timeTo, an alliance between the Advertising Association (AA), marketing industry charity NABS and networking group Women in Advertising and Communications, London (WACL), has been launched to investigate issues of sexual harassment in the advertising and marketing communications industry and come up with positive steps to stamp it out.

timeTo officially launched on March 12th 2018. Client body, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), and ad industry trade body, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, have both already given it their full support. The IPM, which is a member of the AA, has also pledged its support and is asking IPM members to contribute to an industry-wide survey being carried out by marketing industry think-tank, Credos.

The news release announcing the launch of timeTo can be found via this link

John Sylvester, Chairman of the IPM, says: “The IPM is contacting all our members and asking them to respond to Credos’ request for information, as have other industry bodies. It’s important that we hear from as many people as possible, so we can develop best practice to tackle the issue in a positive way.”

Stephen Woodford, CEO of the Advertising Association, comments: “Our industry, like many others in the UK and around the world, is going through a critical reset in terms of behaviour change. The Advertising Association exists to promote the role, rights and responsibilities of advertising and timeTo is about being clear about the behaviour standard expected of all people who work in advertising. This must happen to ensure our industry, which reflects and shapes the world around us, continues to be an economic and social force for good in the years ahead.”

The Credos study, led by Karen Fraser MBE, Director of Credos and Strategy Director of the Advertising Association, aims to establish the current level of sexual harassment across the industry and to provide data for future tracking of change. timeTo will also use information collected through the survey to produce a best-practice Code of Behaviour for all companies to implement as a minimum.

timeTo builds on the global #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, but with a recognition that all parts of the advertising industry are affected – all sexualities and genders as well as all agencies, marketers and media owners – and that, by taking action together, the industry will be better placed to make positive change to stamp out sexual harassment.

The Advertising Association promotes the role, rights and responsibilities of advertising and its impact on individuals, the economy and society and is a key stakeholder in the system of independent self-regulation which governs the UK advertising and marketing industry.

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Diageo-owned global vodka brand Smirnoff is working with music streaming platform Spotify to promote equality for women musicians around the world through the launch of its new Smirnoff Equalizer campaign, which features an app that allows Spotify subscribers to analyse their playlists and find out what the balance between male and female artists is.

According to Spotify data, none of the top 10 most-streamed tracks in 2017 were performed by women artists or bands, which is why the vodka brand and the music service have teamed up.

The Smirnoff Equalizer analyses Spotify users’ listening habits to provide them with a percentage breakdown of the number of men versus women artists they have listened to in the previous six months before providing an equalized playlist tailored just for them, where artists of both genders are equally represented.

Users can also make use of a personalised slider, which allows them to increase the number of women artists in their playlists. The innovative platform was debuted at Smirnoff’s “Phenomenal You” launch event, held on March 1^st, 2018 in New York City, one week before International Women’s Day.

Neil Shah, Smirnoff Global Senior Brand Manager, says: “We developed the Smirnoff Equalizer in partnership with Spotify because we believe that when we get to discover talented women artists and their phenomenal music, we’ll all have a better listening experience. The Smirnoff Equalizer not only drives awareness, but also allows Spotify users to take direct action by increasing the number of tracks from women artists in their playlists.”

The goal behind the Smirnoff Equalizer is to get more people listening to more women artists. The bigger their fan bases become, the more opportunities they will have to perform and succeed. The Smirnoff Equalizer platform will run through the summer and can be accessed by Spotify users of a legal drinking age in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, Mexico and Argentina.

One of the artists featured in the Smirnoff Equalizer is Honey Dijon, an African-American transgender woman who is a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights and highly respected for her musical heritage and curated DJ sets that defy genres. She will appear in the platform to share her experiences facing gender bias in the music industry.

The Smirnoff Equalizer is the latest initiative from Smirnoff’s “Equalizing Music” campaign, which the brand announced in 2017 with the goal of doubling the number of women festival headliners by 2020. As an extension of this effort, Smirnoff has also partnered with Global Radio and Live Nation to equalize festival line-ups across Europe with performances by women DJs.

“We are very proud that Smirnoff once again chose Spotify as its brand partner for the ‘Equalizing Music’ campaign,” said Danielle Lee, Vice President, Global Head of Partner Solutions at Spotify. “We share Smirnoff’s goal to improve gender diversity in music, and for all the artists, songwriters and producers who create it.”

The launch event for the new API in New York City was themed around “Phenomenal You” with Smirnoff encouraging each woman to celebrate the inherent power of women across the world, starting with themselves.

At the event, Smirnoff unveiled new special edition “Phenomenal You” bottles for Smirnoff No. 21 vodka which are being gifted to 100 phenomenal women around the world, along with a donation made in each of their names to She Runs It, a charity which helps women move into leadership roles.

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