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Why everyone should get off the racial finger-pointing bandwagon and leave Acura alone

After a casting call document found its way into the hands TMZ today, Acura saw itself forced to deliver a public apology.

Allegedly, the document called for an African-American actor that was “Nice Looking, friendly. Not too dark. Will work with a MAJOR COMEDIAN.” The role was for an “African American Car Dealer” who would appear in a showroom alongside Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno. It was the “not too dark” spec that set one rejected African-American actor ablaze. 

Unsurprisingly, Acura was quick to wipe their hands clean and blame the casting agency for the casting spec, claiming that the creative direction did not come from them. 

Having worked in the advertising industry, I see a few things wrong with this picture. And it’s not the fact that a “not too dark” actor was undesired. 

1. Since when is creative vision subject to political bounds? An advertisement is not an equal opportunity employer. It’s not responsible for being a role model nor bearing the weight of racial discrimination “make-good” policies like those of equal opportunity employers. It’s also not responsible for equally representing all demographics so that everyone can relate and feel good that the brand thinks of them.  
2. Acura knew damn well what the casting call document spelled out. OK, so I don’t know this for a fact and I’m just inferring. However, what I do know is that by convention, brand managers and marketing directors on the client side ALWAYS approve the casting specs that their agency submits before they go to the casting agency. In fact, the whole thing looks like this:

• Creative agency of record and client agree on a storyboard and script after multiple painful rounds of revisions. <— Conversations about setting, props, talent, wardrobe, and such usually take place throughout several months of creative development. Client and agency sit through mind-numbing meetings of whether or not to include this phrase in the script or that extra person in the scene and ask to please change the color of that skirt or the hair on this person, so there are plenty of opportunities to discuss a slight hue change.  
• Creative agency composes a casting document with detailed descriptions about each actor and reviews with the client. Modifications are made and client approves the final version. 
• Creative agency puts together a detailed document that includes casting specs, props, potential directors for review, budget, and other details, and shares with client.
• Creative agency, client, and chosen production company have a meeting to review all aspects of the ad including the shooting board, casting, props, wardrobe, and setting. 
• Creative agency, client and chosen production company hold another meeting to review the casting to select the final actors for the role. I’ve heard everything from “too sexy or not sexy enough” to “too overweight,” “too bald,” and yes, even “too dark.” This is the reality of show business and actors should be used to it. Auditions can be humiliating, but everyone has a responsibility to choose the right face and talent to effectively convey the message and resonate with the target audience. 

Can you count to see how many chances the client (in this case, Acura) would’ve had to see and approve the casting spec document?

At the end of the day, the brand is responsible for depicting actors that represent the demographic of their target audience. They rely on their creative agency to help them procure this. If an actor can’t handle rejection, then he or she shouldn’t be in show business. It comes with the job. Stop using race as an excuse for situations that didn’t exactly go your way. 

As for Acura, I get you. You need to maintain a positive public appearance, bla bla bla, which is why you apologized. But you’re kidding yourself if you think that you fooled everyone. 

Best and worst types of Tweets

According to a research study by Paul André of Carnegie Mellon University, Michael Bernstein of MIT and Kurt Luther of Georgia Institute of Technology, Twitter users consider only 36% of Tweets to be “worth reading.” Considering the fact that each Twitter user is worth $71.43, it’s important to understand the nuts and bolts of the content supporting this lucrative venture. 

Biggest time wasters at work

Despite it looking like an ad for cloud-based services, there’s something to be said about this infographic. I know I’ve wasted much of my time in the past trying to schedule meetings. 

How to fascinate: know your triggers to offer the best you possible

Recently, I discovered a gem. She’s smart, sassy and charismatic. Her name is Sally Hogshead and she’s here to show you how to fascinate. 

Sally is the creator of the “Fascinate System” and author of Fascinate. I’ve been following her work for a while and was one of the first 100,000 to take her original F-Score test. It’s a really cool system she devised to help us figure out our strengths, use our personal attributes to influence others and offer our best selves to the world.

According to the test, I’m driven primarily by Passion, followed by Prestige. This means that I’m “expressive, intuitive, social, impulsive and enthusiastic” along with being “ambitious, detail-oriented, recognized, uncompromising and focused.”

Well, duh! I’ve been an account person in advertising for most of my career.

Sally defines this combination as The Talent, which is expressive, stylish and visually oriented. Let’s just say, I identify with this. Lots.  

Take the test and see how you perform!

How Instagram inspired me to learn to code: Day 1

It’s been less than 48 hours since the announcement of Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram broke, yet it feels like old news already. The story has inundated news feeds, Twitter streams, major media portals, and conversations with family and friends. By now, the world has had time to react with everything from predictive analyses, praise and angry rants and raves, as users dread the uncertain future of the little app that could, especially given Facebook’s less-than-admired past with FriendFeed and Gowalla. 

One good thing to come from this whirlwind is a story published on TNW today which talks about how Instagram’s CEO, Kevin Systrom, has no formal engineering training. That’s right. The CEO of the $1 billion app is a self-taught programmer. In fact, he was a marketer who taught himself to code by night.

Needless to say, I was impressed. I’m a marketing person who has always been intrigued by programmers. They sit there in front of their black screens while reading and writing in pretty colors. When they get together, they speak in tongues that I can’t comprehend. They code vigorously through the night, as fast as their tired little fingers can put up with, and then welcome the breaking daylight with a masterful creation that combines logic, ingenuity and aesthetic endowment. And they become millionaires. 

Damnit, I want a taste. I’d like a peek into this world. I want to learn what it’s about. More importantly, for non-programmers like myself, programming is shifting from a nice-to-have to a desired or even required skill, to varying degrees. I’ve witnessed this momentum in job posts and have experienced it first-hand in digital projects where my lack of knowledge on the subject has seriously impaired me and my communications with my development team. It’s a skill that is becoming as important as reading, math and science, and schools are starting to catch on, incorporating it into their core curriculum. To substantiate this, just last month, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg even vowed to start learning how to code. Luckily for him and for the rest of us, there’s CodeAcademy, which brings me to the purpose of this post. 

After reading about Instagram’s CEO’s night-time rendezvous with code, I was inspired. I have decided to learn to code with the help of CodeAcademy. The language I will be learning is Javascript, dubbed as “the language of the web.”

My adventure began today, when I embarked upon my first lesson. I learned the basics, some of which made sense and some of which did not. As I struggled through the exercises, it became obvious to me that as with any language, I will only learn through repetition and immersion. The good news is that I made it all the way through 42 exercises, earning a badge and points to boot. Not sure what the points are for, but they’ll fill in for stickers. I’m a sucker for positive reinforcement.

I’m excited to see how this turns out. I don’t have a purpose other than to learn and challenge myself to an exercise in focus, discipline and creativity. 

Tomorrow, I’ll work on my first project. Wish me luck!

BRIC Internet users prefer text to email for retail promotions in higher numbers than in developed countries

A March report from Ipsos claims that 75% of Internet users worldwide preferred receiving retail promotions via email over text. The UK and US had the largest percentage of users choosing email over text. However, in BRIC countries, the gap between email and text preference is considerably less. 

This presents an opportunity for marketers who wish to capitalize on the widespread usage of mobile tehnology in these emerging markets. 

What does this study indicate about the market conditions in these countries? Is it a matter of culture or technology availability?