NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Diageo has
announced sponsorship of the Creative Equals Returner scheme
#CreativeComeback for the second year, funding a multi-market
roll-out to address the lack of women represented in top creative
leadership roles around the world.
The program will run in London,
New York and Mumbai in 2020 with the objective of
supporting 100 women back into the creative industries following a
career break of a year or more. The expansion follows the success
of the first program which saw 58 women complete the course in
London and Manchester 2019, with the
majority returning to the creative industries following
completion.
#CreativeComeback takes place as the advertising industry
struggles to close the gap in creative leadership roles and more
progress is needed on gender portrayal in advertising. In the UK
advertising industry, according to Creative Equals, women make up
only 16% of creative directors.1 In the US, the ANA
found in 2018 that although women comprise over half of the
marketing industry's workforce, they still lag behind in leadership
roles.2 In India,
research by Kantar and Diageo into the top 150 Indian adverts
across sectors found that 29% showed outdated gender stereotypes or
needed improvement in terms of gender portrayal.
During the two-week training bootcamp with non-profit
advertising and design association D&AD, the returners will be
brought up to speed on latest industry developments before
responding to briefs from Diageo brands including Gordon's,
Baileys, Johnnie Walker,
Smirnoff and Black & White. The group will be made up of
advertising art directors, advertising copywriters, designers, UX
designers as well as social, editorial and digital creatives.
Following the bootcamp, returners will do a
four-week placement with a leading agency whilst being
supported by a coach. Organizations involved include Anomaly,
D&AD, DDB Mudra, Geometry, Glitch, M&C Saatchi,
MRM//McCann, Publicis, Uncommon, VMLY&R, Wunderman Thompson
amongst others.
Syl Saller, CMO of Diageo:
"I'm pleased to see more women entering the boardrooms of
agencies, but too few are in creative leadership positions. I am
convinced that diversity in creative leadership leads to better and
more effective work. It's time for concerted action
that will close the creative leadership gap.
"We were blown away by the responses to our briefs from the
returners in 2019 and I'm thrilled to see women who took part go on
to re-establish flourishing careers. We're proud to be bringing
#CreativeComeback to the UK, US and India – countries that are crucial to both our
business, and the creative industries as a whole."
Ed Pilkington, Chief Marketing
and Innovation Officer, Diageo NA said: "Diageo is fortunate
to have some of the most iconic brands in the world, and fresh
creative perspectives are critical to the relevance of those
brands. Diversity in creative leadership is essential, and this
program has the potential to truly impact the gap. Following
the success of the program in the UK last year, we are looking
forward to rolling it out to US returners."
Ali Hanan, Founder of Creative
Equals: 'In 2019, with the Government Equalities
Office, D&AD and Diageo, we have been able to put bridges back
to work for 41 women in London and
Manchester, with 15 permanent
hires. We know this is life-changing for some, giving them their
careers back and making a dent on changing the ratio of female
creative directors across all markets.
"Our aim is to shift the perception of CV gaps: these moments
where life happens are creativity's gifts, and yet 'time out' as a
barrier to coming back to work. We also know ageism is a challenge,
and while 70% of the UK's income is held by those over 50, just 6%
of our workforce sits in this age bracket. We know who makes the
work shapes the work, so to produce better, more innovative ideas
we need diverse perspectives with those from all walks of life at
the table to represent the audiences we
serve."
Sarra Yaya, Associate Creative
Director who took part in the 2019 #CreativeComeback programme
said: "Since completing the training program, I've gone from
strength to strength. I worked on several projects for Baileys,
three successful pitches and have now taken an Associate Creative
Director role at an agency who are supporting me to work flexibly
to juggle work and look after my 2-year-old. I couldn't have done
this without the confidence, drive and reboot the #CreativeComeback
programme gave me."
Julie Bramham, CMO for Diageo
India said: "I am delighted that we will be working
with Creative Equals in launching this programme in India. It
is well acknowledged that diverse teams are more creative and
innovative, but still we continue to see mid-career dropout within
the creative industry. It can be hard to return to work after
a long break, hence we are excited to bring the 'creative comeback'
program to India. We want cutting edge and diverse creative
brains to work on our brands and we are excited to make this happen
with Creative Equals, DDB Mudra and Glitch."
The program will take place in London, running across International Women's
Day from the 2-12 March
2nd-12th, followed by New York March
23rd – April
2nd and Mumbai
in September and October.
Support for the #CreativeComeback program is part of Diageo's
broader work to improve progressive gender portrayal in content and
to accelerate gender balance in the advertising industry itself.
Diageo has rolled out a comprehensive progressive gender
advertising framework and training program to its marketers and
agencies around the world, and is the joint author of an industry
wide playbook to remove gender stereotypes from advertising. Diageo
is an active member of the Unstereotype Alliance and a signatory of
Free the Bid, which aims to increase the number of female directors
in the advertising industry. Diageo is recognized in the Bloomberg
Gender Equality Index and ranked as the top company for gender
equality in the world in the Equileap's 2019 ranking.
To find out more about #CreativeComeback or to apply, visit:
http://www.creativeequals.org/creativecomeback
For further information please contact:
Diageo
Diageo Global Press Office: Press@diageo.com +44 (0) 20 8978
2749
Diageo Global: Michelle Lavipour,
Michelle.Lavipour@diageo.com
Diageo NA: Kristen Crofoot,
Kristen.Crofoot@diageo.com
Creative Equals
Creative Equals Press Office:
ali@creativeequals.org +44 (0)7966769236
About Diageo
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an
outstanding collection of brands across spirits and beer
categories. These brands include Johnnie
Walker, Crown Royal, JεB, Buchanan's and Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel
One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don
Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.
Diageo is a global company, and our products are sold in more
than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both
the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and the New York Stock Exchange
(DEO).
Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.
Creative Equals
Creative Equals is an award-winning organisation driving
inclusion, diversity and equality across the breadth of the
creative industries. To do this, they run an Equality Standard, a
review, rating and roadmap system, endorsed by the Market Research
Society and the UK's IPA, recognised by the industry's key
intermediaries. They run culture change programmes for businesses,
two flagship events, RISE, for under-represented creative leaders
and DiverseMinds, a conference around neurodiversity with the Hobbs
Consultancy. Their aim is to bring in more under-represented
talent, which is why in 2020 they are partnering with the Brixton
Finishing School to bring in youth with autism, and
#CreativeComeback, aimed at bringing those who have been off for an
extended career break back to the workplace.
1 http://www.creativeequals.org/#vision
2 A Diversity Report for the
Advertising/Marketing Industry, ANA, November 2018
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