How a ‘new generation of female leadership’ is breaking down barriers
This article was written by Campaign UK and was published on the 22nd October, 2024.
A string of agency chief executives started new jobs in 2023, the majority being women. As this set of leaders has got to work, Campaign has analysed the tenure of bosses across the sector at large – and how far experienced and fresh perspectives can combine.
When Wacl president Karen Stacey stood up at the first Wacl Presents event at London’s Vue West End earlier this month, it was ostensibly to present all that the women’s networking group does for the industry. It was also to sharpen the industry’s mind towards the group’s target for 50% of all chief executives to be women and what they can do to help.
Ahead of the event, Stacey urged the sector to continue to work together. “Our purpose of accelerating gender equality in advertising and comms is very much still needed, today more than ever. But we can’t make the progress we need without your help,” she said.
In April 2023, Wacl launched its campaign calling for an even gender split among chief executive roles across the industry. At the time, just 30% of agency CEOs were female, based on IPA and All In data. Across the ad industry, Wacl estimated the figure was 17%, with full parity projected to be reached by 2060: 37 years away. Wacl is hoping to reach the 50% target by 2045.
The most recent Campaign School Reports data, covering the 12 months up to the end of 2023, suggests that progress continues to be made. Clearly a lot has happened over the past 10 months, but, as of December last year, School Reports figures reveal that, of the 99 agencies covered, 57 had male CEOs (or equivalent; a founder or president), 39 female, one a male-female leadership partnership and two were operating without a CEO.
The School Reports analysis also found that, during the same 12-month period, 31.3% of the 99 agencies had a CEO who had been in their role for one year or less. And notably, among those 31 leaders, 17 were women.
Wacl exec member Lori Meakin says Campaign’s data does indicate that structural changes have created more equal opportunities for some women to advance.
“This research shows that in some agencies the barriers have been lifted for women to progress to the most senior levels,” Meakin says, noting many agencies now have more flexible working and improved parental policies on offer.
For Claire Hollands, chief executive of Interpublic shop MullenLowe UK, (who started in her role in May 2023), the higher proportion of women in newer roles signals a “whole new generation of female leadership” within adland, and “proves that female talent is showing up in a dynamic landscape; it’s a very good thing.”
Though more broadly, the important quality for any leader moving into such a post now is the understanding that client needs are changing and tough decisions will need to be made, she adds – pointing out that many of these types of leaders “are already here”.
“There was quite a lot of change post-Covid, and that has been a good thing. My peer group includes a lot of first- and second-tenure CEOs who have had to come in and make difficult decisions in a challenging market, but the new breed is geared around that – we have leaned into change,” she says.
CEO tenures by type of agency and by gender:
Different experiences
One cheerleader for the new breed, a “massive proponent of new blood” at the top of agencies, is Conrad Persons, president at WPP-owned creative shop Grey London.
Persons, who recently celebrated his first anniversary in the role after previously being a global strategist at WPP, says there is “a real power in fresh perspective, in asking naive questions that are only permitted from new leadership, in questioning longstanding practices and, perhaps most importantly, in bringing different lived experiences that you’ve gotten externally into a new environment”.
It’s not that he’s anti-continuity and long-term relationship building per se, but Persons does believe new leadership has a positive impact on change and that a constant process of learning and self-improvement should always be at the heart of any leader’s approach to management, whatever length their tenure happens to be.
Campaign’s data showed the male CEOs in 2023 had a longer average tenure (7.2 years) than women (3.4 years) – which was also larger than the average of 5.6 years across the entire group of School Reports agencies.
In general, the agency sector is outperforming the UK workplace as a whole, where the average length of CEO service was 5.3 years in 2023, a decline from the prior two years according to the UK Spencer Stuart Board Index.
The chief executive with the longest time in post last year among the School Reports agencies is Stephen Maher, who has held his role at customer experience shop MBAstack since 1994 (and is now chair at merged entity The Gate).
The shortest tenure at the end of 2023 was Adam & Eve/DDB’s Miranda Hipwell, with almost two months, with Clare Chapman at EssenceMedicom X close behind.
That compares with the Spencer Stuart data on the UK workplace, showing the longest tenure was 28.4 years and the shortest less than one month.
Agency leaders say one possible reason for the slightly longer average time in post within the advertising industry is the closeness of client-CEO working relationships, some of which can stretch over decades. Maher calls it “a retainer mindset” – the habit of always thinking long term – which is present at both smaller indies and within larger holding companies.
CEO tenure is longer at indies than holding company networks
Delving a little deeper into the School Reports data, one of the standout findings is that the average tenure of 8.1 years among independent agencies is more than double that of those owned by holding companies, which stands at 4.6 years.
Simon Davis, chief executive of Walk-In Media, the agency he founded in 2019, believes there’s a tension between the CEO role at an indie shop and the same role at a network agency. At the latter, “the bulk of internal strategic decisions are now made centrally by a highly concentrated team of profit-focused decision-makers in holding-co HQ”.
This leaves little scope to shape the individual agency brand according to a specific vision or ethos, which gets pushed aside “in the drive for centralised, homogenised, efficient servicing by the holding companies”, according to Davis, who used to run Publicis-owned Blue 449, previously Walker Media.
“Since personal progress for leaders at the big agency groups usually involves moving into central or international roles which are even less accountable to clients, the agency leadership becomes structurally unstable, by design,” Davis claims. He believes that networks are devaluing agency leader roles to largely administrative ones, limiting relationships with clients and, as a result, cutting back on the need for stability.
Davis adds that the high proportion of new CEOs last year, which he decries as “musical chairs”, is partly down to this dissatisfaction with unchallenging roles. Indeed, in his opinion, “Most agency leaders came up through the ranks of planning and/or trading – they need more than spreadsheets and relentless internal reporting to keep them motivated… It’s our clients that make the job interesting.”
Media agencies’ shorter CEO tenure
Among the media agencies on Campaign’s list, the average tenure is 3.9 years, comparing unfavourably with their creative/other counterparts, where the average tenure is longer, at 6.3 years.
One industry source, a former media agency CEO, says that the shorter media tenures are “probably due to the media industry being more dynamic than creative agencies. There is more change within the holding groups, with service offerings, with trying to find new commercial models. Creative agencies are more static in their offerings.”
Initiative experienced some significant C-suite changes during 2023, with UK and Ireland chief executive James Shoreland leaving in September after two years and 10 months (below the average for media agencies), moving to VCCP Media, where he was joined by Initiative’s chief strategy officer Will Parrish. Shoreland was later replaced by Will Spence, previously global chief operating officer at the agency.
Sharon Dhillon, managing director of Initiative since 2022, believes that too much change can sometimes be destabilising, for both agency and client: “So much of our industry is based on personal relationships, trust and insights and these can take serious time to build.
“When leaders within any business change too often, all that hard-earned understanding of who to connect with and how to get things done can be lost, making it difficult to keep up the momentum on longer-term, strategic thinking.
“Saying that, having recently welcomed Will our new CEO into his role, it would be disingenuous to not recognise the benefits, to both an agency and their clients, of having a refreshed focus.”
‘Stable dynamism’
For many leaders of agencies, the debate over whether stability or new blood is more advantageous is too binary; both are necessary at different points in time and can be achieved through not just the perspective of the CEO but other C-suite members too.
For Maher, the goal is “stable dynamism… That’s the secret of success, in my view. Don’t be complacent. Have the advantage of stability, but keep being curious, innovating, being dynamic. This is a business built on innovation.”
Though working at an agency without a CEO during the period covered by the School Reports data, Dhillon agrees that the ability to evolve with clients is a key definer of the new breed of leader. So is being flexible in both working practices and areas of expertise and interest: “We’re already seeing the benefits of leaders side-stepping across their agencies and there is definitely a lot more scope for us all to think more creatively about how skillsets can benefit different parts of the business.
“If we continue on this path, we’ll ensure we’re keeping things fresh for our leaders and continue to create opportunities for the people coming up.”
Neil Henderson, founder and CEO of indie creative agency St Luke’s since 2002, is one of the longest-serving leaders according to Campaign’s figures, with 21 years under his belt. Broadening out thinking around durability to beyond the confines of the C-suite, Henderson believes that longer service means better client-agency relationships, where agencies get to see beyond the brief, and solve client problems more effectively.
“Having worked with Heineken for 18 years, and many other brands for between five and 10 years, gaining a deep understanding of a client’s business means you arrive at solutions faster because there’s more trust,” he says.
Several of St Luke’s clients, Henderson explains, are people who have worked with the shop before, at different brands. “This is a factor that’s become even more important, in this recession, just in the past two or three years,” he says. “Relationships are always important, it’s much easier for a client to lean on, go to the people they know.”
However, he does underline that “it’s hugely valuable to be able to refresh the agency with senior-level people”. Citing the hiring of Richard Denney as executive creative director in 2017, (Denney became joint chief creative officer in 2023), and recent re-hiring of Andrew Hill, a TV producer and agency alumnus, to head up branded content at its production arm, Apostle Studios. Henderson says: “If you get the casting right, and they buy into the mission and culture, then having that person bring freshness, new contacts, new perspective, new energy, is hugely beneficial.”
Occasionally, a lengthy CEO tenure can be a sign that an agency has lost its way, according to Hollands. “Are they still future fit? Are they still feeling hungry? If not, then they may need to think about what’s next.”
With some “very enduring” client relationships to steward (Unilever: 20 years, NHS: seven years and Bayer: five years), Hollands adds that mixing things up can bring new impetus: “Brands go through new chapters, and if they are working with the same people, it can mean they lose freshness. We are striving for consistency, not stagnation, regardless of discipline.”
And, having changed about 50% of the executive committee in the past 18 months, she welcomes the developments of last year, the signals of progress that could pave the way towards a more female-fronted industry.
“It’s a powerful combination of long-term relationships and fresh energy,” Hollands says. “And it’s a collision which creates healthy discussion, leading to better outcomes from a mixture of old and new.”
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