More Women Will Own Agencies When Our Community Supports Them

When you hear that less than one percent of advertising agencies are owned by women, what’s the first thought you have? For many, it’s either “that can’t be right!” For others, the thought is some combination of anger and frustration.

I set out on a mission last year to explore the problem through intentional conversations with other female agency owners, both private and public on the Own It podcast. These conversations were with many of the most successful females in this industry. They revealed a consistent threading of reasons the gender gap in agency ownership exists, but also potential solutions for the problem.

More than one percent of agencies will be owned by women when the current advertising community supports women leaders to be owners through mentorship, encouragement and support.

And everyone has a role to play, from the holding companies that control the larger firms, to brands, and the people (women and men) in leadership themselves. The issue has to become important to the entire industry. But it is more than putting things in place to stop it. We also have to create new behaviors to ensure the gender gap forever closes.

WHY DOES THE GENDER OWNERSHIP GAP EXIST?

One theme that emerged in asking why the problem of low female agency ownership exists is that advertising as a whole was created by and for men.?

“This industry wasn’t created by us or for us,” explained Mira Kaddoura (She/Her) , the owner of Red & Co. “There is a system that was created and it did not include us.”

For my podcast, I use the tagline, “Buying out of the boys club of advertising.” But that isn’t meant to be an innuendo or a playful joke. Advertising agency ownership is dominated by men. And I would add white men. Our issue here is akin to other examples of disenfranchised groups either not or underrepresented in the formation of the system that fails to grant them power. And like those systems, we have and continue to make progress toward a more equitable reality. But we are only beginning this specific fight to level the playing field.

“We can’t forget how deep-rooted the problem is,” said Libby Brockhoff of Odysseus Arms “I think the conversation has more of a spotlight. But that doesn’t mean work is being done. Things haven’t moved forward. There are a lot of things we can do.”

HOW CAN WE SOLVE IT?

The leading female owners in the advertising business each have different opinions on what will solve the gender gap in agency ownership. Some solutions will take buy-in from all industry stakeholders. Others ask more of the women in leadership themselves. But all ideas point in a familiar direction.

“We have to evolve the conversation and give women the courage and support so they aren’t going out on their own anymore,” explained Jean Freeman , owner of Los Angeles-based Zambezi “There’s resources. There’s people you can chat with.”

Sharon Napier , Chair of the 4A’s and founder of Partners + Napier puts some of the onus back on agency owners.

?“Make room,” she said. “Successful women in ownership will spawn a few new agencies. We have got to start grooming more women to take on this position. Also, be a connector for them, open up your network and connect people, because the more connected, we have that social capital which is so important.”

Yet others feel we all have a role to play in the solution.

Madonna Badger from Badger Agency points to the holding companies and says they should continue their recent moves to promote women.

“We are very late to the game compared to other industries,” she said. “I think the greatest change would be for the major holding companies to make a pact to have five, 10 or 20 percent of women-owned companies within their groups, so they become breeding grounds … and have funding.”

Katie Klumper at Black Glass agrees.

“My petition would be to holding companies and VC groups, to create access, to create funds,” Klumer explained “You see your high performers? Give them access to start their own thing. Some of these bigger groups need to be able to stand behind the women that show up for them every day.”

Klumper also says clients should be asking their agencies about ownership.

“If we see a lot of not just the CMOs, but the organizations, look at diversity numbers, we’re going to see change,” she said.

All of those actions will lead to another critical factor: representation.

“Representation matters and we lack examples,” said Lyn Rundell owner of HERO Marketing . “ We have to see ourselves in these positions. It shifts your brain to think, I can do this.”

“We’ve got to use our voices and recruit more people into this army,” Asmirh Davis from Majority said. “(We need) people that are serious about doing something different and value diverse perspectives.”

The good news is that we are talking about the change.

We will buy out of the boy’s club of advertising, one agency at a time. Especially if we follow the advice of one of the pioneers of female agency owners, Carol H. Williams , who advised us all,?“Believe in my possibility, and yours.”

This is the qualitative data captured in the first 9-months of Own It. We’ve recently embarked on a project to collect additional quantitative data. I look forward to sharing more on that soon.?

Join our community and conversation at untilyouownit.com.