AAR Promotes Gender Equality with the Creative Equals Kitemark

With clients like General Mills, HP Inc. (formerly a part of Hewlett-Packard) and Verizon now demanding diversity from their agencies, the AAR – the experts in agency-client partnerships - have made the Creative Equals kitemark, an accreditation to feature on all agency’s ‘CVs’ within the AAR’s agency portal.

Creative Equals – a non-profit organisation addressing gender diversity within the creative industry – has signed many of the industry’s key agencies to their 50:50 charter including BBH, JWT, AKQA, R/GA, Sapient Nitro, AMV BBDO, CP+B and Mr President, with many more showing interest to come on board. Creative Equals works with agency teams to evaluate and benchmark where they currently sit and how they can move forward towards a 50:50 goal within a set timeframe.

Kerry Glazer, CEO of AAR said: “There is such positive intent in the communications marketplace – from both agencies and client marketing teams alike - to reap the benefits that having a more diverse talent pool brings. At present, we are still seeing more diversity in the client teams who attend the pitches, than the agency teams that present to them. The good news is that agencies are on a journey towards addressing this. We shouldn’t be under any illusions about how long this journey will take; it’s a big job and will take time, but Creative Equals is providing support and a platform for acknowledgement. This is an initiative that AAR is very pleased to support and promote to our clients. Increased diversity in agencies will undoubtedly lead to more powerful creative solutions.”

Currently, figures from the IPA show just 29.6% of creative departments across the UK have females within their creative teams, while just 12% of creative directors are female.

“The fact is that while clients want diversity, we can’t ‘fix’ the industry overnight, particularly in creative where the numbers are so low. The need for diversity is business critical. By working one agency, one creative at a time, we believe we can create lasting frameworks across the industry to future-proof agencies with creative talents who are as diverse as our audiences," comments Ali Hanan, founder and CEO of Creative Equals.

"To have AAR add the kitemark accreditation to an agency’s ‘CV’ demonstrates to clients an agency’s commitment to equality, with a drive to shape more insightful creative products and lead the way in the industry," said Hanan.