Diversity is very much a hot topic issue amongst almost every industry in the world and is none more so than in the traditional boy's club that is adland. Of course, there have been some genuine leaps forward in recent years, with much of the antiquated misogyny that had taken root in the upper echelons of the industry being fazed out all but entirely. A case in point is the recent departure of Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts, who left the agency (or was more likely forced from the agency) following the publication of an interview in which he made some rather baffling remarks regarding his thoughts on gender diversity. There is still a lot of work to be done though.
“I think this feels like a first in the industry. I think it’s rare and it is important”
Enter General Mills, the major US food manufacturer who appear to have noticed the way the tides are turning and have decided to lean into the waves rather than fight against them. It's about damn time too. The company behind globally recognised brand such as Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Pillsbury, and Yoplait, recently unveiled some very specific requirements for its upcoming creative agency review. The company is in the process of asking ad agencies to pitch for its creative account, which will cover its advertising, product, and content across all its US retail brands. The rub is that the company will only employ an agency that can prove its diversity credentials. Specifically, this means that competing agencies must be staffed with at least 50% women and 20% people of colour within their creative departments.
Michael Fanuele
The announcement follows news that a survey conducted by The 3% Conference (an event that champions female leadership) found that whilst women make up 46.4% of the ad industry, only 11.5% of creative directors within the agencies surveyed are female. It is reportedly this survey that swayed GM's decision to specify diversity quotas in the shop it hires as its 'go to' agency. Currently, the main agencies used by General Mills are Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann, but it has said that the goal of the creative review is to find a core agency to handle the majority of its output alongside other partners, which might be technology platforms or media partners.
“Agencies are not diverse with the people who are actually making the work”
Ann Simonds, Chief Marketing Officer at General Mills who is leading the review, said of the decision: “If you are going to put the people you serve first, the most important thing is to live up to it and make it a key criteria. I think this feels like a first in the industry. I think it’s rare and it is important.”
Chief Creative Officer Michael Fanuele, added: “Agencies are fairly diverse in account and strategic planning but not with the people who are making the work.”
Ann Simonds
The agencies currently fighting it out for General Mills’ business include incumbents 72andsunny, McCann and Publicis, plus some agencies not currently on its roster, including Deutsch and Mother. Whether or not these agencies meet the exacting diversity standards set out by General Mills is unclear, but I'd imagine they wouldn't even have thrown their hats in the ring if they didn't. What do you all think about the General Mills review? As a counter argument of course, there's the outside chance that, in order to reach the quota, many genuinely talented individuals might be passed up for less qualified or less talented individuals simply because they happen to meet the criteria. I personally believe that this is a small price to pay for the chance of genuine change, but I'm open to debate if anyone disagrees with me?
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK.
Pritesh Bhatt September 6th, 2016, in the afternoon
Thanks for the share - very interesting read.I agree Diversity is a very hot topic at the moment.. not only between Gender but also class and race and the problem is a lot deeper than we think. I think more needs to be done at an earlier stage to help with nurturing talent especially those who come from low-income families, educating the industry on what diversity is and bring more mentors forward. Only when we see more initiatives set up across ALL demographics we will see great solutions of tackling diversity and 'making diversity the norm'.
I recently wrote an article with my brothers called 'Normalising Diversity' and talks about some of the issues above and also talks about some initiatives of what can be done - You can read more about it here -- http://goo.gl/cZF6va