APRIL 6, 2020 |^ ADWEEK
®
14
Monique
Nelson
chair, CEO
UWG
A
s the actor delivering the voiceover in a new
Ford Escape commercial, Angela Bassett may
be the most visible black woman involved in the
production, but she’s not the only one. In fact, UWG
assembled an all-female, all-African-American cast
and crew for “Built Phenomenally,” which is more
than just an ad, Nelson says. “It’s a rallying cry.”
The “big and bold” campaign is an example of the
work UWG does for its clients, says Nelson, which
involves not only crafting the creative concepts
but also gathering talent in front of the camera and
behind the scenes (and often in the C-suite) who
represent the target demographic.
Those consumers were almost exclusively
African American when UWG was founded more
than 50 years ago, in the wake of the civil rights
movement. Over time, and with an aggressive push
from Nelson, the demo has expanded to include
Asian Americans, LGBTQ people, women, Latinx
and other diverse groups.Nelson, who bought the firm in 2012 from its
founder, Byron Lewis, says it’s UWG’s priority to
“demystify growth audiences” and look through
a psychographic lens for Ford, a 30-year client,
and others on the roster, like Coca-Cola, Colgate-
Palmolive, Home Depot and the U.S. Marines.
Though it may seem hand-in-glove for Nelson
these days, she hadn’t planned on agency life as a
career path. She’d been globe-trotting for Motorola,
helping to launch the Rokr smartphone and digging
into the then-nascent area of branded entertainment,
when she interviewed with Lewis in the mid-2000s.
Lewis, a pioneer in multicultural marketing,
offered Nelson a chance to spread her wings beyond
technology with a multifaceted gig. He also provided
an inclusive environment unlike any she’d ever seen.
“Up until that moment, I hadn’t realized how
much I was wearing my skin and my gender to work,”
she says. “I knew that wouldn’t be the case here. No
more whispers about being the ‘two-fer.’”
She helped modernize the firm in areas like digital
and mobile, leaning into data “to unearth moments
of truth,” and even updated its name from UniWorld
Group to UWG. Its mission, though, remains the
same, she says: “We identify where the soul of the
brand meets the soul of the consumer.” —Lisa LacyNandi Smythe
director,
content strategy
UWG
Nelson has been “intentional
in her support,” Smythe
says. “She has provided the
platforms for me to put myself
out there in ways I would
not have before, and now I
view professional challenges
differently. I pursue the things
on the other side of my fear.
And she reminds me that I
have an obligation to grow
into my potential, and get to a
place where I can provide real
opportunities for others.”‘Assembling an all-
female, all-African-
American cast and
crew for Ford’s “Built
Phenomenally” spot
was ‘a rallying cry.’’’
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