“I'm not going to be apologetic about the decisions I have made, because I'm trying to reverse the curve and provide opportunities.”  

Kerry Williams, Chief Marketing Officer at Sweaty Betty, has urged marketing leaders to find the calm in the chaos and keep pushing for progress towards a more inclusive industry. 

Speaking at Creative Equal’s RISE conference in London today, she explained: “The biggest challenge is that the creative industry itself isn't as diverse as it should be.”

Sharing that during pitch scenarios, agencies are still responding with all male teams, she urged the audience to really commit to inclusion. While it is rare to find female production crews, she shared that Sweaty Betty has a 95% female production team. 

Williams revealed that an all-female creative ideation crew brought to life the brand-defining ‘wear the damn shorts’ campaign for Sweaty Betty.

Now in its third year, the campaign has this year driven a 27% increase in searches for shorts. The creative spark for the campaign was born from listening to women’s challenges with wearing shorts during conversations in Sweaty Betty stores. 

The fear of judgement from others continues to hold women back from exercising. Williams shared that one in two women will skip a workout because of how they look. She explained: “The most important thing for me is the outpouring of stories from women. It is not good enough.”

This active listening and authentic representation is key to building successful and inclusive creative work. She added: “You can’t cover everything, but make sure that you really understand the consumer.”

Authentic inclusivity

Williams underlined the importance of taking a long-term and authentic approach to creativity in challenging times. “Inclusivity has to be part of your DNA. You have to be authentic with who you are,” she explained.

It is an approach which has successfully widened the brand’s creative lens. She continued: “You can combat mental health, you can help people gain confidence. So much comes from being physically active. With Sweaty Betty, our mission is to empower women through fitness and beyond.”

Williams was speaking on a panel hosted by Richard Robinson, Executive Director of Ingenuity+. The panel delved into the challenges and creative opportunities that are keeping CMOs up at night.

Claudia Nicholls, Chief Customer Officer at Simply Health, shared the energy and personal growth that can come from leading marketing at a truly purpose-driven organisation. 

She explained: “Our purpose is to improve access to healthcare for all in the UK. If you look at insuranc,e there are only 8 million people who have that, which is only 12% of the population.”

Nicholls underlined the power of purpose in building strong agency brands. She explained: “To effect system change is very special. We recently appointed a creative agency because their purpose is to be a force for good in finance.” 

The importance of purpose

Kerttu Inkeroinen, Marketing and Direct to Consumer Director at Lucky Saint, shared how the brand is successfully challenging the toxic culture which still surrounds alcohol consumption.

“When you think about human history, so many social occasions and celebrations are around alcohol,” she shared, adding: “One in three men last year were embarrassed to order non-alcoholic beer.”

To break this stigma, Lucky Saint is working to challenge those stereotypes and capitalise on the cultural currency of having a pint with friends by making it easier to share a non-alcoholic one.

Lucky Saint is also committed to telling new stories in the press and society. Whether that is promoting alcohol-free variants or changing consumers’ behaviour by promoting combining drinking both alcohol and alcohol-free variants.

The power of stubborn optimism in a world going backwards

In a challenging emotional and economic climate, the panel united on the power of stubborn optimism, rather than toxic positivity.

Ritchie Mehta, Co-Host of the ‘Places you’ll go’ podcast, explained: “We are living in uncertain times, people are feeling the ambiguity. There are lots of reasons to be pessimistic.” However, equally, he noted that there are reasons to be positive. “The next generation are hungry,” he shared, noting that this is not just a hunger for financial gain, they are embracing a quest for meaningful work.”

Williams added: “I’m really optimistic about the power of people. When the world goes backwards, that leaves the door open to people to step up.”

Photo Credit: Bronac McNeill

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