what they were working on.

Zimmerman is a known supporter of former President Donald Trump, and he told employees on a call in July that he had attended a Republican event in Florida with Gov. Ron DeSantis and then-Vice President Mike Pence, according to three people who were on the call.

Those people said Zimmerman told employees that Pence said the virus wasn't as bad as it was being reported and that younger people are less likely to be affected. Some perceived his comments as a way to get staff back to the office.

Some insiders said they experienced racism

Some of those interviewed said they've heard white executives casually utter the N-word around the office.

The second former employee and a second current employee said that in separate incidents in the past three years, they heard two different white creative directors use the slur. Both sources said the slur was used jokingly but that employees who overheard were horrified.

Multiple sources also said they believed racism has seeped into Zimmerman's work.

About a year ago, a third white creative director made an ad in a pitch for Miami-based Caribbean restaurant chain Pollo Tropical, according to the second current employee who saw it. The work was displayed in a conference room and featured an image of a white man dressed in a suit, the employee said. When a cursor moved over him, the man's skin color darkened and he got a Rasta hat with dreadlocks, the employee said.

The employee said that, to them and many others, the image looked like blackface and was offensive but that it stayed up until the pitch was over.

A third former employee, who is Black, was assigned in 2019 to work on a client's partnership with TV personality Paula Deen, who had been accused of racial discrimination and said in 2013 that she'd used the N-word. This person said they were uncomfortable with the assignment but that their managers, group creative directors Gregg Steward and Chuck DeLong, downplayed their reaction. The former employee said they complained to HR and eventually were reassigned.

DeLong was laid off from the agency in 2020.

DeLong told Insider that the employee on the Paula Deen project was immediately reassigned once they expressed concerns to him, denying the person had to go through HR.

The same former employee also said they were called out by HR in early 2020 for wearing a Black Lives Matter sweatshirt to the office on the grounds that it violated the agency's dress code.

"Black Lives Matter is not a political statement," the former staffer said. "Some women come in wearing yoga pants. People wear death-metal band T-shirts. The creative department in general allows employees to express themselves through their clothing."

Some also reported experiencing sexism

The second former employee and two current employees said they heard DeLong comment in the office in 2018 that women are unreliable workers when they have their periods.

DeLong denied the claim, saying he would "never" say that. He agreed with the perception that agency leaders micromanaged staff, though.

A fourth former employee who worked with DeLong for more than three decades said they never experienced him being "abusive or misogynist." The employee said all managers at Zimmerman micromanage, though, saying, "The way Zimmerman works, they are a sweatshop. It's not a great place to work."

This person, who left Zimmerman in the past year, requested anonymity out of concern about job prospects.

Two people said women are told not to wear open-toed shoes.

"There is pressure for women in the office to be dressed up a little bit more, to wear makeup, and make sure your hair is put together," the first current employee said. "Then I see male creative directors with bedhead, in flip-flops and jeans."

This person also said that once they overheard two male colleagues openly discussing a female employee's appearance.

"They were talking very openly about a female employee, about how hot she is," the person said. "I walked in, and they weren't shy at all. They kept on having a full-on conversation at full volume."

In 2017, a former employee named Alison Kessler sued the agency, alleging that while working there in 2016, after she revealed her pregnancy, her supervisor told her he was concerned with her ability to travel for work and that, four days later, she was fired after three months with the agency. The lawsuit was eventually settled.

For many companies, reopening has presented an opportunity to redefine when and where employees work.

But some Zimmerman employees for whom remote work has been a respite from the office culture are anxious about returning as management has said it wouldn't allow flexible working situations. Some said they're too scared to complain, for fear of repercussions. And the message they got from Zimmerman's comments on the layoffs call was that they're easily replaceable.

"As an employee, you know the agency's culture sucks, but not being exposed to it as directly helps," the first current employee said. "Being stuck in the office with nowhere to go really affects me."

For one, the experience was bad enough to cause them to leave the industry altogether. "I'll work with brands — I'm doing some branding projects on my own and with people I trust — but no advertising agencies," the second former employee said.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

As more people become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, ad agencies are gradually planning for a return to office.

Some companies are adopting hybrid work models, prompting them to rethink their office space and reduce real estate. They're considering permanent remote workers and burnout in their plans, aware of the mental toll longer hours have had on staff and the loss of connection between teams when employees work from home.

While their plans may vary, and most still don't have a set date to return, many agencies realize the post-pandemic workplace will be fundamentally changed.

"We'll never go back to what we did before," WPP CEO Mark Read said. "By the time we go back to normal, we will forget what normal looked like."

Insider spoke to seven advertising companies who detailed their return-to-office plans.

WPP is rethinking 'normal' and saving millions

WPP CFO John Rogers said in December the company planned to shed 15% to 20% of its real estate and build 60 global campuses with more meeting space, collaboration space, and "much less people sitting behind desks responding to emails."

"People are ready to come back to the office," CEO Mark Read said. "But it's much easier to ask 100,000 people to work from home over a weekend. You just have to deal with what's in front of you."

Read said 5% to 10% of employees have gone back to most of WPP's offices and expects more to return this summer, though there is no set date or mandate for reopening. He said WPP is figuring out how to safely reopen its global offices as well as how to "embrace the flexible ways of working we learned in the pandemic." 

Read said the holding company of agencies like Ogilvy, VMLY&R, and Wunderman Thompson would adopt a hybrid model, with offices being reserved for collaborative work and employees handling other solo tasks remotely.

He's also mindful WPP will have to train managers to ensure all employees have the same opportunities to avoid excluding people who are remote.

Omnicom is being 'extra cautious'

Omnicom Group CEO and Chairman John Wren said the company demonstrated it could work remotely, which will allow the holding company of agencies like BBDO and TBWA to be "extra cautious in bringing people back."

When it does, Omnicom will shift toward a hybrid work model, keeping in mind the importance of maintaining culture.

Wren said some employees will have to return full-time, many who will be partially remote, and about 8% of staff will be permanently remote.

"You can't create culture remotely," he said. "With new employees, we'll insist, to the extent that it is safe, to come back to the office so they become familiar with the culture, and as a result we'll have to bring managers back full-time."

Still, Insider learned of one Omnicom ad agency, Zimmerman Advertising, that some employees accused of recently pressuring staff to return to the office. An agency spokesperson said at the time that the agency "follows Omnicom's guidelines, which is that no person is required to return to the office if they are not comfortable in doing so."

Most of Weber Shandwick will go hybrid

The IPG firm's North American offices remain closed and the firm will give several months notice to employees before they reopen, which it expects to do in the fall as local government guidelines permit.

When it does, it's committed early on to having most employees working three days in the office and two days at home, with schedules varying depending on individual needs and managers' judgment, CEO and president Gail Heimann said.

Weber Shandwick is redesigning its offices to use space as effectively and useful as possible and allow for social distancing, said Brian Offutt, chief workforce innovation and operations officer.

He said an employee survery last October revealed that about 75% of Weber Shandwick's staff prefers to work three days or less in the office.

"We're listening to our employees and planning as best as we possibly can," Offutt said. "We'll give it our best shot and we'll learn from it. The things that will need to be tweaked, we'll tweak."

MDC addresses burnout

Like WPP, MDC Partners was reducing real estate before the pandemic — including in New York where it moved most agencies into one building at One World Trade Center — but since the crisis it's been remodeling to safely and more effectively accommodate employees.

Jason Cammorata, MDC SVP and head of global operations, said the office is spaced to allow for social distancing and all technology is voice-activated and touchless "for safe use."

Remote work has also shed light on burnout as employees work longer hours from home. The holding company of agencies like CPB, 72andSunny, and Anomaly have started support groups for employees experiencing burnout.

"I know this first-hand, as in the last year I became a new dad while also taking on an expanded role," Cammorata said. "But we have a strong community at the agencies extending up to corporate who support open conversations. We understand burnout is real, and leadership teams are ensuring open lines of communication, while also exploring evolved metrics to determine success, more clarity around benefits and resources available, etcetera."

A West Virginia agency designed an office for hybrid work

When Grow — a 50-person independent West Virginia ad agency that is also embracing hybrid work — goes back to the office, it won't return to the same office it had before the pandemic.

Grow will move into a new, 100,000-foot West Virginia campus named Assembly that will rent space to other companies.

Grow Founder and CEO Drew Ungvarsky said the campus provides a blueprint for a hybrid workplace that makes efficient use of its space. Thirty percent of the campus will be shared amenities including event space, a podcast booth, a library, and bike storage, while many offices will accommodate hybrid employees, with features like "hot" or shared desks, he said.

Ungvarsky said nine companies including startups, an architecture firm, and a branding marketing studio are renting space in the campus.

"It makes so much more sense to share amenities with like-minded businesses," Ungvarsky said. "We can take less space knowing our workforces won't be here 100% of the time."

M&C Saatchi is making LA office permanently remote

M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment North America decided not to renew its LA lease last year and that team is now permanently remote, like teams in San Francisco, Hawaii, Florida, Atlanta, and New Hampshire. 

That let the sports and social content marketing agency expand its New York headquarters to a 5,500-square-foot building in SOHO from a shared space, taking advantage of historically low rent.

That New York office will begin reopening this summer and offer remote and in-person work, North America CEO Steph Lund said.

"We purposely designed an open floor plan where there will be no designated desks," he said. "We will implement the necessary social-distancing mandates and mask-wearing while in the office. Additionally, we will not be mandating that any employees in the New York City area return to the office before they're comfortable doing so."

Maine agency is considering remote workers in physical spaces

Independent Portland, Maine ad agency Via wants people in the office most of the time but is taking remote workers into account, aware of the disconnect among teams when they're not physically together.

Via CEO Leeann Leahy said the company is redesigning the office with more open space and social distancing for people returning while figuring out how to accommodate those who remain remote.

Leahy said Via will put things like rotating tables in conference rooms so employees tuning into meetings via video can easily see presentations and the people in the room, and provide daily updates on Slack so remote workers don't feel excluded.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

The Omnicom-owned public-relations firm Porter Novelli has struggled for years, with its revenue sliding from an estimated $127 million in 2014 to $110 million in 2019.

Now, Porter Novelli is trying to jump-start its business under David Bentley, a vet of McKinsey and the ad agency AKQA who became CEO in March 2020, replacing Brad MacAfee.

Under Bentley, the firm has focused on four areas with an emphasis on purpose-driven marketing and the goal of broadening the scope of the work it does for clients:

• employee experience, which includes services like internal communications
• purpose and impact, focusing on diversity, inclusion, and sustainability
• corporate counsel, which helps clients with crisis management and executive visibility
• market growth, which is centered on traditional PR services like media relations

Speculation about Porter Novelli being acquired has swirled

Bentley started his tenure by closing several offices and making its US region a single P&L, spurring talk of consolidation.

In June, Porter Novelli shuttered its offices in San Francisco and Brussels and combined its New York and London offices with Rabin Martin, an Omnicom health strategy firm. In August, its Dublin arm, Drury Porter Novelli, left Omnicom in a management buyout.

These moves led to speculation that Porter Novelli could be swallowed by the bigger Omnicom PR firms Ketchum and FleishmanHillard, which absorbed some of its business after the closures.

Bentley insisted the firm would remain independent: "I've heard all that speculation, and there's no truth to it."

Pressure on corporations has created opportunities for PR firms

Like many PR firms, Porter Novelli is looking to grow by helping corporations facing pressure from consumers to take social stands and communicate to employees during the pandemic.

It teamed up with the solo practitioner Steve Delsohn, a former ESPN journalist, to pursue clients in sports and entertainment dealing with politics and social issues.

"The sports world is now on the forefront of change. That's why there is a lot of opportunity for Porter Novelli," said Sean Smith, EVP and leader of Porter Novelli's corporate-counsel practice, citing MLB's decision to move the game after a restrictive voting-rights bill passed in Georgia.

It also teamed up with the Global Situation Room, a PR firm of Obama administration PR vets like Brett Bruen and Johanna Maska, and together launched offerings like PN 2020Foresight, which updates clients on geopolitical developments. (Brett Bruen is an Insider columnist.)

Porter Novelli also launched a JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) advisory service under managing director Conroy Boxhill and EVP Sandy Skees, and it is trying to strengthen its healthcare business by working closer with specialty firm Rabin Martin.

But there are plenty of firms offering similar services

Such moves have helped the firm land more work with the likes of Sony, the Recording Academy, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Quidel.

Porter Novelli expanded its work with the Recording Academy in March, for example, after its CEO was fired, while Quidel hired Porter Novelli in December to help the healthcare-diagnostics company launch a home COVID-19 test.

Bentley said Porter Novelli reversed its revenue decline in 2020, though he didn't give specifics.

But purpose-driven marketing is a crowded field, with PR and ad agencies of all sizes making similar pitches.

That kind of positioning also raises questions about the kinds of clients a PR firm can pursue.

After Mother Jones and The New Yorker reported that Porter Novelli — which has been outspoken on its position around climate change— was working on behalf of the fossil-fuel trade group American Public Gas Association, Porter Novelli said it would drop the account.

Bentley didn't directly address the episode, but he pointed to the firm's history of working for noncommerical clients as a differentiator, citing its work in government, nutrition, and healthcare.

Porter Novelli started in the 1970s and became known for its work for the Peace Corps. It does work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ALS Association, and the Almond Board of California, and even briefly called itself a "global purpose communication consultancy."

He said, "The work Porter Novelli does to align what clients say and what they do in terms of having a purpose that's more than just a profit motive is more important than ever."

Join the conversation about this story »

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

Hi and welcome to Insider Advertising for April 8. I'm senior advertising reporter Lauren Johnson, and here's what's going on:

• How ad agencies are returning to offices.
• The Trade Desk and Publicis.
• Porter Novelli's turnaround.

If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here for your daily insider's guide to advertising and media.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at LJohnson@insider.com or on Twitter at @LaurenJohnson.

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More stories we're reading:

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

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

MDC Partners-owned ad agency Crispin Porter Bogusky hired Marianne Malina as its new CEO just over a month after her predecessor Erik Sollenberg left the agency, according to a person with direct knowledge.

Malina previously served as president of GSD&M, an Austin, Texas-based agency owned by MDC rival Omnicom.

CPB and its creative leader Alex Bogusky gained fame in the early 2000s for helping Domino's Pizza turn its flailing business around and creating Burger King's surreal "Subservient Chicken" ad campaign, but current and former employees have said CPB's future is uncertain.

CPB lost the Domino's account in late 2020 and lost biggest client Infiniti in March.

CPB hired former Activision Blizzard executive Jorge Calleja as chief creative officer just after the Domino's loss in an attempt to reset its fortunes. The agency's other clients include American Airlines, Hotels.com, and Veterans United.

CPB's parent company is also undergoing a significant restructuring. Last year, MDC Partners announced that it would merge with CEO Mark Penn's other agency network, Stagwell Group, after Penn tried to sell Stagwell.

Penn later told Insider that the newly-combined holding company, which does not yet have a name, will take on ad industry giants like WPP and Accenture.

Malina spent more than 20 years with GSD&M and was promoted to president in 2012. The agency has recorded several big account wins in recent months and years including Capital One, Avocados from Mexico, and Pizza Hut.

Malina and CPB did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Join the conversation about this story »

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

Hi and welcome to the Insider Advertising newsletter. I'm Lucia Moses, deputy editor, and this week in advertising and media news:

Companies wrestle with burnout, reopening;

Crispin Porter Bogusky has a new CEO;

And new stats on TikTok users.

First, if you got this newsletter forwarded, make sure to sign up for your own here. 

Agencies consider the office of the future

Going back to the office is on everyone's minds as vaccination rates rise. 

But while agencies and media companies reimagine workspaces with shared desks, expanded meeting space, and touchless services, a sizable portion of people are likely to keep working partially if not entirely at home.

That poses a messy issue for companies that will have to accommodate hybrid workforces to make sure remote people don't get left out and teams keep working smoothly, to say nothing of addressing burnout, Lindsay Rittenhouse reported.

From her story:

[WPP CEO Mark] Read said 5% to 10% of employees have gone back to most of WPP's offices and expects more to return this summer, though there is no set date or mandate for reopening. He said WPP is figuring out how to safely reopen its global offices as well as how to "embrace the flexible ways of working we learned in the pandemic." 

Read said the holding company of agencies like Ogilvy, VMLY&R, and Wunderman Thompson would adopt a hybrid model, with offices being reserved for collaborative work and employees handling other solo tasks remotely.

He's also mindful WPP will have to train managers to ensure all employees have the same opportunities to avoid excluding people who are remote.

Read more:

• Flexible schedules, shared desks, burnout support: Here's how advertising giants like WPP and Omnicom are planning for the future of work
• Newsrooms are facing a mental-health crisis, and burnout is driving some journalists to quit 

New CEO for CPB

Ad agency Crispin Porter Bogusky became famous for its work for marketers like Burger King, but since then, it's lost its way, losing giant clients like Domino's and Infiniti.

Now, it's hoping for a new shot with a new CEO in Marianne Malina, who it poached from Omnicom's GSD&M.

Malina has a promising track record: Under her stewardship, GSD&M won several big accounts like Capital One, Avocados from Mexico, and Pizza Hut.

Read more: Storied ad agency Crispin Porter Bogusky just hired a new CEO away from rival Omnicom as it tries to turn its fortunes around

TikTok users revealed

Tanya Dua got her hands on recent TikTok decks that reveal new stats on the red-hot video app's usership and shopping proclivities.

They're part of a pitch to get advertisers to spend more on the app, using new commerce-style ad formats, as its usage and online shopping have boomed during lockdown.

"TikTok is at a tipping point," Jon Severson, the vice president and director of paid social at Mediahub, told Tanya. "It's no longer just a novelty for brands to maybe try but is trying to become something that can drive incremental returns and business outcomes."

Read more: Never-before-seen TikTok stats from leaked sales presentations show how it's trying to lure advertisers to the platform

Other stories we're reading:

• Some Lululemon retail employees say there is an environment of 'toxic positivity,' where workers feel pressure to share personal information with managers and constant feedback can feel like bullying (Insider)
• MIPTV: Foreign markets become "next big battleground" as streamers bet big on global growth (Hollywood Reporter)
• Live events industry eyes pandemic comeback (Axios)
• DraftKings hires longtime Verizon exec Brian Angiolet as first chief media officer (Variety)
• MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told Steve Bannon he's launching 'MyStore' — a 'patriotic' version of Amazon (Insider)
• Tate's Bake Shop union supporters say an anti-union employee threatened violence and claimed he was an MS-13 gang member (Insider)

Thanks for reading, and see you here next week.

— Lucia

Join the conversation about this story »

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

Ad agency Gut Miami, which creates ads for Netflix and AB InBev, recently announced its creative department staff couldn't take vacation the month before the deadline to submit campaigns for the industry's biggest awards show, Cannes Lions. A similar vacation ban applied to all staff the week before Christmas.

"Urgent exceptions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis," read a memo reviewed by Insider. 

CEO Anselmo Ramos said Gut never prevented anyone from taking their vacation days. He said the agency gave an additional week off to staff in the pandemic and extra time off to parents who needed to make child care arrangements. And no one objected when leadership announced the blackout, he said.

But a Gut employee said the policy didn't sit well with staffers, who have been frequently working weekends during the pandemic. They also had to prepare their own awards submissions, which is unusual for an agency Gut's size.

According to 16 ad professionals who spoke to Insider, workloads have increased during the pandemic, leading some to burn out and leave the industry altogether.

Some agency employees said clients expect quicker response times and tighter turnarounds on deadlines, requiring them to work longer hours. They said agency leaders don't push back for fear of losing business in an already tough business climate.

Layoffs — which have affected major advertising companies WPP, Omnicom Group, IPG, MDC Partners, Publicis Groupe, and Dentsu, among others — also increased people's workloads and caused some to fear that they'll lose their jobs if they take vacation or don't put in the extra hours. 

"We're working harder than we ever have," said copywriter Eammon Azizi, one of several advertising pros who told Insider they've left their companies recently, citing burnout. "We are expected to be connected all the time. There is a feeling of guilt to take a lunch or a walk. You're always giving people updates on what you're doing. I have more meetings than ever. Everyone wants to touch base all the time."

Joe Cole, a former strategist at agencies including The Richards Group and RPA, also left agency life to freelance last year, citing "an unlimited amount of work." He also recently purchased a campervan to travel and "reset." 

The pandemic reset work expectations

When the pandemic hit, marketers went into crisis mode. For some industries like travel, business stopped. Marketers slashed their budgets, leading their agencies to cut staff.

Other marketers shifted messaging to respond to the pandemic. Agencies had to produce ads virtually, and many touted their abilities to shift campaigns and deliver digital ads in days and hours.

The shift took its toll on employees. Some people said they worked up to 75 hours a week at the height of the pandemic. While many clients are out of crisis mode, they still expect agencies to produce and respond faster.

Some agency employees said the constant Zoom calls with clients and colleague make late-night and weekend work necessary.

"Our clients tend to be Fortune 500 companies," said one social strategist at a holding company-owned agency, who requested anonymity. "In the summer months, it's easy for them to say they're not available after noon on Friday, but if a client has a last-minute ask, the expectation is it will get done even if they aren't working."

The strategist's own workload increased in the pandemic as many brands ramped up their social media messaging.

"With agencies, there's always an expectation that you're available," the strategist said. 

Another agency employee, at WPP, said the workload increased even more last summer when marketers restarted agency searches and projects that were paused at the beginning of the pandemic.

The employee, an executive creative director, said clients have also requested tighter turnarounds. One project that normally would take three weeks to complete had a one-week deadline, for example.

"At one point between August and December, I was working 75 hours a week," said this person. "Pitches went throughout the holiday. Some clients acted like there was no holiday. I try to empathize and put myself in clients' shoes. I'm sure they have their own people to answer to. But what causes them to say this is OK?"

The social strategist said they wish agency leaders would push back. "[Leaders] bend over backwards for these billion-dollar corporations, but not for employees."

Ad agencies aren't new to long hours

Agencies have long had a reputation for rewarding people who work long hours and are available 24/7.

"The agency environment is just built to grind you to the dust," said Lavall Chichester, founder of consultancy Growth Skills, which teaches sales and digital marketing skills to ad professionals. He left the agency world in 2018 after panic attacks nearly cost him his life.

Chichester said the first panic attack was in 2015, when he'd been working late nights on a big new business pitch.  It caused him to black out and fall headfirst onto the New York subway tracks. He said a bystander saved his life, but he was badly bruised and he broke his leg. 

"It's the natural culture at agencies," Chichester said. "There are times when [the work] all laddered up to you and you had to stay late. It's extremely stressful, especially when you're in a pitch. You don't sleep. You're locked in a room, slaving away on a deck. You can't run your body ragged. You can't work endless hours and think it's not going to affect you."

Some agencies are trying to address burnout

Aniesia Williams, chief client and communications officer at Brooklyn-based Solve Innovation Group, said she and fellow leaders at her company have been pushing back with clients, telling them to put things in email rather than scheduling a meeting.

"Everything is Zoom, Zoom, Zoom," she said. "Zoom fatigue is real."

Williams said the agency also encourages staff to take mental health days on top of vacation, log off early, and not respond to notifications or client emails.

She said employees are not only dealing with COVID but stress from news like the deaths of Black Americans by white police officers.

"When George Floyd happened, it was exhausting," Williams said. "As a firm of color and a woman of color, having to be on Zooms and doing this all while folks are protesting and getting shot down in the streets, that was hard."

Duane Brown, the founder and head of strategy for five-person Canadian performance marketing agency Take Some Risk, said he's been telling staff they don't need to work on weekends. "The work will be here on Monday," Brown said.

IPG's The Martin Agency has been enacting company-wide vacations.

"People didn't take a lot of time because they couldn't go anywhere," The Martin Agency chief culture officer Carmina Ortiz Drummond said. "So the mentality this year is making sure people are taking off. We found agency-wide time off to work, so we did, for example, a four-day weekend for spring break."

Some people interviewed just wish advertisers, too, would be more realistic with their expectations, saying at the end of the day, the work is not all that urgent.

"This is marketing, it's not life or death," said an independent agency employee. This person said they are leaving the agency in two weeks — due to burnout.

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NOW WATCH: How racism contributed to marijuana prohibition in the US

Advertising giant Omnicom Group is extending its 2-year-old data platform Omni to help its healthcare clients like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck boost their marketing efforts.

The new unit, Omni Health, brings health data like physician data, medical and pharmacy claims, and prescriptions and consumer data like demographics, purchase behavior, and media habits together in one platform. Clients can also add their first-party data to it.

Jonathan Nelson, CEO of Omnicom Digital, said that the company has invested "tens of millions of dollars" to build Omni Health and trained more than 200 Omnicom Health Group employees to use it. Omnicom spent more than $50 million to develop Omni, The Wall Street Journal reported. It's already applied Omni to its ad agency and public relations businesses.

Agencies have souped up their data capabilities in recent years as advertisers seek to precisely target people and fend off consultancies like Accenture Interactive and Deloitte. IPG acquired Acxiom's data-marketing group for $2.3 billion in 2018 and Publicis' 2019 acquired Epsilon for $4.4 billion.

"Data and intelligence is a must-have, and everyone has an angle on it, whether it's IPG buying Axciom, Publicis buying Epsilon, or us building our own solution," Nelson told Insider. "But we're more global and more horizontal, and it touches more components of our business — from PR to healthcare. It's not a bolt-on."

Having the data in one place can help clients plan and optimize their ad campaigns and target healthcare professionals and patients, said Tom Edwards, chief digital officer of Omnicom Health Group. 

Omni Health could help a pharmaceutical company, for example, launch a new drug by helping assess which patients to target and how and which companies are selling competing products, said Edwards.

Omnicom claims to do this in a way that complies with privacy regulations including HIPAA and the CCPA.

"We built all of Omni — including Omni Health — assuming that cookie deprecation will happen, and that GDPR practices will be globally adopted," said Nelson. 

Healthcare was one of the few areas of ad spending that held up in 2020 when marketers pulled spending in the pandemic. Omnicom's healthcare business saw organic growth of 3.3% in 2020. IPG is also betting on its healthcare businesses under its new CEO Philippe Krakowsky.

Omnicom plans to continue rolling out Omni to other parts of its business with the goal of tying together hundreds of data sets and campaigns across its PR, advertising, marketing, health and e-commerce agencies, Nelson said.

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NOW WATCH: Inside a $3 million doomsday condo that can sustain 75 people for 5 years

Hi and welcome to the Insider Advertising newsletter. I'm Lucia Moses, deputy editor, and this week in advertising and media news:

• Advertisers bet on live events;
• TV adtech giants merge;
• And Omnicom ups its data pitch.

If you got this newsletter forwarded, sign up for your own here. 

First up: Don't miss our webinar this Thursday on the future of ad targeting featuring execs from Mars Petcare, The Trade Desk, R/GA, and The Washington Post. Details here.

Advertisers are banking on live events 

HBO had to delay all-important screenings to promote "Lovecraft Country" last summer due to spikes in coronavirus cases.

This year, the entertainment giant found a pandemic-safe way to promote its content, creating an interactive display, HBO Max Orbit, for the virtual SXSW Festival and select AT&T stores.

Events are a significant part of many marketers' budgets, and many of them are ready to jump back into live events as communities reopen, Patrick Coffee reports.

But spending is unlikely to approach pre-pandemic levels, and health risks remain a big concern.

Some marketers are, variously, seeking exit clauses to avoid a repeat of last year's losses, and plan to make virtual events a part of their approach.

 "We ended up losing a ton of money with things that had to be cancelled and other unseen costs," Colleen Bisconti, VP of events and conferences at IBM, told Patrick.

Read the rest here: Big brands like IBM and HBO lay out how they're betting on live events as pandemic restrictions ease up

TV advertising goes digital 

Extreme Reach, a company that helps brands buy and plan TV and video ads, is acquiring rival Adstream, in hopes of giving clients a competitive advantage.

Behind the news:

• Advertisers are increasingly looking to buy TV ads with digital-like precision.
• The Adstream acquisition follows other TV adtech deals, like Comcast's acquisition of Beeswax last year and Magnite's agreement to acquire SpotX in February.
• Companies that help marketers buy and measure their TV advertising are seen as acquisition targets and growth in adtech stocks, SPACs, and private equity have fueled interest in adtech.

Read more: A digital ad firm just snapped up a competitor to make TV advertising more digital

Omnicom's data play

Ad giant Omnicom Group created a new data-driven marketing unit, Omni Health, aimed at healthcare clients like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, Tanya Dua reports.

Key things to know:

• Agencies have souped up their data tools in recent years to help advertisers precisely target people and fend off consultancies like Accenture Interactive and Deloitte.
• Omnicom for its part says it's spent tens of millions of dollars to build Omni Health.
• Advertising agencies are making a big play for healthcare ad dollars, one of the few areas of ad spending that's held up in the pandemic.
• But Omnicom has plenty of competition from other ad and PR firms like IPG and W2O that are making similar bets.

Read more: Omnicom is trying to cash in on healthcare advertising with a new data tool for clients like Pfizer and Merck

Other stories we're reading:

• YouTube tells brands 'let's get seasonal' in NewFronts pitch (AdAge)
• Apple finally redesigned the Apple TV remote that everyone hated (Insider)
• Netflix's top TV exec explains how she bounced back after getting fired from her dream job (Insider)
• Anna Wintour predicts lockdown easing will unleash demand for luxury goods (FT)
• Audio takes off during the pandemic (Axios)
• Ari Emanuel Takes on the World (The New Yorker)

Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

— Lucia

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Inside a $3 million doomsday condo that can sustain 75 people for 5 years

The revolving door is always swinging in advertising and marketing.

Here's a rundown of some of the biggest people moves in advertising and marketing of late. Let us know if we missed anyone.

Ad agency shifts

• Mindshare, part of WPP's media investment unit GroupM, named Amanda Richman as CEO of North America. She had been US CEO of Wavemaker, another GroupM media planning and buying agency. Richman succeeds Adam Gerhart, who became Mindshare's global CEO in December.

• Elsewhere at WPP, Wunderman Thompsonhired Audrey Melofchik as CEO of New York. Melofchik is set to oversee all of the company's New York offices including its recently integrated healthcare practice, Wunderman Thompson Health. She was president of rival Omnicom agencies DDB New York and Velocity, its Johnson & Johnson unit.

• Meanwhile, former Mindshare Global CEO Nick Emeryis headed to You & Mr Jones, a branding and technology company founded in 2015. Emery will be a founding partner of the firm's newly launched media division.
  
  
• At WPP rival Omnicom, its TBWA network promoted Nancy Reyes to CEO of ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, from president. She replaces Rob Schwartz, who has been CEO since 2015.
  
  
• Havas Media Grouphired Meghan Grant as chief strategy officer of North America. Grant comes from rival Publicis media agency Zenith, where she was an EVP of strategy and client lead for Verizon.
  
  
• MDC Partners poached Rebecca Routs from Martin Sorrell's advertising company S4 Capital as senior director for key client relationships, responsible for helping lead certain client engagements for the global network. Routs spent the past four years leading Google initiatives at Firewood agency, part of S4 Capital.

Media/platform moves

• In platforms, audio-based social media app Clubhousepoached Spotify's head of content communications, Grey Munford, to lead comms. Munford, a former CBS and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer exec, joins Clubhouse head of global marketing Maya Watson, who was hired away from Netflix last month.
  
  
• NBCUniversal poached Nielsen exec Kelly Abcarian as an EVP of measurement and impact in its advertising and partnerships, or ad sales, division. Abcarian had been with Nielsen since 2014, most recently as general manager of advanced video advertising.
  
  
• Coca-Cola Co. hired away Rapha Abreu from Restaurant Brands International to be its global VP of design. Abreu was the VP and global head of design for the owner of fast-food companies like Burger King and Popeyes. Now he'll oversee the design for the beverage giant's brands including Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Minute Maid. Restaurant Brands lost another high-profile exec this month, its top marketer Fernando Machado. Machado left after seven years to join gaming giant Activision Blizzard in the same role. At Activision Blizzard, Machado replaces David Messinger, who held the chief marketer role for just under two years.

PR agency moves

• Earlier this month, Edelmanpromoted US Chief Operating Officer Lisa Osborne Ross to US CEO, the PR firm's largest operation with 2,360 people across 13 offices. Osborne Ross replaces Russell Dubner, who is moving into a global role.

• And IPG's Weber Shandwick hired away Michael Frohlich from WPP's Ogilvy to be CEO of its EMEA region. Frohlich was with Ogilvy for more than nine years, most recently as UK CEO. The PR firm also promoted former Asia-Pacific vice chair Tyler Kim to CEO of APAC. Kim replaced Baxter Jolly, who was named chairman of the APAC region.
  
  

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NOW WATCH: Sneaky ways Costco gets you to buy more

German automaker Daimler AG, parent of luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz, is consolidating most of its advertising business with one of its two agencies, Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group, according to three people with direct knowledge.

The decision would be a huge loss for one of the companies, as Daimler spent $790 million on marketing worldwide in 2020, Comvergence estimated.

Omnicom Group has handled Daimler's global media planning and buying since 2018.

Publicis Emil — a dedicated Mercedes-Benz unit that pulls resources from Publicis divisons like Publicis Communications, Publicis Media, and Publicis Sapient — has created Daimler's advertising campaigns in 40 markets outside the US since 2018.

The people with direct knowledge said Daimler is seeking to consolidate these responsibilities with one agency and invited only Omnicom and Publicis to compete for the business.

Omnicom also develops ad campaigns in the US through its agency Merkley + Partners and in China through BBDO. Two of the people with direct knowledge said they don't expect that work to be part of this pitch process.

Publicis and Omnicom declined to comment. A Daimler spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

The move comes as the automaker merges its global marketing and communications divisions into a new division headed by Bettina Fetzer, VP of global marketing at Mercedes-Benz AG, Adweek reported.

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

JetBlue hired Omnicom's Adam&EveDDB to handle its advertising, dropping its agency of 11 years, IPG-owned MullenLowe, people with direct knowledge said.

JetBlue launched a search for a new agency in late 2020, telling The Wall Street Journal it was looking to cut costs and convince pandemic-weary consumers to return to the air.

JetBlue cut its advertising to $45 million last year from $66 million in 2019 due to the pandemic as its revenue decreased by more than 63% in 2020.

IPG helped JetBlue use unconventional ads to help stand out as a lower-priced alternative to the major carriers. It offered customers discounts for stealing its own bus stop ads or sitting on a flight with a crying baby. In campaigns not created by IPG, the brand also bought a spot on New York City's famous Pepsi-Cola sign when it switched from Coke to Pepsi and promoted a RuPaul's Drag Race partnership with an installation at JFK International Airport.

MullenLowe sister agency Mediahub will continue handling JetBlue's media planning and buying work, another person with direct knowledge said.

In an internal memo to employees after losing the account that was reviewed by Insider, MullenLowe leadership cited awards the agency won for its JetBlue work and claimed that it has delivered returns eight to 10 times the size of the company's ad spending.

"These are the metrics and standards against which JetBlue's new creative partner will be measured," the memo read. "In the meantime, MullenLowe US is ready to fly."

A JetBlue spokesperson told Insider the company was not ready to announce its new agency. Adam&EveDDB did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and MullenLowe deferred to JetBlue for comment.

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NOW WATCH: Why some Coca-Cola bottles have a yellow cap

Public relations is changing swiftly due to increasing client demands for more creativecampaigns, better measurements, and counsel that comes from more diverse backgrounds, an enduring issue in the majority-white profession. And this hiring spree has made it more difficult to keep track of all the industry's new top talent.

Insider identified 26 of PR's rising stars from agencies and brands. The list includes people like Christine Alabastro, the executive communications manager at TikTok; and Kadrie Lamin, an account executive at the biggest PR firm, Edelman.

Their backgrounds are also varied. Molly Hendriksen, an account director at BerlinRosen, started out helping corporations navigate political issues, while Adeel Hussain, an associate director of social analytics at Ogilvy, creates tools to help clients with strategy.

We chose these people based on the accounts they handle and how they help their organizations' culture and recruiting efforts. The result is a list that represents all aspects of the PR industry.

Read the list below, in alphabetical order.

Christine Alabastro, executive communications manager, TikTok

2020 was a chaotic year for TikTok, with the Trump Administration threatening to ban the platform amid explosive growth, and Alabastro played a pivotal role in managing the company's communications.

Since joining TikTok in August 2019, Alabastro has coached content creators and executives for media interviews, including TV appearances on programs like ABC Nightline.

Alabastro is on the board of advisers for the Center for Public Relations at USC.

Danielle Alvarado, senior director, RF Binder

Alvarado works on media relations, social media, and influencer marketing campaigns for clients like Baskin-Robbins, Truvia, and Dunkin'. 

When Dunkin Rebranded from Dunkin' Donuts, Alvarado developed messaging for executives, handled media questions, and planned unveiling events in Quincy, Massachusetts, home to the first Dunkin' location.

Alvardo also led strategy creation for the collaboration between Baskin-Robbins and Netflix's "Stranger Things," a campaign that included press junkets with the show's creative talent, media and influencer events, and a pop-up experience. The program led to more than 800 stories and more than 3.3 billion media impressions.

Alvardo also helps the RF Binder recruit new employees and its social justice efforts.

Elle Arlook, equity and justice practice lead for North America, APCO Worldwide

If corporations want to know what to say during social justice movements — or if they even should — they need only ask Arlook.

A five-year veteran of the public affairs and corporate reputation firm, Arlook was recently named the practice lead for APCO's equity and justice practice and works with corporate clients like CarMax as well as nonprofits like the George Floyd Memorial Foundation.

She supports the George Floyd Memorial Foundation's mission to drive reform around criminal justice, education, and economic opportunity by advising them on strategy, digital communications, and corporate engagement.

Previously, Arlook worked with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, which was competing to become the home of Amazon's HQ2 contest.

Arlook also was a founding member of the Junior Executive Board for Knock Out Abuse, a nonprofit based in Washington, DC, that raises more than $600,000 annually for domestic abuse victims.

Bia Assevero, managing supervisor, FleishmanHillard

Assevero heads up the diversity, equity, and inclusion practice at FleishmanHillard's East Coast team.

The Omnicom-owned PR firm has amassed more than 90 clients to its growing practice since its October 2020 launch.

Assevero works on corporate accounts like AT&T and JetBlue, helping with issues like corporate reputation, financial services, and crises, but she's also known for her pro bono work.

Following Fleishman's pledge on its 70th anniversary to volunteer PR work for nonprofits, charities, and other social justice organizations, Assevero helped Black History Month in Florence highlight the cultures of the African diaspora throughout Italy.

Victoria Chow, communications lead, Public.com

When Chow landed at the investing social network in January, she found herself in a potential firestorm around the GameStop short squeeze.

Public notified investors of potential volatility and let them decide how to use their spending power, gaining coverage in The Wall Street Journal.

Chow also helped roll out the announcement of Public's $220 million Series D fundraise in TechCrunch and get coverage in Reuters. She also helped promote Public's "Break up with your Brokerage" campaign.

Before joining Public, Chow worked as a consumer communications staffer at Reddit and led communications for media startup Pop-Up Magazine.

Robin Edie, director of PR, Mitchell

At Dentsu-owned Mitchell, Edie helps oversee PR for Walmart at a local level by promoting product and service launches as well as seasonal sales. Because of the pandemic's varying impact on different regions, Walmart has built different strategies for each of its markets, and Edie had a hand developing all of them.

When Walmart partnered with NextDoor to make it easier to coordinate pickup and delivery orders, Edie facilitated coverage in hundreds of segments in local TV markets across the US. She also boosted awareness of Walmart's COVID-19 testing clinics by getting the word out through local city governments, testing providers, and local media channels.

Kelsey Grossman, director of corporate communications, Grail

Grossman oversees every external communication released by Grail, an $8 billion early cancer detection startup that was backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. She manages the company's image and oversees its website and social media, among other responsibilities.

Since 2020, Grossman has helped get coverage for Grail in hundreds of stories in outlets like The Wall Street Journal. One of her biggest assignments is helping Grail launch its first product, Galleri, a test that can detect types of cancer through a blood draw. 

Beyond her day-to-day responsibilities, Grossman also founded Grail's first employee resource group, for female professionals.

"In the next few years, I am absolutely certain we will see Kelsey in a chief communications officer role," said Matt Burns, the head of corporate communications at Grail and Grossman's boss.

Louisa Hager, associate creative director, Weber Shandwick

As PR and advertising increasingly compete for the same accounts, PR firms need big creative ideas to attract clients. Enter Hager, who works on accounts like AirBnb, McDonald's, and Dollar Shave Club at Weber Shandwick.

Hager helped create Dollar Shave Club's "PaintMyBalls" competition, which asked men to write about  the importance of their testicles for a chance to win a cash prize. She was also part of the Airbnb account team that came up with the "Only on Airbnb" campaign.

During the 2021 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Hager placed second  in the PR category of the 2021 US Cannes Young Lions.

Tom Hannigan, senior associate, Bateman Agency

Though Hannigan joined the year-old Bateman agency only a few months ago, he is already known as a go-getter.

"He is trusted by client contacts up to and including the CEOs of [solar power storage provider] SunPower and [ecommerce software provider]Mirakl, and he has played an active role in landing new business for Bateman Agency including French multinational Thales," said CEO Fred Bateman.

Among his gets: He arranged an interview about cloud software company New Relic's chief HR officer for The Wall Street Journal.

Molly Hendriksen, account director of technology and innovation, Berlin Rosen

Hendriksen, whose clients range from startups to multinational corporations, specializes in public affairs work for urban innovation, mobility, and sustainability technologies. 

For example, her work positioning Virgin Hyperloop One and its executives as leaders in transit technology led to coverage in CNN, Reuters, New York Magazine, and other outlets.

Hendriksen also spearheaded BerlinRosen's efforts to win the US agency of record account for Octopus Energy, a UK startup valued at $2 billion.

Adeel Hussain, associate director of social analytics, Ogilvy

Hussain has evolved Ogilvy's data analytics capabilities by introducing new methodologies and products to clients.

For the lobbying group, American Health Insurance Plans, Hussain produced an index that can tell if news articles contain disinformation. His work on the Federal Emergency Management Agency account combined historical climate information with social data to show how communities discuss disasters around weather events.

Hussain also mined YouTube data to see how healthcare information and preventative care is explained in how to videos to help client Aetna understand how to reach YouTube watchers.

Kala Krishnan, associate director at Finsbury Glover Hering

Krishnan's accounting background (she is a chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) is a major asset at the financial and public affairs firm, where she works on high-profile assignments for SPAC transactions, IPOs, corporation reputation, and executive positioning.

Her expertise helps clients navigate complex financial transactions and the firm touts her as a "driving force behind FGH's growing SPAC practice."

Her SPAC assignments include the $11 billion merger between MultiPlan and Churchill, as well as Social Capital Hedosophia's merger with Opendoor, Clover Health, and SoFi. She also worked on loanDepot's IPO and does corporate reputation and thought leadership work for Tadawul, the Saudi stock exchange.

Kiki O'Keeffe, vice president, Gladstone Place Partners

O'Keeffe's peers consider her an expert at building relationships with business and finance reporters and helping position clients on sustainability issues.

For example, O'Keeffe advised LiveKindly Collective, a vegan company, on how it would roll out news about its $335 million capital raise. Her other notable projects include beauty and wellness SPAC Waldencast Acquisition Corp's listing on the Nasdaq, the $11.3 billion sale of Dunkin Brands to Inspire Brands, and Pfizer's spinoff of its $25 billion generics business.

Kadrie Lamin, account executive, Edelman

Lamin is known as a go-to media relations expert at Edelman, where he handles accounts like McKinsey, John Deere, and YMCA. He was one of the main media contacts for Dove Men + Care when the Unilever brand rolled out its "Pledge for Paternity Leave" campaign, which included a $1 million fund that doles out $5,000 to expectant fathers.

He also helped Dove partner with groups like Paid Leave for the US and Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian highlight paternity leave.

The campaign was covered in more than 2,800 stories in outlets like The Hill, Roll Call, and Newsy, generating more than 2.8 billion media impressions. And the Paternity Leave Fund got almost 35,000 applications. 

Lamin frequently returns to his alma mater Morgan State University to help students prepare for the workplace. He also helped plan the firm's diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy and engagement with HBCUs.

Edelman recognized Lamin by naming him as their DC rookie of the year.

Brenden Lee, senior communications manager, corporate communications, Twitter

For a company of its size and profile, Twitter runs a relatively lean communications division and Lee's multiple assignments cross corporate positioning, crisis management, and media relations.

Lee played a critical role in how Twitter responded to the coronavirus pandemic when it became one of the first companies to move to an entirely remote working environment. His blog posts and tweeting about this move led to coverage in The Washington Post, tech outlet Protocol, and Buzzfeed.

Lee also worked with the company's CFO, Ned Segal, on Twitter's quarterly earnings and diversity and inclusion reports, as well as its first analyst day in five years.

Monique Lachelle McKenzie, beauty, culture, and lifestyle communications lead, Instagram

When a topic promoting diversity trends on Facebook or Instagram, McKenzie makes sure it reaches communities, small business owners, and creators across the platforms.

McKenzie spearheaded campaigns like #GirlDad, which celebrated Black fathers sharing pictures and updates about their daughters' natural hair.

To help out Black businesses affected by the pandemic, she also helped out on #BuyBlack, which encouraged users to buy products and services from Black-owned businesses.

McKenzie has also mentored other women of color in the PR industry. For example, she served for a year on the New York leadership team of ColorComm as the co-director of influencer relations and communications strategy.

McKenzie previously was head of lifestyle communications at Facebook. She also had stints at Lyft, Ogilvy, and T-Mobile.

Carly Moulton, manager of communications, Zapier

As remote work became the norm during the pandemic, Moulton positioned Zapier as the leading automation company for small and medium-sized businesses by getting op-eds and stories about the company in major news outlets.

Moulton's relationships to the academic world. Zapier partnered with Harvard University so professors could study how Zapier works and integrate case studies into the curriculum, which led to a front-page story in the Harvard Business Review.

Moulton uses surveys and internal data to find stories to pitch to journalists, leading to coverage in outlets like Financial Times, Cheddar TV, and NPR's Marketplace. She also secured a feature story in Forbes about Zapier's growth and its $5 billion valuation, as well as a TechCrunch story about its first acquisition.

Liz Murphy, account director, Shift Communications

Murphy has been at the Avenir Global-owned agency for more than seven years, working for clients like McDonald's, NordicTrack, and Massachusetts General Hospital. She manages strategy, execution, and measurement for campaigns that span influencer, media relations, and social media.

Murphy helped Scotties Facial Tissues roll out a campaign that included influencers and donations to food banks across the Northeast, helping increase millennial household penetration for Scotties by 21%.

She's a founding member of Shift's diversity and inclusion committee and serves on its cultural committee.

Claire Nance, head of global communications, Activision Blizzard Media

Nance oversees communications for the video game publisher's $250 million advertising arm, elevating Activision Blizzard Media's presence in the advertising industry.

Nance has increased media coverage of Activision Blizzard Media in advertising trade publications and grown its LinkedIn and Twitter followers.

She received the PRSA-NY Exceptions Under 35 award in 2019 and currently serves as a board member for the trade association's New York chapter.

Chevonne Nash, director, Golin

Nash co-leads Golin's diversity and inclusion offering, Team Pixel, and helps brands create campaigns to reach people of color, the LGBTQ community, and other diverse groups.

This year, Nash has advised more than 30 clients on diversity issues, including Walmart, Crayola, PepsiCo, and General Mills. For example, Nash worked on Crayola's "Colors of the World" campaign, which introduced new colors for different skin tones, giving the crayon company tips on color representation, packaging, and potential competitive threats.

Nash is also a member of Golin's Racial Equity Taskforce and supported scripting and production for shows like "Girlfriends" and "The Game."

Sarah Riley, account director, Method Communications

One of the youngest-ever account directors at Method, Riley is the firm's primary contact for prominent clients like Facebook Workplace, Tata Communications, and biotech startup Genomatica.

Riley drummed up press coverage to improve public perception of Facebook Workplace, the social media giant's collaboration software. In February 2019, Workplace reported two million users and 52 articles; in March 2020, it crossed five million users and generated 511 articles.

In the pandemic, she pitched a Workplace rep as a thought leader on remote work, securing op-eds in Quartz and Fast Company and speaking slots at events hosted by publications like Forbes.

Riley serves on the graduate associate committee, where she trains new employees, and also helps with the firm's recruiting events at colleges like USC and NYU.

Method is owned by UK holding company Chime, and Riley works closely with ad firm VCCP and marketing firm CSM to encourage cross-selling.

Leah Seay, communications manager, delivery, Uber

With so many delivery-focused initiatives at Uber, Seay has her hands full. She's responsible for communications to Uber's merchants and its consumers, overseeing PR for new initiatives, campaigns, and product launches.

Seay also helps groom the next generation of talent, serving in trade groups like The Plan Center for Leadership in Public Relations. She volunteers for The Lagrant Foundation, which identifies and provides scholarships to people of color in advertising, marketing, and PR. Seay was herself the recipient of a Lagrant scholarship.

Before joining Uber, Seay was the issues management spokesperson for Amazon Operations.

Caela Shay, director of earned media and engagement, Real Chemistry

Shay's focus on data analytics was instrumental in helping healthcare clients like CVS Health, Akili, Vituity, and Surescripts respond to the pandemic.

 She helped CVS Health launch its COVID-19 testing and vaccination employer program by promoting its chief medical officer as a thought leader in trade and mainstream media. That remit includes coaching clients for broadcast interviews on CNN, ABC Live and Yahoo! Finance. She's helped clients get coverage in outlets like Axios, Modern Healthcare, and the AP.

She also spearheads the adoption of analytics tools within Real Chemistry, training the account teams of the healthcare-focused agency to use data for clients.

Lauren Shiplett, publicist, Vice Media

Shiplett leads publicity and media relations for Vice Media's news and digital divisions, promoting the company's content and offerings, including its Showtime series, podcasts, documentaries, and its tech-focused outlet, Motherboard.

When Vice debuted on OnlyFans — a forum primarily known for hosting adult content — Shiplett managed the launch strategy, announcement, and media relations. She also publicized "The Story Of," a documentary series about famous songs and musicians.

Before joining Vice, Shiplett had PR stints at The Washington Post and Edelman.

Jordan Team, senior account supervisor, MSL

Team helps MSL's corporate clients manage their reputations and publicize their executives.

Team spearheaded a video series on LinkedIn to position Deloitte U.S. Consulting's CEO, Dan Helfrich, as a thought leader, doubling Renjen's LinkedIn following.

Team helped develop MSL's "leadership index," which helps the agency identify topics where company executives can be thought leaders. She's also credited with helping MSL acquire new business and sits on the firm's diversity, equity, and inclusion council.

Selena Yang, senior director of communications and strategy, Progyny

Yang has promoted fertility benefits company Progyny by showcasing the barriers people face accessing fertility treatment.

She's produced content for the company including a podcast called This is Infertility, which had more than 50,000 downloads in 2020. She also produced webinars for patients and the public and drove coverage in outlets like The New York Times and the "Today" show. She's also helped net the company recognition in outlets like the Financial Times and Crain's.

In 2019, she spearheaded Progyny's sponsorship of the New York City Pride Parade commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. In the wake of 2020's Black Lives Matter protests, she re-focused the company's content on health disparities in the Black community.

After a terrible 2020 when ad agencies shed 49,000 jobs, firms are growing again — and hiring.

"2021 indeed remains a difficult year in some parts of the world. But we have been recruiting again," said Mark Read, CEO of ad giant WPP. 

The holding companies say they're hiring across the board as marketers ramp up spending. WPP's GroupM expects worldwide advertising revenue to grow 10.2% to $651 billion in 2021 after a 4.1% decline in 2020. Ad revenue ticked up 1.8% in the first quarter at WPP while Omnicom Group grew 0.6%.

According to Glassdoor, WPP is looking to fill 82 roles at the holding company level in the US alone, while Omnicom has 172 open jobs.

One WPP ad agency, VMLY&R, said it has more than 400 open positions in the US alone across almost every department and job level. 

Omnicom, parent of agencies like TBWA and BBDO, has rehired some employees who were laid off during the pandemic as business comes back, especially in hard-hit sectors like travel and entertainment, Omnicom Group CEO and chairman John Wren said. 

"Our events business in China is experiencing significant growth and hiring, after being virtually shut down in 2020," he said.

'There's a sense advertising is back'

At IPG agency R/GA, EVP and global chief talent officer Angie Hannam said the agency has hired 96 employees so far in 2021 and that it's hiring across all 15 of its offices.

IPG's The Martin Agency has hired 120 people since the pandemic, said associate director of talent and culture Cindy Cabral. Open roles include a senior business affairs manager, senior media buyer, senior editorial writer, junior and senior producers, and social media analysts.

"The opportunities are there, 100%," Cabral said. "It's a buyer's market and the buyers are talent. As agencies pick up new clients, we're all vying for emerging and diverse talent."

Brian Dolan, CEO and founder of advertising staffing company WorkReduce, which works with all the major holding companies, said the ad holding companies are trying to get back to pre-pandemic levels or higher.

"People I'm talking to are hiring very aggressively," he said. "One division at a holding company has 130 open roles. People are coming to us with 10, 20, 30 openings at a time. They're bringing people back who were laid off. There's a sense advertising is back and it's going to stay back."

The ad industry has traditionally lagged in diversifying, and many companies say hiring people from underrepresented backgrounds is a big focus.

WPP's latest US diversity report in April showed its workforce was 68.9% white, 12% Asian, 9.9% Hispanic or Latino, and 6.5% Black.

Some agencies are struggling to fill roles

Some recruiters say they're not seeing a lot of hiring at the executive level, despite the return of new business.

Dolan said many of the openings he's seeing are in social and analytics for people with two to three years of experience, which pay $50,000 to $75,000.

"We're seeing a lot of agency new business wins announcements," said Christie Cordes, founder of industry executive search firm Ad Recruiter. "I haven't seen a big hiring ramp-up inside the agencies yet. There are still a lot of agency executives seeking work."

Holding companies are also finding a changed market, with some struggling to fill some roles, such as social media experts, Dolan said.

He hypothesized that people are opting to work for independent and small agencies instead. 

Cabral said many ad execs are more cautious in accepting positions after a difficult 2020. 

"Candidates are not shy to demand more of their work environments and ask pointed questions about how an employer supports and develops people," she said.

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Hi and welcome to Insider Advertising for May 25. I'm senior advertising reporter Lauren Johnson, and here's what's going on:

• Ad agencies are hiring again.
• Omnicom Public Relations Group's new CEO.
• Instagram gives creators more data.

If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here for your daily insider's guide to advertising and media.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at LJohnson@insider.com or on Twitter at @LaurenJohnson.

• Ad giants like WPP and Omnicom are hiring again across departments after a crushing 2020, Lindsay Rittenhouse reported.
• Agencies including VMLY&R, R/GA, and The Martin Agency have open roles at a variety of levels.
• But some recruiters say finding candidates to fill the roles has been difficult.

Read the story.

• Chris Foster was named chief of Omnicom Public Relations Group, the first Black CEO of a holding company PR unit, Sean Czarnecki reported.
• He'll use his experience in the healthcare vertical to buoy the recovery of Omnicom's PR business.
• He also plans to use cross-agency account teams to better service clients.

Read the story.

Read the story.

Other stories we're reading:

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

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Philips hired ad holding company Omnicom to handle its global marketing business in a big hit to rival advertising companies WPP and Dentsu.

Omnicom agency TBWA will handle making Philips' ads while OMD will oversee ad-buying strategy and Ketchum and FleishmanHillard will handle communications. Brand strategy firm Interbrand, design agency Critical Mass, and Omnicom's Precision Marketing Group will also oversee parts of the business.

WPP handled Philips' advertising for more than 10 years but got eliminated early on. Dentsu, which oversaw most of Philips' ad planning and buying, lost that business. Havas and IPG were the other holding companies competing in the pitch, which was run by consulting firm R3.

Philips spends around $300 million on paid media each year, according to consultancy Comvergence. People with knowledge said WPP's Ogilvy brought in about $30 million in annual revenue from the business.

The agency transition comes as Philips looks to move away from its consumer goods and electronics business and focus on more lucrative areas like healthcare technology. 

Philips' chief marketing and ecommerce officer Lorraine Barber-Miller said Omnicom would use digital platforms to promote Philips as a company that improves people's health and well-being through innovation.

A former Philips executive said Philips wanted to consolidate with a single holding company as it folded or sold divisions for products like televisions.

"People still think of Philips as the TV and shaving company," the former exec said. "But [CEO Frans van Houten] has said, 'I want to make this a health tech company.'"

Another person with direct knowledge said Omnicom had an advantage over other holding companies in having a significant presence in Philips' home city of Amsterdam. The former Philips exec said WPP's Ogilvy shifted responsibility for the Philips account from its London office to Amsterdam to keep the business.

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Omnicom Public Relations Group has hired Chris Foster as CEO, making him the first Black executive to ever serve as CEO of a holding company PR division.

OPRG poached Foster from rival holding company WPP's BCW, where he was president of North America.

Foster said the healthcare industry is a priority both for OPRG and the Omnicom holding company, where OPRG is the second largest unit by revenue, and that OPRG would focus on growing areas like its healthcare division to buoy its recovery by providing services like product marketing and recruitment campaigns.

As an example of healthcare's momentum in 2020, OPRG's Marina Maher Communications won work for Johnson & Johnson's video content series, "Road to a Vaccine."

Foster said he would use his experience — he previously led Burston-Marteller's healthcare business and worked on Booz Allen Hamilton's healthcare team — to help push OPRG in that vertical.

OPRG was already doubling down on healthcare. The PR network partnered with LaVoieHealthScience, a healthcare marketing and PR firm, which let it tap LaVoieHealthScience's expertise and share client referrals.

OPRG's global revenue declined 4.2% on an organic basis in 2020 to $1.3 billion, slightly better than the world's largest holding company, WPP, where PR revenue declined by 6.6%. 

Foster also said he would leverage OPRG's network by creating account teams from its agencies from Porter Novelli, known for its "purpose" marketing, to FleishmanHillard, which focuses on corporate and public affairs offerings.

Foster said OPRG was also doubling down on its data analytics offerings, specifically Omni, a 2-year-old platform rolled out for the holding company's PR and health verticals.

"We're integrating more and more datasets to drive greater precision in communications, which allows us to have a more complete picture on the impact of a campaign and the impact on consumers," Foster said.

PR, a majority-white industry, has renewed its efforts to diversify since last summer's Black Lives Matter protests.

Recent hires like Foster may indicate the industry has reached a turning point, said Kim Hunter, CEO of the Lagrant Foundation, which provides scholarships to ethnic minorities trying to work in PR.

"Chris Foster's appointment is not only historical, but sends a clear message to the agency world that there are highly skilled and value-added racially diverse talent in the marketplace," Hunter said. "It's a new day, and the reckoning has come."

PR agencies and holding companies including Omnicom have made pledges to diversify their workforce. Edelman named Lisa Ross as its US CEO, making her the first Black woman to have that title. GMMB, one of the top Democrat PR firms, named Micheline Kennedy its first Black partner after facing criticism from its employees.

The OPRG CEO position was vacant for a year and a half since Karen Van Bergen stepped down as CEO in January 2020, and the pandemic delayed efforts to find her replacement, said Kate Northway, an EVP at OPRG. John Doolittle, who served as interim CEO, will become chairman of OPRG.

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WarnerMedia just rolled out an ad-supported version of HBO Max that it's pitching as a premium product with the lowest commercial ad load in the streaming industry.

But some ad buyers are balking at its high price point and lack of targeting ability.

Ad-supported HBO Max touted $80 million in ad buys from more than 35 brands and has told buyers that almost all its 2021 inventory is sold out. WarnerMedia didn't name the brands, but insiders said ad holding companies like WPP and Omnicom bought the vast majority of the inventory for their big clients during the 2020 upfronts.

The platform will air a maximum of four minutes of commercial time per hour — the lowest among competitors including NBCUniversal's Peacock, which has five minutes of ad time per hour.

Three ad agency buyers pitched by WarnerMedia said HBO Max's starting CPM, or cost per 1,000 ad impressions, is $60 to $70.

Disney's Hulu is priced around $30, meanwhile, and NBCUniversal's Peacock started at $50 but has since declined to just over $40 for large ad buys.

HBO Max is also selling full-episode "brand block" sponsorships that can cost around $1 million, or $80 to $90 per CPM, the buyers told Insider.

Since the product is new, prices can change during negotiations. WarnerMedia is already thinking of lowering its rates for larger ad buys, according to one of the buyers and another person familiar with the matter.

WarnerMedia, Disney, and NBCUniversal declined to comment for this story.

One of those pitched, Mike McHale, head of activation at agency Noble People, commended the reduced ad load and frequency capping that's meant to prevent viewers from seeing the same ads repeatedly but was undersold on how  HBO Max pitched itself versus other streaming services.

McHale said WarnerMedia is promoting the new service as a one-stop shop for all WarnerMedia properties where brands can advertise on HBO for the first time in its nearly 50-year history.

Other key selling points are HBO Max's premium content and young, diverse viewers, buyers said.

HBO Max originals, older movies, and content from other Warner properties like Turner and CNN will have ads and exist alongside ad-free HBO titles like "Game of Thrones." Some buyers said this combination of ad-supported and premium content could dilute the value of the platform.

"The misperception is that your ads will run on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' or 'The Sopranos'," McHale said. "But you're going to be on 'Impractical Jokers' or some other Warner property. When all your content is coming from Cartoon Network and TruTV, I'm not sure you're advertising on HBO."

In a third area of criticism, buyers said there's a lack of targeting options and demographic data about HBO Max viewers that means advertisers won't be able to tell if their ads are working. WarnerMedia plans to roll out a targeting function for HBO Max by early 2022. 

"The fact that we can't audience-target is definitely a ding against them," one buyer said. "With most digital-first services, we can add targeting layers and focus our audience more."

A second buyer also said they would wait to see how WarnerMedia's pending merger with Discovery affected the service.

Most marketers recognize the need to consider all these new streaming platforms. BIA Advisory Services expects OTT local ad spending will rise to $1.18 billion in 2021 from $990 million in 2020 and reach $2.37 billion by 2025.

But Josh John, SVP of performance intelligence at Edelman, said HBO Max's audience size could be another sticking point. HBO Max had just 10 million domestic subscribers in the first quarter while leading service Netflix had 207 million globally.

John said he thought HBO Max's subscription cost could be holding back its growth. HBO Max costs $9.99 per month for an ad-supported subscription and $14.99 for ad-free versus $5.99 for Hulu's ad-supported and $11.99 ad-free subscriptions and Peacock's $4.99 ad-supported and $9.99 ads-free subscriptions.

"A majority of OTT viewing is still dominated by Netflix and YouTube, so ad-supported models like HBO Max, Peacock, and Paramount+ need to capture more subscribers and increase their market share to generate more inventory for advertisers to buy," John said.

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