Are we entering the golden era for advertising leadership?
This article, written by Nishma Patel Robb, was published in Campaign on November 21st 2023.
In recent weeks, our industry inboxes have been flooded with positive leadership news. Miranda Hipwell is Adam & Eve/DDB’s new chief executive; OMD UK’s new CEO is Suzy Ryder; Accenture Song has expanded Dame Annette King‘s remit to become marketing practice lead; and VML has appointed Wunderman Thompson’s Pip Hulbert as its UK CEO.
Slowly but surely, it feels like we’re shifting the CEO statistic, currently standing at 37.5% women at C-suite level, according to the 2022 Agency Census of the IPA’s member agencies. It is worth noting that a lot of this new activity is taking place in creative agency land. As to whether this trend will expand requires greater exploration.
We also recognise that there is still much to do as we face tougher economic headwinds and the potential of future business lay-offs and changes across the industry. This is why this new cohort of senior leaders will need to be even better supported by their teams and organisations such as Wacl, via our community, education and peer-to-peer mentoring.
But we also believe these headlines could signal a new golden era for leadership in advertising. Because what we’re seeing is not only promotions, new hires and expanded roles but also a breadth of leadership positions being made available to, and by, women.
Women are leading holding companies, agencies and brands. They’re founding companies and being promoted. There have also been some high-level departures, including mine, of senior women across the industry, for many different reasons. This offers an opportunity to continue to develop rising female talent into these roles but it’s also a sign that more women are taking control of creating new businesses and cultures, as well as developing new ways of working outside traditional models.
Whether in big corporations or their own companies, all kinds of women in leadership are choosing not to change themselves to fit outdated models of business. Instead, they’re shaping the world of work to suit them, and the teams around them.
There is still a way to go when it comes to intersectionality at the top. While these headlines demonstrate the progress being made when it comes to gender, the faces we’re seeing of late do look pretty similar. The number of non-white or openly LGBT+ individuals among recent promotions to top jobs remains low to none. There’s still work to be done until we reach true equality for all.
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