Australian Adland Professionals Launch Collective to Tackle Diversity Issues with Fashion Parody Film

While Australia is the most diverse country in the world, with 30% of people born overseas, this is not reflected in the advertising industry. Only 16% of people in advertising are culturally diverse and often, they are the only one in the room.

A collective of professionals from across the industry, representing more than 20 cultural backgrounds, have joined forces to launch #onlyoneintheroom – a platform designed to create a more diverse advertising community.

The collective launches with a fashion parody film featuring real diverse industry talent modelling a line of merch branded #onlyoneintheroom. The aim is to highlight the homogeneity of the ad industry and rally industry professionals, advertising and media agencies, industry bodies, as well as brands and clients to partner on initiatives to tackle the diversity issue, with the aim of making it ‘the trend we want to end’.

Ant Melder, creative partner and founder, Coffee Cocoa Gunpowder and #onlyoneintheroom co-founder, said: “Our industry can’t correct imbalances overnight, but changemakers are emerging. This is a rally-cry for those who want to act.” 

Avish Gordhan, executive creative director, M&C Saatchi and #onlyoneintheroom co-founder, said: “Whether it’s by offering a voice, recognising the diverse people that are already in the industry, collectively bringing more young diverse talent in, or even working on eliminating biases that can hold diverse people back, we’re looking to partner with like-minded professionals and brands seeking tangible action.”

#onlyoneintheroom has already garnered support and secured two partnerships.

With TrinityP3, the collective is developing a DE&I Index, designed to give agencies an indication of their own equity and inclusion practices by benchmarking against the general population. Drawing on expertise and knowledge from industry and academia, the index will help organisations focus on initiatives and programs to improve their results.  

Additionally, the collective is collaborating with industry publication B&T to launch the Award for Diversity at this year’s B&T Awards. An Australian advertising industry first, this will celebrate and recognise both the people and work changing the story for multicultural and under-represented communities.

Pia Chaudhuri, group creative director, BMF and #onlyoneintheroom co-founder, said: “This is just a start, but with the support of other like-minded folk, we’re hopeful there will be real change in the near future. Ultimately, a truly representative advertising community can only enrich our work and workplaces, and speak more effectively to a diverse Australian audience.”

The film directs to onlyoneintheroom.co, where people can join the movement, find out more about current initiatives, and buy the merch, with all proceeds going towards funding future projects.