The Adcolor® industry coalition partners with GLAAD to create and present the first-ever Advocate Award

Ad agency visionaries Laurence Boschetto, CEO & president of Draftfcb and Aaron Walton, co-founder of Walton | Isaacson, are the 2011 recipients of the inaugural Advocate Award. Boschetto and Walton will be honoured at the fifth annual ADCOLOR Awards and Industry Conference to be held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, September 16-17.

“The ADCOLOR Industry Coalition was founded to shine a spotlight on people and organizations that are dedicated to diversity and providing a voice for those who are often unrecognised and underrepresented in our industry,” says Tiffany R. Warren, founder of ADCOLOR, The ADCOLOR Awards & Industry Conference and senior vice president, chief diversity officer for Omnicom Group Inc. “We are therefore honoured and proud to partner with GLAAD to present this new awards category designed to uplift those whose work in turn uplifts and gives a voice to the gay and lesbian community.”

“Throughout their careers, Laurence and Aaron have both set the standard for advertising and marketing efforts that embrace diversity and creativity,” said Mike Thompson, Acting President of GLAAD. “These honourees show first hand that including our community in campaigns not only impacts the bottom line, but sends an important message about the contribution of LGBT people to the American cultural fabric to consumers and other corporations.”

Registration for the 2011 ADCOLOR Awards and Industry Conference is now open. Log on to www.adcolor.org for complete registration information.

The 2011 ADCOLOR & Industry Conference is presented by The ADCOLOR Industry Coalition and sponsored by Google, Microsoft Advertising, DIAGEO, GLAAD, The One Club, Publicis USA, Pepsico, The American Advertising Federation, BBDO, CNN, Omnicom Group, ADWEEKMEDIA, 4A’s, The Advertising Club of NY, Arnold Worldwide, Deutsch, Draftfcb, GTM, Inc., Iced Media, McCann Worldgroup, RAPP, The Results Driven Agency, Ruder Finn Multicultural & Image Marketing, SBS Studios LLC, Sonicbids.com, TBWAChiat Day, Time Warner and Wieden + Kennedy.

Laurence Boschetto

Laurence Boschetto is the CEO & president of Draftfcb, a global advertising agency network. Mr. Boschetto assumed this role in February 2009, after serving as the president and chief operating officer of Draftfcb since June 2006.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Boschetto was vice president and corporate advertising director at Manufacturers Hanover Trust. From there, he served as executive vice president of account services and strategic planning at Edwin Bird Wilson. He was a founding member of Adler Boschetto Peebles, which was acquired by Draft in 1997. Boschetto, a proponent of developing data analytic systems, then served as the general manager of Draft’s New York office until Draft merged with Foote, Cone & Belding in June, 2006, to form Draftfcb.

A native of Boston, Boschetto received his B.A. and M.B.A. from Iona College in New York. Mr. Boschetto was elected to the board of directors of the American Advertising Federation in 2008. He also serves on the advisory board of the Coalition for the Homeless and supports the First Step program, which offers employment to women who have lost their homes.

“It is an honour to be recognized by ADCOLOR and GLAAD for this inaugural award. To me, it represents my long-held belief that people are people, and prejudice of any kind cannot be tolerated,” said Laurence Boschetto, CEO and president of Draftfcb. “While there is still much work to be done, I will continue to fight for inclusion for people of all colors, religions and sexual orientations in the ad industry and beyond. It is not merely our business responsibility, it is our business obligation to create a climate that embraces and celebrates diversity because it helps us all elevate our performance.”

Aaron Walton

Aaron Walton is co-founder of Walton | Isaacson (W|I), a full service advertising agency, with offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Tokyo. His boundless creativity and strategic acumen have made him one of the most admired executives throughout advertising, brand marketing and the entertainment industry. Walton has just been honoured with the advertising and marketing industry’s prestigious ADCOLOR® Award for Lifetime Achievement and was selected by Out magazine as one of the “100 Most Compelling People of 2010.”

“I’m grateful to both ADCOLOR and GLAAD for this honour, and remain humbled by the tremendous accomplishments that people in the LGBT community have made to the advertising industry”, said Aaron Walton Co-Founder, Walton Isaacson. “For decades, our community has shared our talent and humanity with the world, without really being able to share who we are as human beings. This award acknowledges the vital role that LGBT executives play across many disciplines in the advertising industry (including creative, account, production and finance). For me, this honor is further validation that our agency’s focus on diversity has given us a strategic advantage and compelled our clients to face the world the way we want the world to face us: with honestly, creativity and a focus on extending the communication message to broader consumer segment.”

Walton’s ability to tap into entertainment and pop culture in order to achieve corporate marketing objectives and enduring resonance with consumers has led him to forge some of the most successful, high-profile partnerships between iconic popular entertainers (including Michael Jackson, Reba McIntire, Diddy, Ricky Martin and Whitney Houston) and blue chip brands, including Pepsi, AT&T, Frito-Lay, Toyota and Caesars Entertainment.

Walton began his career as a marketing executive with the Pepsi-Cola Company in Purchase, New York. He joined Pepsi-Cola as a marketing analyst and was quickly promoted to brand management for the Pepsi and Mountain Dew Brands. Walton’s resounding knowledge of the entertainment industry and pop culture proved invaluable to a company that was making huge competitive gains through its identification with popular music. He soon became Entertainment Marketing Manager for Pepsi and developed the entertainment marketing strategy for the entire company.

Walton has received numerous advertising and creative awards. Under his leadership, his agency was named Southern California’s Minority “Supplier Of The Year” for their work with Toyota Motor Sales Lexus Division in both 2010 and 2011. Walton is a board advisor for the HollyRod Foundation, which is dedicated to providing compassionate care to those living with Autism and Parkinson’s disease.

Born in 1961, Walton grew up in Massachusetts and attended Babson College in Wellesley, MA. In 1983, he received a Bachelor of Science Degree with a double major in Management/Organisational Behaviour and Communications. As just one of two African-American students in his graduating class, Walton was elected student body president in 1982, and recently completed his appointed term as a Trustee at the college.