Richard Kirshenbaum must be a Libra. The man behind the moneyed television program “Creative Lunch” (a show where rich people dined on expensive lunches and expounded on creativity), has balanced himself out.
The KBS+P namesake was Friday’s WSJ Donor of the Day for creating a scholarship with the Torch program, which works with underserved New York City high school students. Camille Crawford, a freshman at Pace University, will be the first recipient of the $20,000 scholarship and summer internship at KBS+P. Congratulations Camille!
In case you missed it, the subtext here is Richard and MDC, which is also helping five additional students a year, are talking about supporting minority students. Why ?
“If you watch ‘Mad Men’ you can see how it was through the ’50s, advertising companies were almost like investment banks,” says Kirshenbaum. “As demographics shift, we need to have creative voices that are representative of these changes.”
Dear Richard you are so right! U.S. Agencies need to diversify, so that they can actually offer deep insights, while leveraging the changing cultural landscape of the United States for their clients. The ad world could use a little diversification across all disciplines from women to gender-bending Blasians.
So, um Richard? This means that you should probably take a closer look at your own staff. Over at the KBS+P website, one is able to see all of the company’s shining, happy employees. Let’s see here… There is a graphic artist and a very cute business manger, as well as a production billing coordinator and media payable manager working at the agency. All of these folks are clearly minorities. However, it’s disappointing to see that none of these people are in positions where those “creative voices” Richard was talking about would come into play.
That’s alright. We’re betting on Camille to bring a new generation of mixed-up culture to KBS+P. Right, Camille?
Do you want to support Torch? Find out more about the outstanding program here.
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