Amy Dick, chief operating officer, Cult London, took to the stage on day one of LIA’s Creative Liaisons program to discuss how the creative industry should be looking to disturb the status quo.

Starting with her experience, she said, “I was seeing inequalities and wanted to change them over time. It’s about having a positive impact on the world.”

Current state of play

Dick stated how a billion of the world’s population have a certain kind of disability with a combined spending power of USD 13 billion. 

“Yet, just 2% of these consumers feel they are accurately portrayed in media and advertising. When it comes to the LGBTQ+ community, they have a spending power of USD 1.4 trillion. Only 3% of linear ads today include them,” she said.

She also spoke about the way women are portrayed in advertising.

“One in two girls say toxic beauty advice on social media causes low self-esteem. Women shown in domestic or family settings has increased to 66% of the 10,000 ads analysed in 2022 compared to just 32% in 2021,” said Dick.

She stated that with each dramatic shift in the political, legal and economic climate, lives are impacted and added that there is a collective opportunity to ‘future proof our world’.

She called for the industry to ‘dare to disrupt’. 

“The global advertising spend is set to rise by 10.5% taking us past USD 1 trillion. Let’s use that opportunity to spend it to do good. Consumers today value transparency and that’s what they look for when picking a brand,” she said.

She left with food for thought for the industry.

• Avoiding stereotypes.
• Who’s not in the room? Get them in.
• Think about accessibility.
• Business values should be upheld internally and externally.
• Shake up the make-up.
• Pursue equity-building initiatives.
• Push for inclusive policies that level the playing field.
• Review legal contracts – for fair and equal pay and treatment.
• Consistency of message and actions all year round.
• Empowering people at every level of the organisation, especially those coming after you.
• Drive a culture of no judgement and ease of idea sharing.
• Embolden clients towards change using data.
• If the data doesn’t exist, could you create it?
• Pursue sustainable practices at every stage.

She concluded, “Work with people who you don’t know – the discussion, ideation and experiment together can solve problems. Break the rules – things don’t have to be done in one way. Till you try nobody knows things. It’s about looking at an outrageous idea and pushing for it. Keep yourselves thinking, inspired and cross-pollinating.”

The Creative Liaisons is part of the London International Awards. Manifest is the India partner for LIA in 2024 and 2025.