‘No more speaking for free’: Less Than 10% F*ck That and Clems team up on unpaid work
The Less Than 10% F*ck That creative community and Clemenger BBDO are calling for an end to the unpaid work women do every International Women’s Day, with an initiative featuring former adlander and award-winning journalist Jane Caro.
IWD is meant to be a day to celebrate women, but instead, according to the agency, women are asked every year to speak for free at events. This adds to the estimated US$10.8 trillion (A$17 trillion) of unpaid labour women already perform each year, which the agency said was enough to leave one speechless.
In Australia, women do around 70% of all unpaid labour. In response, Less Than 10% F*ck That and Clemenger BBDO created ‘The Fee Speech’ – a free presentation women can use for their talks to educate the people who have asked them to speak for nothing.
To promote The Fee Speech, Clemenger engaged someone who is “rarely left speechless”, Jane Caro. Starring in a social video, Caro is seen calling out the corporations that use IWD as a day to extract more free labour. The campaign aims to drive viewers to download the presentation.
“This is a great initiative from Clems, and I was delighted to take part (and get my invoice paid) having not only been asked numerous times to speak for free on IWD, but on two occasions to pay for the privilege! Women’s work is valuable which means it should be paid,” Caro said.
Clemenger BBDO’s chief creative officer Adrián Flores said the agency always strives to make big things that Australians talk about — and this is no different.
“This is a topic that certainly necessitates more conversation. And less mansplaining from me.”
Creative duo at the agency, Ellie Dunn and Hugh O’Connor, said they hope The Fee Speech speaks to women everywhere who have experienced this issue firsthand.
“But more importantly, we hope it gets through to the big organisations guilty of doing this,” they said. “Who, as Jane puts it, can ‘bugger off’.”
The campaign also features a poster that doubles as a script women can use if they’ve been asked to speak for free at an IWD event.
This year’s IWD theme, according to the United Nations, is ‘For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment’, and Mikhaila Warburton, founder of the Less Than 10% F*ck That creative community said The Fee Speech is a reminder of this.
“[It’s] a powerful reminder to recognise and respect women’s time and talent – not just on IWD, but every single day,” she said.
“It also highlights a much broader issue: ensuring women are truly valued for their contributions in the workplace.
“This is something I’m deeply passionate about, and a conversation that must continue beyond just one day of recognition.”
Credits:
Client: Less Than 10% F*ck That
Founder: Mikhaila Warburton
Clemenger BBDO
CCO: Adrián Flores
ECD: Tristan Graham
CD: Heidi Kasselman
Senior Copywriter: Ellie Dunn
Senior Art Director: Hugh O’Connor
Head of Production: Ainslee Littlemore
Editors: Jen Cahir, Sam Coates
Executive Digital Director: Claire Bisset
Designer: Sebastian Sarria, Sade Ballestrin
Digital Designer: Justin Tumilaar
Head of Cultural Design: Rhian Mason
Managing Partner: Georgie Winton
Strategist: Helena Duniec
MADE THIS
Executive Producer: Ainslee Littlemore
Director: Tom Stephens
DOP: Ian Tyley
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Lauren McNamara was the associate editor at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left Mumbrella in August 2025.
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topics
Adrián Flores
Clemenger BBDO
Ellie Dunn
Hugh O’Connor
International Women's Day
IWD
Jane Caro
Less Than 10% F*ck That
Mikhaila Warburton
The Fee Speech
The irony of Clems steering a campaign around unpaid work will not be lost on many.
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With all the people out there struggling to make ends meet working in the real world,is this really so important?
Get a grip.
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