Palo Alto resident Katherine (“Kat”) Gordon did not set out to start a movement back in 2010, but she just couldn’t stop thinking about the number: 3%. That’s the share of creative leadership roles in advertising held by women, and the tiny amount bothered Kat for many reasons.
First of all, as a seasoned advertising professional, she knew this lack of representation was a disaster for business. While running Maternal Instinct, a consulting shop she founded to help companies market effectively to mothers, Kat witnessed what goes wrong when campaigns fail to incorporate the viewpoint of women.
“We call it ‘business suicide’ when advertising agencies sideline women from being key leaders and decision-makers,” she says. “Women control around 80% of all consumer spending so our perspectives are essential to crafting effective messages that will sell.”
Kat was also troubled by how so many women started in advertising but left before they had the chance to reach upper management. Although she already had a full plate running Maternal Instinct and taking care of her busy family (she has two boys at Jordan and Paly), Kat decided she needed to speak up about this issue.
Like any good marketer, Kat spent the next year gathering research about the challenge, sending out hundreds of surveys to figure out why there were so few women creative directors. What she found did not surprise her.
“Motherhood was the number one reason women leave the field,” Kat explains. “There’s a belief that to be a creative director, it’s necessary to be available anytime, and it’s sign of strength to work all weekend in response to a client’s demands. But by talking to people on the client side, we saw signs that there’s room to shift these assumptions and create a more predictable work schedule that would benefit both men and women.”
3 Percent Founder and Palo Alto resident Kat Gordon. Photo courtesy of the 3 Percent Conference.
Armed with her research, Kat organized the first 3% conference in San Francisco in September 2012, unsure of how many people would come but convinced it was worth starting the conversation. Kat largely self-funded this kickoff event but fellow Palo Altan Anne Lewnes at Adobe provided $10,000 in sponsorship support.
The inaugural conference sold out with 30 agencies in attendance and an enthusiastic reaction from participants. Much to Kat’s surprise, a movement was born and its exponential growth is a reflection of her leadership and determination.
Two years later, the 3% Conference takes up the bulk of Kat’s time, with an annual two-day, 600-person event, multi-city road shows throughout the year, a vibrant online community, a student scholarship fund, a creative award called 3 Cheers, and a business blog to support the crusade. In 2015, she is headed to London for the first international 3% event.
“Although I’m still amazed by how the 3% effort has taken off, I was lucky to launch it at a great time,” Kat says. “Silicon Valley and Palo Alto are focal points for entrepreneurial ideas like this, and Sheryl Sandberg’s book also helped fuel interest in the question of how to get more women into leadership roles.”
The growth of the 3% Conference proves that getting female voices and other types of diversity to the table in advertising is an urgent business need. The 3% Conference has 32 advertising agencies signed on as sponsors, and also makes revenue through ticket sales to events. The movement is supported by the 4 A’s, the national trade association representing the advertising agency business in the United States.
“My priority is that leaders understand the danger of not attending to the issue of diversity in creative direction,” Kat says. “We are helping advertising agencies make change through micro-actions as well as bigger policy shifts.”
As for what’s ahead, expect to hear more from Kat Gordon and the 3% Conference as her work expands in scope and impact. “I was terrified to speak up when I was young and never imagined myself as a leader. But my passion about this issue and the interest I see in getting more women into creative leadership roles inspires me to keep going.”
To learn more, visit the 3% Conference Reading Room, which is full of great videos, books, articles and blog posts about this issue.
