Serial offender Campaign Brief (along with its partner Best Ads) platforms men in the creative industry more than women with tiresome regularity. Men: when you are asked for your opinions by CB/BA, try putting a woman in your organisation forward instead.
Where Do All the Women Go? As one of the few female agency owners in Aotearoa, Billy Baxter’s article deeply resonated with me. https://lnkd.in/gWbVBx8z It highlights how our industry loses women at crucial points in their careers, often due to persistent structural barriers and cultural expectations, despite the progress we’ve made. This is something I frequently reflect on, especially when navigating the challenges of running a creative agency in a male-dominated field. In my experience, these barriers are both external and internal. We’re conditioned to believe that certain roles or ambitions "aren’t for us." We need to work harder to not only identify these roles but also support wāhine better as they rise. Often, the women aren't the loudest voices in the room. Or on social media, or in public-facing spaces. I remember being shocked seeing the 2024 Work Report from Campaign Brief a few months ago, with this spread of 20 males and no females! And let's not even start on the lack of wider diversity. I know some of these guys and they’re nice people. I also know some amazing women that could have easily been featured instead. So what kind of message does this send to the next generation of women in our industry? Even though we’ve made strides toward gender equity, clearly, we haven't come far enough. The traditional agency model doesn’t align with how many women want to work, so they opt out. I’m one of them – I opted out and started my own agency when I had a baby on the way. As an industry, we need to reshape the narrative and create environments where women can rise without compromise. It’s not just about having a seat at the table – it's about redesigning that table to be truly inclusive. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can create a more supportive industry, one where women not only stay but thrive. ? Design Assembly Billy Baxter Louise Kellerman Priya Patel Leisa Wall Lisa Fedyszyn Rob Galluzzo Tony Bradbourne Matty Burton Commercial Communications Council Campaign Brief
Ah come on now! There is some diversity of t-shirt colour in this spread at least. Not all ad men wear black t-shirts. The other elephant in the room is the lack of cultural diversity presented here.
God this spread is tone deaf
Wow. Imagine putting that spread together and not seeing the problem.
Hola Campaign Brief... I've written a thesis on this: Previous studies suggest that the challenges women face as minority creative practitioners are rooted in the ‘boys club culture’ of creative departments (Mallia & Windels, 2018; Nixon, 2003). A commitment to building diverse creative teams is recommended to enable agencies to offer clients more distinctive perspectives and unique ideas (McLeod et al., 2009; Nixon & Crewe, 2004). There are negligible differences between men and women when it comes to creative problem solving (Baer & Kaufman, 2008; Nixon, 2003). There are, however, intractable environmental and organisational biases at play. Masculine traits tend to be lauded (Klein, 2000) and there is a strong practice of male creative directors recruiting on the basis of their own success by hiring younger versions of themselves (Nixon, 2003). Yup! I was in Chile last week for the UNESCO UNITWIN in Gender, Media and ICT, meeting. I presented the findings from my research on Femvertising and The Aunties. On the global stage Australia has a LOT of work to do. We are fixing it from the ground up at RMIT University #diversity #creativity #equality
How does this keep happening in 2024? I thought people in our industry were supposed to be smart but the same mistakes keep happening time and time again.
What do you mean, lack of diversity? I see men both with AND without beards. ?
It's so boring that we still have to have this conversation. I started in advertising in the 80's and honestly it feels like nothing has changed.
The fact that it’s 2024 and we’re still having the same conversation, as lots of commenters have pointed out, is evidence of the fact that there are no real, commercially impactful consequences for discrimination. The only way this changes is for clients to refuse to work with agencies without diversity at the top, and for talented creatives (of all genders) to vote with their feet about which shops they will work at. Personally I believe showcasing all-male teams speaks of an astounding lack of creativity and original thought in itself.
Executive Creative Director | Head of Brand & Content | Image Maker - Fashion, Beauty, Retail
5 个月I ask this of the men on these pages: Does your creative department look like this? What about your leadership team? Shouldn’t every room and every page where we present our work or talk about it, reflect our world? Because it’s not just women I see missing here.