Courtesy: FreeTheBid.com
Advertising production call to action #FreeTheBid launched this week, kicking off a solution-based campaign to “give female directors a voice in advertising.” A female director list is one of the highlights of the site, which calls upon ad agencies to add females to any and all commercial bids. Mashable broke the news.
According to Mashable, the idea for #FreeTheBid came about during a dinner where PJ Pereira, CCO and co-founder of Pereira & O’Dell, discussed the Mashable story that published two months ago with commercials director Alma Har’el. From there, Pereira & O’Dell and Har’el instituted their #FreeTheBid pledge–and inspired other companies to make the same pledge–to always have at least one female director on their bid lists. While the practice sounds like common sense, statistics demonstrate that far too few pools have women candidates.
When Mashable broke the news two months ago that under 10% of commercial directors were women, a firestorm of conversation provoked the advertising sector. AdAge ran an issue pertaining to female directors and addressing the Hollywood gap. While many agencies and news outlets parsed how to fix the problem, few attempted to increase the visibility of female directors in the industry, according to Susan Credle, Global CCO at FCB. #FreeTheBid is one solution.
The FreeTheBid website best summarizes their cause with the statement: “The whole corporate world needs to fix its diversity issue. Because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s a good idea.” 85% of purchasing decisions are made by women and so it only makes sense that more women have a say in the content and motivations of their advertisements.
Courtesy: Mashable
To contribute to FreeTheBid’s running female director list, here is a list of talented female directors on our client rosters, many of whom appear on the site.
Amanda Marsalis – Backyard
Kim Nguyen – Backyard
Haley Geffen – BODEGA
JEAN – Decon
Yael Staav – Furlined
Cary of Cary & Jon – Honorsociety
Molly Schiot – Honorsociety
KEZIA – Honorsociety
Lara Shapiro – Honorsociety
Gina of Gina + Mark – Honorsociety
Andrea Arnold – Park Pictures
Alison Maclean – Park Pictures
Katina of The Mercadantes – Park Pictures
Lisa Rubisch – Park Pictures
Alison Klayman – Washington Square Films
The #FreetheBid initiative, just a few days old, has already won pledges from ad agencies around the globe and has seen production companies exclaiming about many new bids coming in this week for the women on their rosters. It’s amazing what a really good hashtag can do!