Advertising pros gathered at an agency in Denver Sunday to participate in the 5th annual “Super Bowl Tweetup.”
Vladimir Jones, a Denver ad and branding agency, hosted the event in Denver, one of six cities across the country participating in in-person gatherings for the 3% Movement.
Andrea Nordgren, Executive Producer for the 3% Movement, said the growing movement has helped push change in the advertising industry since the organization started up five years ago.
“At the time, in 2012, only 3% of Creative Directors (of U.S. advertising and branding agencies serving the global economy) were women”, Nordgren explained.
CBS4’s Melissa Garcia interviews Andrea Nordgren.
A new study shows that number has climbed to 29%, still a long way from the movement’s 50% goal, in a world where women make 80% of buying decisions. “The ratio doesn’t make any sense”, Nordgren said. “Why wouldn’t we have more diversity in the people crafting the message to the people that they’re going to speak to?”
With cellphones in hand and laptops open, brand-boosting gurus watched Sunday’s Super Bowl Commercials closely, and reported advertising touchdowns on Twitter with #MediaWeLike and advertising fumbles with #NotBuyingIt.
Participating ad professionals rated each commercial on the following three criteria:
1. Is there a woman?
2. Is she defying stereotypes?
3. Is she the hero?
Kasey Ferlic, a producer with Vladimir Jones, believed that Dodge Ram’s spot dropped the ball with its mostly all-men Viking scene.
“Most Viking warriors were women. So, they really just threw in one shot of a woman at the very end. It kind of felt very forced. It was a really missed opportunity on Dodge’s part”, Ferlic told CBS4’s Melissa Garcia.
Diet Coke’s commercial showing a skinny girl dancing also got the pros talking about some of its implications.
“That she would feel more sexy if she drank Diet Coke”, said Jennifer Hohn, Executive Creative Director at Vladimir Jones. “I think it’s just really dialing into that stereotype.”
Hohn said this year’s Super Bowl ads, however, are showing some progress compared to previous years, in breaking down gender stereotypes.
Final results on the Tweetup 3% Test collective scorecard came in late Sunday night. Toyota’s commercial scored the highest with a 75% “pass.” Pringles scored the worst with an 85% “fail.”
See many of the Super Bowl ads on a special YouTube page.
