Tangerine-Watson, Inc. Access to Success

Two New Great Career Resources - Career Gurus and Men of Color in Advertising

In this economy getting connected and getting access to information is crucial.

There are two free resources that I wanted to share.

The Marcus Graham Project  initiated and driven by Lincoln Stephens, a former agency account management executive who is passionate about creating support, mentoring and connection with other men of color that are pursuing careers in the advertising industry.  The website allows you to post your profile and connect with men across the country in the industry.  It is just getting started but should prove an invaluable resources to those in the industry as well as those looking to pursue a career. 

Look for my column of information on careers in the advertising industry that will be launched soon as well as information on upcoming launch events.

The Guru Nation
The definitive destination to access Gurus in all fields of business…
A community and network that supports the growth and development
of motivated professionals and entrepreneurs through direct communication with industry Gurus and Executive Coach
Telecalls, interviews, workshops, answers

The membership is now free to spread the word so join up and take advantage of the Gurus!
Look for my interviews and scheduled events here as well.

El Blog Provides a great perspective from the best in the business

Hispanicads.com has launched a new blog about the advertising industry from some of the best minds in the business. A must read to stay on top of the ever changing world of hispanic advertising and marketing.
El Blog

Be sure to make it a must read and sign up for the newsletter.

Jump Start Your Advertising Career at a Great Agency in a Small Market

Even though I entered this role to help NY Ad Agencies build their diverse talent pool the most enthusiastic outreach has actually come from some of the smaller agencies from smaller non-urban markets. There are some major agencies doing fabulous creative work that are sincerely interested in building a more diverse talent pool.

It is really hard to get talent to want to move to any market that is outside of the top 10. I definitely understand. Quality of life, balance, finding a mate, having a social life and seeing folks that look like you are crucial. Not to mention, somewhere that you can get your hair taken care of can not be minimized. As someone that has never moved out of the NY tri-state area, I get it. But, investing 2 years in your career can really be invaluable to breaking into the business. These agencies can provide the training, pedigree and opportunity to work on general market business that will get you noticed and add to your credentials early in your career that will help you throughout if you strategize correctly.

There was a great young copywriting talent that I heard about (from many people in the industry) that shared his story during Advertising Week. Devin Heatly at Uniworld has an audio interviewWADV Radio Devin Heatly Interview and talks about how passionate he is about advertising and didn't major in advertising but wanted to break through. His interview really provides a great story of doing what is necessary to get noticed by starting out at a well known agency in a smaller market. He also happens to be the winner of the Mercury Award for Burger King.

Don't sleep on the smaller markets, they may hold the key to major market success!

At the Risk of Airing Dirty Laundry

The Behind-the-Scenes Debate Over AdColor
Ad Age Blog - The Big Tent
The deadline for the AdColor Awards, the first cross-industry coalition designed to celebrate and honor multicultural talent in advertising, media and marketing, is this week. But the debate over AdColor among companies and talented professionals has been quietly stirring for months in e-mails, phone calls and conversations. Feelings range from enthusiasm and excitement to rebellion and mistrust, to simple lack of awareness and misunderstanding. Full Article

Look for the weekly blog on Ad Age under The Big Tent.  Feel free to hit me back with any thing on your mind.  I am sure there are others that should be weighing in.

The Laws of Urban Energy

As an evangalist for diversity driving innovation I was struck by a recent article in Psychology Today (August 07) by Anya Kamenetz.
The Laws of Urban Energy

'The World is flatter than ever, but while technology may give us a each the tools of creativity, it takes urban proximity and unpredictability to sharpen them'

The article makes the case that the urban centers boost individual creativity?  So what are the 'it'-factors of urbanism - density and diversity.  The potential edge that urban dwellers enjoy over their country cousins can be linked to having more and different people to meet, and more meeting places - parks, coffees shops, parties, or simply the sidewalk. 

Suggestions -

• Step away from the computer and widen your circle of contacts
• Change your routine and explore different neighborhoods, cultures, ethnic restaurants
• Go where the people are

Working on building a more diverse work environment and talent pool is good for everyone and demonstrates once again how diversity drives creativity and innovation.

African American Ad agencies band together to strengthen industry clout and leverage their power

Some of the country’s most successful black-owned advertising agencies have banded together to form a new association, hoping they can leverage their collective power to further their success in the advertising industry. The new coalition is named ABAA, Association of Black-Owned Advertising Agencies , more...

How to Break More New Business

It did not take too long in my new role servicing the major advertising agencies  to see how the focus on new business drives the opportunity to hire a diverse staff.  Agencies are committing to hire a diverse team as a result of a new business win and to better position themselves in an new agency review.  Since virtually every company on the Fortune 500 has some form of diversity management in place, the pressure continues to heat up for agencies to diversify their talent.  These same Fortune 500 companies that advertising agencies compete so aggressively to win new business from are incorporating and transferring their diversity policies and business imperatives down to their agency partners.  Not only are major marketing companies adding questions on talent retention and diversity of management on the RFP's but they are asking agencies about their diversity practices and the make up of the team with direct responsibility for their accounts.  Fortune 500 companies want to know that the team working on their business reflects the demographic make up of their consumer base and that the dollars invested with the agency are going to a diverse source of vendors and supplier.

I recently attended a new business conference by  Mirren Business Development and one of the biggest complaints that marketers have of their agency partners driving them into review is a lack of innovation and big ideas.  As the saying goes, if you do what you have always done you will get what you always got. If you put the same homogeneous groups with the same backgrounds and experiences and ask them to come up with something new you will never get as much innovation and creativity as the group made up of a diverse team of people with different experiences and backgrounds.  The biggest reason for diversity is not because the client says you should but because it will lead you down the path of greater innnovation and creative ideas which will ultimately keep the clients and bring even more new business.  Try it!  Surely, it must be better than what everyone is trying now.