WIMCA 2018: ‘Glass’ ceilings for female advertising professionals; real or imaginary?

ARE there deliberate stumbling blocks, meant to stifle career progression of the feminine gender in the nation’s marketing communications space?  Are there ‘glass’ ceilings in the industry, that serve as a major factor, responsible for the poor showing of the feminine gender at the top of the career ladder in the industry? Could all these much-touted inhibiting factors be a mere figment of the believer’s imagination or are they actually real?

Above were some of the posers that kept coming out from stakeholders, at this year’s edition of the Women In Marketing and Communications Conference Awards (WIMCA), held in Lagos, recently.

Organized by one of the nation’s frontline marketing communications journals in the country, Brand Communicator, the Conference, according to the organisers was designed to  fully appraise the not -too -impressive number  of  women-practitioners in the industry’s boardrooms, with the aim of finding out the probable causes and proffer solutions.

It was also meant to serve as a clarion call to female marketing and communications professionals on the need to deliberately press for progress to the highest position of leadership in their careers.

For instance, available data, in the industry, revealed that only few women are able to make it to the boardroom in Nigeria and globally.

Data show that few women make it to the top in the corporate world. On the global scene, women currently hold 4.6% of CEO roles of Fortune500 companies (according to the current ratings). In other words,  there are only 23 women that are CEOs in these companies, indicating a decline, when compared with the 4.8% of 2014 ratings.

In Nigeria, industry analysts also reveal that only four out of the top 20 Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) member agencies have women at the helm. Other sub-sectors of the industry cutting across both agency and clients’ side, also have very few women at the helm.

“In our industry too for instance, only three out of the top advertising agencies in Nigeria have women at the helms of affairs.

The ten major Media Independent agencies, on the other hand, do not have any woman at the helm. Other subsectors of the industry cutting across both agency and clients’ divide also have very few active women at the helms,” argued Joshua Ajayi, convener of the event and publisher of Brand Communicator Magazine.

Ajayi explained that the event, tagged The Press for Progress,  had become  imperative, if such ugly  narratives were to be changed.

“This obvious lacuna of women in key positions among other challenges gave birth to WIMCA four years ago. WIMCA was therefore designed to identify the current trends in marketing communications, while addressing the career challenges of female marketing executives,” he stated.

Glass Ceiling, just a mindset

Glass Ceiling is seen as a global phenomenon. Interestingly,  while some, at the event, were quick to dismiss the existence  of such ‘glass ceiling’, in the industry, especially for the womenfolk, a sizable number were of the opinion that despite its existence, such ceiling could be broken through hardwork and the zeal to get to the top.

For instance, the Group Managing Director, Rosabel and the event’s Chairman, Ayo Oluwatosin, pointed that “glass ceiling is real but more and more women are breaking through the glass and are making remarkable statements in their various field of human endeavours, and Nigeria, not an exception”

He added, “the glass ceiling is just a thing of the mind and as long as you and I can fight the battle of the mind, then nothing is impossible”

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Digital Age and the female  consumers

Female consumers are changing and to capture the attention of women, brands need to chunk out engaging contents, promos and marketing activities both online and offline.

Speaking on  the  topic, Engaging Female Consumers in The Digital Age, the Managing Director, Entod Marketing, Iquo Ukoh stated that the female consumers are changing and to capture the attention of women, brands need to churn out engaging contents, promos and marketing activities both online and offline.

“Consumers are not just kings, they are equally Queens, and the digital space offers brands the opportunity to reach this target market.

She urged marketer to understand the digital space and provide tailored -made messages to specific audience on a social media platform; since the right engagements should  lead to the right Return on Investment (RoI) and not the numbers of likes on the social media pages.

Ukoh pointed that for brands and entrepreneurs targeting women their attentions should focus on owning a good share of her (consumers) wallet, make deposits in her emotional account and offer value to customers.

She however advised the female marketing practitioners on the need to embrace  technology, noting that that would go a long way in determining their career progression in the industry; since technology had come to play a major disruptive role in the whole marketing communication space.

Similarly, Steve Babaeko, CEO/Chief Creative Officer, X3M and one of the panelists said, “The new media today, is going to be the old media in another two years, but one thing that will remain with us is storytelling and sharing of that human experience, if we understand that as marketers we are going to be fine”

Nsima Ogedi-Alakwe, Marketing Director, Unilever Nigeria PLC on her own part called for proper consumer understanding before embarking on a digital campaign. “You cannot engage a consumer you do not know,” Nsima stated.

Group Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Interswitch, Cherry Eromosele described consumers’ trust of e-commerce and online businesses as ‘growing’, a development he believes provides  a lot of opportunities for brands and their businesses.

He stressed the need for businesses on this platform to be strategic to enable them effectively engage the feminine gender that form the nucleus of the online target market.

Steps to reaching the boardroom

No doubt, the second session of the event, tagged: ‘Progressing for Progress to the Boardroom’, provided some tips for female marketing professionals on steps to making it to the boardroom.

Describing  the feminine gender as multitasking, bold, beautiful and diligent,  Managing Director, PZ Cussons, Alex Goma, however stated that leadership comes with responsibilities and the boardroom is the position of responsibility.

He therefore stressed the need for the women to be deliberate, and work diligently to be outstanding no matter where they find themselves.

Goma also stressed the need for  women professionals in the industry, to close ranks, noting that one of the impediments that had always kept them from getting to the top remained lack of support for one another.

Managing Director, TreeWater Limited, Julia Oku urged women not to wait to be treated special, but should  rather take the bull by the horn, thrive in men-dominated industries, rise to the top and at the same time inspire more women to rise to the top of their careers.

Chairperson, FBN Insurance Brokers  and President, Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Folake Ani-Mumuney stressed the need for women to be deliberate in their approach to life and work.

One of the ways to achieving this, she explained, is to form a community which supports and encourages each other to rise to the top through mentorship.

Similarly, Lampe Omoyele, Managing Director, 141 Worldwide who said his organization plans to support women within the group to get to the board but pointed that they would not be given such positions on a platter of gold without having the right skills and competency for it.

WIMCA provides the way out

Besides bringing the topical issue to the fore,  not a few believe that WIMCA has also served as a bridge-building mechanism.

For instance, with over 700 female professionals at the event, networking and sharing ideas on ways to enhance their cause, the road to hitting the boardrooms for this gender is becoming increasingly shorter, if only they are ready to walk the talk of the Conference.