17472: WSJ On WPP—A Failure To Communicate.

 

The LinkedIn post depicted above called out Wall Street Journal content spotlighting WPP CEO Cindy Rose, questioning the article headline: Advertising’s First Female CEO Isn’t Afraid to Fail.

 

The post author felt the headline was misleading. While the article clarified Rose is the first female CEO of a holding company—or single White operating company—the author believed the net impression positions Rose as the first-ever female CEO in Adland.

 

The author asserts Mary Wells Lawrence earned the title of first female CEO of a White advertising agency by co-founding Wells Rich Greene in 1966, and the iconic leader has been followed by countless female CEOs in Adland over the years.

 

Initial comments ranged from White men in agreement to White women seemingly expressing passive offense with the author.

 

Of course, there’s no mention of Barbara Gardner Proctor, founder of the first advertising agency owned and operated by a Black woman—a feat achieved in 1970. Ditto snubbing for Caroline R. Jones of Zebra Associates and Mingo-Jones Advertising. Carol H. Williams is a living legend. And there are many other invisible women of color throughout the history of Adland—all of whom contributed waaaay more trailblazing accomplishments to the industry than Rose.

 

Yet the author and commentators arguably missed a bigger issue with the WSJ headline.

 

That is, over 98,000 WPP drones will see their leader isn’t afraid to fail—and will likely fire thousands of them to achieve resounding failure.

17396: No Flowers For International Women’s Day…?

 

International Women’s Day 2026 campaign theme reads: Give To Gain

 

Here’s the hype from the official IWD website:

 

When we give, we gain.

 

Together, let’s help forge gender equality through abundant giving.

 

The IWD 2026 Give To Gain Campaign encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration.

 

Give To Gain emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organizations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it's intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise.

 

Whether through donations, knowledge, resources, infrastructure, visibility, advocacy, education, training, mentoring, or time, contributing to women's advancement helps create a more supportive and interconnected world.

 

What will you Give to Gain gender equality?

 

Okay, but the campaign imagery looks like women are begging for handouts.

 

Since celebrating International Women’s Day could be considered a DEIBA+ stunt, it appears Adland diminished performative propaganda for IWD this year.

 

For White women, Adland continues to present a diversity of disrespect—including gender pay gaps, sexual harassment, unequal opportunities, indifference for maternity and menopause, and much more.

 

For women of color, things get even worse.

 

The global industry presents unfair challenges to women on International Women’s Day—and all year long.

15871: Miller Lite ‘Ale Wives’ Ails From Revisionist History.

 

Advertising Age reported on a patronizing promotion from Miller Lite—Ale Wives—saluting White women in brewing. The stunt spotlights Mary Lisle, noted as the first female brewer in America.

 

Okay, but what about all the Black women who helped the American beer industry grow and thrive through slavery? Who the hell does Miller Lite think was harvesting hops?

 

(It should also be noted that one of the first Black brewers is identified as Peter Hemings—who was a slave owned by Thomas Jefferson, along with his sister, Sally Hemings [no comment]—and that he crafted beer around 1820. Given that Lisle is credited with running her Philadelphia brewery in 1734, it shows how White women achieved a beer milestone roughly 100 years before Blacks.)

 

Regardless, it’s also highly hypocritical for a women’s tribute to come from the brand that brought you bikini catfights and breast-and-body painting.

 

See How Miller Lite Redesigned Cans To Honor Women In Brewing

 

Limited-time cans honor pioneering female brewer Mary Lisle via 'There’s no beer without women' campaign

 

By Yadira Gonzalez

 

This Fourth of July, rather than praise America’s founding fathers, Miller Lite will honor the “Ale Wives,” releasing limited-edition cans in homage to the forgotten women who brought beer to America.

 

The Molson Coors-owned brand will produce a limited supply of its classic white cans that carry the name Mary Lisle instead of Miller Lite, as a way to honor the woman whom the brand describes as the “country’s first recorded female brewer and her revolutionary contributions to the American brewing industry.”

 

In 1734, Lisle ran a Philadelphia brewery, but “through time, women were excluded from the industry as others saw an opportunity to cash in on the nation’s love of beer, forcing most women out of the business altogether,” according to Miller Lite.

 

‘Ale Wives’

 

Cans include Lisle’s name and face, the tagline “There’s no beer without women,” as well as a brief history of Lisle’s contributions to the beer industry.

 

“When people think of beer, they think of men; there are very few people who realize that we actually have women to thank for beer in America,” Elizabeth Hitch, senior director of marketing for Miller Lite, said in a statement. The phrase “Ale Wives” is a historical term referring to women who made beer—Miler Lite calls them “the unsung heroes who brought beer to America in the first place.” According to the brand, a recent poll found that only 3% of Americans know that fact.

 

Agencies on the project include DDB and Alma and Molson Coors PR agency ICF Next.

 

The cans come during peak beer drinking season: Fourth of July weekend has been known to prompt more beer purchases than any other holiday, given that many families and friends gather for cookouts, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association. Americans spend more than $1 billion on Fourth of July beer and wine, according to the WalletHub. Miller Lite sees the holiday as the perfect time to school drinkers en masse on women in beer history.

 

“There’s no better time to celebrate and put women back into the history books of beer than on the single largest beer selling weekend in America,” Hitch said.

 

Miller Lite will donate $5 for each case purchased on the online retail sites Drizly and Instacart from June 27 to July 4 to the nonprofit organization Pink Boots Society, which inspires and supports women in the brewing profession. Miller Lite is pledging up to $250,000 to the nonprofit.

 

Men dominate the industry, making up 76% of craft brewery owners according to findings from the Brewers Association, a craft beer trade group.

 

“Women played a pivotal role in bringing beer to America as the first brewers here and are often underrepresented in the industry,” Erin Wallace, Pink Boot Society Board Member, said in a statement, adding that the group's mission “is to assist, inspire and encourage women and non-binary individuals in the fermented beverage industry through education.”

 

Fans can get their hands on Mary Lisle cans by attending an event hosted by Miller Lite in Lisle’s hometown of Philadelphia at the Devil’s Den bar on June 30, where it will be unveiling the limited-time cans. Like many other Miller Lite campaigns, the brand will run a sweepstakes, giving drinkers a chance to win a limited edition Mary Lisle two-pack. Those who are 21 years or older can enter by visiting millerlite.com/marylisle through July 4.

14310: Invisible BS.

Adweek reported on another divertsity deal—inVisible Creatives—delivering a dazzling database designed to drum up dames for creative roles in adland. Unlike the “Where Are All The Boss Ladies?” program that highlights White women in executive positions, inVisible Creatives uncovers junior, mid-level and senior creative talent. Gee, it’s just a matter of time before somebody targets White female toddlers and embryos for copywriter, art director and creative director roles. The new database is global, so folks can insist it promotes diversity versus divertsity. In the end, inVisible Creatives will likely do little to help the truly invisible men and women being denied access to the advertising industry.

New Database for Uncovering Female Talent in the Ad Industry Targets Junior, Mid-Level Creatives

InVisible Creatives wants more women in creative director positions

By Lindsay Rittenhouse

A new global database aimed at unveiling female talent in the ad industry hopes to finally raise the amount of women holding creative director positions—which today remains at just around 11 percent.

The site, called inVisible Creatives, is claiming to do something its predecessors, including Where Are the Boss Ladies?, didn’t: spotlight junior, mid-level and senior talent, with a particular emphasis on their work.

“We didn’t want to become yet another female group,” Laura Visco, co-founder of inVisible Creatives and a creative director at 72andSunny Amsterdam, told Adweek. “There are many initiatives out there but none of them are actually focused on the work, the ideas. We feel that if we keep on ignoring to talk about work, we keep on feeding the narrative that women are not creative.”

Visco added, “Where Are the Boss Ladies? is focused on management level and we are focused on junior, mid-level and senior talent.”

Visco and fellow inVisible Creatives co-founder Maddy Kramer—a senior art director at Saatchi & Saatchi New York who helped create Tide’s iconic Super Bowl campaign—said they designed, funded and developed the database entirely themselves and today it’s garnered more than 300 profiles from 31 countries.

Mara Lecocq, founder of Where Are the Boss Ladies?, told Adweek she’s completely supportive of Visco and Kramer.

“Similar territories but different audiences,” Lecocq said in an email to Adweek, “inVisible Creatives is mid-level creative-focused and portfolio driven. Where Are the Boss Ladies focuses on giving access to senior executive leaders for women to work for (all departments), or for companies to hire to lead departments and companies. Target is young women looking for role models, versus inVisible Creatives is agencies looking for female doers.”

Visco said her and Kramer’s fire for launching inVisible Creatives ignited when they originally distributed a spreadsheet last year to various agencies and ad groups to fill in with their targeted female talent (currently exclusive to those in creative roles such as copywriters, art directors, designers, illustrators, etc.). At which time, some anonymous person changed the name of the document to “Handmaids”—which, thanks to the widely popular Hulu series A Handmaid’s Tale, everyone knows to mean a female servant.

“That’s actually when we understood that this was a big issue and that we needed to do something,” Visco said.

InVisible Creatives allows industry executives to sift through female creatives by country. So, if you were to go to the U.S. dropdown menu, you’d find profiles of women like Droga5 associate creative director Kia Heinnen, complete with her contact information, biography and of course work examples spanning her photography and campaigns she’s worked on such as “Ask More of Your Phone” for the launch of Google’s Pixel 2.

“We want the database to be focused around the work, and portfolios, with a focus on junior to senior talent, the ones that get very little visibility in general,” Kramer added.

On the main landing page of inVisible Creatives, Visco and Kramer also feature a section called “portfolios of the month,” showcasing several standout portfolios handpicked by industry leaders. This month, Visco said because the “initiative was way too fresh to ask someone else,” she and Kramer curated the list.

Beginning in October, she said the duo will select one curator a month to select up to 10 portfolios to be showcased. Javier Campopiano, FCB Mexico CCO, will be the first curator to select the profiles for next month.

“We are asking different people we know in the industry,” Visco noted. “So far, everyone has been super collaborative and excited to discover new talent and work.”

This month’s featured portfolios include Josefina Franci, a creative director in Argentina and the first Latin American to win the Young Lions U.K.; Marcela Angeles, a creative director at Edelman in Mexico and a Young Lions 2014; and Erin Evon, a senior art director at R/GA New York who also worked on the “It’s a Tide Ad.”

Visco and Kramer are now looking for agencies and ad recruiters to take a pledge to consider at least one woman in their database for potential job opportunities. Their agencies, 72andSunny Amsterdam and Saatchi & Saatchi N.Y., have signed on.

“This industry so far has been predominantly male, with their own vision of the world,” Visco said. “Having more female leaders will impact the way women get represented in advertising, for the benefit of society as a whole. Ultimately, this industry needs to understand that diversity is not a moral issue. It’s a creative one.”

14268: Females Fundamentally Flawed…?

Advertising Age published a perspective from Zambezi CEO Jean Freeman, who opined that women can better advance professionally by learning business fundamentals. Um, if a man had made such a statement, he’d likely be branded as a mansplaining misogynist. Why haven’t Kat Gordon and Cindy Gallop complained that women are being held back in adland because no one will teach them the basics? Maybe the 4As should build an all-girls high school to educate female students about P&L, balance sheets and legal documents. But seriously, is there really a problem with women in advertising displaying corporate cluelessness? Cultural cluelessness is forever in abundance. Women, however, appear to be doing fine managing clients, adhering to budgets and handling all the responsibilities of running advertising agencies. Hey, only racial and ethnic minorities require remedial training to qualify for positions in the advertising industry.

Beyond empowerment: The case for teaching business fundamentals to women

By Jean Freeman

There’s no shortage of women’s events these days. I’ve attended them all — 3% Conference, Makers, Girlboss Rally, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen, She Runs It. These platforms have had a meaningful impact on the ascension of the next generation of women leaders. They inspire creativity, confidence, community, and also encourage mentoring. More women (and men) are stepping up to mentor the next generation of women.

But in addition to mentoring, I’m seeing an even more pressing need for teaching. Specifically, teaching business fundamentals. Much of the discussion at women’s conferences focuses on personal actions, emotional intelligence, building self-confidence and creating a personal brand. This is all valid, but gender equity platforms need more rigor around the mechanics of business. Fundamental business smarts are what will truly move women forward, and women are recognizing this.

Frustrated with the slow progress in corporate environments, more women are going into business for themselves, founding companies at a historic rate. According to a recent study, women-owned businesses account for 30 percent of all businesses worldwide.

One of my favorite Ted talks is “The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get,” by Susan Colantuono, CEO of Leading Women. She pointed out that the most important skill set that determines whether women in business move up the ladder and out of the bog of middle management, where 50 percent of the workforce historically is women, “has to do with understanding where the organization is going, what its strategy is, what financial targets it has in place, and understanding your role in moving the organization forward. This is that missing 33 percent of the career success equation for women, not because it’s missing in our capabilities or abilities, but because it’s missing in the advice that we’re given.”

Teaching women how a company runs is key. We need to develop learning around business and financial skills—the kind of expertise that contributes directly to a company’s success and profitability. We need to expand the offerings at conferences to also include business overview and training. Understanding the mechanics of P&L, why the balance sheet is probably the most important financial document, and how to interpret legal documents are examples of the fundamentals to which women at the mid level should be exposed.

Of course, not all staffers are interested in such details (regardless of gender). In our industry, we have creatives, brand planners and designers who laser-focus on the content we produce. Nevertheless, as agency leaders it’s incumbent upon us to identify and nurture the businessperson within our employees, especially women. At our agency, we’ve started a program to teach our creatives how to understand and consider business objectives when creating campaigns. We not only teach our agency’s business model, we teach our client’s business model. The same program can be applied to teaching women as well.

As Susan points out in her Ted talk, companies achieve their financial goals when “everyone is pulling in the same direction.” It’s in our own self-interest as business leaders to teach women more than just self-esteem and assertiveness in business. We want people who will help companies move our business. We need to lean into the hard skills, not the soft skills. Understanding business fundamentals will propel women into the higher ranks. Once they have the tools, they really will become empowered.

Jean Freeman

Named one of the 4As’ 100 People Who Make Advertising Great in 2017 and to Working Mothers of the Year by She Runs It, Zambezi CEO Jean Freeman works closely with organizations that advance women in advertising, including SheSays, The 3% Conference, Pledge Parental Leave and Free the Bid.

13987: Mother Of All Divertsity.

The 4As is offering divertsity drills to help women juggle motherhood and careers. Hey, maybe the trade organization will create a spin-off targeting minorities. If a person of color wants to succeed in advertising, he has to be bad mutha—shut your mouth!

13810: Kari Traash.

Not convinced this annoying video really reflects the Kari Traa brand or resonates with its female audience. The responsible advertising agency—Wibroe, Duckert & Partners—is headquartered in Denmark and can probably best be defined by this video.

13672: Cannes 43.5% Conference.

Advertising Age reported women will comprise 43.5% of the judges at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a figure that has doubled over the past five years. DDB Worldwide North America President and CEO Wendy Clark was tapped to chair Glass Lions—an honor she undoubtedly earned by producing Mickey D’s campaigns that deserve an Ass Lion. No word on the number of racial and ethnic minorities among the judges. Hell, Fearless Girl has a better chance of being named a judge than any person of color.

13671: Diverted Diversity Not Diverse.

Business Insider presented, “The 30 most creative women in advertising”—a collection of creative females that shows diverted diversity is not very diverse.

13629: What’s Old Is News.

Advertising Age asked, “After the Rise of ‘Femvertising,’ Is ‘Oldvertising’ the Next Big Thing?” Probably. Just as White women have hijacked the diversity discussion, Old White Guys are primed to follow close behind. And Oldvertising will be followed by LGBTvertising, Disabledvertising and a host of other allegedly marginalized segments—while Multicultural Advertising continues to receive crumbs.

13233: Smoking Weed.

Campaign reported Unilever Chief Marketing Officer Keith Weed declared during a Cannes speech that his company would cease portraying “vacuous” women in advertising, citing research showing women preferred progressive depictions in campaigns. Can’t wait to see how Axe will evolve. After making his bold statements, Weed probably rushed off to the VaynerMedia party.

No more ‘vacuous’ women in ads, says Unilever’s Keith Weed

Unilever has pledged to stamp out female stereotypes in its ads, after finding more progressive campaigns play better with their target audience.

Speaking at Cannes Lions 2016, chief marketing officer Keith Weed unveiled internal Unilever research analysing 1,000 ads from different countries and found 50% contained stereotypical portrayals of women.

This is not a moral issue, it’s an economic issue. We will create better advertising if we create advertising that is more progressive and start challenging those stereotypes

Just 1% conveyed women as funny, 2% showed them as intelligent, and 3% showed them as leaders.

The research examined Unilever’s own advertising output, split into “progressive” and “normative”, and found that the more progressive ads resonated better with audiences. According to Weed, the ads had 12% greater impact, in terms of consumers actively enjoying and feeling involved with the ads.

“These are all big swings,” he said. “This is not a moral issue, it’s an economic issue. We will create better advertising if we create advertising that is more progressive and start challenging those stereotypes.”

Weed described Unilever’s move towards “unstereotyping” after coralling the views of its internal marketers and agencies.

“We are going to start moving in this direction,” he said. “First of all, we’ll look at the role of women in our advertising, and we don’t want women to have a secondary ‘at service’ [role] to product news.

“We want to move to women who are full, authentic and have an aspirational achieving focus.”

Unilever will also challenge “vacuous, blank, agreeable and thin” personality stereotypes, instead moving to three-dimensional portrayals of women.

And finally, it will move away from one advertising view of women, moving to a more “enjoyable”, non-critical reflection of women.

Weed shared images of Sunsilk shampoo, popular in Asia, which featured images of a woman wearing a headscarf.

Weed acknowledged the gender stereotyping of men in advertising, but said Unilever would focus on women as its target audience is predominantly female.

His comments come a year after the launch of the Glass Lion at Cannes, which is awarded to campaigns that fight gender stereotypes.

Unilever has yet to be nominated for a campaign, with rival P&G this year picking up a nomination for its Persil India ‘Share the load’ campaign, and last year winning a gong for the Always ‘Like a Girl’ spot.

There was only one nomination from the UK for this year’s Glass Lion category, for AMV BBDO’s Guinness spot, featuring gay rugby player Gareth Thomas.

13173: Adweek’s Diverted Diversity Issue.

Adweek presented its “Women’s Issue”—filled with plenty of diverted diversity. Funny how the trade publications annually salute White admen, adwomen, media people, young adpeople, etc. Why no “Minority Issue”—besides the fact that it would be damned difficult finding enough adpeople of color to fill an entire issue?

12493: Bush—Not Busch—Beer.

Not too sure about this beer campaign from Denmark. After all, are unshaven women really uncommon in Europe?

From Ads of the World.

12073: Does NFL Need Female CMO?

Adweek published a piece titled, “9 Women the NFL Should Consider for Next CMO”—however, the trade journal failed to include Pam Oliver. But seriously, does the NFL really need a woman in the CMO role? Despite the figures showing women comprise up to 45 percent of the league’s fans, are they truly a major target audience, especially in terms of profit? The advertising that runs during televised games surely doesn’t reflect that. Additionally, the NFL’s former (and interim) CMO was promoted to a global role, perhaps indicating the league sees greater potential wooing audiences abroad versus broads (sorry, couldn’t resist). Besides, it’s not like any CMO could affect the issues plaguing the NFL right now. The public doesn’t even know who a CMO is or what he/she does. The NFL needs to create a completely different position, perhaps titled something like Director of Ethics and Moral Conduct. Just a thought.

12013: Gender Jive.

The Drum videotaped Critical Mass CEO Dianne Wilkins and WCRS CEO Matt Edwards discussing if gender makes a difference to running a creative agency. First of all, Critical Mass is not exactly a creative agency. Overall, the conversation is a self-absorbed, navel-gazing waste of time.

At roughly 2:00 into the video, Wilkins said, “Diversity of all kinds is something we’re looking for—from interests to…you know…gender to religion to…whatever…ethnicity—we want it all.”

Yeah, right. Agencies are always looking at candidates’ religious backgrounds. And hey, whatever, ethnicity too. Jesus.

11935: AT&T Calls Up Stereotypes.

This AT&T commercial really supports the argument for rethinking marketing to women in order to end the perpetuation of stereotypes. The depiction of a clumsy, subservient male perpetuates the Stupid Man stereotype too.

11900: The Women Of Cannes.

Advertising Age reported Cannes allowed more female judges to serve this year; however, women only account for 27 percent of jurors. While women make up roughly 50 percent of all workers in U.S. advertising agencies, they remain underrepresented in positions of power. Being a Cannes juror requires being a past Cannes award winner, so the criteria limits eligibility—and perpetuates exclusivity. Then again, given Cannes’ propensity to introduce new trophies, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a Cannes Lioness Award. Oh, and women are still much better represented at the festival than non-Whites.

Cannes Taps More Women to Judge at Ad Festival

Cannes Lions CEO Prioritizing Addition of More Women to the Mix

By Emma Hall

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has named 327 jury members for 2014, eight more than last year, not to mention 24 judges for the new two-day health-care contest before the main festival. But despite the growing numbers, it’s still tough to get a jury seat.

Cannes Lions CEO Philip Thomas performs a delicate balancing act every year to make sure all holding companies, networks and agencies are fairly represented. This year, he’s also prioritizing the addition of more women and new countries to the mix. Complicating the process is the prerequisite that jury candidates should be prior Lion winners, an incentive for creatives to enter the festival.

Because Cannes decides how many judges a country gets based largely on how many entries the country’s agencies send, it also has “wild card” judges selected from countries with fewer entries. To broaden the geographical spread of jurors, the number of wild cards has been increased to three this year from two, with Guatemala, Uruguay and Hungary getting slots. Peru, a wild card in 2013, sent more entries than last, therefore it earned a judging spot on its own.

Four women are jury presidents, up from two last year, and a woman is president of one of two juries at the new Health Lions festival. In another record, 27% of all judges are women. “Some awards have made all juries 50-50,” Mr. Thomas said. “We didn’t join that campaign, but we wanted to address the issue that senior creatives are dominated by men, and to try to get more women in, because if women see female jury presidents, they see possibility.”

Despite the equality drive, he added, “Merit is the most important issue for us—all our entrants expect the best people to judge, not some quota.”

The female jury presidents are Susan Bonds, co-founder and CEO, 42 Entertainment, USA (cyber); Susan Credle, chief creative officer of Leo Burnett USA (promo and activation); Renee Wilson, president, North America, MSL Group (PR); and Jaime Robinson, exec creative director, Pereira & O’Dell USA (mobile).

“We looked at categories in which women were high profile; for example, Jaime Robinson won three Grand Prix last year for ‘Intel Inside’—she has all the credibility and experience you could possibly wish for,” said Mr. Thomas.

The increase in jury numbers is partly because of the new category (product design) but also because jury numbers fluctuate by the number of entries.

11876: Adland Worst For U.K. Women.

From Campaign…

‘More alpha females needed’ as advertising rated worst sector for women

By Louise Ridley

Advertising and media has been rated the worst sector for giving women the chance to progress at work, according to research from the career coaching company Talking Talent.

The industry was rated bottom, according to the survey of 1,000 women, 35 of which worked in advertising and media.

Advertising and media was also rated joint worst with financial services for workplace prejudice. Half of the women (51 per cent) from the industry said they had experienced discrimination, most often from junior male colleagues.

The sector also scored poorly for flexibility and work/life balance, in the research, which looked at industries including engineering, law, accountancy and government.

Despite this, 83 per cent of the respondents in the sector said their employer was supportive of women in general.

Sue Unerman, the chief strategy officer of Mediacom UK, who is writing a book about women and work, noted that while the sample size for the ad industry in the research was small, it “continues to highlight the issue, which frankly statistically is not good enough”.

She said there was confusion around whether gender equality exists in advertising and media.

Unerman said: “Many people I’ve spoken to don’t think that there has been much real progress towards gender equality in senior roles for women, that it is still essentially an alpha men club.

“Others disagree, and point to the fact that we work in a meritocracy, and if there aren’t senior women around it is because they haven’t made it to the top.”

Unerman pointed out that MediaCom UK has many women in senior roles, so it was “entirely normal to have gender equality” at the agency.

She said: “Yet time and time again I go to conferences, or sit on judging panels, where most (or all) of the speakers or attendees are men. We’ll have board-to-board meetings with media owners. We’ll turn up with loads of women. They’ll turn up with all men.

“Businesses benefit from a diverse team of leaders. A few more alpha females in the mix will deliver different points of view at a senior level and will probably drive competitive advantage.

“Great leaders find the people (at least half of whom must be women) that will add qualities to the management mix and create change.”

The research supported calls for flexible working options, as well as placing more women in senior positions in all sectors but found there was minimal support for gender-based management quotas, which only 7 per cent of all the women surveyed supported.

Chris Parke, the chief executive of Talking Talent, said: “If employers fail to introduce measures to support women particularly through maternity, employers will miss out on a huge section of their top talent — something they can ill-afford to do in today’s competitive economy.”

11812: Candidly Clichéd Conversing.

Adweek published a lengthy piece titled: A Candid Conversation With 5 Women Leaders of Advertising and Media. The points covered included the alleged dearth of dames in the industry. Sorry, this topic is less than 3 percent interesting.

11675: Ad Women For Millennials…?

Advertising Age published a silly perspective from Deutsch North America CEO Linda Sawyer, who offered a unique reason to strive for “a better balance of gender diversity” in the advertising industry: women have “inherent leadership qualities” for managing millennials. Not sure if this piece was written before, during or after an infamous drug-booze-and-sex-filled Deutsch holiday party. Regardless, there are a few inherent flaws in Sawyer’s argument.

First, women in advertising are not supportive of each other. In her 2012 Digiday confession, Colleen Decourcy wrote, “An issue that’s rarely addressed is how many women in advertising don’t help each other out. What is it that drives a select group of women to actively not support other women? I have been a victim of it, and subsequently I resist working with ‘those kinds’ of women.” If a group does a lousy job of helping their own, what makes anyone think they would excel at helping others develop?

Second, women in advertising are not unified. For starters, there is virtually zero agreement among women over why they are allegedly underrepresented in the field. Hell, Sawyer’s compatriot, Deutsch NYC CEO Val DiFebo, expressed cluelessness over the dearth of dames. If a group is unfocused and scattered, what makes anyone think they would excel at helping others gain clarity?

Third, women in advertising do not have enough leadership experience. This is due in large part to the lack of qualified females in leadership roles. It’s a twist on the classic job hunter’s dilemma: You can’t lead because you don’t have experience; however, you can’t gain experience unless someone lets you lead. Unfortunately, if a group does not have a proven track record, what makes anyone think Madison Avenue will grant them access to the C-suites?

Fourth, and most importantly, guiding millennials is not a gender issue—it’s a generational issue. Sorry, but women in advertising do not have mystical advantages that make them inherently sensitive to and aware of the aspirations of millennials. And anyone seeking to argue such a position only winds up sounding old and out of touch.

Achieving “a better balance of gender diversity” in the advertising industry is a good and worthy endeavor. Hopefully, someone will provide a better rationale than Sawyer’s for making it happen.

Why Women Are Uniquely Suited to Lead the Ad Industry Into the Future

Gender Has ‘Inherent Qualities’ Needed to Guide Millennials Shaping Work Force

By Linda Sawyer

Millennials are a cultural tsunami. The largest generation of people this country has ever seen demands that we behave differently not only as marketers, but as employers.

I’ve heard many an exec in the ad business lament how this group is hard to understand and even harder to manage. Luckily, our industry has a potent but underused asset for grooming the next wave of leaders in this business: women. Here’s how millennials are reshaping the workforce, and why women’s inherent leadership qualities are exactly what’s needed to cultivate the best of what this generation has to offer.

Millennials constantly want to talk about how they are doing, what’s next and … everything else. Having experienced ample, continuous praise as they’ve grown up, feedback and recognition are two of their top greatest motivators. By opening the channels of communication, leaders can provide praise as well as criticism in a constructive, beneficial manner. They must provide the necessary tools for this generation to succeed—and saying “thank you” and “good job” goes a long way. Women are masters at over-communicating and sharing successes.

They often ask why simple things are so complicated. Technology has provided instantaneous answers and solutions for millennials, reducing their patience for doing the same thing the same way twice. They want to work smarter, not harder. For this reason, managers should be flexible, responsive and open to change from the “clubby” rules that dominate corporate leadership. Women have had decades of experience changing the rules of the game and challenging conventions in fields where they used to be the minority.

Millennials are adamant about crowdsourcing and group approaches to everything they do. Having grown up in an environment with unlimited discussion and interaction, they expect to work “with” not “for,” and they see the benefit of shared ideas. Collaboration and a sense of community help effectively harness their creativity, so building, celebrating and supporting team projects is key. Women are naturally more collaborative.

It’s imperative for millennials that work, family and life complement one other. Have you ever met a millennial who had leftover PTO days at the end of the year? While they’re game to work hard, they expect to play hard, too. And PTO is seen as a means to an end. Leaders need to help them prioritize—to understand their personal priorities while not letting the balls drop. Women are experts at the constant juggling and trade-offs that work and life require.

Three screens aren’t enough for millennials. Overstimulated from day one, this is a group that thrives on multitasking and chaos. Leaders should not fear the chaos, but rather nurture and support millennials’ need to be simultaneously connected and involved in multiple activities. Women are superb multitaskers—it’s ingrained in their DNA.

This is a game-changing time—we have a generation that will not put up with “all talk and no action.” They’re yearning for leadership styles that are flexible and nurturing and that foster collaboration. They demand transparency and open, frequent communication. They’re seeking role models who know how to juggle and achieve richness in both work and life.

Yet taking a look at 93 agencies with revenues over $100 million, only 15 have women CEOs, which is a red flag for our industry at large. (This figure applies to advertising/PR/media/digital agencies only, based on Ad Age estimated revenue for 2012.)

There are plenty of reasons why the ad industry should embrace a better balance of gender diversity, and why I’m hopeful we’ll get there. But the millennial factor is a big one: This generation will be the trigger that forces a change in our industry’s gender stats at the top.

As well it should. Our future depends on it.

Linda Sawyer is CEO of Deutsch North America.