ADVERTISING LEADERS UNIFY TO TACKLE INDUSTRY’S GREATEST CHALLENGES
The UK advertising industry today came together to discuss the biggest issues facing the sector and to create actionable solutions at a round table session by UNIFY Creative.
UNIFY Creative was established in response to Covid-19 in May 2020 by Ashley Samuels-McKenzie and Charles Parkinson, co-founders of UK production company Unity & Motion. It is the only UK initiative of its kind uniting industry representatives from the government, trade bodies, agencies, experts and brands to create an action plan that will drive positive change.
The UNIFY Creative UK Residents and key contributors to today’s discussions included:
Rania Robinson, CEO and Partner, Quiet Storm;
Paul Bainsfair, Director General, IPA;
Katie Lee, CEO, Lucky Generals;
Elizabeth Diaferia, Senior Advisor to the Creative Industries Trade and Investment Board;
Lauren Ogúndèkó Head of Response / Resolution Media & Board Director, PHD UK;
Alex Bennett-Grant, Founder & CEO, WE ARE Pi;
Craig Mawdsley, Joint Chief Strategy Officer, AMV BBDO
Sarah Jenkins, Managing Director, Saatchi & Saatchi
Sam Hawkey, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi
Caitlin Ryan, EMEA Creative Director, Facebook & Instagram
Dino Myers-Lamptey, Founder, The Barber Shop;
Steve Davies, Chief Executive, APA;
Stephen Woodford, CEO, Advertising Association;
Justin Tindell, Group Chief Creative Officer, M&C Saatchi.
The online conference covered a wide range of topics from ‘Reducing systemic inequality’ and ‘Attracting and retaining diverse and talented people’ to ‘Reducing our harmful impact on the environment’.
Diversity and inclusion was touched on by all all groups as something that needs to be addressed urgently, with many recognising the value that diverse viewpoints, skill sets and experiences bring when finding creative solutions to the industry’s biggest challenges.
According to Sophie Trinder, Head of Twitter Next UK, “We’re going through a cultural identity crisis at the moment and diversity of talent is a massive part of that.”
Rania Robinson, CEO and Partner at Quiet Storm commented, “‘There was a time in our industry when you could get in through the post room or other admin roles and work your way up the ranks. Now it’s about what university you went to and what degree you got. If you look at the tiny percentage of the ethnic minorities in our industry, 70 percent of them were privately educated. The type of education you’ve had is the first barrier of getting into this industry.”
Dino Myers-Lamptey, Founder The Barber Shop added, “This industry is at risk of becoming redundant and irrelevant. In order to future proof the ad agency world let’s tackle cultural diversity and inclusion and use this as a weapon for survival and success. Let’s go one step further and use our power of persuasion to really ramp up this change elsewhere.”
This session followed the success of UNIFY Creative’s first forum hosted on 23rd June 2020, where a panel of industry leaders and its audience determined the topics to be discussed.
Today, attendees went on to tackle each topic in small groups to identify the key challenges, best solutions, steps required and key goals for the industry to meet tangible milestones over the coming six months to five years.
UNIFY Creative began in May 2020 when Ashley Samuels-McKenzie and Charles Parkinson recognised the appetite from advertising professionals to drive change but saw that there was no formal platform bringing together decision makers to take action.
“We are all living in an ever-changing world and the only way to grow, we feel, is to come together and unify,” said Charles Parkinson.
Ashley Samuels-McKenzie added, “Today it was brilliant to see such an impressive group of industry leaders sharing ideas and experiences to come up with possible solutions for some hugely challenging issues. Everyone who attended today’s session brought so much to the conversation.
“UNIFY Creative is not only about impacting the next couple of months or years. We want to make positive changes that will outlive us and go on to shape a better future for our industry.”
UNIFY Creative will now take the findings from today’s round table to create an action plan. The next UNIFY Creative session will take place on 22 September 2020.
For more information regarding UNIFY Creative please visit www.weunify.co.uk
ENDS
For all media enquiries please contact info@unityandmotion.com
EDITORS NOTES:
About UNIFY Creative
UNIFY Creative was established in response to the COVID-19 crisis in May 2020 by Ashley Samuels-McKenzie and Charles Parkinson, co-founders of Unity & Motion. Their mission was to unite key stakeholders from the advertising world to discuss major challenges facing the industry and share solutions that will drive positive change.
The Black Lives Matter movement shone a light on systemic inequality in the advertising industry, making it clear how urgently a candid conversation is needed to acknowledge and address this.
UNIFY Creative brings together people who care deeply about the future of our industry and
will fight to make it better. It was created by the people, for the people, with the
understanding that we can’t leave all the responsibility to the government and trade bodies to create the change we want to see.
For more visit www.weunify.co.uk
Twitter @togetherweunify
LinkedIn UNIFY Creative
Key attendees included:
- Ayo Fagbemi - Co-Founder, Play Nice
- Karina Wilsher, Partner and Global CEO, Anomaly
- Kathryn Addo, Group Account Director - Nike and Facebook, Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam
- Lauren Ogúndèkó, Head of Response / Resolution Media & Board Director, PHD UK
- Sam Hawkey, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi
- Serhat Ekinci, Managing Director, Omnicom Media Group
- Sophie Trinder, Head of Twitter Next
- Sue Unerman, Chief Transformation Officer, MediaCom
- Victoria Brooks, Vice President, Bloom UK
About Unity & Motion
Unity & Motion is a full-service production company that provides content strategy and end-to-end content delivery for global brands. Clients include Chanel, Reebok, Harrods, English Heritage, Tesco, Heathrow Airport, Visit London, The European Space Agency and Stella Artois.
Co-Founder Charles Parkinson was recently announced as one of Media Week’s 30 Under 30 and was previously voted in the British Interactive Marketing Association’s Top 100 list of people shaping the future of the UK creative sector in 2018.
For more visit www.unityandmotion.com
Instagram @unityandmotion