Karen Martin of BBH is the new president of the UK’s IPA, the agency trade body comprising creative and media agencies.
And she’s started with a bang, parading around Soho in a nod to a famous BBH Johnnie Walker ad, making the point that, if the industry really does have creativity at its core (as even AI-focussed WPP maintains) it’s about time it made it count, not least at the IPA itself where she plans to get more creative involved on the Council and elsewhere.
Martin’s agenda is as follows:
1. Celebrate human creativity
The IPA will bring creative directors onto its Council board, ensuring that those who fuel the industry’s growth have a seat at the table. Surprising they currently don’t.
2. Train the next generation of creatives
The IPA is launching the Creative Essentials Certificate to provide emerging talent with the tools and insights to succeed.
3. Attract more diverse creative talent
Expand Barn, launched by BBH in 2021, – the one and only ad school based inside an agency.
4. Reward creative excellence
Introduce a new Creative Award as part of the successful IPA Effectiveness Awards. The new award will recognise the vital role of creativity in driving business success and celebrate the people behind the work that delivers tangible results.
She concludes: “This is about everyone who touches creative. From media to research to strategy and production. It may not be in everyone’s job description, but it’s certainly everyone’s responsibility.”
It is, indeed, a rousing call to arms from the feisty Martin – let’s hope some of it sticks. The IPA itself is something of a Janus, facing both ways as creative and media agencies pull in different directions whatever they say in public. Previous president GroupM’s Josh Krichefski made mental wellbeing the core of his two-year stint, all fine and good but hard to achieve in an industry where, when you lose an account, you probably lose your job.
Krichefski recently lost his after a 14-year stint, a move that shocked many at WPP HQ on London’s South Bank.
So as Martin (and John Hegarty who also features briefly in the film) well know, you have to walk the walk too.
