Conditions appeared to reach an all-time high state of desperation when the President and CEO/Vice President solicited feedback from the employees around the company for ideas to help his ailing marketing team.
I immediately recognized this as an opportunity to accomplish two important mandates well-known to management around supplier management. One was to save the company money, and the other was to engage suppliers from the Women- and Minority-owned Businesses (WMBEs) sector.
The Carol H. Williams Advertising Agency (CHWA) is a highly successful ad agency that has clients such as Walt Disney, Major League Baseball, the US Army, General Motors, Proctor and Gamble, Allstate, etc. They are responsible for some of the more memorable commercials on television.
I had earlier learned of this agency after researching the Women- and Minority- owned Businesses (WMBEs) classification to expand our supplier base.
Supplier diversity was a mandate by the US Government and Kodak was duty- bound to comply. Supplier diversity fell within my realm of responsibility. It was also a directive from the VP of Eastman Kodak Company, who stated in a meeting that “we” needed to do a better job reaching the African American constituency. I was present at that meeting; his words were clear and I took immediate action. In my judgment, the Carol H. Williams Advertising Agency was the best in the business at helping their clients do that.
I contacted the Agency and soon thereafter met with Robert Brown, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Carol H. Williams Advertising. At the onset, I was quite candid about the state of affairs at Kodak. Mr. Brown acknowledged that he was well aware of the problems that Kodak was facing; however, he listened very closely as I presented an inside voice. After several meetings at his office and over lunch, we agreed that there was enormous potential for a working partnership and we should develop a strategy to move things forward.
We planned a preliminary meeting at Kodak to essentially introduce ourselves and discuss general marketing projects and capabilities. The team representing Kodak included the CFO/COO, a marketing manager and myself.
Robert Brown, a 6’5” African American male, approximately 60 years old, was well-dressed and appeared very self-assured as he approached the glass double-doors of the Eastman Kodak Conference Room, where we were awaiting his arrival. He carried no briefcase, no notepad—not even a cell phone. And Mr. Brown arrived alone.
After the introductions, Mr. Brown sat at the head of the table. He commenced with a review of the Carol H. Williams Advertising Agency’s history, which revealed that the owner and CEO of the agency, Carol H. Williams, coined one of the most memorable tag lines in the history of marketing: “Secret, strong enough for a man, but made for a woman.”
Needless to say, the meeting was off to a very good start, as we all were very familiar with that well-known tag line. We were also impressed by the agency’s history and clients they provided services for.
Even more impressive was the overview of the agency’s capabilities, their philosophies and their approach to helping their clients communicate exactly what they want to their target audience and more.
Mr. Brown also delivered the most eloquent presentation of its kind that I had ever witnessed. To say that he was polished and professional would be a gross understatement. It was much more profound than that, and at a completely inimitable level. It was an experience, and I believe the rest of the team realized that we were in the presence of a special communicator. As he spoke, we heard exactly what he wanted us to hear, we felt exactly how he wanted us to feel, and we believed exactly what he wanted us to believe.
It quickly became very clear why Mr. Brown showed up alone. He didn’t need a 10-person team presentation to try to impress us with their technology or promises of how their resources would be devoted to our needs or what their individual backgrounds were or the specialized roles each fulfilled on the team.
Instead, Mr. Brown simply made believers out of each one of us in that conference room. I have seen dozens of presentations in my career, but his was one that I will never forget.
Mr. Brown earned his BS in Marketing from Ohio State University, and his MBA in Marketing from Clark Atlanta University. He is also the former owner of a Sports Marketing Company that created a substantial client list, which included Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, the US Olympics, Oakland A’s, Oakland Raiders, and Streetball Partners. The business had a successful 15 year existence.
After the meeting, I contacted the President and CEO/Vice President Eastman Kodak to update him about the meeting. He was actually on my invite for the initial meeting but did not attend or acknowledge the invite.
He asked me if the CHWA would be willing to agree to certain conditions for a possible partnership. I saw this as a very positive response and I assured him that based on what I had recently learned about CHWA they seemed eager and would be very flexible.
I followed up with Robert Brown to find out his thoughts about the inquiry. And only a few moments after I sent an email to him he replied with an unequivocal yes.
I looped back once again to the President and CEO/Vice President Eastman Kodak with the update, at which time he directed me to contact his executive assistant to set up a meeting to include him and Mr. Brown.
Needless to say, I was delighted to receive that feedback. It signified a preliminary step toward what would be a giant leap forward in breathing new life into near-dead marketing.
It would also be historic for Eastman Kodak and Kodak Gallery. Kodak Gallery had no current, and perhaps never in its history had any, African American suppliers, and the same might be true for the parent company, Eastman Kodak. However, now it appeared that we were on the threshold of a partnership with CHWA which could easily be considered among the most significant in Kodak’s history.
The date was set. Before the meeting, I remained in close contact with Robert Brown and we exchanged information that we thought would be useful at the meeting. This was a very exciting time for me, and as cool as Mr. Brown was, it was quite obvious that he was extremely motivated as well.
However, unexpectedly, just days before the meeting was to take place, it was pushed back – rescheduled, according to the President and CEO’s executive secretary. There was no explanation. I advised Robert Brown of the change in plans and told him I would wait to hear back about a revised date for the meeting.
About a week later, I contacted the executive secretary again to find out if there were any plans to reschedule the meeting. Several days later, she replied saying simply that the President and CEO/Vice President Eastman Kodak needed to reschedule due to other obligations. At that point it seemed quite clear that he simply changed his mind about the meeting, if in fact he ever intended to have one at all.
After about two weeks, I spoke with Robert Brown for what would be the final update. I was regretful and completely embarrassed and ashamed at the way our President and CEO, Vice President Eastman Kodak blatantly disrespected Mr. Brown and the CHWA. I felt that for all the effort, theirs and mine, and the concessions that CHWA agreed to for a possible partnership, I had no rationale to turn him away. But Mr. Brown understood my position, and what’s more, based on Kodak’s history, he likely surmised Kodak’s as well.
Mr. Brown, true to form throughout the process, remained classy, and we ended our conversation amicably with his words: Kodak just isn’t ready.
Mr. Brown was correct. And as much as many deem that the world has changed notably over the years, one would be exceptionally naïve to believe that corporate America is not still rife with examples of inclusion based simply on one’s ethnicity, and outright exclusion based on one’s ethnicity, and gender.
Kodak had a long tradition as one of the major culprits in these heinous disproportions.