Celebrat ingdiversity IN THEPROMOTIONAL MERCHANDISEINDUSTRY

This year the BPMA held its inaugural lunch in support of International Women sDay and looked to ‘embrace equity’

International Women’s Day(IWD) has long been celebrated and the promotional products industry joined themovementtoshowits support. This year theBPMAlaunchedits International Women’s DayLunchheld on 8thMarch in London as part of anew series of diversityand inclusion measures for members.

Witha theme of embracing equity, theBPMAset outtoexplorethe routeto equityand helping attending businesses understand theneed to approach the pursuit of equalitybystarting withequitybased principles. The event wasdevised by theBPMA’sdiversity and inclusion group to markthe annual event.

Hosted at 30 Euston Square, members heardfromkeynotespeakers and authors of Belonging and The Glass Wall;Kathryn JacobOBE, CEO of Pearl&Dean, and Sue Unerman, chief transformation officer at EssenceMediacomX. Focusing the conversation on theroleour businesses play in making ourindustries diverse, the conversation lookedatwhateveryonecan do to createamoreequitable futurefor the industry.

Startthe Conversation

Kathryn and Sueentertained witha talk about some of thechallenges they encountered in their owncareers; howthey discoveredwhereefforts could and should be concentrated and encouraged attendees to drive their ownconversations forward.

Sponsoring theevent and getting behind theideas of equity, Allwag,WCM+A, Willsmer Wagg, Premier Print &Promotions, Simple Sourcing and RedRocko withfurther support from WCM+A who provided each delegatewithabadge witha motivational saying, tote bags from BagCo,scented

Thespeakers

Kathryn JacobOBE

Kathryn is theCEO of cinema advertising company, Pearl&Dean and has extensive media experience across manyareas

As well as her role at Pearl&Dean,Kathryn is ChairofTrustees at one of the UKs leading arts venues, HOME in Manchester.She also sits on the Council and Boardofthe Advertising Association, theDevelopment Board of RADA andlast year became PresidentofSAWA,the globaltrade body forcinema advertising. With interests in diversityand inclusion, she leads theAdvertising Association’s All-In initiative that worksacross theadvertising sector to drivea representative workforce.

Kathryn co-authored thebook The Glass Wall,focused on thecareer development of women, with Sue Unerman.

SueUnerman

SueisChief

Transformation Officer at Essence MediacomX, and an inspirational, results driventhought leader withawiderange of experience of driving growth, value and continuous improvement through times of change and digital transformation. Herexpertise includes solving business challenges through innovation, marketing and media and agile ways of working. Suehas also co-authored Belonging, thekey to transforming and maintaining diversity, inclusion and equalityatwork(2022), and Tell the Truth,whichexplains howhonesty is your most powerful marketing tool Sueisafellowofthe IPAand has a regular blog for Campaign candles from Bio Laboratories, pens from Senator,and T-shirts from Mantis World.

At thelunch, BPMA CEO Carey Trevill also announced members would have an opportunitytotakepart in thecreative industries’All In Census to help providea better pictureofthe diverse natureofthe industryand its social mobility. Recalling her opening address to members, Trevill explained to PM whypushing thediversity agenda wassoimportant.

“Inviting our speakers to this event, they bothasked me about themakeupofthe industryand howweempowerthe female contingent of our industry. Ireally couldn’t tell them much,” she said. “Understanding we have very little information in reality aside of an anecdotal view,itwas important to ensurenot only do we embrace more diversity-led events and discussions, but we also need to knowmore. And not just thesplit of male/female but also howwe view theindustry. Forexample; what we aredoing forolder talent in theindustry. The All In census will also help us compare to others in creative sectors in termsof progress.”

Changeatall Levels

Withinsights from member panels, the theme of International Women’s Dayin 2023 was#EmbraceEquity, focusing on theequityweall expect is not anice-tohave,it’samust-have to ensurewecreate afair and equal world. The first panel which included newly announced BoardDirector Jules Adam (WCM&A), ColetteJeanes (Prominate), ClaireHutchinson (Senator) and Melissa Chevin (Globefish Consulting) coveredawide range of topics from how theindustryneeds to address itself on the subject of diversitytohow we recognise and nurturetalent. Delegatesalso heard from BPMA President Angela Wagstaff BoardDirectors HelenBrennan and Melissa

Chevin on their views on diversityinthe industrycovering education, reasons to have female voices on theBoard and why change needs to happen at everylevel. While theBPMAwas creating an inclusive event, as one guest commented, “It’snot thewomen we need to educatewhenit comes to International Women’s Day, it’sthe men.”

Agreeing wholeheartedly,speaker Kathryn Jacobencouraged moremen to take part in theseevents and join thepanels when the big challenges arebeing discussed. BPMA Chair HaydnWilletts and newly appointed Vice Chair Clive Allcott and BoardDirector RichardSullivanalso attended theevent along withseveral male business leaders, all focused on supporting theconversation for their colleagues.

PM would liketogivea huge shout to theBPMA’sgroup behind theevent; Jules Adam, Carrie Stokes, ColetteJeanes, Claire Hutchinson, and Melissa Chevin. Hailing thesuccessful event and based on demand to repeat theexperience, theBPMAisnow planning its 2024 International Women’s Dayand is looking forwardtosharing theresults of theAll In Census later this summer