Only One In The Room tackles diversity challenges with ‘Destroy this Brief’
Industry collective, The Only One In The Room has launched a new initiative, ‘Destroy this Brief’, aimed at tackling the industry’s prevalent diversity and inclusion challenges.
The collective was founded in June last year by BMF ECD Pia Chaudhuri, Cocogun creative partner and co-founder Ant Melder and Dentsu Creative’s incoming COO Avish Gordhan to increase diversity in advertising. Its latest initiative is supported and endorsed by a number of advertising names, including founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn and diversity advocate Cindy Gallop, Former Airbnb and Coke CMP, Jonathon Mildenhall, and The Marketing Academy and London International Awards global chair, Terry Savage.
Destroy this Brief is a call to action across the industry, asking agencies, creatives, teams, students, directors and production companies to think of ways to create a more diverse advertising community.
The initiative will see two briefs released every year, with each relating to a specific area of diversity. The briefs will include topics such as attracting and hiring diverse talent at all levels, preventing diverse talent from leaving the industry, and inclusivity and authenticity in our work.
With final submissions due on 31 October 2022, the first brief asks participants to find ways to open the industry up to and attract, diverse talent.
For each brief, anyone from or interested in the industry will be able to submit their ideas for the chance of having them brought to life by the #OOITR collective and their partners. The briefs will encourage people to think beyond traditional advertising and into all kinds of media, be it digital platforms, regulation changes, new products, apps etc… whatever it takes to instigate real change.
Judges will consist of a series of industry heavyweights including Greg Hahn, CCO & co-founder of Mischief USA, Sunita Gloster, non-executive director and advisor at Gloster
Advisory and Faycal Benabdellaziz, head of group brand at NAB.
Cindy Gallop said: “I love the fact that Only One In The Room’s brief is NOT calling for advertising ideas, but for creative ways to dramatically transform industry conditions and mindsets. It’s about time that an industry that claims to want equality, diversity and inclusion but is spectacularly failing to deliver on those claims, brings the full force of its creativity to bear on how to make change happen a damn sight faster. At its very best, what we do is transformative. I can’t wait to see our industry use all of the extraordinary creative brilliance our top talent possesses, to transform ourselves.”
Co-founder of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand and former CMO of Airbnb and Coke, Jonathan Mildenhall said: “Diversity and creativity go hand in hand. When people feel like they belong, they bring their unique perspective, talent and A game. So everyone wins. We urgently need more of this, which is why I passionately support this initiative.”
Global chair of The Marketing Academy and London International Awards, Terry Savage, added: “Broadening the mix of people working in advertising and marketing, across all levels, is one of the most important issues facing the industry today. This is a very important stride towards real change. I implore agencies and creatives to get stuck in.”
Destroy this Brief was created in collaboration with industry leaders from across the advertising industry, including Katharina Wynne (strategy director, TBWA), Bryan Bryant-Steeds (senior account director, BMF), Wilson Kwong (account executive, Ogilvy) and Isha Karnik (business director, Cocogun), who have the direction of the new initiative.
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Destroy this Brief
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