Close-Minded Creativity

            For an industry that prides itself on its creative abilities, creative solutions to add diversity to the workplace seem to be few and far between. By coincidence, diversity became the topic of conversation in two of my courses this week. According to frist hand reports, the sterotypical advertising "Boy's Club" is still present and powerful.

During a Law & Ethics lecture, Professor Drumwright discussed the 2006 NYC Commission on Human Rights investigation of 16 advertising agencies. After significant pressure, each company signed agreements with diversity commitments and most exceeded their goals by 2010. Having worked as a professor at Harvard, Drumwright was able to personally describe the environment as “white, male, and protestant.” She also introduced an article from AdAge titled New York City Comptroller Pressures Ad Holding Firms to Release Diversity Stats (adage.com/u/gwLD9a ).  Omnicom Group was noted for refusing to release a diversity report earlier this year. Their chief diversity officer mentioned it was not in the company’s best interest to reveal this information and referenced a proxy statement to answer further questions. The company’s own statement describedthe data as an unreliable “measure for their commitment to equal opportunity” and believe it is “susceptible to misinterpretation.” The fact that such a prestigious holding company went to such length to conceal their employment records was alarming to me. I understand statistics are easily manipulated but diversity is diversity.

In our Integrated Communications Management course, Dr. Lewis invited +Stefani Zellmer to discuss her career in advertising. As a graduate of the UT Advertising Program, she was incredibly relatable and described the struggles she encountered as a female copywriter. At the time, women creatives were a rarity. Even as research began to show that women made the majority of household purchases, men were hired to fill creative positions. After building an impressive list of agency experience, she wanted to move up in management and encountered evidence of gender discrimination for creative director positions. In response, she stopped searching the illusive “equal opportunity” workplace and two agencies in Austin with the purpose of empowering women. She cited that only 3% of Creative Director positions were held by women… in 2011. 

Although I am an advocate for diversity within the industry, I am cautious to offer a solution to this problem. I feel that hiring initiatives or cultural audits alone will not make a significant difference when combatting this problem. Resistant to public outcry even during the Civil Rights Movement, the "traditions" that have influenced agency composition appear too strong to break.

The Most Important Man on the Field

            As an avid sports lover in a football dominant state, I enjoy attending collegiate and professional football games. While visiting family in Houston, I had the opportunity to cheer for the Texans from a Luxury Suite on the 8^th Floor.  From that height, we had an impressive aerial view of the field. Although it was difficult to distinguish one player from another, I could very clearly see the offensive and defensive formations taking shape. From that experience, I gained a greater respect for the head coach because he must be able to visualize what is happening on the field without the ability to see it for himself. He then must communicate that vision to his players in order to effectively match the opponent. That being said, the head coach is still not the most important man on the field. That title belongs to the network television coordinator.

Most football fans love to watch the game but don’t actually pay attention to what is happening along the periphery. The network television coordinator is the man standing on the sideline with neon orange sleeves over his arms and he instructs when referees when to allow for a commercial break... without ever saying a word. All he has to do is step onto the field and cross his neon arms. During every NFL game, the coordinator steps onto the field ten times during each half. Only two of these are strictly scheduled, the other eight are placed at the discretion of the coordinator. 

There are very specific times when the league allows the networks to take a commercial break. Most of these opportunities occur during regular game stoppage, including a timeout called by either team. This means the coordinator has the ability to make the coach’s thirty second timeout last for two minutes if he chooses. In a sport with a limited number of timeouts per half, awarding the head coach an additional 90 seconds to organize his players can have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. This extra time can make or break a drive and directly alter the pace of the game. In my opinion, having this kind of control over the referees and coaches makes the network television coordinator the most important person on the field.