Agencies are perpetually fretting they won’t be able to attract or retain the best talent.
They should be, according to Valerie Carlson, executive creative director at SapientNitro. But the wave of consolidation that’s swept the industry, with nearly every digital shop scooped up by a big holding company, has come at a cost: Agencies are stuck in a spiral of being unwelcome to the diverse talent they need to thrive.
Speaking at the Digiday Agency Summit on Friday in Palm Springs, Calif., Carlson partially attributed her rise within the industry to embracing digital advertising when it was in its infancy. The nascent days of digital offered more opportunities for women and for innovative thinking, she said. But as digital shops have been bought and integrated into holding companies, they’ve become more bottom-line focused, which will likely discourage young women from working in advertising, she said.
Watch Carlson discuss why agency consolidation is a threat to gender diversity in the industry and what agencies can do to ensure they keep talented young women interested in advertising.
More in Marketing
OpenAI moves to make ChatGPT ads more measurable — and more visual
OpenAI is adding a new format, measurement tools and brand suitability testing as it looks to attract bigger budgets.
‘The future is going to be in real life”: IRL events are becoming the new proof point for creator marketing
Plenty of creators are making the same bet, and until recently most of them were the biggest names in the business.
‘We’re all going to live with uncertainty forever’: Advertising Week New York opens amid industry rebuild
Why this year’s Advertising Week New York feels different (yes, we know we say that every year).