An unusual way to tackle industry bias.
Creative agency AnalogFolk has launched a groundbreaking campaign to address the significant issue of female underrepresentation in senior roles within the advertising industry. Let’s face it: despite women’s significant presence in the creative industry, the visibility of diverse and female talent in creative leadership remains alarmingly low.
This provocative initiative aims to shed light on this issue by reimagining iconic male figures as women. Through the use of generative AI, industry legends such as Sir John Hegarty, David Droga or Nils Leonard have been transformed into their female counterparts: ‘Jane Hegarty’, ‘Davina Droga’, and ‘Nelly Leonard’.
Aurora Sutherland, aka Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK).
Titled “Changing the Face of Creative Leadership” the campaign is inspired by stark industry statistics. Although women constitute the majority of the creative workforce at 54.7%, they occupy only 17% of leadership roles, according to the 2023 IPA Agency Census and D&AD 2024. Anna-Louise Gladwell, AnalogFolk’s London Managing Director and Member of the Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership (WACL), emphasizes the campaign’s goal: “Our aim is to open the door wider for societal success by ensuring diverse leadership in the creative industry.”
“Despite making up 54.7% of the creative workforce, women hold only 17% of leadership positions.”
Martina Denton, aka Mark Denton (Executive Creative Director at COY! Communications and Artist at Mark Denton Esq.).
“We’re pushing this campaign to drive a solution to the lack of visibility and representation of female creative leaders,” she states. “The current talent pool we see is neither diverse nor balanced. It’s imperative we ask, ‘Where are all the women?'” Developed by Creative Directors Dani Arkless and Alex Wood, the print campaign calls on the industry to acknowledge and rectify this disparity.
This is also a smart way for the agency to promote its latest opening role: Head of Creative at AnalogFolk London. The agency has recently reimagined its studio from a traditional agency model into a dynamic, inclusive space driven by a diverse mix of creatives, creators, and makers.
This new direction requires a fresh kind of creative leader, who has the skills and experience to lead a team that is adaptive to the pace of culture, collaborative, and empowered to create exceptional content and experiences for the agency’s clients, which include Beats by Dre, Costa Coffee, Meta, Nike and many more. “We’re not specifically looking to hire a woman for this role, but right now the pool of talent we’re seeing is neither diverse nor balanced” said Anna-Louise.
Nelly Leonard, aka Nils Leonard (Co-Founder of Uncommon Creative Studio).
Jane Hegarty, aka Sir John Hegarty (Co-Founder of BBH, Co-Founder and Creative Director at The Garage Soho, and The Business of Creativity).
Davina Wigglesworth, aka David Wigglesworth (Executive Creative Director of Grey London).
“As fun as it is to gander at female me, and to laugh at the fact that this clown is somehow bundled in with actual industry legends—AnalogFolk are raising awareness of a very real problem. This is such an important subject matter, and one that we in the industry too often forget.” stated David on LinkedIn.
Davina Droga, aka David Droga (Founder of Droga5, CEO and Creative Chairman of Accenture Song).
Charlotte Saatchi, aka Charles Saatchi (Co-Founder of Saatchi & Saatchi).
Denise Trott, aka Dave Trott (Creative Director, Consultant, Author, D&AD Lifetime Achievement Award).
Gracie Fink, aka Graham Fink (ex-Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather China, Founder of Fink Different and Graham Fink Studios).
A participative talent pool
These catchy print ads are completed by a call to action. AnalogFolk invites the entire industry to participate in building a diverse talent pool (click here to refer someone). This open-source approach encourages agencies to share and utilize this resource, helping to meet their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) targets and drive the industry forward. By allowing individuals to apply for its own Head of Creative role and recommend others, AnalogFolk hopes to identify and elevate talented women ready to step into leadership positions.
The campaign questions whether legendary male advertising figures would have achieved the same success if they were women.
Trinie Beattie, aka Trevor Beattie (ex-Chairman and Creative Director of TBWA\ London, Co-Founder, Chairman and Creative Director of Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB)).
Through this initiative, the global, independent and digitally native creative agency (whose mission is to use digital to make the analog world better!) is taking a significant step towards a more inclusive and dynamic future for the industry, showcasing the brilliant potential of female leadership in advertising. “The only way to predict the future is to create it,” Gladwell asserts.
Campaign credits
Managing Director: Anna-Louise Gladwell. Creative Directors: Dani Arkless and Alex Wood. Head of Design: Daniel Saxton. Designer: William Bjorklund. Junior Designer: Minna Leatham.
