Girls on top at Cannes Lions 2014

The age-old joke goes that the oldest profession in the world isn’t prostitution, it’s communications. If that sounds somewhat hard to swallow just think about the key attributes you need to get ahead in both fields: creativity, reinvention, strong people skills, professionalism, sensitivity to the wants and needs of each specific client, and don’t even get me started on clearly defined KPI's.  In Amsterdam at least, women at the top of their game / on the game, are everywhere.  However, in advertising, all too often a group of big cheeses in a room, or at a festival, is invariably going to be an oestrogen-free zone.

That’s why it’s encouraging to see that the biggest event in the creative calendar, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is putting women firmly in the spotlight this year with new initiative See It Be It. 

The programme has been set up to redress the under-representation of women in creative director roles around the world.  It’s something that we in the creative industry see every day and - almost - even accept as the way things are.  We all know great women heading up creativity for major agencies, but this is firmly the exception, rather than the rule. 

When you take a long hard look at the statistics they make for a pretty shocking read.  Analysis carried out by Cannes Lions has found that women in creative roles, under 28, make up 15% of delegates to the festival, whilst over 28, this group drops to 4%, a figure that closely matches the 3% statistic of female creative directors worldwide.

While these figures may leave you wanting to re-chain yourself to the nearest oven, it is heartening that the Festival is making conscious steps to help redress the imbalance.  For example, this year, 30% of jury members are women, up 10% on 2013.

See It Be It is an initiative that aims to further the careers of women in creativity, encouraging them to stay in the industry and step up to senior roles at the same rate that men are. An inspirational and educational programme includes rare guided access to the jury rooms, privileged meet and greets with VIP speakers, exclusive sessions with specially selected speakers, a dedicated session by The Berlin School of Creative Leadership, and a mentorship event supported by SheSays.

As Orange Lions – the Cannes Lions representative for the Netherlands, along with my rep partner Leendert Mulder from SyndiQate - you can imagine how delighted I am to see such positive steps being taken by one of the most powerful forces in the industry. It goes without saying that this is not just something that is good for women – it’s good for all of us. 

If communications truly is the oldest industry in the world, then I’m hopeful that steps such as this will give it a future that is fair to all of us, at every stage of our careers. In the words of Sheryl Sandberg: “We need to raise the ceiling and the floor.”