The topic of ‘gender diversity’ can make for an uncomfortable conversation, loaded with difficult questions and inadequate solutions. The problem is, as the total number of women in the industry continues to grow, gender diversity tends to stall when we look at the upper levels of agency structures.

There is a growing realisation that agencies, even those with the best intentions to hire talent based on merit, are often challenging places for women to make long-term careers. At Campaign360, we are addressing the concerns contributing to the industry’s leadership gender gap. While we know the issues won’t be solved easily, we believe, with positive action, they can be overcome.

As part of our efforts to ‘ignite change, drive gender equality’, regional agency heads will come together to sign a Mandate for Change, with the ambition to help build a more balanced industry, top to bottom. These steps we hope will not only help to close the gender gap, but take us closer to building an industry that truly reflects diversification of leadership in its thinking. We look forward to hearing your feedback on this issue. 

Atifa Silk is brand director, Campaign Asia-Pacific

CONTENTS

04 Voices
Conservatives confuse; convenience commands

06 Need to know
The latest news from around the industry

12 Innovation
Nintendo bets big on launch of the Switch

16 Insights
Rise of the all-powerful data science undergrads

20 Opinion: James Thompson
Creative contrasts in Kraft’s stalled Unilever bid

21 Opinion: John Woodward
Unstable West prompts a pivot towards Asia

22 Intelligence
China leads a wave of Asian ecommerce

25 Opinion: Robert Sawatzky
Time to tackle problematic programmatic

26 Influence
News outlets race to reach post-print readers

29 Opinion: John Woolley
Profiting from overwork culture is wrong

30 Marketer profile
L’Oréal’s Asmita Dubey on digitising beauty 

32 The Atifa Silk interview
Pearl & Dean’s Kathryn Jacob smashes through the ‘glass wall’

36 Cover: Where are the women?
Gender imbalance persists, but the lack of data makes it hard even to judge the size of the issue

52 Private view
Francis Wee and Victor Manggunio critique the commercials

54 Best places to work
DigitasLBi Hong Kong and McCann Malaysia