Off-Target: Ghettoizing Black Advertising

Brandweek, Dec 6, 1999

"Carbon Copywriter"

Unless you're doing it for the money, don't ever work at a targeted agency. That's what Chuck told me. Chuck (not his real name) is one of the best copywriters in the country. Every other year his work shows up in the awards books. Chuck is so good, his agency supports his side projects just to keep him from quitting. Chuck is the writer I want to be when I grow up. Chuck, like me, is black.

Before I go on, there's a few phrases you should know. (1) General Market. That's adspeak for "white," as in general market agencies. (2) Targeted. Adspeak for ethnic (i.e. black, Latino, Asian, and so on), as in "targeted agencies" or "targeted work." (3) Urban. See "targeted." (4) "Puttin' hot sauce on it." Taking ads designed for the general market and tailoring them to fit the African American audience.

After four years at a general market agency, I needed a change. Like most creatives, I got bored. Stagnant. So I packed up my office and got outta Dodge. My headhunter quickly turned me on to Bill Davis, vp/creative director at one of the largest targeted agencies in the country.

After showing my portfolio to Davis (not his real name either--in fact, none of them are in this column), he gave me a big sales pitch. He ran down the agency's roster and it was as impressive as anyone's: blue-chip clients in major categories. Then he hit me with, "Our clients need TV--you could do some great spots here." My head started swelling with visions of big budgets and wild locations all paid for out of someone else's checkbook.

I called Chuck and told him that I was taking the gig. He threatened to fly into town and kick my ass. As far as Chuck was concerned, targeted advertising was horrible. No real ideas. Nothing creative or brand-building. Just bad R&B music, smiling black faces and gaudy product shots. But that was just Chuck's opinion. I wanted to see for myself.

Besides, what really sold me was the notion of working with "my own people." I had quit going to ad industry parties about two years earlier because I got tired of being the only chocolate chip in the cookie dough. I don't think I ever saw more than a handful of black people at any one ad function. Every party was the same: I'd spot a couple of black folks scattered about the place. After making eye contact, we'd gradually huddle up, swap business cards and make light of the fact that we were "the only ones" in the business.

It was the same deal at the office. My old agency had around 150 people--but only 11 black employees, myself included. Of that 11; two worked in the mail-room, five were secretaries/executive assistants, and one in account service. The other three were creatives.

What bothered me most about the situation is that we in advertising like to consider ourselves a very liberal bunch. We're hip. Progressive. Out-of-the-box thinkers, But how progressive can you be when you're in the business of supplying ideas but don't hire minorities--a rich source of ideas?

I remember my first client meeting. I had already produced a ton of ads that the client loved but they had never met me. While I was a good writer, I wasn't a very good presenter--my creative director often presented on my behalf until my presentation skills improved. But at that time, Larry our client, decided that he wanted to meet everyone. Larry was a 40-something brand manager who lived in the suburbs. He stood stock-still, mouth slightly agape, the moment I introduced myself to him.

"You're him?" he asked, jaw full of slack.

I nodded "yes" as we shook hands.

"Yep, he's your guy," my creative director added as the other eight agency folks present all nodded in agreement.

After the meeting ended, Larry gave us a company tour. A good portion of the tour involved Larry stumping his coworkers and employees with, "You know those ads our agency did that we liked so much? Guess which one of these people did 'em?"

For one short afternoon, Larry was Alex Trebek. He had the answer, And no matter how many people he asked, no one ever picked me as being responsible for the work. I mean, why would they? I was a 22-year-old black male from the west side of Chicago. We don't do ads. White men can't jump, black men can't write ads. It's just a fact of life.

No matter. I was at a targeted agency now. Things were gonna be different. No more being the only black guy at the party or the agency. No more clients seeming surprised by black people doing good work. Clients would be used to black people doing good creative. And more importantly they'd demand it. Right?

Yeah, right.

The first assignment I got was for a popular household product. I wrote a TV spot where the product was hero; causing all of the appliances in the kitchen to come to life. No people. Just CGI animation, titles and a little sound design for flavor. Very much a Fantasia thing. After reading the script, my creative director asked, "What makes this spot 'targeted'?"

This was when I found out what "targeted" meant. My creative director quickly explained the golden rule of black advertising to the new kid: It must be targeted. Inherently black.