The Agency Circle, launched in Australia in October, has launched a survey which seeks to deliver practical and public ways to address diversity and equal opportunity across every level in Creative Agencies.

The founding members of The Agency Circle are: VCCP, Clemenger BBDO, M&C Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Havas, TBWA, The Monkeys, JWT, The Hallway, CHE Proximity, Marketforce, DDB, 303 Mullen Lowe, BWM Dentsu and McCann.

The Circle is built around an annual survey, designed to provide participating Agencies with a benchmark they can use to track their own progress. The aggregated results are based on 15 participating Agencies in five capital cities, with over 1211 individual responses received. Of the participants- 23 per cent were entry level, 54 per cent middle management and 23 per cent senior management.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s not much by way of new news in the numbers. What’s important is what happens next. It’s now up to each Agency to review their results and put their own plans in place. Accountability lies at the heart of The Agency Circle, the survey runs again in November 2017 and if there’s been no positive progress – then The Agency Circle is not for you / nor you for it.

Chair of The Agency Circle and director of strategy at VCCP, Michele O’Neill, said: “The feedback so far is really encouraging. Agencies who took part in the inaugural survey are digging deep into their findings, listening to their staff and planning the changes they want to make in the coming months. 2016 may just have been the perfect storm for diversity, There is a palpable sense of change and commitment in the air. We’re excited about the year ahead and warmly welcome any agencies who’d like to join in.”

Emily Perrett, managing director of Clemenger BBDO Sydney said: “Having a sense of where we stand against Industry norms is great context, but it’s ultimately not that important. There’s not much to be proud of in the numbers – and we’ve no interest in being the best of a bad bunch. We’ll use this snapshot to track our individual progress, and make sure that the plans we’ve already got in place are making an actual difference – with regards to gender diversity and beyond”.