Breaking New Ground for Female Creatives
"Save money. Live better." “It’s a Tide ad.”
Besides being incredibly clever, what do these two tag lines have in common?
They were both devised by women.
For an industry that has always prided itself on being modern and cutting edge, the advertising world is actually quite conservative and male-dominated. Year after year, we see an overwhelming dominance of men winning the advertising industry’s top awards.
From lack of proper mentorship to a gulf-sized gender pay gap, women in creative fields face a specific set of challenges. Many ads still represent women in more traditional, submissive roles, so it’s no surprise many women feel alienated by advertising. If agencies and creative departments continue to embrace old prejudices, they risk losing the female segment of the consumer market.
Despite this, we have seen promising advancements of female creatives over the years. Only 3% of the world’s creative directors were women in 2013, a number that has steadily risen to 11% today. With emerging initiatives like The 3% Movement and SheSays that are dedicated to championing female creative talent and leadership, the issue of gender inequality is slowly changing. Agencies are finally starting to address the imbalance in their upper creative ranks, and more and more women are filling senior positions in creative departments.
So what must we all do to continue the push for change? The industry as a whole, led by a strong voice from the consumers, must take actionable steps to not only create a more equitable and gender-balanced work environments, but realize and incorporate the changing dynamic of perceived gender roles and biases in today’s world. Women, who also happen to be the most powerful consumer segment on the planet, need to be recognized as such and have the messaging catered to their needs in relatable and resounding ways. Many clients now reject pitch teams without an even gender split, so bridging the gender gaps in creative departments will work in their best interests to enable a true representation of what the world and its consumers want today.
As International Women’s Day approaches on March 8, we want to recognize some prominent creative women from the past and present day — and not only how they’ve risen above gender stereotypes to redefine creativity for women, but how they have impacted the industry as a whole. If you’re not familiar with some of their names, chances are, you are familiar with their work or at the very least a result of the influence they’ve had.
Bernice Fitz-Gibbon
Why You Should Know Her: Retail advertising pioneer & creator of the Macy's slogan "It's great to be thrifty"
Former ad manager at Marshall’s, Macy's, Gimbels, and Wanamaker, Fitz-Gibbon became retailing's most important and highly paid advertising director. She was named #62 out of 100 people of the 20th century by Advertising Age and was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 1982. Aside from many creative accolades, Fitz-Gibbon was named as one of the leading business women in the nation by Fortune magazine in 1957.
Katharine Graham
Why You Should Know Her: Former Chairman & CEO, The Washington Post
Katharine Graham built her family’s newspaper, The Washington Post, into a leading force in American journalism.
A woman of many firsts, Graham was the first woman to head a Fortune 500 company, the first to serve as a director of the Associated Press, and the first female director of the American Newspaper Publishers Association. She guided the Post to national prominence, most notably when it published The Pentagon Papers and reported on the Watergate scandal.
Jane Maas
Why You Should Know Her: Shepherding one of the most successful tourism campaigns ever — “I Love New York”
Chances are, you or someone you know owns the iconic “I Love New York” T-shirt — and you have Jane Maas to thank for that.
Maas was the first woman to head a major pre-existing New York City advertising agency, Muller Jordan Weiss. She began her Madison Avenue career in 1964 at Ogilvy & Mather, where she rose from Junior Copywriter to become only the agency’s second woman to be promoted to Vice President.
Charlotte Beers
Why You Should Know Her: Being named “the most powerful woman in advertising”
Having appeared on the covers of Fortune and BusinessWeek, Charlotte Beers has been referred to as one of the most powerful woman in American
Beers’ extraordinary career in advertising began at J. Walter Thompson Advertising, where she became the first female vice president in the firm's 106-year history. She is known for differentiating between products and brands, which revolutionized major ad campaigns.
Amy Ferguson & Julia Neumann
Why You Should Know Them: Executive Creative Directors, TBWA\Chiat\Day New York
A match made in creative heaven, Ferguson and Neumann have both been named to Advertising Age’s list of “Creatives You Should Know" as well as Business Insider's "30 Most Creative Women in Advertising'' list. Their career paths are equally impressive and inspiring.
Julia Neumann began her advertising career at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, where she won the agency’s very first Cannes Lion for P&G’s Tide.
Amy Ferguson revamped vodka brand Absolut with the "In an Absolut World" campaign, and she spearheaded E*trade’s award-winning “Talking Babies” Super Bowl spot.
Christine Cattano
Why You Should Know Her: Opening the doors of the world's first dedicated studio for virtual reality in 2014
We spotlight Cattano as she fills a creative space — virtual reality — that has only just surfaced in the last decade. She currently serves at the Global Head of VR of Framestone, an Oscar-winning visual effects company.
At Framestore, Cattano has worked on a number of VR firsts: the hugely successful "Ascend the Wall" activation for HBO's "Game of Thrones,” as well as projects for Marriott Hotels and Volvo across Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and Samsung Gear VR.
Colleen Decourcy & Susan Hoffman
Why You Should Know Them: Former Co-Global Chief Creative Officers of Wieden + Kennedy
This female creative powerhouse helped solidify W+K’s status as one of the world’s most creative and awarded agencies. During their tenure, they landed clients like Airbnb and Lyft and have been behind some of the most successful ad campaigns.
Colleen Decourcy, who has since been promoted to co-president of W+K, was recently named Creative Leader of the Decade by AdWeek. She is most famous for her work on the Dodge Charger’s “Unleash Your Freak” and Jeep’s “The Mudds” initiatives.
Familiar with P&G’s “Thank You, Mom” and Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaigns? You can thank Susan Hoffman for those. As employee No. 8 for W+K, she has championed the agency’s most iconic work over the past 35 years.
Takeaways
The marketing, advertising, and creative industries are not a mere boy’s club. And the female talent is out there; nearly 50% of women dream of opening their own businesses, but only 12% think it’s a realistic goal.
From the 19th to the 21st century, these 9 women have taken the advertising industry by storm — and the emerging creative women of today have a lot they can learn from them.