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Are these the top 30 women creatives in adland?

When in doubt concoct a list seems to be the mantra of many online publications (good for accumulating clicks they think) and Business Insider has obliged with its list of the ’30 most creative women in advertising.’ Might this not be encouraging sexism when it seems to be all people are talking about? You wouldn’t find a men only list.

I confess I began perusing the list to see if any of the women caught up, wittingly or unwittingly, in the Gustavo Martinez affair – JWT PR director Erin Johnson who brought the suit against CEO Martinez, chief talent officer Laura Agostini who is alleged to have kicked Johnson’s complaint into the long grass and Suzanne Siegel, who seems to Martinez’ gatekeeper – were in there, but they’re not.

Most of the 30 are from the US, where there seem to be quite a lot of women in senior creative positions. The list is headed by Wieden+Kennedy’s global ECDs Susan Hoffman, a 30-year veteran of the agency, and Colleen De Courcy, who joined in 2013 from her social media agency Socialise (below). The Brits on the list are Saatchi’s Kate Stanners, Vicki Maguire from Grey, Hollie Newton from Sunshine (a new one on me) and Becky Power, who’s a creative director at media agency Mindshare. Can’t see any from outside the US or UK.
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The full list, which has examples of their work, quite illuminating, is here.

According to BI only 30 per cent of top creative positions are occupied by gals. In the UK it’s probably less than that. In the light of l’affaire Martinez it’s maybe not so surprising.

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