12 women thriving in APAC: Kim Pick

Kim Pick, creative director, Colenso BBDO/Proximity | NEW ZEALAND

Tell us about your career path and achievements.

I began my career as a journalist and film critic in New Zealand, before discovering copywriting in Australia. Within my first two years in advertising, I had won some of the top creative awards in Australia, and was headhunted from one role to another. By the age of 26, I was creative director of McCann Erickson, Singapore. In the UK, I became regional creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi London, writing the global campaign ‘Love the skin you’re in’ for Olay. For the last 10 years (since becoming a parent), I’ve teamed with husband and creative partner Wayne Pick at agencies TEQUILA\Auckland, RAPP New Zealand, RAPP New York (where I was ECD with a department of 60+ and US wide duties) and now Colenso BBDO/Proximity where I’m a CD.

Who is your role model?

David Droga was my mentor when I did AWARD School in Sydney, and he recruited me to join Saatchi’s when I moved to London. He was very focused on big, clean ideas and was ahead of the curve with thinking that has stuck with me, such as “don’t show me the ad, tell me the press release.”

I also admire Kate Stanners, who went from being ECD of Saatchi’s London to global CCO of the group.

And in New Zealand, Brigid Alkema, who has done amazing work at Clemenger Wellington and, as ECD, is now on the board of Clemenger Group.

Do you think there’s a glass ceiling in advertising in New Zealand? 

I find ‘glass ceiling’ a misleading term. It suggests there’s some sort of singular, tangible barrier that limits career progression for women, and or even some dastardly ‘white privileged male conspiracy’ to keep women out of the top jobs. But this is not the case, in New Zealand or elsewhere.

The answer to why there aren’t more female creative directors is complex, which was only reinforced last year when I was asked to be on a panel alongside some leading academics on the subject of gender diversity at the American Academy of Advertisers global conference.

These experts talked about how there is not so much a pipeline issue of people entering the industry (numbers coming out of ad school are generally 50/50, with women graduating in the tops spots equally to men) but a retention issue. As women have children, many find it difficult to return to work full-time in an industry that is known for its long, unpredictable hours, and often inflexible work arrangements. So while you may not find as many senior women creatives in traditional agency structures, instead you’ll see them in consultancies, freelance, running their own agencies, moving to digital or PR shops or to the client side.

The experts also talked about how the “masculinised environments” of some ad agency creative departments can contribute to women departing the industry. With personality factors such as “perseverance, toughness, competitiveness, and a thick skin” seen as important factors for success, this isn’t a comfortable environment for everyone to thrive in.

In fact, as women do rise to the top, experts say, the same personality traits that saw them succeed can go on to hinder them. Sheryl Sandberg recently referenced this in regard to the classic Harvard business case study of “Heidi/Howard”: the identical personality traits and networking skills considered likeable in a man, were, in a woman, seen as “selfish” and not “the type of person you would want to hire or work for.”

There are many more factors, including evidence that women don’t tend to apply for roles unless they are fully qualified for them, whereas men will apply even if they are underqualified. There is also the issue of ‘unconscious bias’ whereby even the most socially aware individuals and organisations can unwittingly perpetuate stereotypes and status quo by hiring or making decisions based on previous history.

I also believe that a creative woman’s portfolio can become too niche over time, if she is constantly assigned briefs with a female skew. And this can easily happen when women are under-represented in the creative department.

It’s a combination of all these factors that can lead to women not being in the top creative positions.

Now while you could dismiss this as natural attrition and “survival of the fittest”, it is vital to find a way to foster diversity – of ethnicity, age, socio-economic background and gender – in creative departments and in senior leadership roles.  As these roles tend to shape and influence culture (in organisations as well as society) – there must be more than one type of voice represented.

What are the sort of challenges you have faced as a woman in making it to the top of your profession?

Prior to becoming a parent, I don’t feel I faced any particular career-limiting challenges – in fact, quite the opposite, I felt my opportunities were limitless. In retrospect, being a minority woman in the creative department did lead to me receiving more than my fair share of female-skewed briefs which risked pigeon-holing me as a specialist. But, equally, I can say it made me highly sought after and employable.

However, as a parent, the challenge became the hours.

In London, with a small child, I needed to commute to Geneva for meetings and presentations which was hard to manage without outside support.

And in New York, I was regularly clocking 100 hours on my weekly time sheets, and spending weeks, even months, away from home because of production and client commitments. For many women with family commitments, this is not sustainable.

What is your view on the belief (proposed by Kevin Roberts recently) that women do not want management roles in advertising?

Kevin Roberts said two things on this subject, one related to women in creative, and the other regarding modern ambition in general:

Firstly he said: “We have a bunch of talented, creative females, but they reach a certain point in their careers … 10 years of experience, when we are ready to make them a creative director of a big piece of business, and I think we fail in two out of three of those choices because the executive involved said: ‘I don’t want to manage a piece of business and people, I want to keep doing the work’,” Roberts said.

In response to this, I believe that of course creative women aspire to management (and leadership, and executive and board) roles – and that they can excel in those roles. I also believe that there are women who are unable to accept greater responsibility in their careers because they do not have the support networks outside of work to support the longer hours, the evening networking, the breakfast meetings, the travel and all those things that come attached to a more senior role – for instance, if they have a partner who also works, and no external support with childcare. So it is not a matter of “wanting” but feasibility, and this varies by individual, regardless of talent.

Kevin Roberts also made a comment in regards to millennials (not women specifically) who don’t necessarily aspire to traditional views of success.

He said: “If you think about those Darwinian urges of wealth, power, and fame — they are not terribly effective in today’s world for a millennial because they want connectivity and collaboration. They feel like they can get that without managing and leading, so maybe we have got the definition wrong,” Roberts said.

“So we are trying to impose our antiquated shit on them, and they are going: ‘Actually guys, you’re missing the point, you don’t understand: I’m way happier than you.’ Their ambition is not a vertical ambition, it’s this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy.”

I believe what Kevin Roberts is saying here is not far from the views of people like Arianna Huffington, who in her book Thrive, says “For far too long, our male-dominated model of success has equated success with working around the clock, driving yourself into the ground, sleep deprivation and burnout…” and suggests that there can be a different way.

I think the point of contention was his remark that gender diversity “is not an issue.” And that “the debate is over”. When in fact statistics show that overall, while women account for the majority of those employed in ad agencies, they only make up a small minority of senior executive positions (and anything less than 15% is considered tokenism). This is an issue, and debate has just begun.

Generally, the industry does accept that change is needed, and that it needs to start at the top, which is why Clemenger Group began its Gender Diversity group almost two years ago, and has set targets to have women holding 40% of senior roles by 2020.

What do you make of the claim that women aren’t as creative as men?

The essence of creativity is the ability to draw connections and to see things in an original way – it’s cognitive. A creative brain can belong to anyone, male or female – including people who aren’t in the creative department.

The most publicity ever given to the claim that women were less creative than men (based on global media mentions) was when Neil French said “women are crap” in 2005. He later clarified (after his global role was terminated, in somewhat of a déjà vu scenario) that it was not that they were crap creatively but because women ‘wimp out’: “If you can’t commit yourself to any job then, by definition, you’re crap at it,” he said.

What advice would you give to a woman who aspires to be a creative director in New Zealand?

Jump in. Hold on to your identity. Don’t mould your personality to try and conform or fit in to your creative department – instead you can help redefine what it is to be a creative. Find a mentor, learn to negotiate and present, provide PR quotes and promote yourself, don’t fall for any suggestion that emotion or humour or creativity is attached to one gender, watch that your portfolio doesn’t get narrowed down by accepting too many ‘female’ briefs. But most of all, focus on the work. And have fun. It’s awesome.