Droga5, TBWA, Ogilvy among leading Australian agencies committing to Shift 20 Initiative
The Dylan Alcott Foundation’s Shift 20 Initiative has turned its attention away from brand marketers and towards agencies, with 14 of Australia’s leading creative agencies committing to the cause.
In 2023, the Shift 20 Initiative launched, aiming to bring the poor rates of disability representation on-screen (1%) much closer to the 20% of Australians living with disability.
The campaign launched with a collective of the country’s leading brands and has seen significant success with a rise of over 10% overall recall of disability representation in advertising post launch.
Most recently, Shift 20 also unveiled a world-first TikTok channel, the Shift 20 Casting Call, for casting people with disability.
Led by independent agency Special Australia, the initiative has been targeting brand marketers for the past year – including the likes of Tourism Australia, McDonald’s, nib, and Anytime Fitness – but now, it has turned its attention to agencies.
Acknowledging the important role creative agencies play as a gatekeeper of inclusion, Shift 20 has unveiled a new group of networked and independent agency partners committed to make advertising more inclusive, including: 72andSunny, Bread Agency, BMF, Cummins&Partners, TBWA, 303 MullenLowe, Today the Brave, Droga5 ANZ (part of Accenture Song), Paper Moose, Akcelo, Apparent, Dentsu, DDB, and Ogilvy.
The agencies have committed to considering how they can be more inclusive of people with disability across concept development, casting, production, and digital accessibility. They have been given access to educational resources and the Shift 20 team, providing them with the tools to challenge attitudes around disability representation.
“Whilst the launch of the Shift 20 Initiative showed significant demand for higher levels of disability representation, it also highlighted the incredibly important role that agencies can play in shaping the landscape of advertising for the better,” said Priya Addams Williams, Shift 20 Initiative lead at the Dylan Alcott Foundation.
“There was a huge desire from creatives, copywriters, casting agents and beyond to ensure the positive inclusion of people with disability was a conscious and considered step in the creative process; and we couldn’t be more excited to continue welcoming agencies into the fold throughout the rest of the year.”
Special’s partner and CEO, and board director at the ACA, Lindsey Evans, added: “We feel an incredible sense of pride and gratitude to have partnered with the Dylan Alcott Foundation on the creation of the Shift 20 Initiative.
From the very beginning we were sure that what we saw as an incredibly important area for development, other agencies would quickly see too.
“It’s been a wonderful journey in the last year seeing this ethos make its way through every touchpoint of our agency with disability representation becoming a norm, not a ‘nice to have’.”
Matt Michael, CEO of Droga5 ANZ, part of Accenture Song, is among the proud to join the growing movement of agencies “advocating and accountable for representation”.
“Inclusive advertising reflects the true diversity of our world – vibrant, varied, and full of possibility,” he said. “By partnering with Shift 20, we ensure we’re staying true to this belief.”
72andSunny’s recently-appointed chief creative officer, Wez Hawes, added: ”I’ve had the pleasure of working on various productions with Dylan Alcott and seeing the Shift 20 Initiative in action on set. It really makes a tangible impact on people’s lives and we feel it is a must for a modern and progressive agency like ourselves.
“It’s one thing to say it, it’s another to act.”
Agencies or brands looking to join Shift 20 can reach out to Addams Williams: Priya@dylanalcottfoundation.com.au
Keep up to date with the latest in media and marketing
Got a tip?
Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
Linkedin
Have your say