Sleep In? Here’s All The Fabulous Highlights From Changing The Ratio

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Yesterday thanks to IVE, Microsoft, OMD and Paramount+ we were able to host another Changing The Ratio breakfast.

It was an early morning start but there was coffee and croissants! So well, worth getting out of bed for.

Changing The Ratio is such an important event to us because we realise our industry does still need to change.

Recently HoneyComb conducted research that found only 6% of agencies said that all of their clients were implementing a D&I strategy and 1 in 5 agencies either didn’t know (16%) or said that none of their clients (4%) had a D&I strategy in place.

There is real work to be done in our industry and we can only hope at B&T that by having these conversations and events that we can better understand what that work is.

The event was kicked off with Paramount’s Narelda Jacobs and Gareth Tomlin discussing Paramount’s global study that looks at the satisfaction of on-screen representation through the lens of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The research unveiled that while we are seeing more representation, we still aren’t seeing enough and often the representation we see are stereotypes of queer people.

Jacobs and Tomlin both discussed how important realistic representation is on screens and Jacobs shared how a career highlight for her was covering the Gay Marriage plebiscite because it allowed her to give more LGBTQIA+ people a voice.

Tomlin and Jacobs also stressed the importance of making sure allyship isn’t just during Pride Month and that companies and individuals need to be pushing for representation all year round.

The conversation was honest and insightful and really left people with something to consider.

Then we had a short break, and yes got to eat more coffee and croissants!

Next, we launched into Microsoft Advertising’s panel that delved into mental health. Mental health advocate Mitch Wallis was a particularly exciting addition. He is the founder of the incredible mental health service provider Heart On My Sleeve.

Wallis spoke alongside Microsoft Adverting’s Renee Stopps and Performic’s Jason Tonelli to discuss the importance of mental health and particularly how we can deal with it better in our industry.

Tonelli shared that he felt it was very important we stop sending emails at 1am and instead schedule them! Wallis also stressed the importance of not measuring your worth by your work performance and Stopps reminded everyone that communication is key and checking in on people is more than just asking what their workloads are.

The conversations were real, raw and we think really productive and the coffee was also delicious!

Thank you to everyone that came and all our sponsors! These events always warm our hearts and allow for really important conversations to take place.

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