NEWSLETTER #86/ October 8, 2017
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SPRINGTIME FOR HYPOCRITES
One of the truly awful trends in marketing is the movement by advertisers to rub our noses in their virtue.
This practice springs from the delusion that consumers weigh every purchase against the moral righteousness of the brand in question. I don't know about you, but when I buy a new pair of socks I don't often factor in the high-minded principles of the CEO.
It's bad enough when marketers spew trendy platitudes. But when their public posturing is in direct conflict with their actual behavior it becomes intolerable.
Which brings us to State Street Global Advisors and the most awarded advertising effort in the history of the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity.
According to Adweek, a promotional effort on behalf of State Street called Fearless Girl "...is now one of only two campaigns that have ever won four Grand Prix at Cannes." The campaign won 18 Cannes awards in total last year.
State Street is a $2.6 trillion (yes, trillion) asset manager. Their agency, McCann-Erickson, had a bronze sculpture of a young girl commissioned and placed in a position to stare down the iconic charging bull of Wall Street. It was an immediate PR sensation.
Wendy Clark, CEO of DDB North America and a Cannes Lions jury president, told Adweek. “...it elegantly captures women’s journeys and our path to empowerment." Marketing people talk like that.
The statue was
"...extremely courageous" said another Cannes jury president, "It is a perfect example of doing well by doing good."
According to Adweek, "It was part of a campaign by State Street to pressure companies to add more women to their boards." According to Business Insider, State Street... "cited gender diversity as a way to improve company performance and increase shareholder value, and said it would vote against boards if a company failed to take steps to increase its number of members who are women."
So let's have a look at how State Street's walk matches their talk:
- State Street's leadership team is 82% male.
- According to Bloomberg, State Street had the opportunity to vote 11 times this year in shareholder referenda on gender pay equality. In 9 of those times times they voted against it.
~ The coup de grace came this week when State Street was fined $5 million by the US Dept of Labor because it had "discriminated against hundreds of female executives by paying them less than male colleagues."
The bull on Wall Street isn't limited to statues.
The Duopoly's Continuing Irresponsibility
Google and Facebook are the world's two largest media companies. But they dodge their responsibilities as media companies by claiming they are just bulletin boards that are slaves to algorithms. In the wake of the horrifying events in Las Vegas last week, The Atlantic says "The world’s most powerful information gatekeepers neglected their duties in Las Vegas. Again." It's frightening but not surprising.
Quickies
~ Department of You-Can't-Make-This-Shit-Up... this week the IRS hired Equifax to safeguard taxpayer data. Yes, I'm serious. Here.
~ NY Times tried to get answers from Equifax about how to escape from their clutches ...it turns out you can't. Here.
~ This week I was characterized as both... "famously crusty" and "the Darth Vader of the marketing galaxy." Proudly pleading guilty on both counts.
And Let's Not Forget...
~ "New advertising classic." Doc Searls
~ "One of our truly great marketing iconoclasts." Prof. Mark Ritson
~ "...the best sacred cow slaughterer in the advertising industry." LinkedIn Review
Buy it here.
