Hugh Boyle and Bob Wagner have launched creative agency Doable and panel-based consumer research company Consumers with Disabilities Research Foundation (CoDi Research). The sister shops aim to improve disability representation in advertising and marketing by addressing:
- The under-representation of talent with disabilities working in advertising and marketing agencies.
- And the absence of consumers-with-disabilities research, data and insights and how this impacts the portrayal of life with a disability in advertising and marketing campaigns.
Boyle and Wagner are disabled advertising agency veterans. Boyle, who previously served in senior roles at WPP & Omnicom agencies, is a trans-tibial amputee. Wagner held senior roles at Omnicom agencies, began his career on the client side with Procter & Gamble and Campbell’s Soup, and has been hearing impaired since birth.
Together, the two bring a unique perspective to marketing for and with the disabled community. Boyle said, “Becoming disabled in my early 50’s was a dramatic & unexpected life change. But it gave me a new and very different worldview that I was immediately compelled to do something positive with. Overlaying the challenges of my new life as amputee on 30 years pre-disability agency experience really set the foundations for these two important companies”.
Wagner said, “For most of my career I have tried to conceal my hearing impairment – with somewhat limited success. I understand disabled consumers not wanting to stand out and the importance and value of meeting their needs on their own terms.”
Doable and CoDi launch with three key relationships in place:
- As a network agency of Worldwide Partners Inc.
- In co-operative partnership with The Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC).
- And with launch support & office-space from Dallas based Moroch Partners.
The companies launch at a time when one-in-five working aged adults in North America live with a disability and the same group as consumers hold disposable income of $480 billion.
Doable and CoDi Research are headquartered in Dallas, but work with talent with disabilities across the country.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More