Ad industry diversity and equal opportunity: The Agency Circle releases survey results from 1211 people from 15 agencies in five capital cities

The Agency Circle launched in Australia in October, seeking to deliver practical and public ways to address diversity and equal opportunity across every level in creative agencies. 

Considerable debate and concern has been raised with regards to diversity in the media and communications industry and The Agency Circle’s purpose is to engender equality irrespective of gender, age, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion or disability.

The Circle is built around an annual survey, designed to provide participating agencies with a benchmark they can use to track their own progress.

The aggregated results are based on 15 participating agencies in 5 capital cities, with over 1200 individual responses received.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s not much by way of new news in the numbers. What’s important is what happens next. It’s now up to each agency to review its results and put its own plans in place. Accountability lies at the heart of The Agency Circle, the survey runs again in November 2017 and if there’s been no positive progress – then The Agency Circle is not for you / nor you for it. 

Says Michele O’Neill, chair of The Agency Circle and director of strategy at VCCP: “The feedback so far is really encouraging. Agencies who took part in the inaugural survey are digging deep into their findings, listening to their staff and planning the changes they want to make in the coming months. 2016 may just have been the perfect storm for diversity, There is a palpable sense of change and commitment in the air.  We’re excited about the year ahead and warmly welcome any agencies who’d like to join in.”

Says Emily Perrett, managing director of Clemenger BBDO Sydney: “Having a sense of where we stand against industry norms is great context, but it’s ultimately not that important. There’s not much to be proud of in the numbers – and we’ve no interest in being the best of a bad bunch. We’ll use this snapshot to track our individual progress, and make sure that the plans we’ve already got in place are making an actual difference – with regards to gender diversity and beyond.”

Founding members of The Agency Circle are:

VCCP

Clemenger BBDO

M&C Saatchi

Leo Burnett

Havas

TBWA

The Monkeys

JWT

The Hallway

CHE Proximity

Marketforce

DDB

303 Mullen Lowe

BWM Dentsu

McCann