How Dwyane Wade Is Closing Marketing's Diversity Gap

NBA legend Dwyane Wade, considering his next move after retiring from the Miami Heat in 2019, decided to help marketers connect with diverse audiences. Doing so would fill a void he identified from years of firsthand experience with brand partnerships during his storied playing career. Wade launched CAA AMP in January to serve as a gut check for marketers trying to reach what he calls “the new majority.” The startup, described as a “cultural strategy agency,” would “amplify voices and represent the audience that’s not often seen or heard." In the months since its debut, the collaboration with powerful Hollywood talent agency CAA has assembled a senior leadership team despite the country locking down due to Covid-19. And AMP has hit the ground running with clients, advising about a dozen marketers so far, including gaming giant EA, alcoholic beverage conglomerate Constellation Brands and Wilson Sporting Goods. That kind of swift progress might have been expected, even amid the pandemic, given its A-list principals. But this spring’s widespread Black Lives Matter protests accelerated the need for AMP's style of expertise. There’s an unprecedented spotlight on brand behavior, and consumers increasingly expect accountability and activism from corporate America and are watching carefully for missteps like cultural appropriation and performative allyship. “It just makes our mission more urgent,” Wade said. “The world we’re in today is different from January, but our goals are the same. We’re going to challenge people—which may be uncomfortable—because the [marketing] industry needs to do better.” Brands can start by learning “more than data points” about diverse consumers and connecting with them “in a way that means something real,” he said. “They need to understand the entirety of their consumers' lives and what motivates them.” Marketers have a significant role to play in the national discourse, which goes far beyond pushing products, said Wade, a bestselling author, producer and philanthropist who will be among the speakers at the upcoming Brandweek Masters Live (Wade will be speaking at the event on Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 12:10 p.m.). “We feel like any brand not empowering its audience will soon find itself playing catch-up,” he said. To that end, AMP has been guiding brands on how to speak out on racial issues and become advocates for people of color, which wasn’t baked into its original plan. “We didn’t know that allyship would need to be a service offering pre-2020,” said Arlesha Amazan, a longtime member of Wade’s CAA management team who joined AMP, which was co-founded by CAA board member Lisa Joseph Metelus. “There’s a lot of reprioritizing from brands and their ad agencies, and we’re happy to see the shift.” The team created a public service announcement this summer on behalf of CAA starring Wade, his wife and recent Adweek cover subject Gabrielle Union, Jamie Foxx, will.i.am and other celebrities calling for action after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. AMP has directed a full revamp for a sports brand and brainstormed concepts for a musical artist’s museum exhibit. The group has also been sharing cultural insights and “doing quite a bit of education” on how companies can support underrepresented communities, according to Desmond Marzette, an advertising veteran who’s leading AMP’s day-to-day activities with sports and music maven Shawn “Pecas” Costner. The executives have consulted with brands on how they should respond to the police killings of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans and, more broadly, ways to structure their social impact programs. AMP sits within CAA’s brand consulting division, whose 250 agents work with companies like Bose, Google, JPMorgan Chase and Mondelēz. AMP’s timing shows that Wade “was five pages ahead of everyone,” Costner said while pointing to the heavy lifting that still needs to be done. The group will “fight to make sure brands don’t fall into that trap of co-opting culture for some quick recognition and buzz,” Marzette said. “We are eager to help marketers find their place in the conversations around equality,” Marzette said, noting that the team takes “an inside-out mentality” with clients. “It starts with a healthy look in the mirror, and we hope to motivate and energize them.” (L. to r.) Desmond Marzette, Arlesha Amazan and Shawn 'Pecas' Costner The team behind AMP CAA AMP’s bicoastal leadership team has a six-degrees-of-Dwyane-Wade vibe. Its trio of executives, formally brought together in recent months, worked with the basketball superstar during his NBA days. They’ll now be charting the course with him for his post-playing venture. Desmond Marzette, former ad creative at Wieden+Kennedy, spent the last six years at Nike’s Jordan Brand, which he called his “dream job selling the world’s coolest shoes.” During that gig, he shepherded the Air Jordan 11 “Concord” campaign, selling a record-breaking 2 million-plus shoes in a single day, and the Cannes-winning “Re2pect” for Derek Jeter’s MLB retirement. Also on his CV is an early viral video of Kobe Bryant jumping over a speeding Aston Martin and fan-favorite Nike spots “The LeBrons” and “MVPuppets.” The born and bred Angeleno, who launched the Li-Ning “Way of Wade” campaign while at Zambezi, will head AMP’s Los Angeles operations. He jumped at the chance to join Wade’s venture, he said, so he could use his pop culture expertise “for a higher cause.” Arlesha Amazan, part of Wade’s inner circle for a decade, beginning at Wade Enterprises and continuing to CAA, was integral in building his extensive sponsor roster, which includes Gatorade, Pepperidge Farm, Stance and a landmark lifetime alliance with Chinese sporting goods company Li-Ning. Vetting the nuts and bolts of endorsements over the years sometimes meant she had to do “authentic cleanup,” she said, so the activations would “fit with who Dwyane was as an athlete and a Black man.” Taking on AMP’s growth and business development, Amazan will continue to consult with CAA’s NBA clients like Gary Harris, Udonis Haslem, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Coby White. Shawn “Pecas” Costner, a native of the Bronx, will lead AMP from his East Coast home base. The longtime music industry executive was most recently vice president of player development at Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports, where he worked with artists and athletes such as Saquon Barkley, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Todd Gurley, DJ Khaled, Meek Mill, Rihanna and CC Sabathia. Previously, Costner was at Arista, Def Jam and Elektra. He’ll also consult with CAA Sports in his new role, having worked on Wade’s Li-Ning partnership. Wade values the exec’s interpersonal skills. “He knows how to make sure the right people are in the room. He can find the right talent, cultivate the relationships and put people together,” Wade said.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

As Dwyane Wade's Agency Grows, So Does the Urgency Around Fixing Marketing's Diversity Gap

He sees CAA AMP as a brand's guide through the tough conversations needed for true inclusivity

T.L. Stanley

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T.L. Stanley