Shaking Things up in Advertising – The Gerety Awards.
Joe Brooks and Lucia Ongay were at another advertising awards event full of white, middle-aged men in black suits (this time it was really obvious).
“This is bullshit, we have to do something about it,” said Joe.
So, they did something radical and start the first advertising awards show with an all-female jury.
They launched the Gerety Awards in 2019 with a question and a challenge for industry leaders:
“What does a woman have to do to get onto an advertising jury?”
The awards are named in honour of Frances Gerety—the copywriter who created the slogan ‘A diamond is forever’ for De Beers in 1948. She wrote all their ads over the next 25 years, creating new strategies for diamond sales following the Great Depression. Women could only work on briefs aimed at women.
Ad Age called it the most famous tagline ever, the 20th-century slogan selling romance.
Everyone should know about Frances (especially if you’ve ever given or received a diamond ring). More about her here.
The goal is to provide a global platform for talent and support initiatives that champion diversity in the creative industries. To celebrate excellence in all advertising and comms through a female lens. The industry norm is male-dominated juries. The target of 50/50 panels isn’t enough since women make 80% of purchasing decisions. Read more.
