Creative Equals

As you start your Monday, what could help you live 7.5 years longer? Protein? Weight-lifting? Better hydration? 7,000 steps? No. Watch this. The answer is not what you can do differently. It’s what ageing you. It turns out that’s… advertising. Yes, you read that correctly. This is your Monday provocation from Louise Cohen, Global Marketing Lead from Haleon on why ageism in advertising, based on hard facts, is one of the key factors shortening our lives by 7.5 years. 7.5 years. According to research by Harvard professor Dr Rebecca Levy, 'The images we consume from our cultural diets is what we end up living out'. Ageism limits our beliefs about ourselves. And that shortens our lives. For the full watch, head here: https://lnkd.in/ewqYdRiK There is no stage like ours. If you'd like to sponsor or speak at Creative Equals RISE2025, drop me a DM. This is why inclusive marketing matters. 👏 to Haleon for pushing the agenda on health inclusivity. Your life expectancy might just depend on it.

🔥Did the #BootsBoycott of Christmas 2024 impact their sales? And, which advertising campaign won the day: American Eagle's campaign with Sydney Sweeney OR Gap's campaign with Katsye? Do campaigns with AI receive backlash for using... AI? 🔥In partnership with Ipsos in the UK, we dig into the data, then give you frameworks to create game-changing work in 2026. We'll discuss (and workshop) how 'outrage' could be responsibly integrated into your campaign as a powerful engagement tool. Learn how to harness polarisation to lead your category. Who for? If you're a brand-side marketer or insights person (we only have 20 places left) come and join us as we explore real-world PR 'disasters' that turned into successes and those that didn’t to uncover what makes a brand go 'boom' or 'bust'. Come join Creative excellence Queens: Eleanor Thornton-Firkin Samira Brophy And me. Regster here 🔥 Discover how to make game-changing, inclusive work that drives growth for your business and beyond. Let's gooo!

‘Seeing adverts full of Black and Asian people drives me mad'. Yes, that's what Reform's Sarah Pochin said today. Pochin added: 'It doesn’t reflect our society and I feel that your average white person, average white family is …not represented any more,' blaming the 'woke liberati'. Let's fact check... ✅ Here’s the truth about representation in UK advertising today: - Only 7% of ads put any person of colour in a leading role - Black people appear in over half of TV ads, yet are cast without authority, as key decision-makers or voices of expertise - Asian people - the UK’s largest minority group - remain under-represented and boxed into narrow 'respectable' stereotypes - When ads feature Black people, one in three ads feature stereotypes - Behind the camera, our sector's ethnicity pay gap sits at 31%in favour of white staff. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The reality is this: - 18% of the UK populations - 1 in 5 of us - come from a Black, Asian, other multi-ethnic background - this is 46.5% in London 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Whatever Sarah thinks, the UK public disagree, with 77% agreeing that equity, diversity and inclusion IS important is ads. Turns out the 'woke liberati' are the majority. With the rise of Reform, racism is on the rise in the UK. Opinions like this on our ad sector are now voiced out loud. By politicians. The truth is progress in advertising has been glacial. Nothing has changed much since 2019 and we have gone backwards on many representation scores. As Wes Streeting says: 'What we have seen on our streets in recent weeks and months, is a return of 1970s-, 1980s-style racism I thought we had left in the history books.' Modern Britain is multi-ethnic, multilingual, multi-faith and interconnected. Advertising should show that proudly and clearly we have so much work to do. It's on us to counter racism and hate. Our creative must portray the full breadth of UK society. Portray, not just represent. When people see themselves - fully and fairly - in our ads, we can create inclusion for society and growth for the whole economy. Creative Equals 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

🌟 'Inclusion isn't a campaign, it's a culture.' 🌟 'You can't be a part-time person of principle.' 🌟 'AI is deploying bias at scale and we need to act now.' These insights came from last week's brilliant event hosted by Creative Equals, in partnership with APS Intelligence, bringing together two brilliant panels to explore inclusion both inside organisations and in the work we create. Some brands are retreating from their values, yet the ones who stay committed are driving real growth. Panel 1 with Ash Tailor, Frank Starling and Mira Magecha moderated by Richard Robinson🔥 explored culture, marketing and leadership. Key takeaways: 💡 The business case is proven ⮑ Brands practicing inclusive advertising see 16.5% growth over 18 months ⮑ 70%+ of consumers consider company DEI policies when buying 🎯 Representation alone isn't enough ⮑ When brands gave people the lead role in the story (not just showed diverse faces): sales went from -1% to +11% ⚠️ What you say has to match what you do ⮑ You can run inclusive campaigns, but if that's not the lived experience when people join, you've failed Panel 2 with , Ali Hanan and Professor John Amaechi OBE and moderated by Ritchie Mehta tackled AI, bias and what real equity looks like. John opened with a simple exercise: which of these kittens is cutest? He's asked 35,000 people globally. One kitten always loses everywhere and we can always come up with reasons why. It's a perfect demonstration of how easily we rationalise who gets left behind. Key insights: 🤖 AI is both opportunity and urgent risk ⮑ Built on historical bias, it can deploy that bias at scale ⮑ "AI averages towards the average" so you have to actively prompt for diversity 💪 Stop expecting minority groups to do all the work ⮑ Women know men. Black people know white people. People with disabilities understand those without ⮑ The opposite isn't true and that's laziness 📈 Psychological safety is the differentiator ⮑ Scared, anxious, insecure people don't perform well ⮑ If you want to win, you need environments where people can speak up without fear 🎯 "Who makes the work shapes the work" ⮑ When only 3% of UK creative directors were women, the work reflected that gap As a leader, it reinforced for me that inclusion isn't a campaign, it's a culture. It has to be systematic across every function: from hiring to audience insights, innovation, marketing and media buying. And critically, you can't be a part-time person of principle (brilliantly said by John Amaechi OBE). When uncomfortable moments arise, staying silent isn't an option. We're still getting it wrong in places and fear is holding marketers back, but the answer isn't retreat. Thank you to Debbie T. for the opening and Peter Carroll for the closing remarks. Great to make new connections and catch up with so many brilliant people on the day, Vino Amber Ally Suzie Bernadette Dan Mays Claire Chloe Sabina. #inclusivemarketing #leadership #creativeequals

This morning, Ali Hanan and I had the pleasure of presenting at the Creative Corner at The HEINEKEN Company UK’s offices at the bar 🍺 (yes, really!). Huge thanks to Katherine Arnot, Hannah Ward and the entire brand and marketing team for having us. We spoke about inclusive marketing and how brands can build genuine connections with the changing demographic and consumer landscape. We also discussed why it’s okay to start from scratch when it comes to doing inclusion right, and explored how social cues are shaping the alcohol and beverage category. With Diwali around the corner 🪔 and Heineken 0.0 being one of my go-to beers (I'm a self-confessed zebra-striper) was perfectly on theme. #InclusiveMarketing #HeinekenUK #CreativeCorner #CheersToBalance #Diwali2025 Creative Equals

UK paternity leave is a motherf**cker .. 🧨 Gemma Phillips, a genius creative director, has invited me to bring to life this important campaign in partnership with Pregnant Then Screwed and The Dad Shift. It’s the worst in Europe - two weeks at less than half the minimum wage, or nothing if you’re self employed. And it’s screwing over mums. Nearly 40% of births in the UK end in a C-section. Mums are told recovery takes six weeks - during which time they may not even be able to hold their baby properly. Yet after just two weeks, their partners go back to work, leaving mums to struggle through the pain alone. This week, there's a debate in Parliament about raising statutory maternity and paternity pay - a crucial step alongside longer paternity leave. Email your MP and ask them to attend the debate. Link in The Dad Shift bio. Launching across nationwide OOH, press and socials, the campaign is supported by 12 beautiful portraits of women who’ve recently had c-sections including the powerhouse Anna Whitehouse, all shot by Sane Seven, the design work is by Kerry Roper. WACL (Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership ), The Female Lead, Joeli Brearley, Working Families, Creative Equals, The Drum, Campaign UK, Equal Parents | At Work & At Home, HuffPost UK, The Independent, The Times, The Stylist Group, Equality and Human Rights Commission, The Fatherhood Institute, Dadvengers, Mother's at Work, Alex Lloyd Hunter SHARE YOUR STORY below ⬇️ #PaternityLeave  #TwoWeeksIsntEnough