Apologies in advance. This Sunday’s essay triggered me. Not because I have any issue with Kat Gordon’s “3% Movement” as an effort to address female under-representation in today’s modern ad agency industry. But, I do get upset by people like Kat who act as if the advertising industry began with the digital era. Come on. If you watch Mad Men, you know that the ad industry was always sexist, misogynistic and even abusive to women – just like all of American society. But, the advertising industry was always a rare and special industry for ambitious women who wanted to build a career because, in advertising, nothing trumps great creative ideas that win new business and keep current clients happy.
I am suspicious of the “3%” data point but I assume it is well documented. Many of the women in advertising were copy writers as opposed to art directors so, by not counting copy writers, maybe that is how we get to the 3% calculation. Or, maybe I am just old. Maybe women have left the ad agency industry in droves in the past decade for better industries. Who could blame them?
If we are going to indict the ad industry for not employing enough female talent, can we at least start the conversation by showing some respect for the many women who built and shaped the ad industry long before the digerati decided that the industry was born with them? Off the top of my head, here are a few of them:
Helen Lansdowne Resor: “A skin you love to touch,” she introduced sexual appeal into advertising. Erma Perham Proetz: inventor of the infomercial for PET evaporated milk. Shirley Polykoff: “Does she…or doesn’t she?” Shirley fundamentally changed how marketers think about cosmetic advertising. Bernice Fitz-Gibbon: "Nobody, but nobody, undersells Gimbels," – inventor of the advertorial in print ads and created the template for retail advertising. Jean Wade Rindlau: a great copy writer at BBDO when BBDO was the greatest creative department in the world. Jo Foxworth: author of “Boss Lady” which is still a primer for breaking into advertising – especially for women (Does Kat Gordon know about this book?). Janet L. Wolff: Janet was promoted to vice president and creative director at JWT at the youngest age ever at the time for men or women. Mary Wells Lawrence: founder of Wells Rich Greene. Patricia Martin: pretty much invented the in-house creative agency concept at Warner Lambert. Today’s concept of the CMO has historical roots that wind back to Pat Martin. Andrea Alstrup (surely you know her well): Andrea built on Pat Martin’s model to create the in-house advertising agency at Johnson & Johnson. Charlotte Beers: Charlotte is the only executive, male or female, to serve as chairman of two of the top-10 worldwide advertising agencies: JWT and Ogilvy & Mather. Gerry Laybourne: Founder of Oxygen Media. Not an ad executive but Gerry changed marketing to young women by making all body types acceptable and valuable. Dove, for example, built on Gerry’s creative leadership. Laurel Cutler: Laurel was one of the great creative directors of all time who is known for creating career paths for female creative directors (hello Kat, do you know her?). Ironically, Laurel won the ad industry’s “Man of the Year Award” in 1995. Tere A. Zubizarreta: Tere built her career at McCann and then founded Zubi Advertising – her leadership created what we would all come to call “Hispanic advertising” in the USA. Shelly Lazarus: Appropriate to end with Shelly because she came up when David Ogilvy would walk the halls looking for the best damned talent he could find, male or female did not matter. Shelly, of course, became CEO and Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather.
Apologies in advance. This Sunday’s essay triggered me. Not because I have any issue with Kat Gordon’s “3% Movement” as an effort to address female under-representation in today’s modern ad agency industry. But, I do get upset by people like Kat who act as if the advertising industry began with the digital era. Come on. If you watch Mad Men, you know that the ad industry was always sexist, misogynistic and even abusive to women – just like all of American society. But, the advertising industry was always a rare and special industry for ambitious women who wanted to build a career because, in advertising, nothing trumps great creative ideas that win new business and keep current clients happy.
I am suspicious of the “3%” data point but I assume it is well documented. Many of the women in advertising were copy writers as opposed to art directors so, by not counting copy writers, maybe that is how we get to the 3% calculation. Or, maybe I am just old. Maybe women have left the ad agency industry in droves in the past decade for better industries. Who could blame them?
If we are going to indict the ad industry for not employing enough female talent, can we at least start the conversation by showing some respect for the many women who built and shaped the ad industry long before the digerati decided that the industry was born with them? Off the top of my head, here are a few of them:
Helen Lansdowne Resor: “A skin you love to touch,” she introduced sexual appeal into advertising. Erma Perham Proetz: inventor of the infomercial for PET evaporated milk. Shirley Polykoff: “Does she…or doesn’t she?” Shirley fundamentally changed how marketers think about cosmetic advertising. Bernice Fitz-Gibbon: "Nobody, but nobody, undersells Gimbels," – inventor of the advertorial in print ads and created the template for retail advertising. Jean Wade Rindlau: a great copy writer at BBDO when BBDO was the greatest creative department in the world. Jo Foxworth: author of “Boss Lady” which is still a primer for breaking into advertising – especially for women (Does Kat Gordon know about this book?). Janet L. Wolff: Janet was promoted to vice president and creative director at JWT at the youngest age ever at the time for men or women. Mary Wells Lawrence: founder of Wells Rich Greene. Patricia Martin: pretty much invented the in-house creative agency concept at Warner Lambert. Today’s concept of the CMO has historical roots that wind back to Pat Martin. Andrea Alstrup (surely you know her well): Andrea built on Pat Martin’s model to create the in-house advertising agency at Johnson & Johnson. Charlotte Beers: Charlotte is the only executive, male or female, to serve as chairman of two of the top-10 worldwide advertising agencies: JWT and Ogilvy & Mather. Gerry Laybourne: Founder of Oxygen Media. Not an ad executive but Gerry changed marketing to young women by making all body types acceptable and valuable. Dove, for example, built on Gerry’s creative leadership. Laurel Cutler: Laurel was one of the great creative directors of all time who is known for creating career paths for female creative directors (hello Kat, do you know her?). Ironically, Laurel won the ad industry’s “Man of the Year Award” in 1995. Tere A. Zubizarreta: Tere built her career at McCann and then founded Zubi Advertising – her leadership created what we would all come to call “Hispanic advertising” in the USA. Shelly Lazarus: Appropriate to end with Shelly because she came up when David Ogilvy would walk the halls looking for the best damned talent he could find, male or female did not matter. Shelly, of course, became CEO and Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather.