SINGAPORE — During the second day of Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, adobo Magazine’s editor-in-chief Angel Guerrero, together with around 200 other outstanding individuals were invited to the first-ever IPG Women’s Leadership Network Breakfast in Asia-Pacific “The Silk Prologue” held at the Mandarin Oriental Singapore, hosted by Chairman and CEO of IPG Michael Roth.
The morning event was tailored after the Women’s Breakfast that IPG hosts in Cannes annually, where women leaders from the industry explored the dynamics and intricacies of the social fabric of Asian cultures, celebrating the ascent of women to leadership positions across our region.
In Roth’s session at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, he credits IPG’s success to the diversified workforce of the company, and having a relationship with the consumer through the brands they have established. “It’s not just because it’s the right thing to do. Fifty-seven percent of our managers are female now, but if you look at our industry, it’s fairly pathetic in terms of representation of women. And then when you look at people of color and Asians and… we just don’t represent the marketplace, as an industry.”
The breakfast included the following sessions:
ON CREATIVITY:
Are Ideas Gender Neutral?
Sam Lo, Creative Director & Visual Artist; Sheena Jeng, CCO, McCann Worldgroup China; Lizi Hamer, Regional ECD, Octagon; Uma Rudd Tan, ECD, Weber Shandwick Singapore.
Men and women connect, think and behave differently when faced with the same situation. Does this same behavior apply when it comes to creative ideas? It certainly does.
ON CULTURE:
Champions of Change
Vibha Bakshi, Award-winning Director & Producer.
Through creativity, skill and determination, highly acclaimed filmmaker Vibha Bakshi helped to redefine India’s public policy around sexual assault victims with acclaimed documentary, Daughters of Mother India in 2016, and more recently, Son Rise. How an idea became a movement that is helping to change the narrative around gender inequality in India.
ON BUSINESS:
Women in Leadership – Challenging the Status Quo
Moderated by Sharanjit Leyl, Presenter & Producer, BBC World News
Panelists: Geraldine Yip, Regional Head, Asia Pacific, HSBC; Katy Laciny, Head of Marketing – Asia, Oceania, and Africa, Nestlé Purina Petcare; Viksita Menon, Chief Marketing Officer/Brand GM, L’Oréal Singapore; and Jaime Hardley, Vice President Marketing Asia Pacific, Fitbit.
The women on stage shared how they challenge convention, champion the female voice and support other women, to collectively rise together.
Leigh Reyes, President of MullenLowe Philippines shared: “Vibha Bakshi’s interview stood out for me, in a morning of exceptional talks. When she said it was ’easier to sensationalize than to sensitize,’ she really drove home the power of documentary storytelling.”
Maan Bautista, Creative Director of McCann Worldgroup Philippines, who judged at this year’s Spikes remarked: “One of the things that struck me was when they flashed a report by Adweek saying that only 11 percent of Creative Directors are women. And in our industry where you get to work with very talented females all the time, that is such a low number. There’s still a lot to be done, but it gives me hope that a lot of our industry leaders are now stepping up and making a commitment to bridge that gender gap.”
