Unfkable unites Sydney senior creative women against ‘white guys on sofa’ in new campaign
While Sydney ad agency Leo Burnett claims it just can’t find any women for its 30-strong creative department – except one – a new collective of senior creative women is asking brands and marketers to go straight to the source to achieve diversity in their creative departments.
A provocative new execution in the Unfkable campaign, launched a few hours ago, is already stirring up support across social media. With the headline “How can your brand stand out when you employ the same tools as your competitors?” the challenge is to those holding the marketing purse strings to take a stand against the lack of diversity in just about every ad agency creative department – not just Leo Burnett, who happen to be in the firing line right now.
Unfkable founder Jane Evans has in three days found and united scores of senior creative women across the globe, including Sydney and London, who are offering their skills outside of the traditional white male dominated advertising agency.
In just three days, the Unfkable launch campaign has attracted attention and support from some of the marketing world’s most powerful people – including Brad Jakeman from PepsiCo, Cindy Gallop, the 3% Conference and Katherine Gordon.
14 Comments
Good on these women.
Hell of a good thing to be pushing.
And in anticipation of all the d-bags who spout: “im all for equality but why do they have to have to be so *aggressive* / feminazi about it”
.. you’re missing the point.
Females don’t have to be polite when they’re getting locked out of opportunities and waiting for us moron men to get with the programme.
Seriously? I’ve just visited your campaign site.
The art direction is hurting my retina, no care for margins or typographic rules. The copy is poorly written with any hint of humour or tone. Please don’t embarrass the incredible female talent we have in this country by heaping them all under the umbrella of ‘it’s sexist if you don’t’. We’ve got some amazing female creative talent and I’ve had the pleasure of working with a couple of them. Let the girls work speak for themselves.
Its not about too many boys or not enough girls. Agencies are now full of upper white middle class lovely and jolly people. But they just can’t relate to the man (Josephine Bloggs) on the street.
And clients aren’t talking to people on a real colloquial level. I don’t want my telco to talk to me like Jaguar or an upmarket delicatessen.
The problem with this approach is that doesn’t set up female creatives as equal to male creatives. It explicitly says that they are uniquely qualified to do certain work just because they are women.
In other words female creatives are different to those with gonads.
I’m not sure how this helps their problem. It would seem to me that this kind of niche positioning exacerbates it.
The logic is flawed.
Also, the ads aren’t very good.
Great strategy.
Top idea.
Flawless implementation.
In your dreams.
This work and webshite professionally insults everyone’s creative sensibilities – not just the clever and outstandingly talented women I’ve had the pleasure to tutor, partner, work alongside, and for.
It wouldn’t get you a job in my department, no matter what gender you were.
Wow, they pulled that together in 3 days?
It took Leo Burnett 3 days just to write a tweet.
Agree, it’s not perfect, but as Nils Leonard predicted, “She will spend her time focusing less on the kerning in a poster and more on how to get the right people to collide powerfully.”
Job done.
Now what will they do with time and a budget?
Can’t wait to see!
I agree with your course but your campaign is not helping in any way. In fact, it’s detrimental. ‘Hey, give us a fair chance – we’re just as good.’ Delivered in a terrible fashion. Also, what does ‘unfuckable’ mean in relation to your course?
There’s no place for inequality and it’s unfortunate that you have to create a campaign at all, but this is not helping.
Agree with @germaine. Such poor creative skills on show. But worse, starts to prove the old saying women aren’t funny.
Beyonce and KKK! That has to be a poor taste joke to see if anyone is watching. Tampon cliche!
Plus links into rather strange site asking for money (sorry donations).
“She will spend her time focusing less on the kerning in a poster and more on how to get the right people to collide powerfully.” Someone really said that! Please tell me a copywriter (female natch) didn’t write it for her.
This site must be a send up! One of those “All will be revealed as a hoax to show…” (fill in outrage topic). Or… “we got noticed didn’t we” followed by smirk.
I’m out.
I once worked with a very well paid copywriter who drank in one of the less salubrious drinking dens in the outer suburbs. I asked him why he wasn’t drinking in the latest trendy pop up bar. His reply, it’s where my target market drinks. Pity more creatives did have this attitude and maybe we would get less generic advertising
Guys, we haven’t done any ads. The ‘not funny’ posts your are commenting on are real quotes from senior women in Sydney advertising.
Sorry they’re not hilarious. But we’re not in a laughing mood.
Here are a few we received in the last few days we didn’t turn in to posts because you would accuse us of being hysterical women.
“I had to take a long break before I punched somebody. In the throat!”
“I don’t want to fit in, as I don’t respect such a homogenous group of men. It’s bland. It’s why Abbott’s leadership didn’t work. Old thinking. That goes against the grain of creativity.”
“a friend of mine place top end marketing people and they are sooooooooooo sick of ad agencies being males, stale and pale. They perk up when they see xxxxx and I in a meeting. Two snr women. Wow!!!!! Can’t believe it.”
“I’ve had no choice but to be one of the boys my entire career, because that’s all I’ve ever known. I’ve always been the only woman in the creative department. And that’s OK. I’ve worked with some really great blokes. But when I found out a few years ago that they were all being paid way more than me, I went home a cried like a girl”
The fact is the reason there are so few senior female creatives in Sydney is because the environment in most creative departments is and always has been toxic to women
So don’t criticise us over three days work.
Look at your work over three decades…
Enough said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgMl-iZ3tZM
Understand the toxic comments @unfkable but that is a lot to do with the advertising game, not men.
And it also feels like you are coming at this from a Millennials POV on the whole industry. (Yes I fkng hate that label too).
The thing is, as Hegarty says “You must practice what you preach”. And the trouble is there is only one BBH, one Droga 5 and one W+K. Apart from a few others the rest of it is Network c@&ts that will go to any lengths to get the dollars or positions of power.
And when many people coming into the industry realize there are very few people in Advertising Agencies that practice what they preach, they are revolted and turned off by it. And when it comes to power, men will soldier through more than women into a level of second hand car salesmen bullshit, whilst not caring for anything or anyone in the industry, but themselves and that money and title.
But don’t think your High Flying Sydney Law firms are any different to this. No one is practicing what they preach, if you look around, in corporate culture or politics for that matter.
*Start your own shop, that is the only way. Unless you are super talented and can get into the few shops that actually have standards and intelligent people.
And don’t forget clients are responsible too for today’s culture in advertising. There used to be a line they couldn’t cross, but now there is no request a slithering, repellent male or female MD won’t refuse.
(*Remember your own shop is the only way).
urrrggh bunch of lightweights looking for reasons that they aren’t getting hired. try focusing on being good instead of trying to create some half arsed gender issue holding you back. There have been plenty of very senior female creatives for a long long time, they got to be that way by being good enough