At the final awards ceremony of Cannes Lions on Friday, June 21, agency and marketing professionals from around the world took the stage to honor some of advertising’s best work. But aside from the glittering trophies and celebrations, something else was on display that night: the industry’s gender imbalance.
Alltold, an artificial intelligence company with tools that measure inclusion in advertising and media, analyzed 24 images of winners accepting awards on the last night of Cannes through an AI-powered program that identifies gender expression. With the exception of three winners—WPP, Coca-Cola and Ogilvy—the images ADWEEK and Alltold analyzed contained the full group of people who went on stage.
The result: 69% of people who accepted awards on stage were identified as men. The analysis found that in 19 of the 24 images, more men than women went on stage. Eight of the winning groups that sent at least eight people on stage featured a makeup of at least 75% men.
A number of industry sources familiar with the chaos that happens while shepherding large groups of people from winning agencies or brands onto the stage cautioned that the images aren’t always the best gauge of individual companies’ efforts to be inclusive on stage. They cited factors out of an agency’s control that include inviting clients, where the makeup of those clients cannot be controlled, on stage; which employees stick around through Friday night; and who actually decides to come on stage when given the opportunity.
That said, agencies should be reviewing their entire Cannes planning process from the early discussions about who will go, through who will stick around to potentially take the stage and represent the agency. One source, who wished to remain anonymous, told ADWEEK that if an agency plans properly, it can counteract any factors out of its control to ensure it doesn’t put an extremely imbalanced group on stage.
The sources also added that the broader trend is notable as the analysis is reflective of the industry’s gender makeup as a whole. Women, who before the pandemic comprised half of advertising, media and adtech employees, now make up only 37%, according to 2023 data from nonprofit organization She Runs It. Additionally, the most recent data from the 3% Movement shows only 29% of the industry’s creative directors are women.
“According to The 4A’s Diversity survey—we are seeing an increase in female representation overall, accounting for 61.22% of all surveyed last year. The industry is continuing to make inroads in diversifying the talent mix but we can always do better,” Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of the 4A’s told ADWEEK.
A wider problem
Though Alltold’s analysis is only one indicator of the demographics in advertising’s workforce, the images of people accepting awards in Cannes are symbolic of a wider issue of gender inequality that has plagued the industry for a long time, said Cindy Gallop, consultant and founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn.
“It doesn’t take AI for anyone to look around us and go, ‘Nothing’s changing in the industry on this front,’” Gallop told ADWEEK. “Overall, women’s experiences at Cannes Lions demonstrate how much our industry still doesn’t feature gender equality in leadership and creative departments.”
