Last week, I attended the inaugural Champions of Change awards hosted by Adnews. It was, in many ways, a hopeful night. A new awards program, new faces being recognised, and a chance to reflect on what progress really looks like in our industry.
One of the most moving moments for me was watching my dear friend, and fellow values-led agitator, Jen Dobbie win the Golden Hammer for Changemaker of the Year, nominated by none other than Cindy Gallop. That kind of recognition matters. It tells us that the heart work, the invisible work, the values work is finally being seen.
But amid the applause, I found myself holding discomfort.
Two of the night’s most prestigious Champion of Change awards went to WPP—a global holding company that recently removed all DEI commitments from its annual report. Not scaled back. Not reframed. Removed entirely.
I agree that awards nominations aren’t perfect – none of them are. But naming those who you think shouldn’t have won – is that necessary, or even accurate?
WPP globally has removed DE&I from its reports, yes. And it’s very frustrating. This only happened in March 2025, towards the end of the awards period, but that’s by the by. Also, I wouldn’t necessarily class WPP as part of ‘the in crowd’. But whatever – the point is that these are Australian awards, not global. Read Aimee Buchanan (she was in B&T the other day) about how gender diversity remains so central to the WPP media operation she leads. In couple of weeks I am personally giving a DE&I diversity/gender-related talk to a WPP company all-staffer, organised by their still thriving DE&I team/committee.
Incidentally, I’ve also given this talk to Thinkerbell, proactively requested, organised and moderated by…yes, Margie Reid. Who also does a lot behind the scenes that not many are aware of, ironically enough qualifying her by one of your definitions. Thinkerbell certainly wasn’t the only agency involved in the Campaign thing but I do remember them being one of the few agencies (at least that I saw) to own their mistake and pledge to do better. As for the man saying that the woman didn’t have the confidence to speak on stage…well, unless she contradicts this, what was he supposed to do, force her to talk?
Truly, I do understand your frustration with the way lists are put together – and I would love to see the field broadened, and for Jen Sharpe to win something in this space, I think she’s amazing. But do you really need to tear down actual winners like this, after the fact? It just feels a bit churlish; at the end of the day they’ve won for reasons, some known, some less known; and while yes of course there are unsung heroes who should be up there, and the selection method could be improved, in the spirit of us being united and rowing the same set of oars here, I think the winners should be accepted, not publicly censured.
Hi Jet – did you ask the woman beside the WPP exec why she didn’t speak? Instead of relying only on the male’s POV? Weird decision given the focus of this piece.
Also a bit ironic if she simply dislikes public speaking.
Im reading this wondering why the author gets to point out the women she thinks should and should not be recognised.
This article is everything wrong with the woman’s movement.
All women need to be encouraging all women – if you’re not doing that you’re a part of the problem.
I’m with Jet on the bigger issues, our industry still has a really long way to go on real diversity in leadership.
But, calling out and singaling out another woman in leadership to make the point feels like the wrong fight.
I don’t like the idea of women publicly singling out other women of not being deserving of an award they’ve won. This feels mean.
I find this article bearing absolutely no relationship to the fact that the overwhelming majority of CMOs in this industry are female .
Warren Buffet completed a 5 year study for Berkshire Hathaway and his team of analysts concluded DEI had not added one dollar to the productivity of companies.
Is this really about DEI ?
I’m not sure that singling out the only male succeeding in an almost exclusively female profession helps your argument about gender equality.
I think sections of this piece miss the mark for sure, but you do tend to see the same thing on display at B&T WIM awards. It’s the same (very high up) people across largely media companies – and select agencies, who really enjoy their annual spotlight. They’ve even done photo shoots for it in the past… Sad reality is it’s about profile. How about for one year, they step aside and give an up and coming female colleague the limelight ? Do people privately practice what they publicly preach? Just a thought.