Two New Agencies Seek to Support Underrepresented Industry Talent

Amid the overwhelming number of new agencies launching post-Covid, two newly hatched shops are carving out their respective niches by focusing on underrepresented industry talent. Ad veterans Tito Melega and Ricardo "Brad' Correia are introducing HUSTLE, a cloud-based creative collective comprised of more than 120 workers from 24 countries. Their approach seeks to recruit Black, female, Hispanic and LGBTQ+ backgrounds. This is achieved via partnerships with Concreates, which supports formerly incarcerated creative men and women. The Raising Two-Fifths organization, which helps mothers in advertising. And the “The Blackboard,” an African nonprofit pairing HUSTLE’s talent with young students for mentorship opportunities. It isn't easy to increase agency diversity The two founders themselves come from more traditional agency paths. Correia has over 25 years of experience at some of the top shops in Brazil and Canada such as Y&R, JWT, Mood/TBWA, Cheil and the Ford bespoke shop GTB. Melega is the former Global CCO for all Ford Motor Company’s advertising, marketing and content. He’s led the creation and execution over the last decade while leading and mentoring cross-functional teams across North America, LATAM, EMEA and APAC. Melega and Correia became colleagues and friends after working together for Ford advertising, including developing the insight that one of the main disturbances for car passengers is car sickness. From helping to find work to hiring them HUSTLE was born during the pandemic when the two founders watched as 35,000 layoffs, themselves included, hit the industry. Some of the most experienced people in advertising were suddenly out of work, Correia told Adweek. They saw an opportunity to pair award-winning, but now unemployed talent with work projects. They originally started a platform called ACTvertising that recruited 20 top creative professionals from 11 countries to help them find new job opportunities. “It was because of the encouragement from this team of first Hustlers who were trying to help their peers—and the momentum and desire for a simpler, impact-focused agency—that we kept on building,” he said. Sparked by this momentum and desire for a simpler, impact-focused agency, they evolved their initial vision to now introduce HUSTLE. “I always wanted to have my own shop and thought that it could be the right time to do it at the beginning of the pandemic,” Correia said. “I never wanted ‘my’ agency to be like any other, but it had to transform people’s lives. Consumers, marketers, employees and my own as an employer.” HUSTLE’s network serves as its key advantage, he said. “Our diverse talent force isn’t just genuinely agile and competitive, they’re pioneering a new approach to team building,” Correia said. For example, to select talent to work on a music startup, HUSTLE tapped the creative minds of actual on-staff musicians, die-hard music fans and DJs. Similarly, for one health and lifestyle client, the head of strategy had previously run her own wellness center. “We’re a global network of top-tier doers with one thing in common—purpose,” Correia added. Inaugural clients include VisionRave, Rising United, and OSET Institute. “We chose to work with brands and agencies looking to create work that has a positive impact in people’s lives, and who are wanting to do it through meaningful brand actions and not just ads, though we are really good at making ads too,” Correia said. Inspired by the drag community Separately, agency veterans Jacobi Mehringer and Cory Mickle were also fed up with the creative industry’s lack of representation for Queer, Black, Brown and female talent that they are launching in-house, a collective made up with industry workers as “diverse as the people who consume media,” Mehringer said in a statement. The shop’s pitch is the ability to create “anything,” including editing, directing, strategy and photography, without going for outside help. “This way we bring the cost down,” Mehringer said. “We're tired of the inflated cost of creative caused by industry silos that require you to outsource your work instead of making it in-house. Big ad-agencies are so expensive when you tack on PR agencies, edit houses, directors, casting agencies that it makes it near impossible for smaller or start-up brands to afford creative, made worse by the pandemic.” The agency’s name itself was inspired by drag houses, whose strong sense of community helps raise each other up, Mehringer added.