After more than a dozen employees in Minneapolis-based Periscope left yesterday to protest the response of parent company Quad / Graphics to its efforts to tackle the country’s current racial struggle, the rest of the agency has joined them.
Today, Periscope released a “Declaration of Independence” announcing that the remaining members of the agency are “marching in solidarity,” since “we no longer have confidence in the ability of our interim President to lead our agency and represent our values.”
The interim president named in the statement is Eric Ashworth, executive vice president of Quad-product and market strategy, and president of agency solutions. He intervened after former President Liz Ross left the agency in January.
Periscope employees say Quad / Graphics, including Ashworth and CEO Joel Quadracci, made repeated attempts to undermine the agency’s racial injustice initiatives, including preventing the company from using the term “Black Lives Matter” in any of their statements and prevented them from supporting and sharing posts from any company that uses that term.
“As an agency, we have prided ourselves on our fierce independence,” the statement continues (reprinted in full below). “Since our acquisition, we have lost that independence. Today we are claiming it. “
The statement ends with the words that until now, the agency could not use publicly: “Black Lives Matter.”
Quad / Graphics, based in Sussex, Wisconsin, announced in late 2018 that it would acquire Periscope for $ 132 million as part of its bid to expand its marketing capabilities after creating a name in the printing industry. The deal ended in January 2019. This year, Quad was ranked 16th on the Ad Age list of the world’s largest agency companies and 21st on its list of the world’s largest consolidated agency networks.
According to Periscope Group Chief Strategy Officer and 600 & Rising President Nathan Young, one of the employees he left yesterday, the agency had an all-hands meeting last night that lasted approximately three hours. At the beginning of the meeting, Quad CEO Joel Quadracci addressed the group and gave what Young says was a “corporate apology”. He apologized for things no one was looking for an apology for: ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t move faster. I’m sorry I didn’t do enough and 13 of your employees felt they had to leave. “
Young says he directly confronted the group about a previous conversation of more than an hour they had and said: “I told you how painful it was for your employees of color that you took this stance, and for me personally as a black man, that I had than removing ‘Black Lives Matter’ from something I did. He doesn’t retain the water that it would take him so long to respond to this problem when one of his employees said it to his face. ”
After Quadracci closed the session, Young says the entire agency stayed on the call until well after midnight, during which everyone made the decision on the fly and drafted their statement.
“What happened last night was the most shocking thing I did in my early days here,” he says. Young joined the agency in March as part of Periscope’s leadership review designed to “provide vendors with a preferred alternative to the agency model.” “
“I think we found our sense of purpose again and when we all get back to work, we will be on a mission to do a better, more impactful and bold job,” says Young. “A fire has been lit below us and we are going to see a difference in terms of the work we do, the customers we select and our commitment to the values we hold dear.”
The Periscope agency leadership added in a separate statement that “we support these employees and their desired outcome. The reasons behind their actions reflect our beliefs and culture at Periscope.” While dropouts may cause “disruption to our work, we believe the day is necessary for us to reaffirm our values and our commitment to real change, not only for ourselves but for our community at large,” the statement continued.
“As a white leader and creative leader, it was a little scary what Nathan and the others were bringing, but it’s time to say yes right now and time to listen,” says Peter Nicholson, creative director at Periscope. “Part of the problem for us has been speed: how fast are you willing to do things, commit yourself, and Nathan’s inherent character is going fast. That’s why he’s capable of making such a quick impact.”
The agency will return to work on Monday when a new president, Cari Bucci Hulings, officially begins her role. She previously served as president of MARC USA. “Many of us have spoken with Cari and we are confident that she will endorse what we said and guide us through this transformation,” says Young.
Following the release of the Declaration of Independence this morning, Quad / Graphics came out with a response to recent events.
“Our integrated marketing agency Periscope in Minneapolis has witnessed first-hand the nation’s awakening to persistent and systemic racism,” Quadracci said in the statement. “In recent days, our colleagues at Periscope have made it clear that we as a company do not act with the urgency, transparency and sensitivity required in this important social problem, and we agree. Quad can and will do better as we go on this journey together. Unfortunately, we are late in communicating our position, so today I want to unequivocally confirm that Black Lives Matter and apologize for any pain it may have caused to our employees, customers and others for not having explicitly stated this fact earlier. Sorry.”
Quadracci also said the company will address the demands set by Periscope employees yesterday and “will support Periscope’s desire for freedom of expression, release Periscope’s complete and accurate diversity data, and demand diversity and inclusion training for all. Quad leaders and managers. ” He added that the training will be extended to all employees.
The company also stated that it is reissuing Periscope diversity data with additional details as requested by employees yesterday. “Originally, we published data on the 1,100 employees that make up our Agency Solutions group, of which Periscope is an integral part,” Quadracci said. “However, as requested, we provide a specific breakdown for Periscope. We respect the criticism and are responding to it.”
“I know that not everyone will see it this way, but I think Quad is listening and acting,” says Nicholson. As agency leaders, “It is our responsibility, and we have failed a bit in the past few days to protect Periscope and remind Quad of what makes him special here, what needs to be done. I think we have taken that seriously and now can move forward. “
See the full Periscope statement below.
Declaration of Independence
For four weeks, Quad’s leadership has prevented Periscope’s leadership and staff from expressing our beliefs as an agency and taking the urgent steps necessary to address systemic racism.
June 4 [Quad/Graphics president and CEO] Joel Quadracci issued a video statement saying that the murder of George Floyd and the resulting protests were a “wake-up call” and that “it won’t improve until people like me, in my position, think we do a lot.” To address the problem, understand that a lot is not enough. “He vowed to do more and do better. Days later, he struck out the words Black Lives Matter from a statement drafted by Periscope for publication.
We don’t know why Quad’s leaders took the position that we couldn’t publish the words Black Lives Matter. We learn that it was because Black Lives Matter is too closely related to the removal of police funds, and that making that statement is derogatory to law enforcement officers. We disagre. We hear it was because Quad is a publicly-traded company that cannot make political statements. We disagree, and so do hundreds of other publicly traded companies.
Black Lives Matter is not a political statement, it is a fact. And denying that the basic fact, for whatever reason, is not only wrong, is morally reprehensible.
Yesterday, 13 of our staff left in protest to defend what they believe. Today, the rest of the agency leaves in solidarity with them, as we no longer have confidence in the ability of our interim President to lead our agency and represent our values.
As an agency, we have prided ourselves on our fierce independence. Since our acquisition, we have lost that independence. Today we are claiming it.
We will never again compromise our values as an agency so that our parent company feels comfortable. Your actions and inaction have had an irreversible impact on our colleagues of color and we regret that we have not taken stronger action earlier to correct this error.
On Monday, our new President Cari Bucci Hulings will assume the unenviable position of leading an agency that is deeply wounded and suspicious of the administrative decisions of our parent company. She has the full support of all Periscope employees, including the 13 who left yesterday. We are hopeful that Monday will mark a new chapter for Periscope: one in which we move from doing things that people love and start doing better.
Black lives matter.
