The Importance of Industry Awards For Diversity In Advertising

As the marketing industry tries to find new ways to bring diversity into their teams, there was an article talking about the reality of judging at industry awards shows like the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

These programs matter more than people realize. They are a chance for emerging creative talent to make their reputation and get recruited. They spotlight important work that might not get as widely shared otherwise. And the pool of judges too often lack the experience and exposure to other cultures, so their judging of campaigns is biased.

Despite lots of conversation about bringing more diverse perspectives into advertising and marketing, this challenge of diversifying the people who award the industry’s biggest honors hasn’t yet made the list and it should.