Incoming IPA President Tom Knox has said advertising should be a “force for good” as he set out his agenda for the next two years on Wednesday.
Addressing leading figures in the media industry, Knox, chairman of DLKW Lowe, said: “What we do is fundamentally of great value and good. Good for businesses and the economy. Good for consumers and society and good for the people who make a living from it.
“I want my agenda to demonstrate and celebrate not just the economic but also the societal benefits of advertising; the values as well as the value of what we do. In so doing we will ensure our long term future and we will continue to attract the best talent into our agencies.”
He added that advertising’s role should enrich culture, society and the economy, but the industry must take better responsibly to become “trusted” to brands and consumers by being clear about its values.
“It’s no longer good enough to say we merely reflect society – we should set ourselves a higher goal and realise a more progressive ambition,” he said.
“This is not hippy do-gooding. It is a business imperative. Brands that do this succeed.”
To put his money where his mouth is, Knox said the IPA will now draw up a “code of conduct” for members, using existing best practice as a guide.
The industry veteran, with 30 years’ experience working in advertising, added that key topics that needed to be explored under his presidency include the depiction of women and diversity, use of big data and the implications for privacy and the rise of content, native advertising and the blurring of the lines between editorial and marketing.
“I want us to be positive about the overall impact of the ad industry and for us to show we take our responsibilities seriously,” he said.
Knox also said that more must be done to promote gender equality and improve female representation – particularity in senior roles – within the industry.
“For years we have been talking about promoting diversity and gender equality in advertising and progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go,” he said.
While the gender split is neutral overall, women still only account for 25.6% of those at the highest level of seniority (up from 22.2 % in 2013) and women make up 37.1% in ‘another executive management role’ (up from 30 % in 2013.)
“In particular we need to continue to work to ensure that women are better represented in creative roles,” he said, where 77% of traditional creative roles and 73% of digital creative roles are male.
“Change will only come if we are more transparent about how we are doing,” he added, announcing a new annual league table which will list the gender splits by department and seniority as well as showing the percentage of BAME employees in each agency.
Knox succeeds Ian Priest, founding Partner of VCCP and international managing director of Chime, for the presidency.
