The Omnicom Group will have 22 Omni-women or 40 per cent of the female jurors on the panel of next week’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Aimee Buchanan (pictured) is the managing director for OMD Sydney and on our Women in Media Power List and she told B&T: “It was a conscious decision for all Omnicom agencies to put more women forward as judges this year and the Cannes Lions also had a goal of approximately 32 per cent women judges so it was a combination of the two.
“At OMD Australia this is simply reflective of our workforce diversity; a third of our executive management is female and our two largest agency offices have female Managing Director’s. Sixty per cent of our total workforce is currently female, and 90 per cent of our part-time staff, which is testament to OMD’s commitment to attract, support, and retain senior female talent in the industry through their life stages.”
In an industry where women are still underrepresented in senior roles (20 per cent), OMD is focused on a number of internal initiatives to give women the exposure they need to establish strong professional networks including quarterly dinners for senior women within the industry.
Aimee added: “We run a mentoring program, where I mentor four up-and-coming industry professionals, all women who are focused on their career and wanting to grow and evolve. We also hold mentoring sessions called ‘THINK FRESH’ within the agency where inspirational female industry leaders are invited as guest speakers.”
