We love Adland’s move toward more diversity.

We’ve been in the business long enough to remember when casting for a campaign meant having to walk the weird tightrope of diversity. Some looks or “types” were simply assumed, while others were completely taboo. And don’t even get us started on token casting.

Thankfully, there has been a shift toward real, this-is-what-America-looks-like inclusion in advertising and, if you’ve been paying attention to commercials lately, that shift is in turbo mode.

Same-sex couples. Mixed-race families. People with disabilities. More and more, industries and brands are portraying their customers in a way that truly reflects our country today—major brands like Nissan, Hyundai, Rocket Mortgage and Frontier just to name a few. And we don’t think this is just some cynical marketing ploy to win goodwill. This is real. And it feels like it’s here to stay.

Congrats, Adland! Keep it going. Now, about getting more diversity in your creative departments…

I tried to be one and became the other.

In her essential new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson devotes a chapter to the distortions of the term alpha male. I can’t recommend the book enough, nor can I thank Ms. Wilkerson enough for the insights contained in its thirteenth chapter. Without giving too much away—because I strongly urge that you read the book—it makes clear that true alphas “command authority through their calm oversight of those who depend on them.” They’re not the chest-beating, order-barking, man beasts we’ve conditioned ourselves to believe.

I was that beast more often than I care to admit.

I found myself in positions of authority, positions I wasn’t fully equipped to command, and instinctually raised my voice, slammed my fist and belittled those beneath me when I sensed they didn’t see things my way. Once, I replied to an email with, “Because I’m the fucking ECD that’s why!” I would morph into the classic “ad agency asshole” whenever I felt disrespected, or worse, threatened that I would be outed as an impostor and not the creative machine everyone proclaimed me to be.

In closing the chapter, Ms. Wilkerson writes that the “great tragedy among humans” is our continued practice of elevating people to positions of power not because of “innate leadership traits” but because they possess qualities we wrongly associate with the alpha image. Time and time again, humankind is “deprived of the benefit of natural alphas who might lead the world with the compassion and courage that are the hallmarks of a born leader…”

If you are a hiring manager or have the authority to promote people within your organization, look beyond the usual suspects and find those self-assured souls who earn respect with quiet grace. They are the real alphas among us.

Glen

The unbridled independence of family-run companies.

Our very first client is a small, family-run company with national accounts. We were working on a project even before we had our own agency logo or website. The project didn’t make us rich and it isn’t going to make them or us famous overnight, but none of that matters, because it was fun, and fun is why we started Pie Fight.

There were no investors. No board of directors. No copy testing, focus groups or layers of approval. It’s just a father and his sons who asked for irreverent humor and were stoked to get it. They’re the only ones with skin in the game, so they have total autonomy and creative control. It made the process seamless and enjoyable.

Could they have been a nightmare? Of course. Many family-run companies can be a house of horrors. But this easygoing group wanted a specific style of wittiness they knew we could deliver. They never felt like they were being coerced into comedy. We were all in on the same joke.

So, for all you small, family-run companies out there, keep running. Continue to have the kind of fun your unfettered freedom affords you. The world needs your levity now more than ever.

The video helping tolerant and loving Karens to reclaim their good name is the first shot across the bow from the humor-only startup.

Pie Fight, the new creative agency founded by industry veterans Francis Ball, Tom Strodel and Glen Hosking, wants to make the world laugh. In fact, humor is all it does. “People need to laugh now more than ever. And we’ve always believed humor is the most effective way in. So, funny is where we’re staking our flag,” says Strodel who serves as Pie Fight’s executive producer.

The agency was formalized in May then quickly added its first client, Wrap-It Storage, soon after. “We’re starting with a small project, which works for us because we’re a project-only shop,” says Hosking, Pie Fight’s copywriter, “But they want the brand to be lighthearted and irreverent, so they’re a perfect match.”

But it’s the sharply hilarious “Dear, Karen,” video that will really set the tone for the kind of daring work Pie Fight was born to do. In it, six real women named Karen address the bad “Karens” of the world who have damaged their good name and made life uncomfortable. “Our founding mission is to find humor in the truth, and right now, it’s very hard to be a decent and loving woman named Karen,” says Ball, Pie Fight’s design director. “The idea hit like a lightning bolt. Then it was just a matter of finding women named Karen who wanted to play with us. We’re thrilled with the result. It’s a powerful way for us to say hello to the world.”

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PDF:  PieFight_PR_082520