‘What the fuck are u thinking?’: Cindy Gallop blasts Leo Burnett Sydney’s white male hires

I’m sure they were thinking ‘who are the best 5 candidates for these roles, no matter of race or colour’

Lmao cindy gallop, [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] The company can do whatever it wants. If you don’t like it, guess what? MOVE ALONG.

Well I would say that a Pom, based in New York, with zero experience of Australian advertising, who has been out of the agency game for more than 10 years altogether is the perfect person to be commenting here. She must be incredibly well informed from that distance [Edited under Mumbrella’s moderation policy]

of course she’s right that it’s 100% Leo Burnett Sydney’s fault that there is a gender and race imbalance in Australian and global advertising.

why don’t we give her a few more subjects to dole out patronising and controversial advice on?

So she’s a racist AND a sexist?

& cue the appologists.
If you look at that picture & think it’s ok, you are part of the problem.

Maybe the female candidates just weren’t up to scratch? I’m a female creative and I would like to be hired because people like the work I do than to make up some creative vagina quota.

Not saying that misogyny and sexism doesn’t exist in this industry, but getting up people because they hired 5 guys instead of five girls is a bit ridiculous.

maybe they are all gay. After all that’s Sydney….

As an ambitious, female, junior Creative a move like this from a top agency is deeply disheartening. I’m not surprised but if on the whole we aren’t investing in women, encouraging them, mentoring them or promoting how are we ever going to see a change? It’s easy to say, “Oh we picked the best candidate” but if the climate pushes diverse applicants out of the race then you’ve really just got the best white guy. Congratulations, you’re the pick of the pr*cks.

Well this sucks! I’m a white male creative. I hope that agency hiring managers aren’t reading this, because I really don’t want people to not hire me out of fear of upsetting some old bird on the other side of the planet.

Perhaps only white men will stoop so low as to work with big tobacco and junk food companies? You can mask it with Earth Hour, however people see through smoke screens eventually.

Little assumption here – @… & @Drake & @fleshpeddler – but are you all white males? Research has shown that those who are not discriminated against (by gender, race, religion – whatever). don’t believe there to be a problem as they never experience it. Ask a black, female or muslim and they have very differing views. Youtube Tim Wise…
@femalecreative – the issue doesn’t come up when selecting the ‘best person’ for the job. The issue first comes up when you send your application through. I wonder how many females got an interview? I’m all for the RIGHT person getting the job in the end, but you can’t tell me NO women applied for this? I know some kick arse women in creative who struggle to make it…
This IS a problem in Australia (and worldwide) and with the above mentality, its not hard to see why.

… You need to look at the agency as a whole and then make judgement?

Leo’s head of strat and CSD are both female, so doesn’t seem to be a gender bias, they just happened to hire a few dudes recently.

I reckon Cindy’s porn empire can’t be going so well if she’s got time to make a hiring announcement a sexism thing.

“I’m sure they were thinking ‘who are the best 5 candidates for these roles, no matter of race or colour’”

Statistically very unlikely

In response to a few comments here…

Yes, Leo Burnett can do what they like. But that’s how we got the place we are now. Where white heterosexual men have disproportionate privilege and opportunities.

“Maybe the female candidates just weren’t up to scratch?”

This is like gay men telling other gay men to ‘toughen up’ when they call out homophobia. Women have been oppressed in the world for…well, forever (no news flash) the only way to break that cycle is to give women opportunities and YES, you know what, they might actually come at the cost of some pretty qualified heterosexual men getting the gig. But it would literally take about 400 years to even the ledger. So no-one would cry tears because a couple of guys get bumped off. On experience alone there are always going to be more male than female candidates…because men have literally been hogging the world…it’s not meritocratic, but if you think a lot of men have their jobs in the first place based on merit, you’re deluded.

Merit is everything. If it’s not, then Leo’s hired sub-standard people. Their loss. Move along.

Secondly, as an approach, I’ve always found it’s better to bring people along with you on the journey as a means to win hearts and minds, rather than publicly accosting people. It divides. It doesn’t work. So whoever Cindy Gallop is, I’m kind of shocked and disappointed to think she once held a senior role in advertising, when she has demonstrated very little understanding of how to affect behaviour change.

@Mumbrella, are you for real publishing Jim’s comment? Trust a homophobe to surface on an article bringing sexism to light.

@Rohan yeah that would suck if you couldn’t get a job because of your colour or gender hey.

This is 2015 folks. You hire the best talent available on the day. I’m sure had there been the right female for the job, they would have been hired. Having been a visitor to the agency many times my guess is that LB’s Sydney have more females on staff than males…many in senior management roles, so wake up Cindy, get your facts straight before making gross inaccurate statements!

What the fuck are you thinking Cindy? Seriously, your comments belong in the seventies not 2015.

sigh…

the problem isn’t Leo Burnett, it’s the way the industry recruits and develops at junior levels. creative always has been the worse represented area/department for females.

there are lots of reasons why this is and those reasons need to be addressed. but that will take time – it’s like when we hear there’s a shortage of doctors and we need to hire 500 more per year or something. That’s all well and good, but it takes 7-10 years to train a doctor up

same thing with senior creatives and to blame one agency at one time misses the bigger picture and as a result, does the industry and the issue a disservice

I will also point out that Leo Burnett have a female Head of Strategy, a female Head of Account Management and a female Finance Director.

so let’s be balanced before we start crushing them for these hires

Personally, I couldn’t care less what planet you’re from if you do the job better than the next guy because I’m paying you for that performance. Conversely, as a potential employee I would be fucking livid if someone got the job over me because of their skin colour or sex if they weren’t actually any better than me on paper.

So where does this leave us? If women and people of different ethnic heritage are underrepresented in advertising across the globe then maybe they need to increase their numbers and step up their game. At the same time they should be offered a helping hand that aims to LEVEL the playing field, not give anyone special consideration.

Everyone is so quick to point out racism or sexism as soon as they get the slightest whiff but they forget that running a business is about getting the best person to do the job because the bottom line said so.

Meritocracy is a great excuse. I mean it’s obvious 50 per cent of the population has 100 per cent of the talent.

I get really sick of people (including one very influential advertising journalist who I recently saw post publicly on Facebook) saying things like “well, there just aren’t any top award-winning women out there.” That is absolute RUBBISH.
I went to the Award Awards this year in Sydney and was blown away by the number of women going on stage (so winning gold or above) – namely for ANZ GayTMs, Touch Myself Project, NZTA and several other very high profile, very award-winning pieces of work.
They are out there, they are simply not top of mind because they’re not part of the awards judging, legendary lunch eating, boys club that makes up Australian advertising. Compare us to New York and even London and we look ridiculous. This has to stop – Cindy Gallop is right to be appalled.

I don’t mean to be rude but this isn’t Buzzfeed, who cares what some [Edited under Mumbrella’s moderation policy] thinks.

Sydney Adland is stunningly un-diverse.
Stunningly.
It’s a fact.
And it’s a problem.
Doesn’t mean anyone is intentionally racist or sexist… or against hiring anyone who lives west of Leichhardt.

But Leo’s appointing 5 new white guys does point to structural problems in and with the industry.
When anyone points it out, everyone spits the dummy… anonymously… just like ‘real men’ 😉

Doesn’t make it not true, however.

Yes. Lots of women at LB Sydney. Just not in their creative department.

Racist and misandry filled feminists at it again. Typical crap narrative with the patriarchy as the evil doer. People with skills build businesses and not because they are a of a particular race or gender. But if you only see the world in skin colours and gender it’s clear how you think 😉

“the problem isn’t Leo Burnett, it’s the way the industry recruits and develops at junior levels. creative always has been the worse represented area/department for females.”

This is not true. AWARD School, UTS, RMIT very high numbers of women coming through and getting jobs the industry. It’s around mid to senior level that the numbers dwindle.

Two of the guys aren’t new and one of them isn’t white. Fuck me.

“If women and people of different ethnic heritage are underrepresented in advertising across the globe then maybe they need to increase their numbers and step up their game” – So many levels of dumb in that sentence. So. Many.

I advertised for a month, and used two recruiters when looking for a new AD and a senior designer a while back

I had plenty of CVs come in, only two were from women (for the designer role) – neither anywhere near senior enough/good enough book.

What exactly was I supposed to do? Not fill the role with the most suitable candidates and instead reject the men and hope, wait and pray for two female applicants?

This is hilarious. Thing is at Leo’s, there’s 113 females in a company of 236 – so almost 50/50. There are way more females in the PR, strategy, traffic, account management, production and design departments…no one whinges about that. Plus those 5 hires were over a period of about 5 months – just that us dudes are lazy so did the PR shot all at once so it looks worse than it is. As for diversity, the agency has people from all over the world – Brazil, Japan, China, France, Vietnam, India, Spain, Pacific Islands….the list goes on but I’m boring myself writing this so will stop now. This Cindy needs to research her facts….[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with four of the seven guys over the years at various agencies and I’d hire each of them again every day. What gets lost in this debate is that they deserve the position and title they are in for the years of hard work and great ideas. Congrats to Leo’s for acquiring them.

http://www.leoburnett.com.au/Sydney/People

Oh my god, so a guy with Italian heritage is now counted as a racial minority? I nearly fell off my chair laughing

I’ve been in the industry for 15 years, I’ve contracted for multiple agencies and as a female I’ve never once felt a gender bias. I’m a financial controller and have job offers almost weekly, mainly from males asking me to come in and fix up their agencies; funnily enough majority of my predecessors who I was cleaning up after were males. I don’t see this as male or female – I see it as the best person for the job, and if this week LB are hiring men then so be it, has anyone looked at their male to female recruitment ratio before?
My last company was 90% female, does that mean they’re sexist towards males? Or does it not matter when it goes the other way?

One way to address the often unconscious gender bias in the hiring process is to make sure you put a woman through to at least interview stage. And have a woman on the interview panel. No-one is suggesting hiring someone that isn’t up for the job.
First step is just to get qualified women through the door and in front of the interview panel.
If you are really serious about affirmative action and gender quotas you could then look at hiring a female candidate over a male ONLY if their qualifications, experience and talent were exactly the same.
Leos does employ lots of women but in my memory it’s a boys club in the creative department. It needs to be addressed. Might even win them some more awards.

Thanks @Alex -editor, the previous comment wasn’t meant to offend neither was a homophobic one…just a plain joke as in: males, females, straight, gay…who cares!?! Maybe they are even bleached and not white for real! Who knows…

And you @Sub-editor, [edited by Mumbrella] That was sarcastic: the fact you are more concerned of being politically correct than actually getting a joke is the scariest thing in this thread. Blind people like you who point the finger without even understanding what they are pointing the finger at, that’s called poor literacy these days…I hope you are not a sub-editor of anything: that would be a shame!

Best person for the job? Merit, like beauty, is quite likely in the eye of the beholder. What counts as merit to white male heterosexual guys might actually amount to a bias against non WMHG’s.

Cindy Gallop says “If you couldn’t find any, you don’t really want any. You don’t want any enough to go digging, do your research, talk to everyone you could to find brilliant women.”

Why do companies have to go to so much effort to ‘go digging’ to find brilliant women? Why don’t women fight their way to the front, like men do? Is this more to do with gender types and behaviours than systemic bias? I don’t know the answer to this, but the problem is more nuanced than Cindy would have us believe.

But its similar to complaining about the pay gap….in my experience as an employer, men are far more likely to ask (and get) more money. The old saying, if you don’t ask you don’t get probably applies to this debate as well.

Rather than bag the company that had the CVs it had to work with, and chose accordingly, why doesn’t Cindy Gallop work with women in the industry to teach them how to be found, how to sell themselves, how to fight as hard as men.

Cindy rose to the top, she’d do herself and women in advertising a much greater service if she helps fix the problem from the source, not just throw rocks.

I have never seen a white human being in my life.
Perhaps someone, somewhere, once fell into a flour bin or a vat of paint, but otherwise there is no such thing as a “white male”.
Unless – and it’s entirely possible – that this “white” reference is a nasty racist epithet coming from those of non-European background, or from so-called “white” people consumed by self-loathing.
Either way, can we stop using it now? It’s inaccurate, and offensive.

http://www.campaignbrief.com/2......html#more

what a shame that in 2015 candidates are still being judged by their sex & ethnicity…

& no, it isn’t more acceptable if you do it while calling yourself an “equality campaigner”

Do not hire white males…. sounds quite familiar? Almost like South Africa with Black Economic Empowerment. Hold on, this is not South Africa and she is not from Australia.

Maybe I should say $%$# and my comment will be posted by Mumbrella?

I know what you’re thinking…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-WBJ5Ykw4

Ha ha this old bird, irrelevant and offensive as she is, has probably just done a fabulous job to highlight her cause. ** insert drum beating sfx **

I wonder if she has an issue with Mamamia having an office that is 90% female? Where’s the equality?

@TB

No, my comment was not like that at all. I quite clearly said that misogyny and sexism exists in the industry, but that demanding the females be hired instead of while males to fill some sort of quota in the mind of a woman on the other side of the world is ridiculous.

We are under represented as a gender in this industry, which means that there is a high possibility that there were no female candidates, or that the female candidate’s work was not to as high a standard as others.

Trust me, in 7 years I’ve felt the pressure of the boys club, which is all the more reason why I would rather be chosen on the merits of my work against the boys in that club than to make some bigwig feel like they’re getting the right ratios to please society.

Maybe fighting oppression to you is pointing at someone and saying ‘that’s not fair’, but to me, it’s proving that I deserve my position as much as any man and having someone agree.

I’ve always found it’s better to have a diverse approach when it comes to shifting the needle on social issues. If we all skip along and take people on a “journey” it’ll take us another thousand years to make any real change. Yes, not everyone can shout and scream and aggressively call things out when they see it, but you absolutely need some battering rams when it comes to social issues. We’re not selling cereal here, we’re unsettling the patriarchy.

Don’t confuse one approach as the only approach.

Pfff, sexism alive and well in these comments – no big surprise there.
Men are the new victims, according to….who else, but white MEN!

Merit?….PER-F-LEASE

It’s who you know, always has been…anyone who says otherwise is playing with themselves.

Anyone who uses the merit argument is not very clever. Seriously. Reflect on what you are actually saying.

Do you honestly think that in the advertising world, the reason there are so few female creatives is because women are not as good at the job?

People hire people who are like themselves – the problem breeds itself.

If we want to take gender bias out of it, we need to make it a compulsory 50/50 and then no one has to worry about being there just for being male.

Hi Female Creative.

At the moment, you are being kept back because of your vagina.

Looking at it the other way, you can consider that there is a current quota in the industry for men and it is about 90%. I don’t see any men worried about their maleness helping them get them to the top over their talent. When it sure as F**** does. Sure, they have talent and work hard too but their maleness helps a lot.

Introducing quotas for females will merely ask people to take the current male-bonus out of the equation and over there to that talented woman.

If you are promoted into a system of female quotas, don’t worry about if your vagina got you there. You are the best one for the job once gender has been taken out of it. There will still be many, many males next to you that aren’t as good (but think they got there on complete merit too).

The current system which promotes peens doesn’t seem to be worrying the men of our industry – so don’t let it bother you.

L

Currently, you have every advantage to be hired and promoted.

Maybe be a bit appreciative of that instead of insulting an inspiring woman who knows more about the industry than you probably ever will judging by your comment.

Well said Tom Donald.

Disturbing that in an industry based on having insight into human behaviour, we have none into our own.

If you think it is “all about merit”, you probably don’t know how advertising works very well either.

Why is there never a sexist announcement with all the young pretty girls constantly hired in account services in nearly every agency across the country, often picked over men because of their looks?

THEY WERE THE RIGHT CULTURAL FIT

First of all this is a problem in the creative department. Other departments where an employee’s results are measurable (account service, media etc) are well represented in advertising they have to be (too many law suits). It’s ‘subjectivity’ that stops creative women’s careers. They are constantly told they are not good enough. And are rarely given the opportunity to prove otherwise.
“Women don’t even work on tampons anymore, just the briefs the guys don’t want or can’t win awards for.” Quote from senior Australian creative woman, last week.
If any of Leo Burnett’s clients would like to see what Australian senior female creatives can do, tell them to get in touch, we know all of them all , they are brilliant and available for work!

http://toomanyguysonegirl.tumblr.com/ another addition for this infamous tumblr

http://toomanyguysonegirl.tumblr.com/ another addition to this tumblr

I’ll just leave this here… http://toomanyguysonegirl.tumblr.com/

On the 11th of November several senior creatives gathered for an industry lunch.

http://bit.ly/1kMa5Pr

The pictures tell the story.

It’s not Leos people. It’s advertising. In Australia. Sorry.

Isn’t it ironic that one of Leo Burnett’s clients is the Australian Bureau of Statistics?

Looks like Leo’s Sydney updated their people section of their website during the day and added two women. Congrats to Leo’s Sydney and Emma and Sarah for now being publicly acknowledged. Change starts with the little things.

Google’s cache showing the original version from a couple of days ago.
http://webcache.googleusercont.....#038;gl=au

I’m a senior creative at a large independant agency. I’m white and male. I’ve worked hard to get to where I am. I’m good at my job, and I love it. On the one hand, I’ve been lucky. But on the other hand, you make your own luck. I’ve been fired more than once. Made redundant. Ground down by 60 hour weeks. Frozen out. I could have stopped at any point. But I didn’t. I put my head down and got better at it.

Advertising is very much a meritocracy. And it’s also all about who you know, and get along with. It’s both. Female creatives can compete on that first point. It’s the second that puts them at a disadvantage at certain agencies. But certainly not all.

At my agency there are around 25 creatives, and only five of them women. Women are poorly represented. But does anyone actually know if as many women WANT to be creatives as men? Are 50% of applicants for creative roles women? I’m going to say no.

It’s worth mentioning that in account service we have about 50 suits, and around 35 of them are women. I don’t think we should be trying to get that ratio to 50/50 in terms of gender. Why? Because chances are not as many men want to be suits as women.

Studio has about a 50/50 gender split, and TV production is all female. Who knows why.

Men and women are different. Men will, for whatever reason, gravitate towards certain professions. Women, for whatever reason, will gravitate towards certain other professions. This idea that we must have equal representation in every department in every sector is ridiculous.

I have freelanced at Leo Burnett. There was 1 woman in the creative department. I would guess there are about 30 men…

I think the bigger question is how did they get 7 of the greatest (edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy)?

Clearly many Australian agency guys don’t understand digital marketing as well as this old, washed up, ex-agency “bitch”.
Brand: Cindy Gallop. I like to blow shit up. I’m the Michael Bay of business.
Moment: 3% conference keynote…so named because 3% is the % of female creative directors in the US advertising industry.
Action: Take a popular quote from the speech “What the fuck are they thinking” and apply it to news announcements of all male hires – globally. With a link to the talk.
Response: Free media coverage/Earned media.(Daily mail/NYT etc.)
Business model: Share of revenue for every attendee who signs up for her current online webinars for women (available globally). http://www.aaaa.org/careers/de.....eries.aspx ($250 for non members – also referenced in the keynote speech) + consulting revenues, promoted in webinars!
Come on. This is 2015. #Getwiththebeat.

We all agree that there are fewer female creatives in agencies.

There is much discussion on the why creative women disappear from this industry and there’s no simple solution.

Leo’s may well have tried to hire women for some or all of the vacancies but ended up 5 out of 5 men. They are all worthy hires.

But how stupid was Leo Burnett Sydney to then release that photo/pr story? How did they not know that it’s such a bad look?

At least their mis-step has highlighted the issue and there’s probably a few other agencies having meetings to discuss gender balance as a result.

Thanks guys 🙂

The comments on this article only illustrate how entrenched this problem is within the industry.
“this old, washed up, ex-agency “bitch””
“does anyone actually know if as many women WANT to be creatives as men?”
“all the young pretty girls constantly hired in account services in nearly every agency across the country, often picked over men because of their looks”
“this old bird, irrelevant and offensive as she is”
“maybe they need to increase their numbers and step up their game”
“fear of upsetting some old bird”

It’s a pretty shameful picture of the Australian advertising industry. I would hope these aren’t representative. It shows a shocking lack of self-awareness to not be able to recognise the inherent bias you have benefited from over half the population.

I have to say every comment “SD” highlighted absolutely grated with me. “Old Bird”? “Pretty Young Girl” “washed up bitch”. It’s appalling language but more appalling is the attitude behind it.

Here’s something I’ve just read that sums up our industry and unfortunately Australia’s misogynists from someone who knows it only too well.

Julia Gillard:
“There are the casually muttered sentences of bias that tend to escape much notice or debate…I’m thinking here of the questions that confront women with young children as they pursue careers in politics, or business or the law. I know of women political colleagues who have had it suggested to them that the rigours of politics, particularly at the most senior levels, and their caring responsibilities for children just won’t mix. Yet male colleagues with children of the same age don’t face the same analysis.
Why in this day and age is having children perceived to affect a woman’s ability to aspire and lead, but not a man’s?”

“The middle-aged white males doth protest too much, methinks”.

Keep it coming you anonymous cowards. It’s fucking hilarious.

Putting all systemic industry problems with misogyny aside, I feel sorry for these 5 guys who have to read all these comments telling them they don’t deserve the jobs they’ve been hired for because they are white men.

I would just like to add that old and overweight men with a long history of advertising association on both sides of the camera and the microphone, were deliberately discriminated against in this selection.

I feel neglected and abused by a system that actively discriminates on the grounds of age, extensive chronology and avoirdupois.

P.S. Why are there so few men in the nursing profession, and so many collecting garbage?

“But its similar to complaining about the pay gap….in my experience as an employer, men are far more likely to ask (and get) more money. The old saying, if you don’t ask you don’t get probably applies to this debate as well.”

I asked for a payrise for three years at Leos – never get one!

http://www.campaignbrief.com/2.....-cumm.html

She doesn’t do the female species any credit with that foul mouth

Using the argument that there are plenty of women in account service and so it doesn’t matter if there are none in the creative department, is like saying that if there are lots of female nurses in a hospital, it doesn’t matter if every doctor is male.
Why shouldn’t women be in the engine room of the agency where the opportunities (and money) are greater?
I’ve worked around creative departments for nearly 20 years. When positions become available, the first thing that happens is that everyone thinks about any mates they have that could fit the bill. And unfortunately, in Australia’s male-dominated creative departments, those “mates” are usually other blokes. The other thing that happens is the ECD thinks about any creatives they’ve seen doing good work recently – in Australia, in our creative trade press, the featured creatives that everyone reads about are also, usually male.
Two things need to happen – women’s achievements need to be celebrated as much as men in the media and agency leaders need to be mindful of gender balance – nobody wants quotas, but mindfulness could make a difference. Instead of just seeking out your mates to fill creative positions, look at the women who are winning international awards and approach them instead.
The boys club has to stop – it is cringeworthy and pathetic.

As a female creative I would be thoroughly disheartened if this tweet of “What the fuck were you thinking” were directed at an article about five female hires.

Racism and sexism aren’t okay. Even if in favour of a minority.

This is a non-issue. Todd Sampson’s boot cut jeans, however…

At AWARD school last year several of us were advised by the school heads that there was no shortage of white males in advertising so we shouldn’t be surprised if the top three were women.

I was a little annoyed that my vagina was going to score points instead of my work.

Cindy Gallop ” It’s Horses for Courses” Pardon the Pun!!

Seriously!! Do you hear men complaining about the industries that are grossly gender skewed to females? (Nursing, HR, Air Hostess, R&T’s…. the list goes on).

I liken this to running a 100m race…
“Bang the gun goes off..we all start together (male and female) heading in one direction, towards the finish line. Suddenly, some of the competitors drop out of the race. (some to have babies, do yoga, sit around in mother groups and have lattes with their counterparts, all at their choice). The race continues and eventually through hard work we have some winners (in this case 5 men @ Leo’s).

At the medal ceremony when the judges are giving out the awards, something strange has occurred, (no! the winners haven’t had a sex change) there are 3 female claiming the right to the medals, how has this happened?

Positive discrimination will alienate females even further.

Advertising. There’s an industry going places.

Now take a look at content marketing. Look at how many women are doing spectacular work in that area?

I take from this that 5 white hipsters are completely missing the point while a legion of great female storytellers are shaping the future of communications.

Let the dying ad agency have the five white hipsters with the ping pong table. Just be grateful you don’t have to listen to them talking all day.

I bet her tweet has achieved exactly what she wanted… awareness and debate on the issue. Perhaps it takes these kind of ‘hand grenades’ to get the conversation going?

A few disclosures first. I am part of the norm – a youngish, white man who lives in the Eastern Suburbs. Also I am married to heaven forbid a very talented and much more awarded creative who also happens to be a woman. Finally, I know Malcolm and Ian and would work for them anywhere and on anything. They are amazingly talented creatives. As I’m sure the others are. They aren’t the cause of the problem, but to deny there is a problem is idiotic. I have worked in creative departments for 11 years now and more often than not there have been no women and no one of ethnic diversity. I currently work in a big agency, we have a department of 20 with only one woman and two guys from non anglo backgrounds.

It doesn’t have to be diversity for diversity’s sake. But to think that hiring the same dudes who all have the same life experiences as each other is the best way to get the best work is stupid. So 50% of the population is not creative, and of the remaining 50% they have to be under a certain age and from a certain background?

I’ve taught AWARD School 8 times, and every year I am always impressed by the diversity and gender balance of the students. Maybe most of them don’t want to work in advertising and are just doing it for life experience or something, but how is it the top 10 students are always a good balance, but at the end of the day only two people get hired and they end up being – you guessed it – white dudes who remind their ECD’s of themselves when they were young, free and unmarried?

This and the outdated revenue model are just another reason why agencies won’t be around in their present form. The world is changing, and we all need to change with it.

Squiggle – you nailed it.

Ha! It seems that a number of Leo employees have jumped into the mix today to defend. Anon of course!

So let me get this straight, they are supposed to now go out and make sure that exactly 50% of their employees are women in order to make it “fair”? Hey, you know what, none of these guys are Asian, so now are they racist too? If they are all straight, are they homophobic? For fucks sake. I’m a woman that has worked extensively in a women’s rights organisation and this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

Best PERSON for the job, regardless of age, gender, race, persuasion. If that means a creative department is full of men, then so be it! Maybe out of everyone that applied for the roles they were the best. Is that so hard to believe? But hey.. lets just sound the alarm that whoever hired them is a bigot, that’s a good way to get attention.

Awesome that you believe that women are either air hostesses and nurses or they sit around all day doing yoga and drinking lattes. I really hope you’re a troll just trying to get a reaction on here. Otherwise I truly fear for you. Remember what happened to the last lot of dinosaurs we had on earth?

Yawn…. It’s 2015 not the 50’s, merrit were merrit is due, Leo has some of teh best females in the business in senior management, leave out the emotion and aim to be better at what you do.

There’s no doubt that men and women are equally creative. However, as creatives are (often brutally) judged day in, day out, maybe women are less inclined to receive such a consistently high level of criticism? I’ve seen a few women in tears following particularly harsh reviews – and not a single man. Maybe women are more adverse to being berated (especially in the workplace)? Or have men simply got thicker skin?

Love your work, Josh.

‘But to think that hiring the same dudes who all have the same life experiences as each other is the best way to get the best work is stupid.’

And I’ll say it again: if you are a female creative and you love what you do, get out of Australia. Now. Go to the US, where you are not blatantly discriminated against. It only gets harder as you grow out of the ‘Ooh, I would’ age group and you shock, horror, even get married. Kids? Forget about it. I thought it was fair when I was young. I thought if I worked hard and won awards I would be paid well and promoted. Well, guess what? I did work bloody hard, often harder than my male partners and I did win awards. But, at a senior level, the work suddenly dried up. I realised everyone was paid more than me, yet I was still pulling all nighters. I was given the difficult, most high stress clients that meant my work was always destined for shit town. I hated the constant conflict that came with this kind of work. Social ‘boys nights’ were organised and I was not invited. It was not even considered that this may make me feel excluded. In fact, even males in the industry who I thought were friends became distant. It was some unwritten code. I was certainly not in the club. I am so inspired by talking to other creative, fun people and suddenly this resource was gone. I felt very alone and began to lose confidence in my own abilities. I began to think there was something wrong with me. Too needy? Too argumentative? Too old school? I’d had enough. I am no longer in the industry. There are so many things that a good ECD could do to make sure that female creatives are nurtured and respected. It’s all about leading by example. HINT: Don’t organise card nights for the male creatives! HINT: Don’t shag junior female creatives! HINT: Don’t take your creatives to strip bars! HINT: Don’t ignore female creatives’ comments in meetings and act like she’s invisible! HINT: Make sure she gets credit for her work! You pay her shit, so bloody give her credit, which leads me to… HINT: Pay her what she fucking deserves! We know what the boys are on, but we just accept our lot. I know there are some really decent CDs and ECDs in our industry, which is why this is so baffling. Someone has to make a stand. A few are and for that, they should be proud. I can’t leave Australia, but I urge any bright sparks to get out. Even young males. Who wants to work in such a backward place? It’s hardly conducive to creative thinking, is it? It’s just not relevant or representative of modern society. Get out. Now.

The apologists keep coming up with stuff that just confirms the problem:
“maybe women are less inclined to receive such a consistently high level of criticism”
“Do you hear men complaining about the industries that are grossly gender skewed to females?”
“Why are there so few men in the nursing profession, and so many collecting garbage?”
“Positive discrimination will alienate females even further.”

This is like some Mad Men-style parody. Or the comments section of the Herald Sun. If this is truly the attitude that pervades the industry, if I was a young female creative I would take that advice to go overseas, or be prepared to battle dinosaurs every day just to get what you deserve.

Be clear no-one is singling out the guys involved who I’m sure are all great and capable. This is a deep cultural problem that is detrimental to the industry and the work it produces.

I’ve said it before – Sounds like you have been rejected for a few roles? Clearly bitter

What a backwards country this is.

The worst part about this article is the comments. Commenters blatantly referring to Cindy as “some broad”, someone mentioning her “foul mouth discrediting the female species”, saying “maybe they are all gay” because you know, gay men and women are the same somehow? I don’t think this is an advertising problem, I think it’s an Australian problem. Embarrassing.

Good on the folks getting the shits about Cindy’s comments. It’s true thought – she probably doesn’t know what she’s talking about. After all, she’s a woman, and we all know nothing is true until a man has said it. On a more serious note though, there are many talented men, and women, in the advertising industry in Australia. There’s no easy way to even the balance in hires. So Leo’s haven’t done anything wrong per se – of course they haven’t. They’ve just continued the nepotism and mateship that exists in all walk of life, all industries. Be honest with yourself, would you do anything differently? You hear of a role, you pick up the phone and call someone you know would be awesome for it. And if you’re white, male, mid thirties – then it stands to reason that a lot of your circle of knowledge will be, too. So it’s what happens next, after the Leo’s moment – that’s important. This conversation we’re all having – these comments. This is attention begin drawn, people getting interested, getting passionate about it. And that’s what we need. People to be interested enough to help effect change. To think twice before they just call a mate/ex colleague – and look for the best person for the role, not simply continue the cycle.

Called out by someone whose aim is to create a better sex video industry. How rude to presume respected agency can’t hire the best. MYOB on this one.

The choice of creatives, and the vehement support of that choice by many of the posters here gives you a good understanding of the Australian psyche and how it discriminates generally.

When I turned up in the eary noughties (from London) I couldn’t belive the lack of senior women in business or the way the female workforce had to put up with objectification at work.

It has changed slowly, but is still backwards and the locals seem to like it that way.

Absolutely absurd Cindy.

I’d like to hear the informed comments of women leaders like Simone B or Anita Z or Joanne T or Sue C or Jane C – brilliant and inspiring women all. Then we can talk.

The Boys Club exists or co-exists when challenged and often hires or forces women to behave like Alpha Males – and is certainly not inclusive. I know, having hired more women than men and copping the backlash (scars still evident)

Houston we have a problem (no, not you Stuart O) and so I ask all the Lads to pull their collective heads in.

Everyone needs to read this book that has just been published on this very issue. It takes it above womens issues and work and elevates it to a societal value and structure issue that we can all take responsibility for and make an effort to change. I’d say Leo’s need to definitely read this and have a good think about the part they can play in changing it for the better for men and women alike.

http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.....on/410812/

Greg, if the point of your link to Leo’s website is that there are 3 women out of 8.- so there. Those woman are not in the creative department. You have missed the whole point. The issue we have here is with a lack of women in the creative departments of Australia. There are plenty of women in every other department – it is a statistical anomaly 50% of award students are women, yet maybe 3% end up creative leaders. I managed to find 1 woman out of at lest 15 creatives in the Leo Burnet Dept

I have been in there too
1 woman out of 30 men – that is a disgrace.
And there biggest account is Woolies.

1 woman out of 30 men in the Leo’s creative dept.

Thank you. If only there were more men like you.

Phycologists call it an unconscious bias. But in this case it in an unconscious privilege toward 25-30 year old white males

1 woman out of 30 men in the Leo’s creative dept.
Nuff said

1 woman out of 30 men in the Leo’s creative dept.

And you want everyone to feel sorry for the guys …..

‘Narcissus was an extraordinarily handsome, yet cold and vain youth from Boeotia, Greece. Narcissus didn’t love anybody but himself and believed that he was the only one worth loving.
One day, while he was sitting near a fountain, with his big eyes he noticed a beautiful face gazing at him from the water source. Charmed by the beauty he saw, he wanted to plunge his arm into the water to capture it.
However, despite his efforts, the reflection remained in the same position, until finally the young man suffered decline and died.’

Start your own company. They are free to do whatever they like.

It’s not gender or race that’s the problem.

I’d say It’s the pervasive matey matey mate mutually supportive hiring culture of genial boofheads that’s the problem.

And if don’t think it’s a problem: when was the last time you can remember seeing any startling original Australian advertising?

Go into most big agencies and there’s a high boofhead count. Perfectly adequate, but turning out nothing that’s going to make the pidgeons fly up. They’re there because – as someone rightly said upthread – they’re a cultural fit. Plus two token chicks for the tampon account, and one gay guy in the studio.

Same story in big London agencies, which have an exhausting aggressive lad culture.

Seriously,

When these activists start focusing on the causes of lack of representation rather than the hype, it may actually make sense and HELP the scenario over time.

Telling a business across the world who it should have hired without investigating the process is LUDICROUS.

These nonsensical responses to anything that could be made a possible target are not helping anyone’s greater cause. Most likely damaging it.

It’s an Australian thing.
I’m a female who has worked in creative departments on both sides of the Tasman.
In NZ it just wasn’t an issue, I was treated exactly the same as male counterparts. I never even thought about the fact that I was female.
Australia was an eye-opener, that’s for sure. A bunch of white blokes patting each other on the back.
I feel gross thinking about it. It is gross.

Cosmo nailed this one.

Utterly astounded by the tenor of many of these comments. I knew Australia could be a little bit backward at times and I knew the Abbott era hadn’t helped that, but I didn’t realise that this kind of inward-looking, closed-minded, retrograde thinking actually existed amongst supposedly intelligent, informed professionals (whom I assume are the readers of Mumbrella).

What the FUCK is wrong with you all that you are actually denying there’s a bias in favour of white, middle-aged men? Why are you all getting so angry and defensive about it? How is this even up for discussion?

I came to the comments anticipating a stream of shocked reactions to the fact that in this day and age (yes, 2015), this kind of shit is still happening. Instead, I discover a bunch of cranks bitching and moaning about how feminism and quotas are ruining everything.

Pull your heads out of your arseholes and wake up – it’s not 1965 any more. The world has changed. Apparently Sydney’s advertising professionals haven’t.

Aren’t they in Melb?

Nope. Sydney. But awesome attempt at nitpicking. Gold star.

Settle down everyone. The only people who care about advertising are those that make it and those that pay for it. The rest of us simply wish that none of you existed – white, male or otherwise.

Marketing communications in Australia is still in The Dark Ages so its no surprise recruitment policies are as well.
But amazed that comments on here are filled with so many apologists for this state of affairs.

Worked in agencies as a ‘creative’. Managed to find jobs. Never found bias. More about “What have you got to offer on this account.” Every Agency in Australia is looking for great creatives. I’m in awe of the ones who really climb into the big boardroom.
I found Cindy Gallop’s remarks pretty pathetic in that she had to use the Fbomb as if she’s really cool. And secondly, managed to show up the fact that a top agency who needs to hire on merit in order to pay the bills, couldn’t find a female creative good enough to fit the bill. What an idiot – managed to make her position as speaking on behalf of women, look unintelligent and ill-informed by not asking Leo Burnett directly before shooting off her potty mouth.
Thanks for that Cindy, but I’ve got this far without you and your boring enragement by working with people who look at your folio first.

@118 Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Best comment in this tragically pathetic yet hilarious thread so far…

Hi everyone, just here being a woman and the CEO of Leo’s Melbourne…

Emotional outbursts like Cindys’ just confirm the reluctance of giving women the top job.
Nobody wants a loose cannon (of either gender) at the top.
She has set the cause, waaaay back.
Companies know that they have to factor in how candidates depart in ugly situations into their hiring decision.
They know men will quietly go away and not make a fuss when that day comes.
Women are just that bit more unpredictable.
No business deals well with uncertainty.

Thanks so much for mansplaining why agencies won’t hire women in the creative dept. Of course – it’s because they’re hysterical! Do you know any actual women in real life? (The blow up doll you snuggle up to on cold nights doesn’t count I’m afraid).

@justconfirmsthemyth

You assumed that I am not a woman.

As a company who uses ad agencies, I’m not interested if the agency is 100% male, 100% female or a mixture. I’m only interested in the agency doing their job. Let the markets decide if the Leo Burnett Sydney team survives or not.

two people aren’t anonymous on here.

in 126 comments.

two.

live on your feet.

oh hold on, it’s advertising: an industry staffed by those on their knees…

Well you are selling your company and your brand short. All this typically homogenous group of white males are interested in is winning awards. Not serving u or your business but their own intersts. I know, I have working in the most highly awarded agencies on the planet

There are 3% of women in creative positions of power and influence. This is a disgrace.

tom u r a man, as a woman I can not reveal my identify or I will never get a job in Australia again …. This is the problem women have always afraid to say what is really going on for fear of being alienated and labelled a feminist

I am so happy to have just left one of the big, legacy ad agencies.

It was so boring, and shit and middle-class white. So many swinging willies running around dreaming of the TV ad glory days of the 1990s.

They didn’t even have a data analyst on the books. It’s not that they couldn’t find one…it’s that they were even looking for one. #Wow

I wish Leo’s well and good luck. They look boring as bat shit.

#GiveMeSmallAndNimbleAnyday

Someone should look into the all-female creative intern program Leo Burnett was going to launch? …but didn’t at the request of their female CEO?

‘Just confirms the myth’ – how many outbursts have you heard about on behalf of high profile business women? Then you have male politicians injuring themselves by tackling eachother in the Prime Minister’s office and John Singleton glassing restaurant diners.

But no, it’s the women who are unpredictable! Boys will be boys after all.

Seems to have turned into the inevitable cyclical argument.

Ra Ra anything, is bound to lose its effectiveness after the third round. We are human beings, we arrive on this planet ( via the same route) programmed with thousands of years of evolution, and, in most cases, with a gender and an agenda. We have natural commands to fulfill that run beyond job satisfaction and personal happiness.

How many women who argue about work place equality today, and then marry and have a family would want their husbands to step down or stand aside for a woman to take their job in the interests of work place equality? How many women, having applied for a job and proven good enough to win the position, would accept a rejection because the company had appointed a man based upon the fact that there were not enough men in that sector?

We are dictated to (most of us) by our biology, and the natural time clock.
Most of this wild dilemma in which we find ourselves, got started by the effects of the industrial revolution, where women were forced into domestic service which acquired the stigma of subservient work.

What is in housekeeping, that places it above or below house building, maintaining, hunting, or fighting wars? The business of being a woman and that of being a man has always been a highly individual occupation, and childbearing surely places women well and truly at the top of the list of human endeavor, and importance, in the natural order of things.

I’ve been trying to hire (good) female creatives in senior and mid-weight positions for the past 13 months – in Sydney.

All the good ones are either happy in their current role or only available for freelance, which I can’t justify.

Let me make that clear – all of the good ones.

I face a dilemma. Do I hire men locally for the roles I need to fill, or do I relocate a woman from overseas? I’ve tried to relocate several who are as good as the men available locally and they’ve all politely turned me down.

A few things I’ve noticed in the past year:
• Sydney has f*ck all female creatives available for full time work. So if you’re reading this from overseas or even better interstate and you’re recently awarded, move here. It’s a great town with a good lifestyle. And if you are based in Sydney already, get good. Do some scam / spec work for your own clients, enter it into awards and make it happen. I can’t justify hiring you if there are blokes with 5 times the amount of awards available.

• Women are less likely than men to ‘jump ship’. They are less motivated by money as the sole reason to move, and instead factor in other things – culture, flexibility etc – as a reason to stay at an agency. This again makes women a superior hire.

• After 3-5 years, a lot of female creatives leave the local industry or go freelance. Personally I think it’s because they are smarter than men – who wants to sit around the office until midnight watching people tug their egos then come in on the weekend and do it again?

• An observation: the women who stick at it long term often join a ‘lifestyle agency’ which doesn’t auger well for anyones career or negotiate to go home on time / work 3 days a week – so they’re moved to the ‘easier’ accounts that don’t require weekend work and late nights. What makes it harder is when they take 3-4 years off, for travel, family or other reasons – it’s hard to justify a rehire. You wouldn’t hire a male who’s had 3 years off unless they’re sh*t-hot at what they do, the same applies to women. There are three women in Sydney taking time out who are guns. I really hope they come back to the industry soon. They know who they are, and they’re all talented and exceptionally nice.

• Creative departments in Sydney (and London) are different to any other industry. They work long hours without thanks, sacrifice weekends with zero notice and put up with sh*t suits, terrible planners and really bad or just plain rude clients. A lot of men leave the industry by age 40 to go and work in a bar or move overseas. If you’re slightly more emotionally in touch with yourself than most men, you’ll get tired of it even quicker. It’s tough.

• I wish there were less dicks in advertising.

@creative dictator why is it all about awards .. . That is such male egocentric self absorbed attitude … Surely we are in the business of selling more stuff for clients ??? Not serving our own egos ???

@ whoever wrote the following:

[quote] “@creative dictator why is it all about awards .. . That is such male egocentric self absorbed attitude … Surely we are in the business of selling more stuff for clients ??? Not serving our own egos ???” [unquote]

Have you ever heard the words Fair argument? Have you ever considered that awards, however you may feel about them personally, are used by many (male and/or female) as an accolade, and a form of industry recognition?

@creative dictator

I’m in Sydney and looking to switch jobs. Oh, and I’m very well awarded. Publish a name or email to be contacted on, and maybe you’ll hear from those female creatives you’re desperately looking for.

@6:39 – Thanks for firstly assuming I’m male and secondly being such a sexist pig. Wash your mouth out.

@12:52 – Then you’d best be in touch with your recruiter. We use all three.

“Do some scam / spec work for your own clients, enter it into awards and make it happen.” All. Cred. Lost.

“I wish there were less dicks in advertising” Grammatically you surely mean fewer dicks.

“and they’ve all politely turned me down”

Hmmm, think about that.

Racist and misandry filled feminists at it again

With respect. What would you know? Are you an advertising creative? Have you ever been in this position? You seem to have a lot to say for someone who earns his living doing something else. All be it maybe, sometimes voicing over our ads. There’s enough trolls on this blog mate. Actors Equity want their disgruntled old man back.

I agree. Publish your real name if you’ve got a real job. I’m calling absolute bullshit on you. Why do you have to hide your name? Put up your job description or shut the fuck up. It’s all rhetoric if you don’t. Swing that dick any harder and it will hit you in the eye.

@9:25 – Like I need someone who has time to comment at 9:25 in the evening to provide a precis of my credibility. Why aren’t you sweating a brief?

Listen, i was trying to be honest about why there are no female creatives in agencies. Let me make it a bit plainer for you. I choose my creatives on a quant basis, qual has no place in my department. Bring me a wheelbarrow of awards or apply for a job in the finished art studio operating the bromide machine. What you fail to grasp is that I cannot possibly justify hiring someone with great ideas who hasn’t had the chance to get their ‘best’ work through. I need you to prove to me that you are prepared to use the client’s money for your own end. I need your CV to provide me with a soundbite summation of your capability so I can justify your presence to my CCO because i simply cannot bear the thought of being banished to some lifestyle agency. I need you to stay back late because I had to do that when I was a junior. Now its your turn. What? I’m using the idea you came up with three days earlier during daylight hours? Don’t get smart with me. Smart, huh? You must be a female.

Next you’ll be telling me that creative departments in Amsterdam, Sao Paolo, New York and (urghhh) Melbourne are somewhat similar to those in Sydney and London. Eat your vegetables.

Put your name to it. If you’re so sure about what YOUR qualifications are to choose who’s good enough. I’m well employed overseas and well away from the likes of you. It’s not 9.25am for the rest of the world. You must understand there are creative people EVERYWHERE watching this shit unfold. It’s 10.55pm on Monday in London right now and 6pm in New York. I know where I am. In a way better place than you. Enjoy your mediocrity mate. It won’t last forever.

There’s no ‘boys club’ in Sydney, but there is a ‘girls club’:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/313729152120434/?pnref=lhc

just re these last couple of comments

there’s no shame in using an anonymous handle unless you’re doing it so you can attack other commenters with impunity, as the various “Dear Creative Dictators” seem to be doing.

I have respect for people who comment under their real name like Richard Moss, even that gentleman who constantly promotes his snarky blog

It’s a privilege to post anonymously and at least in theory it should allow people to say what they really think and help focus debate on the actual issues rather than the people posting them. unfortunately this doesn’t appear to be happening at the moment & the last few comments seem to be variations of a “credibility attack.”

“Enjoy your mediocrity mate. It won’t last forever.” – this kind of stuff is just detracting from substantive debate

Cindy kicked this off because she does controversy really well and it works for her. For the people at Leo Burnetts it’s just about jobs. Like the rest of us they work to send their kids to schools, live in Sydney etc.

Imagine working in that agency – any agency now. It’s all about pretence. There will never be Mad Men 2015 it’s an industry in decline. I suspect none of these issues has anything to do with the agency but Woolies is being hammered by Coles who worked out we just care about price, Samsung can’t compete with Apple, Maccas are in a decline simply because we are eating differently, liquor does not sell like it used too because the population is ageing and we grew up on wine and Cannon can’t sell a camera in Australia because we learned we can buy them offshore.

We are in a world where agencies can’t really move the needle simply because consumers don’t pay attention like they used too.

So in order to make it all feel better you create a clubby “we’re the best” persona. If you hire a bunch of guys who all shop at Rodd and Gunn who are likely to all have gone to one of three schools and you’ll get on.

I don’t think it’s a cynical plot to keep women out. It’s just that they don’t really want someone from the outside pointing out how it really is rather than how it looks.

This is where the blame game starts: @Becauseits2015 writes “There are 3% of women in creative positions of power and influence. This is a disgrace.”

Apparently, from the blame-frame game of comments, it’s all because of some matey, matey club that prevents women from 1) getting into Advertising. 2)Men just don’t allow women to soar and do brilliant work and be recognised for it!

I see it as a disgrace women have not stepped up to match the 97% of men who are in creative positions of power and influence. You can’t blame men for ALL the figures. Talent and creativity and have to come into it. Maybe that’s the real problem.

Grade 5. Have you been following this closely? The disgrace is that so few women are given the opportunity. They’ve got the talent and the creativity, just not the badge to get into the boys locker room when the team’s being picked. Hard to score a goal if you’re not allowed to play. Step up to the Creative Director? WTF. Do you even work in a creative departmen?. I’ve never seen that go down too well. Especially from a woman. That’s what they call being “difficult”.

Haha. What lovely bunch of professional, intelligent, mature and educated people that aren’t miserable at all.

So glad I left this industry. But it is funny to read these comments that show how prevalent NPD traits are in Ad Land: lack of empathy, inflated yet very fragile egos , hypercritical, entitled etc.

I’ve found more conscientious people in corporate law firms.

I’ve been in studio in a small ad agency for a six years, we’ve gone through an incredible amount of turnover for our size, at one point we had three creative directors in one year. The creative team size has fluctuated between three and six. Total number of female art directors I’ve worked with in that time: one. We’ve had three female copywriters tho.

Just an anecdote, so feel free to dismiss but to me the gender imbalance is real. And don’t get me started on the class imbalance in juniors, the only people these days who can afford to work for free are those who are fortunate enough to be supported by their parents.

Alors, c’est la guerre.

Interesting; men are assumed to be hired as part of a boys’ club or gender bias.

Yet women are assumed to be hired or promoted on the basis of skill.

Can’t we just go back to the old days where, if a woman was promoted, it was assumed she was sleeping with the boss?

This is crazy. Maybe Agencies are different from Clients, but marketing on the client side seems to be DOMINATED by WOMEN. If you are trying to get a new job in marketing, the very worst thing you can be is a 40+ straight, white man. I know of many companies whose marketing head is a woman. Try persuading them that they should hire another male who is not a junior (= very controllable). Again, I’m talking about the client side. With agencies, it entirely seems to be whether the owners are men or women. There are many female-owned marketing agencies out there which seem to have no men on their roster at any level.

I am a senior female creative and I really appreciate your honestly.
But I am somewhat baffled and dismayed with your comment below…..

Bring me a wheelbarrow of awards. What you fail to grasp is that I cannot possibly justify hiring someone with great ideas who hasn’t had the chance to get their ‘best’ work through. I need you to prove to me that you are prepared to use the client’s money for your own end. I need your CV to provide me with a soundbite summation of your capability so I can justify your presence to my CCO.”

I love awards, I have won a bunch of them over the course of my career. However….surely there’s a balance we need to strike here. Is it really ALL about winning awards. Is that the basis that we should be exclusively hiring on ????
Many clients do not have an appetite for the kind of work that wins awards. But they still want a big idea with a fresh or powerful creative insight. Awards of course give a creative bar to reach for us to reach. And they give some clients a level of comfort . If I was a COO I would be interested in hiring someone who could make me money, not simply make themselves famous.

A good ECD should not need Awards to know if someone is a great creative mind.

As an ECD myself I have seen plenty of AWARD winning ECD’s folios and websites and frankly many of them are underwhelming- there are a lot of ECD’s out there who are one hit wonders. Guys trading on a couple of cool ads they did 10 years ago they probably didn’t even come up with [ they were part of the team that created them] for small clients or music videos.

Creative dictator surely we need to choose creatives based in their commercial value ???

@ 24 Nov 15 7:31 pm

I apologise for the confusion.

You will notice there is a spelling discrepancy between my name and the name you’re quoting – ‘Creative Dicktator’. I’m assuming this person was taking the mick out of me, or maybe they’re just a bitter troll with not much better to do. So please ignore the ‘quotes’ from that commenter – they don’t come from me.

However,

I agree it’s not all about winning awards. In fact, awards are the icing on the cake. The cake is results. The paradox however is genuine, real, result driven work wins the kind of awards I’m interest in. Integrated. Direct. Titanium.

I agree 100% with you. I don’t care for scam, clients don’t either and my remit is to keep clients happy. Happy clients win more awards and approve the kind of work that gets them better results.

One comment regarding the ‘award winning ECD’s folios’ – is that the work they made or the work they shepherded? Some creatives are better shepherds than creatives if that makes sense. Otherwise I agree with you. Scam profits nobody.

And ‘creative dicktator’ needs to learn how to write satire properly.

Apologies for the confusion, and let’s all agree – less dicks in the creative department. Male or female.

Thank you.
A fair, balanced and articulate response.

It is statistically impossible that there are no females who merit the job. so it is not based on merit at all. well done leo burnett – I thought they would be more insight. you have to question their judgment if they didn’t see any issues with this.

amazing article on Mansplaining. Please can Leo Burnett read it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....=Australia :
“It’s not hard to fathom why so many men tend to assume they are great and that what they have to say is more legitimate. It starts in childhood and never ends. Parents interrupt girls twice as often and hold them to stricter politeness norms. Teachers engage boys, who correctly see disruptive speech as a marker of dominant masculinity, more often and more dynamically than girls”

Go and do some work you lot haha!
Looking forward to June 2016 already 😉

5 males & no females?? NO females? Hmf no females. I guess their roles are subordinate.

@WhiteMenCan’tDoStatistics

Would you care to spell out what mansplaining is?

Thanks,
A man.