Despite women accounting for 85 per cent purchases, under 15 per cent of commercial work in Australia last year was directed by women. The Fair Treatment has launched an experiment to prove why: unconscious bias in the selection process.
Borrowing a process from industries such as consultancies and symphony orchestras, from 28 August 2026, advertising agencies and brands are invited to select directors through a “blind” selection process.
Removing names, companies and identifying information from creative pitches means ideas are evaluated based purely on the ideas in the treatment, eliminating subconscious bias around gender or race to get a more pure reaction to the work.
“When running AWARD School, we saw that blind judging of creatives’ work greatly shifted the gender and cultural breakdown of who was deemed talented enough,” said Example executive creative director Karen Ferry.
“When we give unexpected talent a chance, it creates the opportunity to tell interesting stories through new perspectives and make work that connects to disenfranchised audiences – a challenge that every marketer and advertiser should be thinking about. ”
When a brand needs a director, several directors are shortlisted to pitch their vision. If agencies choose to put a director on the bid, they should be comfortable for any director to win – but that is not always the case.
“I have been told a few times from different agency producers that they have felt sorry for me knowing that I am just there as a token female who was never going to win the job,” said one female director, whose name has been anonymised.
Under The Fair Treatment, agencies select their director shortlist as usual, then pitches are submitted anonymously. The best idea wins. Names are revealed only after selection and results will be analysed to measure impact.
This initiative has launched with award-winning directors Steve Rogers, Ariel Martin, Matt Divine, Stefan Hunt, and Dave Wood from internationally recognised production companies including Revolver, Good Oil, Scoundrel, Photoplay, Cousin, Rabbit, Exit, and Sweetshop.
“Anything that helps us as an industry take a look at ourselves is a great thing. There’s no doubt we have diversity issues, and this idea draws light on some of that in a startling way,” said Revolver executive producer Pip Smart.
Analysis of 2,4677 director credits from Campaign Brief and BestAds revealed the 15 per cent figure and declining trend. Of the 30 most-published directors in Australia, only 3 are women.
Ariel Martin, director and co-founder of Cousin ranked #1 Australian Director on BestAds, has supported the initiative.
“It’s a really important initiative. I got involved in Fair Treatment because it’s not just talking about a problem – it’s a potential solution,” said Martin.
Results, including hiring data, will be made public in early 2027. The initiative launched with a film featuring established Australian directors speaking about gender bias.
