Entertainment executives Lori J. Hall (former SVP, marketing, TV One) and Jessica D. Lane Alexander (former head of digital & social content, TV One) have officially launched Pop’N Creative, a multicultural agency focused on digital and social content creation, and experience design. A marketing collective, Pop’N Creative was born as a result of the founders’ exposure to tone deaf pitches and witnessing brands fail miserably with diverse consumers throughout the years. With a collective 25+ years of experience, Hall and Lane Alexander have set out to help brands authentically connect with highly coveted multicultural audiences.
“We’ve seen too many brands offend Black consumers in their marketing, creative and social conversations, and we know they can do better,” said Hall, Pop’N Creative co-founder and head of creative. “As a result, we are dedicated to helping brands avoid the pitfalls of marketing in a multicultural world. In particular, as brands continue to speak in support of Black Lives Matter and pledge to fight racism, we want to ensure they offer more than just lip service.”
In light of recent protests demanding an end to police brutality and racial injustice, sparked by the horrific murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks, Pop’N Creative created free directional guides–a Response Guide to Discussing Racial Injustice and an Action Guide to Dismantling Racism–to help brands craft a response that is authentic and supportive of the most recent traumatic events currently happening in the United States.
“As racism in America is an extremely nuanced and multi-layered issue, we want to remind brands this is a fight for equality and demanding institutions protect and serve Black people and our communities like they do for other communities,” said Lane Alexander, Pop’N Creative co-founder and head of digital content and marketing. “Our free response and action guides are available to any executive, small business or brand that needs them. We know attacking racism is uncomfortable, but to create change–you have to be honest, willing to do the work and open to assistance.”
Hall and Lane Alexander want brands to show Black consumers they value their lives and not just the dollars they spend. And even though racism in America is a tough and sensitive topic, they don’t want brands to be scared into silence. Brand voices must unite behind the consumers they serve and value, which is why Pop’N Creative created their free Response Guide to Discussing Racial Injustice on how to discuss and address racial injustice in America. Some brands are getting it right, but too many are getting it wrong.
For brands committed to challenging and calling out racism, the agency followed up with their free Action Guide to Dismantling Racism to encourage action, such as elevating and promoting Black employees to boardroom and upper management, committing and hiring diverse vendors and suppliers, creating and implementing real and lasting change in workplace equity, and donating money to racial justice organizations.
Pop’N Creative knows Black Americans want to spend their money with brands who genuinely care about them. Brands who speak up authentically during this tough time will see a positive effect. Brands who don’t will be in the hot seat.
Specializing in masterful storytelling and crafting campaigns and content that give people a reason to genuinely laugh, cry or share, Pop’N Creative is also obsessed with the intersection of pop culture, marketing and technology. The agency’s approach is to use these as tools to build strong brands people want to like, tweet, text and talk about. A sampling of their work includes: Freeform’s original social series Black People Like… and the original digital and social series Unsung Live.
Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died
Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.
Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.
"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.
Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.
His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.
Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.
"Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More