Little

---

g n i s i t er v d A Is Stil l a

b u l C ’ s Boy

s th on

r L e z i t t e t l n f e i t A r

15 M

Ma

Has Changed

B Y L I N D S AY S T E I N

Suzanne and a colleague are hard at

Julia, a C-suite executive, is asked

work on a new-business pitch for a

to take notes in meetings where she’s

toy targeted to little girls. The day be-

the only woman.

fore the big meeting, the duo’s male

Then there’s Michelle, who is con-

creative director points to Suzanne

stantly left out of meetings and has

and says, “You’re going to the meet-

her work handed over to younger, less

ing because we need more women in

qualified men on the creative team.

the room.”

And Gretchen, whose male former

On the morning of an important

managing director sits inappropri-

pitch, one of two men in the client ser-

ately close to her during meetings,

vice department approaches Leah and

legs touching, and asks her to go to

asks her to take the coffee orders since

a client visit with him alone for the

no one on his team is in yet. She looks

week. And Angela, an intern, whose

around and notices that she is the only

male executive creative director slaps

female in the office. Begrudgingly,

her butt at happy hour. And so on.

Leah begins to take orders until her female planning director intervenes. “Get back to the pitch,” the director says as she deputizes a man on the tech team to get the coffee.

12 • MAY 29, 2017

In short, it's ad business as usual. Illustration by Nicole Xu for Advertising Age

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MARTI NE Z : CO URTESY JWT; GALLO P: CO URTESY CI NDY G ALLOP/MAKE LO VE NOT PO R N

y a w 's e er h “T g n i k l a t h too muc too and way .” g n i o d e l litt

ABOUT 15 MONTHS AGO, the industry was rocked when former JWT Chief Communications Officer Erin Johnson filed a discrimination lawsuit against Gustavo Martinez, then chairman and CEO of the WPP agency, claiming, among other things, that Martinez made multiple racist and sexist slurs. The flash point vaulted sexism in the ad world to the forefront of nearly every conversation. It’s been discussed onstage at huge forums, like the 4A’s and Cannes; fired up women’s organizations already on the case, such as the Girls’ Lounge and the 3% Conference; spurred a cottage industry for firms specializing in righting unconscious gender bias; and launched an uncountable number of internal initiatives and task forces at agencies, marketers and media companies. But for all the increasingly loud talk that the Martinez case, which is still grinding on in court, triggered about women’s representation in the C-suite, equal pay and fair treatment on Madison Avenue, the boys’ club remains alive and well. There is still no yardstick to measure salaries and positions of women in MARTINEZ advertising compared with those of men. She Runs It is busy compiling qualitative data about the “hockey stick” drop-off of women who leave creative and media agencies when the C-suite is within reach. Complete results are due out the week of Cannes. Yet even if there were hard numbers that showed more women ascending in the business, it may not matter. The diversity scale is about not just numbers but influence—meaning that if women are not heard and respected in the industry, it may not matter how many of them there are. Ad Age set up a blind email address, and with an online assist from diversity advocate Cindy Gallop, encouraged women to share personal stories about gender discrimination or bias they’re facing in the industry. We received a staggering number of responses—more than 100—that indicate little improvement over the past 15 months. Fearing reprisals, few were willing to go on the record, so the names were changed in the stories above to protect participants’ anonymity. Their experiences ranged from outright sexual harassment to simply being ignored or talked over in meetings. And interviews with dozens of women in the ad industry across all levels indicate that there’s a lot of discussion about changing the ratio, but sometimes it feels like just that: talk. “ T h e re ’s a l o t m o re talking about gender equality and diversity,” said Gallop. “Talking is useless. There’s way too much talking and way too GALLOP little doing.”

allop Cindy G

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According to a gender diversity survey conducted by Advertising Week and Foresight Factory last summer—which collected responses from 285 executives across the media, marketing and creative industries in the U.S. (73% of whom were female)—40% of women respondents claimed to have encounTELLING tered gender discrimination in the workplace. The survey also found more than one out of three women (36%) claimed to have experienced sexual harassment at work. “I don’t think it’s a lack-of-diversity pipeline—it’s a mindset,” said Shelley Zalis, creator of the Girls’ Lounge, adding that people want to hire others who look and act like them. Less than a quarter of women in the Advertising Week survey (23%) think their pay is equal to their male peers, and it seems their suspicions ZALIS are warranted: An expert on the matter, who asked for anonymity, told Ad Age that women leaders in advertising are still being paid less than men. Despite these findings, Claire Telling, co-CEO of Grace Blue, said the company has seen “a massive increase in awareness of the need to have more female leaders at the top.” More female candidates are being cautious about joining a male-dominated or nondiverse company and they’re not afraid to say it, she said.

‘A DUDE FEST’

“Men ared l ouder aant better it”. ed r c g n i k ta , ologna Anne B g in iCross

TELL ING: CO URTE SY GR ACE B LUE ; Z ALIS: COU RTE SY THE GIR LS’ LO UN GE; B O LOG NA: C OURTE SY H EAR ST/ IC ROSSI NG; SENE CAL : COURTESY LO R I SENE CAL; ST ROMB ER G: SC OTT R . KLIN E/ CO URTESY LISEN ST ROMB ER G

More women may be getting hired at ad agencies, but the majority feel like they’re still not heard. Karen Kaplan, CEO of Hill Holliday, defines it this way: Diversity is being invited to prom; inclusion is being asked to dance. It’s not hard to “game the system when you report diversity numbers,” she said, but really being inclusive is about allowing people to influence the strategic direction and leadership of the industry. The fact that there’s an app called Woman Interrupted in the iTunes store proves that there’s an issue. The app was designed to recognize when a male voice interrupts a female voice in meetings. “Men are louder BOLOGNA and better at taking credit for themselves and they have a more aggressive communications style,” said Anne Bologna, chief strategy officer at iCrossing, who has been in the industry for about 30 years. One female creative director in the industry said she feels respected and trusted at her agency, but “it’s still a boys’ club at the top,” which can be uncomfortable. When it’s all men exec creative directors laughing in a room, she said, you have to “psych yourself up” to go into the meeting. “You can’t help but feel like it’s a dude fest, and I hate that feeling,” she said. Lori Senecal, global CEO of CP&B, who is retiring at the end of the year, said she believes the industry has to evolve the vocabulary around the perception of women in leadership. “For instance, it would be great for women with a strong point of view to be described as decisive versus difficult,” said SENECAL Senecal.

BABY STEPS

“Change takes time,” said Lisen Stromberg, chief operating officer of the 3% Conference and CEO and founder of PrismWork consultancy. “We can’t go year-to-year. We have to look at micro-actions and micro-changes, because they lead up to big change.” Change is also good for her business: 3% is working with an inaugural class of a “handful of agencies” to be evaluated for the 3% Certification Program, a $25,000 auditing process to support agencies in retaining and promoting women. If the agencies meet key culture benchmarks around female leadership, workplace equality and culture, and equal creative opportunity, they will become 3% certified—valid for three years. The cost of the evaluation includes a detailed assessment of workplace programs, culture, female leadership, and creative opportunity and presentation. One female creative executive believes real change STROMBERG has been an uphill battle because the industry’s reputation of partying, drinking and big egos breeds the type of behavior where male leaders feel they have the license to do whatever they want since they’re looked at as “some kind of special celebrity.” Tamara Ingram, who was named J. Walter Thompson Co.'s new worldwide CEO a week after Johnson filed the discrimination lawsuit against Martinez, said she feels like the industry is making significant change. “You can’t suddenly right everything, but you can get things in place to make a difference,” she said. Last year, Ingram created a global executive diversity and inclusion council for the agency. Part of the plan included the development of an internal network with a “talk-to-me hotline” for employees to call if they are upset or concerned about certain issues.

1 in3 WOMEN

Have experienced sexual harassment at work

Illustration by Nicole Xu for Advertising Age

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lp e h o t t n a w “I younger d n i f [ n e m o w f ].” e i l e b er n n i , R/GA

ottlieb Chloe G

‘WE SPEND TOO MUCH TIME BATTLING OURSELVES’

male mentors. Men typically advocate better for themselves and each other, and women can learn from that.

GO TTLIE B: COU RTE SY R/ GA; FER GUSON : CO URTESY MULLE NLO WE ; SLAT TE RY: CO URT ESY RAZ OR FI SH; MAN SWE LL: AARO N ECKLES FOR ADVERTISING AGE

A young leader in the industry told Ad Age that she often lies about her age, making herself older, because she feels like she’s GLIMMERS OF HOPE treated with less respect in meetings as a Ingram said she has an “incredibly optimistic view” about women in the industry. She young woman. “I think there’s a differadmitted that the industry has “a long way to go” and she’s “not complacent about ent standard and way in which women this,” but she sees change happening. “When are we going to be there though? When in this industry are measured and what we’re 50-50, and I mean all elements: women, different backgrounds, not university their qualifications are based on,” she educated and so on,” she said. said. “Meritocracy is not always synonSenecal is slightly more stark on the issue. “The truth is that our work in making this ymous with age.” industry genuinely more inclusive will never be done. I've long believed that action Another young woman in an ad agency creates opportunity, and that's true in this area too. We can never let up on the conversaid she is often assigned tasks outside of sation or the initiatives, because the human element of our busiGOTTLIEB her remit, such as scheduling meetings ness—discomfort and all—is what makes this industry special,” or picking up lunch orders, but never complains. said Senecal. “And more than ever before, I am seeing Chloe Gottlieb, who was recently promoted to cothe desire and motivation to make it happen.” chief creative officer for the U.S. at R/GA, urges Indeed, over the last year, Allison Manswell, a women to speak up—and seek help from mentors. senior consultant at Cook Ross, said she’s seen an “We spend too much time battling ourselves,” increase in agencies requesting Cook Ross’s unconsaid Gottlieb, adding that women need to focus scious bias training services. A positive sign. But on their inner selves. Manswell, who is the lead on the advertising portSLATTERY “I just turned 44 and I really feel this inner folio at the company, said the vast majority only belief in myself now that I never felt before, but choose to do the first step of training. “I would like to see more agencies it took me so long to get there, so I want to help engaging in a more holistic approach in how we move the needle on genyounger women get there before I did because a lot der,” said Manswell. And, she said, bias training around gender has really of things don’t come without saying yes, asking quesaddressed only white women in the workplace, “so either we decide that both tions, putting yourself out there and taking risks,” are important or we launch a separate initiative around race.” Think their pay she said. About a month ago, Serena Stanley, VP-director of integrated production at is equal to their Amy Ferguson, creative Neon, an FCB Health company, took Cook Ross’s unconscious bias training. director at MullenLowe, said While it wasn’t mandatory, she said it was strongly encouraged and highly male peers the younger creatives at her recommended among her peers who had already gone through the course. agency can see that she has a baby and A couple weeks after the training, Neon created a diversity and inclusion committee. she’s doing well in her career, which Because the committee is so new, Stanley said she can’t yet say whether the shop has is a big step. “I didn’t see that when I made strides in how women are perceived in the workplace, but the agency is comwas coming up. I thought it didn’t exist,” mitted to making sure employees think about gender diversity much more consciously she said. than in the past. This is one step, and Stanley hopes the next will FERGUSON Mentors for women don’t have to be be that all staff are required to take unconscious bias training and other women either. The good news is men are listening, said that it becomes part of the agency’s onboarding process. Stromberg. “They’re saying, ‘What can I do?’ and they’re taking “Going into it, I thought, ‘What could they teach me? I’m a ownership about the role they play,” she said. “It’s important woman and a woman of color and I’m in a male-dominated indusbecause if we don’t have men willing to listen, this won’t work.” try—what could they tell me about me that I don't already know?’ Men should, for example, help women navigate “tougher But I learned a lot about myself,” she said. “It didn't just affect the conversations,” such as how to ask for a raise or a promotion, way I think about work; it affected the way I approach things in said Brittany Slattery, VP of communications at Razorfish. Bogeneral in my life, which is really important because if we have MANSWELL logna said she encourages women not to be shy about having more of that, it would be a better world. Period.”

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Illustration by Nicole Xu for Advertising Age

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