Why Is BAME Creative Talent Still Not Represented at the Top?

December 19, 2022

It’s that time of year where advertising journals release their lists of top creatives. In the last two years in particular, these lists include very few or no BAME creative talent. 

Am I shocked? Not really. 

I often refrain from writing about DE&I as I like my work to do the talking. The last time I wrote about this subject was back in 2016 when I co-wrote a Campaign article in collaboration with my brothers entitled ‘Normalise diversity and encourage more Asians to join the creative industry’. That was over six years ago and whilst the industry has changed in many ways since then, the need to address the lack of BAME creative talent at the top table has remained the same. 

Firstly, BAME is a term I am uncomfortable with as it generalises diverse racial groups into one tidy label. But I’ll use it loosely here as it’s a term the industry understands. I also believe the definition of what makes a creative team in advertising needs to be addressed too. We should be moving beyond the notion of ideas coming solely from this department. Designers, writers, creative technologists, videographers, motion designers and coders are all creative and bring their expertise and ideas to the table. All of these people work in tangent with traditional creative teams. 

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