TRUE to Transculturalism.

The TRUE Agency has announced a major re-envisioning of the mission of the agency that brings its original trademarked idea of Transculturalism to the forefront. By re-focusing the agency through the lens of Transculturalism—the notion that pre-conceived boundaries of race and culture are breaking down—Wayner and Grunitzky say they are proactively responding to the changes in the marketplace and positioning TRUE to be able to effectively address the new landscape.

The TRUE Agency changes coincide, says co-founder Richard Wayner, with the publication of the European sequel to Grunitzky’s pioneering book, Transculturalism: How the World is Coming Together and with the signing of new client Natura, Brazil’s leading cosmetics company. The European edition (in French) is called Transculturalismes and will be released in Paris on April 15th by publisher Grasset.

“TRUE pioneered Transculturalism,” said Wayner, “as both a cultural movement and a tool to understand changes in marketing and communications driven by new mindsets, new media and new technology,” he further states. “Transculturalism is the future of multiculturalism and our transcultural platform allows us to aggressively respond to what clients are demanding: an integrated approach to multiculturalism and more efficient marketing strategies.”

Agency co-founder Claude Grunitzky agrees, stating that “Barack Obama’s political momentum confirms our long held belief that the United States is moving towards post-racial unity. Transculturalism is the answer, and we intend to leverage our Transcultural platform to change the dynamics of the advertising industry.”

TRUE will expand its activities in digital and interactive marketing. Most recently, TRUE received its second Effie in 2007 for the innovative, digital marketing campaign “Infiniti in Black,” which featured an interactive website with cutting-edge artists and their interpretation—in art, music and dance—of the new line-up of luxury vehicles. The campaign was noted for its effectiveness resulting in the increase of unique visitors to www.infiniti.com as well as an increase in intentions (18%) and in sales volume (17%), making Infiniti the #2 Japanese luxury-card brand among African Americans. TRUE recently added Natura, the leading Brazilian cosmetics company, to its client roster and continues to work with Countrywide Financial.

Finally, Wayner and Grunitzky have announced other changes. Wayner will resume his duties as CEO of the agency and has announced the promotion of several key executives. Tracey Clanton has been promoted to Group Account Director, Chase Conerly to Executive Creative Director and other key persons have also assumed new roles. Wayner also announced that Valencia Gayles (Co-founder and former CEO) will be leaving her full-time duties but remaining as an interim consultant and that Perry Fair (former ECD) is no longer at the agency.