From Mad Men to Mad Women: Has ad industry travelled the distance?

The advertising industry, once infamous for being a male bastion, has surely come a long way from being a real-life reflection of the 2007 show Mad Men. Over the years, the industry has progressed towards an inclusive culture, both in creative as well as business domains. However, though many a glass ceilings have been broken by many a trailblazing ladies, there is a feeling that the sector still has fewer women creative heads. 

For many women, it becomes difficult to juggle work with domestic responsibilities once you enter motherhood or other life stages. Thanks to the flexibility of working from home, a lot is changing now. But there’s still a lot of room to change. 

There are many great campaigns created by women creative, and one of the things to chuckle about is that majority of the brands, right from FMCG to personal hygiene and make-up & accessories, are targeting female audiences. And so many of the impactful campaigns are created by women. But sadly, they lack the kind of credibility a man receives.

But there is an immense amount of change happening in every industry and companies are understanding the importance of having women in top positions. Many companies make sure that they have women on the board and an integral part of the decision-making process. Even in the advertising industry, many women are going ahead to build their own agencies and young women are stepping into the world of commercial creativity as copywriters.

So as the world gets together to celebrate Women’s Day today, we reach out to some of the inspiring female leaders in the industry to understand what is stopping the women force from reaching the top here.

Pallavi Chakravarti, Founder & CCO at Fundamental (Formerly with DDB Mudra)

There is no doubt that there are fewer women creative heads today. But there is a logical reason for it. I’ve said this many times in the past - it takes time to get there. And in the years gone by, not much has been done to ensure that talented women stayed in the professional game after they chose to start families. It’s probably a big reason why women made it to mid-level positions and not beyond.

If this dropout rate reduces, and many organisations are taking steps to ensure that it does, we will see more women creative leaders in the years ahead. Women just need to stay in the race, the way men do. Then, may the best person win.

Luckily for me, I have worked with people who have given credit where it is due and consistently pushed me to make me better at my work. I have never felt the pinch of not getting an opportunity based on my gender.

On the contrary, I feel several opportunities came my way just because of my gender - I have been sought out over the years to lead brands in women-oriented categories. And this is where I feel we have some distance to travel, as in industry. It is ridiculous to think that a man or a woman can’t do a certain type of work or is better suited to creating a certain kind of work because of his or her gender.

Garima Khandelwal, CCO-Mullen Lintas

Yes, there aren’t many conversations around creative women leads. I wonder if there are actually less women creative heads, or just not enough conversations around the ones here. More brands need to be made out of our successes.

Very few men creative leads have achieved what Swati Bhattacharya has achieved for India. We have Priti Nair, Deepa Geethakrishnan, Malvika Mehra, Kainaz Karmatikar, Ritu Sharda, Pallavi Chakravorty, Anusheela Saha, Vasudha Mishra, Binaifer Dulani, Tanuja Bhat and so many more inspiring leaders consistently doing outstanding work.

In fact, it is the best time to be a woman. Most of our clients today are women, at the seat of power. So why won’t you feel you have an audience, a seat at the table, you absolutely do. Every creative person has to find their voice. It’s a journey, that is unique to each, and everyone is coming on their own.

Pragati Rana, Executive Creative Director, Dentsu Creative India

As per, Pragati Rana, Executive Creative Director, DENTSU CREATIVE India, Work-life balance, or rather, the lack of it, is the primary reason. “It gets difficult to juggle once you enter motherhood or other life stages. Thanks to the flexibility of working from home, a lot is changing but there’s still a lot of room to change. Another reason is the link between awards and senior creative positions. You do well in 1-2 consecutive award seasons and your career can take off better than NASA’s rocket. Similarly, if you miss the ride, you find yourself floating in the same lake for years”, she said.

Shedding some light on creative meetings, Rana said that men are sometimes uncomfortable when a woman is presenting an idea. She said, “Not everywhere. Inside the agency, yes. But then there are clients that talk only to men in the room. Even if a woman responds to their questions, they will reply back making eye contact with only men. It leaves the woman feeling unseen and unheard, a pretty pathetic state to be in. Especially if you are from the agency culture, where you don’t even think twice before tabling your opinion to going to a state where you have no opinion.”

“In these kinds of meetings, the men in power are uncomfortable with the woman presenting. On top of it, if she clarifies something or heavens forbid, pushes back on something, they feel violated. The next thing you know is that they will want a meeting with a ‘smaller group’ meaning men talking to men. This is not a fictitious story. It happens in pockets in our industry.”

There is an immense amount of change in every industry and companies are understanding to have women in top positions. Many companies make sure that they have women on the board and as an integral part of the decision-making. Even in the advertising industry, many women are going ahead to build their own agencies and young women are stepping into the world of commercial creativity as copywriters

Priya Shivakumar, Senior National Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson India

Women should not wait for someone else to give them credit for the work they’ve done. They should own it. I think rather than waiting for someone else to give them credit or acknowledge their contributions, a lot more women are seizing the moment, the day, the opportunity, and owning their power. That’s an inspiring sign of things to come for all the women in the industry.

There are a lot of talented and creative women out there. If we resolve to consciously hire more women and give more women larger roles, we will be happy with what comes out of it. We have to consciously support each other in not just spirit but action to make more women feel welcome.

Nitika Parmar, GCD, VMLY&R

When I entered the advertising industry back in 2001, the culture was very different. But now it has changed. Women are given credit for their work now. Women are encouraged and embraced to become better creatives.

My journey has been very good, we have gotten the right environment. There was only this one time, on an automobile account, we were 80% women’s team. Only one incident I remember, is when I went for an interview at a very big agency and I had recently got married, so they asked me ‘are you on your way to creating a family? Because we will be launching something new very soon and we don’t want anyone on leave’. That made me think why can’t they take me as an employee instead of being gender bias.

Advertising is cursed to be a timely thing, there is no such thing as 9-5, so earlier when women got married, they would leave their job as women have a lot more responsibilities. The multitasking ability is being respected now

Snigdha Malhotra, Creative Director, BBDO India

Women tend to leave advertising sooner or later and don’t reach a senior level which is mostly coming from our not-so- fixed hours of working.

Also, I feel there is a negative impression about the advertising industry and so women tend to stay away. But this mindset needs to change, and one needs to be a part of the industry to understand it better.