Get over the fear of getting it wrong - or keep not getting it right

I’m back at Cannes Festival of Creativity after a few years away and this feels like a good time for reflection.?I have always seen so much potential in the Festival– time out of our day to day work where we can come together to explore how we, as advertisers, can use our collective power to have a measurable and meaningful impact on the world we work in. I have had the privilege to be part of this firsthand. First in 2017, being part of the launch of Unstereotype Alliance, with Mars being a founding member and then in 2019, ?representing Mars, as part of?The Lionshare’s Share Fund,?which won the?SDG Lion Grand Prix?for helping make a?lasting impact on biodiversity and animal conservation.?These are just two powerful examples of how creativity can unlock action to drive positive change.

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How else can creativity drive positive change? Through representation. That is why in 2018, Mars began a partnership with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media (GDI) to measure our global representation of women in our advertising. Measurement is key to progress; it holds us to account. We were one of the first global businesses to measure every single ad we make across the world. ?Partnerships like GDI and Unstereotype Alliance, have been fundamental to keeping us accountable and to look at creativity through the lens of fair representation and removing bias.

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This week Mars has published the findings of this year’s audit and I am heartened by the results – we’re making positive progress to represent the diversity of the audiences who enjoy our ads. Progress that has come from systemic change – this is more than changing a casting brief; this is change in front of the camera, behind the camera, in our agencies, in our teams and in every step of our creative process. There is always more work to be done, and I personally won’t rest until we have full representation. But it has been wonderful to see a real step change with an increase of women in our advertising to 45% of characters, up 11 percentage points since 2018.

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It is not easy to make change, it can be slow, it can be scary and it doesn’t always go right!. To the 65% of marketeers out there who are afraid of getting it wrong - (source: Unstereotype Alliance). ?I have one thing to say - we all “get it wrong”. In an era when a misplaced piece of content can go viral within seconds, it’s only human that marketeers are cautious to move outside their comfort zone. But we need to be bold, creative, and take risks to achieve our shared goal: to reflect the beautiful reality and diversity of the countries and communities that we operate in. Fear leads to inertia. Inertia will lead to us telling the same story, and homogeneity is the enemy of creativity and progress.

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At Mars we say “Acts not Ads” and the depth an organization goes to about representation, in its actions, really matters. It can’t be about ticking boxes; it must go broader and deeper into the brands and across the impact of that organization. At Mars, our targets on gender representation are ?part of Mars Full Potential platform, aimed at advancing gender equality in workplaces, the marketplace and communities where we operate.?Within this initiative, I was proud to be part of the team that lead the #HereToBeHeard global listening study last year, which revealed 80% of women believe ending systematic discrimination and harmful gender stereotypes is key to women reaching their full potential. This work matters.

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Diverse representation is not something we can accomplish as individual businesses, but when we come together our collective action can make a real difference. By being transparent with these results, we hope this might encourage our industry peers to measure their own advertising, so we can collectively work towards a world where advertisements represent each one of us and are free of damaging stereotypes.

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Listen, Learn and Do More.

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Read more about Mars’ progress at Mars.com