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It’s No Longer Possible For Brands Not To Be Diverse In Their Advertising Campaigns

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I was recently invited by a high-end luxury online shopping brand for women to give feedback on its new online advertising campaign. First-off, I had not even noticed it’s new campaign and I suppose that was in itself telling, because it had not been memorable for me. However, when I did carefully consider it, I realised why it had not hit home…and that’s because it was not relatable and it didn’t connect with me. The advert looked out of touch and dated in the context of today’s conversations and I gave this feedback to the ‘enquiring luxury online shopping brand.’ But I also wondered how they could get it so wrong?!

Research shows that female consumers are calling time on airbrushing and have ‘perfection fatigue’, which has significant implications for brands. Therefore, it is no longer possible for brands not to be diverse in their advertising campaigns, and when I say ‘diverse’ I mean diversity in the age of models, race and reflective in body-types. While thin and prepubescent bodies are still the preferred choice for the runway and print media world, social media is giving a platform for celebrating more diverse body shapes. The #bodypositivity movement is empowering women to push against narrow and unattainable beauty standards and instead celebrate their differences and their imperfections.

Again, traditional magazines and other forms of advertising have always heavily featured white models largely from western European backgrounds. This lack of diversity has meant poor representation of other ethnicities. Yet, the explosion of social media has been incredibly positive for making beauty more accessible and inclusive.

Importantly, social media is no longer the natural habitat for millennials, as older women are using the medium to smash one of the most ingrained prejudices in fashion and beauty –  age. With styling, skincare and beauty tutorials aimed at older women, they’ve celebrated and empowered this demographic. Furthermore, they’ve also vanquished the myth that fashion and beauty is limited to youth.

As a result, brands casting only young, thin, white, flawless models no longer feel relevant in the modern age. But crucially advertising campaigns are also very much about the story that a brand is trying to relay to its audience and is connected to the brand values of the company, so any kind ‘tokenism’ will immediately be apparent. It’s important for brands to not stop at advertising, but instead embrace realness and transparency in their values.

It is also important for those of us working in media and communications to keep pulling up those brands that are falling short. The needle is shifting. Diversity and inclusion should not stand as buzzwords; but treated as a reflection point where brand managers and content creators strive for approaches that avoid reductive stereotypes and unintentional continuation of classism, racism and sexism.

 

India Britain Trade Expo On 12 March, London

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I am looking forward to participating at the India Britain Trade Expo on 12 March 2019, which takes at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in London, where I am moderating a ‘women in business’ session.

I will be joined an illustrious line-up of inspiring women that includes entrepreneur Penny Power, OBE; British banker and financial adviser Kamel Hothi, OBE; journalist and founder of the children’s charity Paint Our World based in India, Dr Priya Virmani; and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and politician Arlene Foster.

Together we will be exploring the challenges that women in business face both here in the UK and in India; are these challenges the same; what are the solutions and importantly each of the women speaking will be sharing their own experiences and stories. It promises to be an interesting and spontaneous conversation.

The backdrop to this session, is the India Britain Trade Expo, a timely event with Brexit looming, particularly as India is the world’s fastest growing trillion-dollar and poised to become the fifth largest economy overtaking the UK by 2019 according to the IMF. The wealth of opportunities for both countries to benefit from each other is enormous.

This one-day action packed event is being supported by the House of Lords, with a delegation from the Indian High Commission and is set to be one of London’s biggest trade events focused on India, where Rajesh Agrawal, London’s Deputy Mayor for business will open the Expo.

This is an event for anyone who wants to expand and go global. It will be here where conversations will happen and partnerships created. Tickets and information visit http://www.indiabritainexpo.com/ or call +44 (0)20 3693 1940

 

 

Woman At Work: #Backtoschoolweek

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In June this year I was delighted to be approached by the Indian women’s magazine, Woman At Work for an interview about my background and career. It’s a magazine for the working woman, where in India, women constitute to more than 30% of its workforce. Working women here, have made their presence felt across sectors and professions. Woman At Work magazine is a first-of-its-kind professional magazine and with a digital platform for talented women at work in India, which launched in 2015.

The magazine aspires to go beyond the conventional domains of home and family management, instead showcasing the different aspects of an everyday career woman. Perhaps quite understandably and to be expected, within a year of its launch, the magazine reached more than 300,000 readers across India; showing how ready people were and are for – Woman At Work.

The questions asked were really thought-provoking and made me take stock of my diversity and cultural heritage. It was a great personal exercise for me to do – a chance to reflect and actually be proud of myself of how far I had come and all what I had done. Sometimes we can be really focused on providing others with encouragement and support that we can forget to do the same for ourselves. Or perhaps, we are moving from one task or challenge to another without a chance to stop and take stock, to realise how far we’ve come and to congratulate ourselves for what we’ve done.

So, it was a lovely surprise to see the magazine, which arrived through my letter box last week, during #backtoschoolweek

A great start to my new term!

 

Status Row And The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge

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It is always good news when you can reveal a new client, but it is even better when you can announce a new client, who is making a difference and is big on purpose…and I am delighted that Serendipity PR is working with three female rowers, Caroline, Jess and Susan, who together are Status Row.

Status Row is participating, as the only trio female rowing team in this year’s well-known Talisker Whisky ​Atlantic Challenge, the premier event in ocean racing and the world’s toughest challenge – 30 crews from around the world competing to cross 3000 miles of ocean, powered only by their own strength and determination.

If that wasn’t a mission enough?!, Status Row also want to break the world record both for men and women, and plan to row across the Atlantic in 50 days! The current male record is 51 days and for women it is 60 days.

​Status Row are rowing for the highly-respected charity the​ Marine Conservation Society and want to raise awareness about the plastic pollution affecting our seas, oceans and marine life. Status Row have always been committed to the issues surrounding sustainability and the environment. They really want to make a difference to the planet.

By day, Caroline, Jess and Susan are London office workers, who came together as rock climbers. They are now being trained by Olympic rower, Guin Batten. They have their boat and will ​set sail this December and are looking for sponsorship, to raise as much money for the Marine Conservation Society and have got off on to a good start and been supported by businesses and individual supporters; which ​includes business woman Deborah Meaden, who is also on the BBC TV show Dragon’s Den.

Right now, it is estimated 12.7 million tons of plastic – everything from plastic bottles and bags to microbeads – end up in our oceans each year. That’s a truck load of rubbish a minute. Sadly, and disturbingly, this plastic is turning up in every corner of our planet – from beaches, to uninhabited Pacific islands. It is even found trapped in Arctic ice.

Our oceans are slowly turning into a plastic soup and the effects on ocean life are chilling. Big pieces of plastic are choking and entangling turtles and seabirds and tiny pieces are clogging the stomachs of creatures who mistake it for food, from tiny zooplankton to whales.

Plastic is now entering every level of the ocean food chain and even ending our plates, which why what Status Row is doing is so important and there is a big Return on Investment for companies who sponsor them, as your logo will be on the boat and will be seen by a global viewing audience, giving a brand international reach and brand association as the official broadcast partner is The National Geographic.

Crucially, it will also mean that your company will also be part of this great sustainability awareness campaign to rescue our oceans and marine life; and is also why Serendipity PR has also decided to be a sponsor.

Like everyone, we have all watched Sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet and this is a topic high on the news agenda and in the public consciousness. Let’s act together and get behind Status Row. For sponsorship opportunities drop me a line at sangeeta@serendipitypr.co.uk

 

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It’s March!

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It has taken me three months to get down to writing this post…three months into this year and that’s because so much has been happening since we started 2018…from bringing two like-minded organisations together to create and launch a library in the City of London; to being invite back again by the Mayor’s office to speak about being a London business and the need for diversity; to helping a client participate in a London China expo to working on some exciting launches including the media campaign for a business book called The Responsive Leader written by an influential thought-leader, Erik Korsvik Østergaard, who is making waves with his new book.

While all this has been going on we have had the #Metoo and #TimesUp social media campaigns have gone viral and as I write, we are heading towards International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March.

Findings from reports tell us that gender parity is over 200 years away; which is why there has never been a more important time to keep motivated and #PressforProgress – this year’s IWD theme. There is a strong global momentum striving for gender parity.

To help mark this day the FSB is raising the visibility of role models for women entrepreneurs with an international digital campaign called 100 FSB Women. As part of this initiative Serendipity PR is actively supporting the FSB Women’s London network; and we have helped source one of its speakers and organised a free business book for attendees. This special book is called Read My Lips by Swedish TV personality Elaine Eksvard, published by our client, LID Publishing. Wouldn’t life be easier if we could get people to listen to us in every situation? This book teaches us how to persuade our listeners, be professional and personal, without being private. Eskvard is best-selling author of Ruling Technique, Living Power and Talk Nice.

I will end with this wonderful comment from Helen Mirren who was speaking about #MeToo and #TimesUp to The New York Times and said, “It’s an amazing moment isn’t it? I’ve never wanted to be younger than I am, but the only thing that makes me think God, I wish I was 18 now, is 18 year olds are coming into a very different world.”

 

 

The Boss That Helped Shaped Me

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We all have bosses that shape us in one way or another and Dame Helen Alexander was a boss who taught me that it was possible to be kind, thoughtful and a leader at the same time. The BBC’s obituary sums up Dame Helen beautifully.

 

I had the pleasure and privilege of working directly for Helen when I was appointed the first in-house Global Communications Director for The Economist Group in 2000.

 

I have lots of Helen stories and memories but perhaps the one that’s stayed with me over the years and the story I often tell is when I met Helen for the very first time when she interviewed me for the role. Her office was on the 13th floor of The Economist building off Jermyn Street. The building was imposing for the likes of me and like everyone going for an interview I was nervous.

 

Helen interviewed me early on a winter morning and I remember when I got out of the lift Helen was waiting to receive me at the lift…and after my interview she escorted me back to the lift, waited for it to arrive and saw that I got in okay. That small act made me feel special, that in spite of her busy schedule, Helen had time for me, an interviewee. I remember saying to her as I got in, shaking her hand that if I didn’t get the job, it was still such a pleasure to meet her.

 

It’s always the little things that matter, we remember…RIP Helen

Photo Credit: BBC

International Women’s Day: #BeBoldForChange

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This year there is so much for us to shout about and our voices to be heard on, from – equal pay, supporting women in business, Trump and more. This year International Women’s Day on 8 March is asking everyone to #BeBoldForChange, urging us all to help forge a better working world – a more inclusive, gender equal world.

We know that progress has been slow and that we need international action to accelerate gender parity. The World Economic Forum predicts the gender gap won’t close entirely until 2186! This is just too long to wait. This 8 March provides an important opportunity for ground-breaking action that can truly drive greater change for women.

There are many initiatives and people doing vital work to help create this needed change, and I had the opportunity to interview Jane Shepherdson, MBE, a leading figure in fashion retail, former CEO of Whistles and prior to that, Brand Director at Topshop. Jane supporting young designers through the London College of Fashion’s Centre of Fashion Enterprise and has helped promote Fair Trade fashion to a wider audience as a Board member of Peopletree until 2013.

Jane is also Creative Advisor to Oxfam and a patron of the charity Smart Works, a service that offers free professional clothing and job interview training to women. I spoke with Shepherdson about her role at Smart Works and what this charity is all about from her perspective. Read the full interview.

Photo Credit: International Women’s Day