Think Multicultural

I just finished reading Rochelle Newman-Carrasco’s AdAge BigTent blog post on the discriminatory hiring practices by some multicultural and general market ad agency executives.

I don’t have any first-hand experience with any of the situations she describes, but I’ve always noticed nationality-trends at certain agencies (e.g. agencies run by Mexicans tend to have a lot of Mexicans working there, agencies run by Argentinians tend to hire a lot of Argentinians, etc, etc.).

Do I think that there are discriminatory behavior driving these anecdotal trends? I don’t think so. I think it’s just human nature – if you were born and raised in Argentina, you have a natural affinity and connection with people from Argentina. Will that influence your hiring decisions? Of course – we’re all social beings (especially those of us who are Hispanic!)

As someone who does make hiring decisions, I can tell you that I often evaluate potential candidates for more than their experience. One thing I often do is evaluate how involved they are in social media (i.e. do they have a Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social networking profile? Do they blog? Do they Twitter?) For our agency, I want to hire folks that actually walk the talk when it comes to social media (a big part of what we do for our clients).

However, I could see some disgruntled candidate or labor attorney claiming that I am discriminating against older candidates based on a social media litmus test.

The intricacies of these matters are not so black and white, and there is definitely a slippery slope…

Kudos to Rochelle for starting the conversation.

Jose

30-year African-American advertising veteran shop Burrell Comunications announced today that they have hired Don Moore, formerly of Google, to launch their new digital service group Burrell Digital. You can read the full press release here.

I applaud Burrell for the hire and expansion into digital. A lot of Af-Am ad agencies pay digital a lot of lip service, but very few have actually invested in it. Burrell is bringing in a smart ad executive (I know, I spoke on a panel with Don) because they see the writing on the wall. Times are a changing, and multicultural ad shops are not immune!

I heard a radio ad today (yes, real live, terrestrial radio) where they did their regular radio pitch, but then at the end they didn’t give their web address.

What kind of radio ad doesn’t give their web address at the end of the ad?

The kind that finishes by saying “You can Google ‘Brandweek’s Superbrands’ for more information.”

I guess if you’re dead solid sure that you’ll be the top search result on Google, you don’t need a URL anymore. Just tell people to Google it.

I did. It worked.