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It’s good to see some senior female execs making switches, but why doesn’t adland lead by example and close the pay gap, Pippa Chambers asks.
Just as we thought there had been enough top deck shake-outs in 2015, it certainly seems 2016 is following suit.
What with Dentsu CEO Luke Littlefield's exit, the CEO and MD of IPG's Ensemble departing and Omnicom's restructure - which sees PHD Australia's Toby Hack promoted to a London CEO role and one of the two MDs of OMD Sydney, Mark Jarrett, taking his spot – there's already been plenty of movement among three of the so-called Big Six.
The creative sector has also seen a few switches with Y&R's Jason Buckley choosing to exit his CEO role after four years, leaving the spot clear for Phil McDonald. In line with the current state of the industry, these moves mostly involve men so it was interesting to see a couple of senior female execs make some switches. I certainly hope we see more women in senior roles this year.
Whybin\TBWA Sydney recently restructured its senior leadership team, promoting general manager Nitsa Lotus as the new MD of the agency. In addition, IPG Australia's group CEO Danny Bass seems to have bedded in well enough to make some early changes. This week Bass hired Melissa Fein, who was previously Channel Ten's national head of client solutions division Generate. She takes the CEO role, heading up Ensemble.
On the subject of gender within the industry, another story that has piqued my interest is that companies with more than 250 employees in the UK will be forced to reveal their pay gap, thanks to new regulations that will affect about 8000 employers.
According to the Australian Government Workplace and Gender Equality Agency, based on data collected in May 2015, the full-time gender pay gap in Australia sits at almost 18%. In the UK women still earn on average 20% less than men.
Australia's adland is ahead of the global game in so many respects, wouldn't it be great if it could lead the way in gender pay issues too?
Let's face it, it's unlikely we'll see any government intervention on this matter, but that's not to say that senior execs running some of adland's biggest companies couldn't stick their heads above the parapet and look at doing something similar, right? This isn't a fad or a storm in a teacup. In my eyes, and many others, it's a real issue that we have to be held accountable to.
In this week's magazine, we speak to Coke about the biggest change to its marketing practices in decades. Elsewhere, we delve into markitecture (yes, that is a thing) and the coming of age of virtual reality.
Expect the usual regulars too, including opinions on viewability and brand sponsorship, as well as a round-up of the Super Bowl hits.