If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. In the growing discussion around equality and representation in the creative industries, the #SeeItBeIt mantra has become part of the vernacular of inclusion. This focus on taking an active role in striving for equal representation is a shift which Louise Benson, Executive Festival Director at Cannes Lions, must take some of the credit for.

The #SeeItBeIt programme is now in its sixth year and 72 women have gone through the programme with over 700 women applying to take part this year. A drop in the ocean, perhaps, in the global context of the creative industries, but one that is creating positive ripples around the world.

The programme was launched in 2014 by the festival’s then Director of Brand Strategy Senta Slingerland. At the time, Slingerland expressed a clear and forward-looking strategy for the programme, which was to “make every agency in the world think about the women they have in their organisations and what they need to grow them.”

“When Senta launched this program, it was very prescient. Brand marketers have a bigger voice in the festival, and they are the ones demanding change in the make-up of their teams. This is a creative movement.”

Five years later and the #SeeItBeIt programme has a renewed sense of urgency as data suggests that agencies are not yet moving the dial on female leadership. Particularly in the UK market, where data from Creative Equals which shows that 12% of women in the creative industries are looking to leave the industry within the next two years.

Changing the ratio

This year over 700 female creatives from across the globe applied for a coveted place on the programme. Swati Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer at FCBUlka is the programme’s ambassador this year.

“See It Be It is an elite programme, but I feel very strongly that equality should be about supporting everyone, not just the exceptional,” explains Benson. This is the why the ripple effect of the events, many of them free to go to across the globe, is so impressive. On their own steam, fuelled not just by creative ambition but a desire to actively improve the industry they work within, many women who have completed the programme have created a halo effect of their own. These grassroots #SeeItBeIt events have been held in Bulgaria, Pakistan and New York.

It is clear Benson believes the festival can take an active role in the move towards greater equality in the industry. While awards have always been central to building a successful creative career, data from Creative Equals shows that women’s work is 10% less likely to be entered for awards.

While Cannes Lions does not ask for gender statistics on its awards entries, Benson notes that “awards by their very nature can reinforce the power structures which exist.”

Tracking progress

Yet where it can, the festival is challenging and changing those power structures, with greater diversity both on juries and its content platforms. “Our concerted effort to ensure equal gender splits on juries and within our content platforms sends a clear message back to agencies that women should be valued,” explains Benson.

To this end, in 2019 almost half (48%) of jurors are women, a significant leap from the 20% recorded in 2013.

But changing the ratio has not been about lowering the bar when it comes to ensuring greater diversity on juries. “It is the same selection process, but change has been brought about by sheer hard work and determination. It has been a journey,” she adds. 

Just as winning a Cannes Lions can boost your career, experience on juries can have a positive impact on both career progression and profile. “We plant those seeds. There is a halo effect [on your career] in being on a jury. If we can intervene in a way that is fair, that is a positive thing,” Benson says.

From talk to action

Five years into the #SeeItBeIt programme, Benson reflects that its continued relevance and impact is down to the approach: “It was not a PR exercise; it wasn’t done with great fanfare. It was real work to try and diversify the industry. It has become a cult brand and it is easier for us to open doors with it. In recent years we have always had an ambassador and these women have become really involved in the long term. The women who have led these groups have become so committed. It has changed their lives.”

Sponsorship has also grown the programme further. This year Spotify has powered the initiative forward by investing in sponsoring more global events. “Through the women who have been through the programmes it is clear that it is not nice to have. This is about supporting female creatives; it is essential,” adds Benson

Of course, there remains more to do to drive equality across the industry, but Benson points to initiatives such as the UN Women Unstereotype Alliance as evidence of the power of a collaborative, cross-industry drive for greater representation. “I wouldn’t say the battle is won but there are brilliant examples of brand marketers wanting to create change both in front of and behind the camera because it makes business sense. These high-profile examples are influencing the industry as a whole,” she adds.

In the midst of the ultimate celebration of creativity, the drive to push inclusive creative movement for change continues. For Benson, progress is not simply measured by seeing the creative women who successfully undertook the #SeeItBeIt programme picking up awards and accolades of their own. Instead she points to the ever-growing number of grassroot events across the globe which are opening the door to a new generation of creative female talent. Five years in and the desire from women across the programme and the industry as a whole not just to climb the ladder, but ensure young women starting out today are supported and heard, is palpable.

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