Creative Equals @ Cannes: “Embrace age as a superpower”
Panel take-aways on how to fight ageism in the industry
Image from the “OutrAGE: Addressing ageism in advertising” panel, with five participants sitting on chairs on stage. From left to right: Aba Blankson, Jackie Cooper, Claire McHardy, Nicky Bullard, Sara Denby (panel host). Photo credit: UN Women
Our inclusion director Claire McHardy took part in an Unstereotype Alliance panel at Cannes, on the topic of addressing ageism in advertising.
Chaired by Sara Denby, Head of the Unstereotype Alliance, the panel took place against a backdrop of a world ageing faster than ever before: The over 60s are set to increase from 14% to 22% of the world's population by 2050 - more than one billion people.
Meanwhile, adland skews young: In Marketing Week’s survey of 3000 marketers, 70.2% were aged between 26 and 45, while only 21% were 46 or older. Ageism in the advertising industry is prolific, and universal. 17% of those aged 55-64 said they personally experienced age discrimination - the highest % across all groups and types of discrimination reported.
In the panel, McHardy made the point that when we tackle ageism on both the agency and client side, we can reshape narratives and establish connections with this underrepresented yet growing and influential cohort. By disregarding older talent, we shrink the talent pool, neglecting the expertise and seniority a mature hire brings. Many are at the very height of their expertise, with more time and energy to contribute than before.
Just 5% of people shown in TV ads are over 70. And yet the ‘Centre for Ageing better’ reports that over 50s are responsible for over half of all household spend in the UK. In the same report, they estimate that tackling the barriers to spending by people aged 75 and over by 2025 could add 2% a year to GDP by 2040.
In the words of our founder Ali Hanan “Those who make the work, shape the work” - by shunning older talent, there is a huge swathe of stories and experiences left untold. We risk selling both our customers and our businesses short. When we add an intersectional lens of race & ethnicity, agism is another frontier in the battle for representation.
So what can brands and agencies do?
The Cannes session unearthed some insights and takeaways:
60% of successful startups have someone over 55 working for them. - Jackie Cooper, Global Chief Brand Officer & Senior Advisor at Edelman, Edelman
CV gaps are creativity’s gift. Be the agency that embraces age as a creative superpower. - Claire McHardy, Inclusion Director, Partnerships, Creative Equals
Don’t celebrate the youth of older people, rather the real experience of being old - Aba Blankson, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, NAACP
The best way to get agencies to change? Have clients say: 'if you don't I'm going somewhere else' - Nicky Bullard, Group Chief Creative Officer, MullenLowe UK
Offering a solution: Creative Comeback
At Creative Equals, we have a Community program called Creative Comeback, which was set up to help all self-identifying women return to adland after a career break.
“We started Creative Comeback because it’s so hard to get back in when you've been out of the creative industry, whether for six months or ten years'“, McHardy told the panel audience.
To date, over 200 women across the globe, from Mumbai, to London and New York, have come through the programme. Completely free to participants, we partner with companies like Diageo, Adobe, D&AD for a 4 week schedule of masterclasses, live briefs and mentoring by some of the best agencies. The most recent Creative Comeback took place in New York, where 22 participants, with an average age of 43 and with 960 years of experience between them, completed the course.
After the programme, we are proud to say that 4 out of 5 get jobs in the industry.
Read more about Creative Comeback here.
https://www.marketingweek.com/marketing-skews-young-stats/?failed-login=1
https://wfanet.org/knowledge/diversity-and-inclusion/the-global-dei-census/2023
https://ageing-better.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-02/Ageism-harms.pdf