Earlier this week, 600 Black advertising employees signed an open letter to the ad industry calling for change. With the letter, agency employees call for agencies to make a commitment to improving Black representation at agencies as well as to publicly release diversity data, among other actions. It’s unclear how agencies will respond. "I’ve always been like, ‘I can take that, I can deal,'" said one Black strategist at a holding company agency, but now after seeing his agency's response to recent events, he is contemplating leaving the business altogether. Read more below.

• Agency employees, fed up with the lip-service or inaction of agencies when it comes to true diversity and inclusion, are trying to push for change from the bottom up.
• For Digiday+ members, the rank-and-file in media organizations aren't waiting for change; they're forcing it directly.
• The staggered nature in which lockdown restrictions have been eased means location-targeting has become a key priority for advertisers as they look to drive customers to stores that are actually open for business.
• "Agencies say they’re working faster with fewer people, turning a project around in four days rather than four weeks," said a publishing executive. "I don’t know if that’s just PR."
• Networks have the inventory available to make up for prior delivery shortcomings, but they have to get advertisers to agree.