DE&I: Accelerating Change with Anna Brent
Anna Brent is the global head of brand & DE&I at Across the Pond - a global, independent creative agency helping innovative brands create a better world. At the agency Anna has led the creation of global campaigns from beginning to end for clients including Google, Xiaomi, Facebook and Expedia.
As global head of brand and DE&I her mission is to constantly drive forward positive change within the agency's culture, work, and wider community, as well as to ensure Across the Pond communicates their inclusive values at every opportunity, hence her involvement in LBB's DE&I interview series.
Anna is also a proud part of the board of directors at Outvertising, the non for profit organisation responsible for the inclusion and equal rights of the LGBTQIA+ community in adland. Recently Across the Pond collaborated with Outvertising on their very first campaign, which recreated the most iconic pieces of copywrite in history and make them inclusive.
LBB> What drew you to the field of DE&I?
Anna> My background is in production, firstly in TV, then in advertising and marketing. I found myself really interested in the choices that were being made about who was working on creating the stuff we all consume. Who was featured on screen, was it fair, was it right, was it serving the few or the many?
I’m from an under-represented group (the LGBTQIA+ community), and it’s always been a personal passion to care about this. So, it crept into my work life, probably because it was innately a part of my personal life.
Across The Pond is an agency founded by a woman in a landscape where that is really rare and we have always had conversations about gender, working culture and leadership decisions – so it was deep in our collective thinking. We also work with really exciting clients like Google and YouTube, which have long been at the forefront of inclusive marketing principles. This rightly means they carefully choose the agencies they work with. So I felt we really needed someone to formally lead our DEI work, and I was very pleased that the leadership agreed and I took on that role.
LBB> There’s a lot of frustration around the industry’s glacial pace when it comes to improving DE&I across all sorts of axes. What’s getting in the way?
Anna> We’re undoing entrenched cultures and systemic issues – and that’s very difficult. The industry has existed and thrived the way it has been for decades and it takes time to dismantle old structures. As we all know, the top layer of many companies is still largely populated by a small demographic of people.
It’s also really easy to see anything to do with DEI as a ‘nice to have’. This means companies rely on the passions of few individuals, or a sort of ‘volunteer spirit’ which is often carried by those from underrepresented groups. That is not enough, and it’s not the right thing to do.
Change is really made by those willing to make policy, to have mandates and structures and obligations around it, and I think people can feel nervous about doing that.
LBB> Outside of the advertising industry, where do you see examples of large-scale meaningful progress (if at all), and what should our industry learn from it?
Anna> Although football is far from free of racism and homophobia, I think we should recognise the progress that has been made. Women’s football has a lot to do with that. We’ve all seen the mighty rise of its profile, of the Lionesses, and the success of the women’s sport in general. There is a message around inclusivity that is permeating now through parts of society that it might otherwise have been hard to reach if you were just talking about advertising or other professions.
It’s painful that it’s taken until now, but how boys and girls are treated differently from birth is finally a more prevalent conversation in homes, pubs and news articles like never before. Also lots of women’s footballers are queer – and out. They are paving the way for how it should be in the men’s game. Harry Kane wears a rainbow on his arm, Jake Daniels and Jakub Jankto came out and Kick It Out is one of many brilliant initiatives to end discrimination in sport. We should recognise all the good progress for sure!
LBB> In your role, what have been some of the most meaningful projects or policies you’ve been involved in regarding DE&I?
Anna> We have applied a lot of attention to entry-level opportunities. For example, we committed to a ‘no nepotism policy’ to our work experience programme, which we now guarantee will only go to people facing barriers to entry, or from underrepresented groups. We’ve also invested a lot in mentoring, something all of our senior people in the UK have done.
We designed a scheme called ‘Foot in The Door’ that gives young designers from underrepresented backgrounds their first job. And this year we launched our internship scheme, which is exclusively offered to people from those groups also.
I’m also proud of the spirit of constant self-education we have at ATP. We have a speaker series called ‘Packed Lunch’. The idea is that people can eat their lunch and listen to a speaker who brings new lived experiences into our world. Speakers have talked about living with HIV, the misrepresentation of Islam in the media, being transgender, menopause and many more subjects.
LBB> What role are clients playing in holding agencies accountable and driving better DE&I (e.g. via RFPs)? Is this something you are seeing or would like to see more of?
Anna> We see a lot of engagement among our clients because we work with really progressive, great brands. They understand the value of diverse teams, and they want to know that an agency they put their trust in has values that are aligned to them. Brands and agencies have shared responsibilities, so it’s right that we have high expectations of each other.
I would totally encourage brands to ask for this kind of information. I would love to get to a point where brands don’t have to ask for our DEI creds or values because they can see it and know it before they have to. If we’re putting out work that feels really inclusive, are involved in brilliant programmes, writing important thought leadership and so on, this demonstrates our position on the subject.
LBB> We often see DE&I siloed or pigeonholed as an HR issue - what’s the key to ensure that it’s embraced as an agency-wide or industry-wide responsibility?
Anna> I’m not an HR person. And at first, I did feel a degree of ‘imposter syndrome’ in calling myself a DE&I professional. But what I’ve learned is that there are benefits in not being an HR person trying to push this agenda.
At the time I became head of DEI I was an executive producer/account lead. So, I was dealing directly with clients and able to influence conversations with them regularly. At the same time I was managing our producers, and I was working closely with creative teams. In other words, I was connected to lots of different parts of the agency and knew people well enough to feel I could approach it in a way that wouldn’t feel an imposition or a misunderstanding of what they do.
However, there are also some things you need outside counsel on – such as employment law, or the difference between discrimination and positive action.
LBB> What resources/platforms/programmes have you found useful on your DE&I journey and would recommend to our readers?
Anna> We were the first agency to have all of our staff complete the IPA’s D&I Essentials Certificate. Inevitably in any group, some people have higher awareness than others. But if you mandate a foundational level you’re all starting on the right foot.
I also find the organisation D&I Leaders to be an excellent D&I resource for anyone in the sector. They make really valuable webinar content, do brilliant summits, and a lot of it is free or really affordable.
Working with Creative Equals in the early days of our journey gave us great structure and strategy around our DEI plans and helped us articulate our vision as an agency. And I serve on the Board of Directors at Outvertising so I am constantly developing my network beyond my core day job through this. I recommend all DEI leads connect themselves to a specific focus if they can for deeper subject knowledge.
On a more personal note, it’s hard for me not to spend my free time reading books or watching programmes that help me constantly feed my knowledge around identity and culture. I love books and documentaries about human experiences in the world today. I love the idea of “shelf reflection” – taking a moment to look at your bookshelf (or other media sources) and check it is representative of a brilliant variety of voices. If not, that’s a really proactive thing to focus on.
LBB> The scale of the change needed is so massive that individuals can often feel powerless without the levers to move huge structures. What's a more personal act of positivity that you've seen recently that others could look to as inspiration for change on a the human scale
Anna> I’ve always felt that people who work for small companies think they don’t have enough of a role to play in moving the agenda for it to be worth them investing their time.
But if you employ one person or put out one piece of content out in the world, then you have a sphere of influence. An act of positivity is to recognise and use that to the best of your abilities.
LBB> If you’d like our readers to take one thing away from this interview what would it be?
Anna> I would like people in the industry to think about DE&I as an area where we should not be competitive with each other – we should all lift each other up with shared knowledge. There’s no point being really, really good just to people you employ. I like the idea of always being both a mentor and mentee, and would always offer an open door to talk about it with my peers.
