Advertising icon Jane Evans will tour Australia in May for a series of talks presented by independent adland movement Mavens and industry recruiters No Sunday Blues.
Evans will speak at INNOCEAN Australia in Sydney on May 21 and HERO agency in Melbourne on May 28, following her appearance at Cairns Crocodiles.
The B&T Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Founder, Author, Keynote Speaker, Matriarch, Futurist and Myth Buster will deliver keynote talks for Mavens at INNOCEAN Australia in Sydney on May 21 and HERO agency in Melbourne on May 28.
Each talk will share anecdotes and lessons from Evans’ admirable career in advertising, which began as a Junior Art Director at London hot shop Leagas Delaney.
In the first ten years of her career she was the first woman in the creative department three times. She was handcuffed and carted into the back of a Paddy Wagon saying, “But I’m wearing Zampatti darling, one simply can’t be committed in Zampatti!”
She launched Microsoft Word v1. She gave Cate Blanchett her first job granting her three wishes from the Tim Tam genie. She got Sydneysiders onside to host the Olympics. She headed the team tasked with explaining how digital would affect Kodak (they didn’t listen).
Evans made the first ads to show a divorced couple, an unmarried couple living together, and men doing the laundry.
She also set up her own agency with clients like Revlon, Maserati and the Guide Dog Association, and she gave us James Squire Beer.
Then she disappeared off to London and became completely invisible. Then invaluable. Now she’s coming back and bringing all the tea.
Mavens founder and copywriter Leah Morris, first met Evans when Morris interviewed her for Mavens magazine in a piece titled ‘Why ageism against women can get f**ked’.
“Look around the Australian advertising industry and you’ll see that experienced women role models, especially those over sixty, are rare as roo eggs”, says Morris. “Jane Evans is punk as f**k and it’s really refreshing. She is exactly what this industry needs more of.”
Evans’ Australian Tour is supported by industry recruitment company No Sunday Blues as Major Partner. With Founders Charlotte, Steph, and Mikhaila shaking up recruitment to make it feel more human, it’s a partnership close to their hearts.
“As female founders, this partnership is deeply personal for us,” Mikhaila Warburton said. “We’ve experienced the realities many women face across this industry. From bias to burnout to rebuilding careers on our own terms. Mavens creates the kind of space we wish existed earlier in our careers, where women can be seen, heard and supported to grow.”
“We’re proud to stand behind a platform that is actively shaping stronger, more connected futures for women in our industry.”
“I’m delighted that we can not only support Jane’s tour and our close friends from Mavens and No Sunday Blues at the same time,” said Jasmin Bedir, CEO of Innocean Australia and founder of FcktheCupcakes. “I mean Jane Evans in our building, this has to be the coolest event ever! This will be no doubt be sold out in no time.”
Anais Read, senior copywriter at HERO and Assisterhood Creative Lead added: “HERO is extremely excited to support Mavens and host ad royalty like Jane. There’ll be plenty to laugh at and plenty more to mull over, no matter your gender.”
