TBWA Worldwide launches powerful ‘Take The Lead’ campaign for International Women’s Day
TBWA Worldwide has today released a powerful campaign in conjunction with International Women’s Day to stress the importance of recognizing women’s issues as everyone’s issues, most crucially in the workplace, and to echo the International Women’s Day 2016 dedicated theme: A Pledge for Parity.
The campaign, branded “Take The Lead,” includes a poignant 2-minute film featuring men from around the global TBWA network, from all levels, specialties and backgrounds, reciting actual quotes from their female peers. The quotes were solicited via an anonymous global survey in which women in the industry were asked to voice some of the issues and injustices they have faced, or expect to face, throughout their advertising careers. The campaign was creatively concepted by TBWA\Media Arts Lab and executed locally throughout the TBWA network, with an original music score, “Streak,” composed by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch. Today, regional offices around the globe are activating the campaign both in their workplaces and via social media with physical and digital posters and banners, and well as themed: 15 films.
“Take The Lead” was born out of observations that, despite the recent and welcomed surge of female-focused equality initiatives, our industry continues to lack the critical mass of male counterparts to champion the cause for equality. The campaign aims to emphasize both the irony of these sentiments coming from the mouths of men, and more importantly, to underscore the fact that the issues faced by women cannot and should not be challenged or changed by women alone.
Says Erica Hoholick, president, TBWA\Media Arts Lab: “This campaign is not about women ‘needing’ male voices in order to be heard. It’s about recognizing the need to disrupt the cycle of ‘women, talking to women, about women’ 
because that isn’t working. We have to get both men and women on board and taking real action to create real change. The future of our industry depends on it.”
“Take The Lead” is part of a larger TBWA initiative, Project 20\20, which was launched in 2015 as challenge to increase women in leadership roles across the TBWA network by 20% by the year 2020. The initiative, led by Hoholick, charges each TBWA office to bring awareness, spark conversations and make concrete strides to achieve more balanced workplace.
Says Troy Ruhanen, CEO, TBWA Worldwide: “Each of us – men and women alike – have a vested interested in achieving equality and progress in the workplace. Issues 
like work- life balance, salary parity – these affect each and every one of us, and if we aren’t acting together to find a solution, we are only perpetuating the problem. At TBWA, we’ve challenged our offices to make this a priority, and “Take The Lead” is the perfect way to commit to our people and our clients that we will have a company that focused on the future.”
President: Erica Hoholick
Chief Creative Officer: Duncan Milner
Executive Creative Director: Julia Leach
Creative Directors: Lauren Smith, Brydon Gerus
Account: Maureen Walsh, Julia Simonini
PR: Elizabeth Rosenberg, Jenna Hollmeyer
Producer: Erica August
Editor: Matt Litwiller
Digital Producers: 
Maureen Mihalik, Genevieve Shah
Art Producers: Helen O’Neill, Sara Clark, Jessica Gerweck
Studio Design: Karen Ruth
Planning: Abbey Dethlefs, Erin Schissel
Directors: Lauren Smith + Brydon Gerus
Director of Photographer : Fernando Cardenas
Music: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
27 Comments
There’s not one single woman in the whole campaign.
Come on guys.
Where is Scott?
@Not One……is that not the point?
Meanwhile the agency was busy firing the recent lot that have been ‘let go’ from Melbourne.
People will take this the wrong way.
Why not hero the women that work for TBWA?
Why can’t women demand something from men?
Why do men have to talk to other men about women’s issues?
Only a hand full of questions that will come up. It’ll get talked about for sure. And the agency will think “great we got people talking about the issues.”
But it will be the wrong conversation.
‘to increase women in leadership roles across the TBWA network by 20% by the year 2020’ – That in itself is disturbing to me. I thought i misread it as the goal for 1920.
@I get the idea but…
That’s the whole point.
Yeah agree with the quotes. Talk is cheap. I know that after 16 years I had to prove myself every day.
At it’s best this oversimplifies what holds women back professionally.
At worst it perpetuates the stereotypes it’s trying to defeat by saying “hey this behaviour is what’s holding you back, good thing us men now understand that’s just how you all are”.
@Yeah but I get the point 100%
Just mass people don’t get irony. Dave Trott just did a blog post about that.
My concern is those that don’t work in advertising, taking this the wrong way.
But damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I would argue, respectfully, that 99% of the concerns raised here are commonly held by men too.
Advertising is a shitty business, and working with shitty people makes it even more shitty. Our jobs are shitty enough before we have to deal with real shitbags.
As men and women, we should collectively stand up and say ‘fuck you, you shitty shit-fucks. Just because you failed to get a degree in marketing and ended up as some shitty suit or client / just because you were made CD because the company couldn’t justify paying you that wage unless you were a CD even though you’re horrible and terribly shitty at giving direction, that doesn’t give you the right to be a shitty shit-fuck shithouse human being.
Yeah fuck you douchebags, the nice people are going to come and take your jobs.
Anybody who has ever worked at Chiat knows that it is the last agency who would treat women equally. It is still a boys club and women parade around every day like it is a fashion show. Nice try Chiat but like the state of the agency and poor leadership over the past 3 years… it is falling flat and is hypocritical. Oh, and the ads have inconsistent lighting.
Hypocritical bullshit- the Melbourne office can’t cope with women working flexible hours to look after their kids. This is tripe.
What are the best agencies to work at for women? (Best conditions, flexibility, parental leave, etc.) Realising that these are generally the best places to work for men too, of course.
Good agencies?
Bad agencies?
Woman just fired in Melbourne due to not being able to do same hours as some of these men.
Look, I get the idea, but I think this is a major misstep for TBWA.
At first glance, it reeks of male privilege. It says “Don’t worry, the men have got this”. It obfuscates women. It highlights the problem instead of addressing it.
Fix the problem first, then show the proof.
“I think i might have to quit my job when i have kids”
– No you won’t, we’ll just fire you instead.
“When i have a baby, will i still have the opportunity to work on the best brands?”
– No, i think we’ll just fire you instead.
When will you realise that you smug bastards are the enemy and not the saviours of humanity. Fucking ad guys. You’re the goddman problem.
President: Erica Hoholick
Executive Creative Director: Julia Leach
Creative Director: Lauren Smith,
Account: Maureen Walsh, Julia Simonini
PR: Elizabeth Rosenberg, Jenna Hollmeyer
Producer: Erica August
Digital Producers: Whybin TBWA Australia 2020e.Maureen Mihalik, Genevieve Shah
Art Producers: Helen O’Neill, Sara Clark, Jessica Gerweck
Studio Design: Karen Ruth
Planning: Abbey Dethlefs, Erin Schissel
Director: Lauren Smith
Music: Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch
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Really? Not a woman in sight? Really?
@okletsdiscuss,
Clemenger group has recently introduced maternity leave – 6wks + depending how long the person has been there. Some paternity leave too.
Scott is there.
@I get the idea but…
That’s the whole point.
Thank you for doing this, I love it and appreciate it so much. I find it hard to join in because the whole issue is too painful for me as a female creative. I guess when you have small pieces taken away with comments, over time you don’t realise how much it has hardened and affected you. It needs to change i’ve seen the female creatives i’ve known almost have nervous breakdowns and leave this industry, they go on to do much more creative things thankfully, but only after recovery. We need to keep this talent around. We need to start sharing creativity and being nicer to each other and stop this ego club.
Hello Melbourne, look after your clients business. Open the doors Ad agency men. Get us back in. You need too. We are there to work as always and have been. We have massive talent, skill, experience In our ad industry. You are not only lacking us as brands really need us to drive an important perspective, but you males need to compete in one match for clients with us. Not divisional . female Tennis. Male Tennis.
We are fed up.
Horrible place to work. NYC office struggled with executive affairs over the years. Dramas…
What NY office is doing? Some women got terribly treated in the past and stay in their pigeon holes to survive while some account douchettes ruling idiot male executives with their vaginas. I think those women should be in the ads apologize to all literally for fucking everyone’s reputation.
All these sensitive men and their black shirts with terrible lighting. Hilarious. As one who worked with these guys at Chiat, Deutch and other agencies, I can say some of the men in this ad treat their personal assistants (women) like garbage. Some are actually nice guys. The agency has a joke of an HR department. You can say the worst thing to a woman and not get fired (I have heard things spoken, and nothing happened). It is a nice try but in reality, those guys in the ad are in this to stroke their male egos vs actually being better human beings.