B&T is throwing down the gauntlet and challenging everyone in adland to take the 3% Challenge and be recognised as a diversity and inclusion mover and shaker.

The 3% Conference Australasia being held in Sydney on Thursday 31 August will challenge Australia’s senior executives in creative, media, brand and tech to commit to diversity and equality in both who they hire and how they operate.

We’re not running a talkfest that will just tick a box and then maintain the status quo – we’re bringing the worldwide movement to Australia and we need your help. So, we’re looking for at least one person in every agency of every size to champion change where they work and with whom they work – colleagues and clients.

You might be the CEO or you might be an account manager. You might be a copywriter or you might work in production. You might be left brain, you might be right brain. You might be male or you might be female. It doesn’t matter. You will be a lifter. You won’t be a leaner! Put your agency on the ‘3% Challenge accepted’ list.

Self-nominated volunteers (champions) will get a free ticket to see world-class international speakers at The 3% Conference, provided they can get two c-suite executives from their agency to buy a full-priced or early bird ticket. Think ECDs, heads of strategy, planning, whatever. If they’re in charge of a department, they count.

B&T will publish the list of 3% champions and the agencies they work for every week in August prior to the conference, and Cindy Gallop will share this list across the globe. After the conference, B&T will provide networking opportunities – both online and in person – for champions to share their successful strategies and actions to drive change across the industry, agency by agency, brand by brand.

Start talking with your colleagues and make an appointment to see an executive manager to tell them about The 3% Movement that you’ll help them lead. It should be an easy sell because research shows that gender diverse companies are 11 per cent more profitable than those that aren’t. And when pitching for work, diversity is evident to all potential clients. There’s your pitch!

Get in touch with us by emailing teresa@themisfits.media.