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Interview with Kat Gordon, Founder of The 3% Conference

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At JESS3, we're huge Kat Gordon fans. Having worked as a creative at several large agencies, Kat witnessed firsthand how women weren't in senior leadership positions and were often absent from pitches, especially on the creative side. Years later, she launched her own agency, specializing in marketing to women. What she learned there coincided with the growing evidence on the importance of the female consumer.  Gordon's perspectives have changed the marketplace, especially when it comes to advertising. Her latest initiative is The 3% Conference, a gathering of female creative directors, held for the first time this past September. I recently had an opportunity to speak with Kat about the conference and what you can expect for its future.

Q: On the 3% website it says your inspiration for The 3% Conference was the ultimate emperor's new clothes moment of your life. Can you explain?

A: The little boy in that fable saw a naked king. I saw a broken agency model. I worked at Hal Riney and watched my agency pitch the Saab car account with 17 men and 1 woman and then scratch their heads when they didn't get the business. They literally sent a memo around the agency full of macho posturing about how it was the client’s loss. I remember reading that memo and knowing deep in my bones that there was something terribly wrong. With an agency that didn't see incredible homogeneity when flipping through its very own pitch leave-behind – page after page of head shots of white men. With an account team that didn't know the basics about who buys cars – or how progressive the Swedes are. In essence, I saw what goes wrong when marketers look nothing like the market.

Fast forward 15 years (yes, I’m that old) to today when I run my own agency that specializes in marketing to women. I not only think about female consumers all day long, I write a business blog and speak nationally on the subject. I love watching men’s faces when I give my presentation. The data is indisputable – women are not the subset, they’re the superset. And marketing well to women cannot be done with a 97% skew in creative directorships, yet that’s the reality in agencies today. And the true victims are the clients…and consumers.

Q: This year’s was the first 3% Conference. What were your expectations going into it? Were you surprised by any of the outcomes?

A: My expectation was to start a long-overdue dialogue around this age-old issue. That was definitely accomplished. What surprised me most was the energy at the event. It was off the charts. When you are part of an elusive 3%, it’s likely you may not know many – or any – other female creative directors. To have 200 of them together to give voice to the struggles for women in advertising, women were visibly inspired and fired up. The event was only a month ago yet several attendees have authored articles and blog posts about how they are back at their agencies with new eyes, questioning the same old/same old and ready to make change. One woman, for instance, wrote a blog post about how she was presenting concepts for a food product to her male account director. He wrinkled his nose and said, “It’s just not funny enough. Could you put nunchucks or something in it?” And this female ACD had her very own emperor’s new clothes moment and felt emboldened to point out the naked king.

Q: What changes can we expect for next year’s conference? What do you hope to see from the conference in years to come?

A: We did an exit survey and heard a loud request for MORE: a longer conference with more breakouts, more professional development, more networking, more men in attendance and more client involvement. So next year’s conference will be a 2-day event at a venue that can hold 400 attendees. We will create multiple tracks so that the different needs of senior and junior women can both be met. Plus we’ll create opportunities for brand involvement and lots of networking. That’s the plan for 2013. Beyond that my goal is to take it to Europe. There has been significant interest from many agencies there.

Q: What do you look for in a speaker for the conference? And what do you look for in a participant?

A: These past couple of years I have attended many, many conferences – some as a speaker, some as an attendee, and always as a witness to what makes certain conferences rock and others not so much. My big realization is that there are a lot of interesting people out there with valuable wisdom to share, but very few possess knowledge plus stage presence. So I am always on the lookout for speakers who can impart wisdom and command attention. As for participants, I look for anyone who has a vested interest in the future of advertising.

Q. In your opinion, what are some of the main issues women in advertising face today, and how does The 3% Conference address those issues?

A: Most of these issues start with a two-word phrase: “lack of.” Lack of support for motherhood, lack of mentorship, lack of awareness that femaleness is an asset to connecting to the consumer marketplace today, lack of celebration of female work due to gender bias of award juries, lack of women negotiating their first agency salary and every one thereafter (Donny Deutsch famously said that he’s never had a woman ask him for a raise, and I believe him).

The 3% Conference brings all these issues to light and combats them with an equally powerful two-word phrase: “how to.” We aim to teach men and women in agencies how to address these issues in new ways. Plus, we offer something that has been sorely lacking for female creatives: a sense of community.

Q: You’ve vocalized the idea of a “brother” conference, for “guys who get it.” Can you explain a little more about the idea, and about what to expect regarding a conference geared toward men?

A: Understanding how to market to women is critical today since women influence 85% of consumer spending decisions. Yet if you attend a Marketing to Women conference, it’s filled with women. Or if there is a marketing to women breakout at a larger conference, men use that time to go check their email. Men either don’t feel welcome, shy away from the “estrofest” environment, or don’t realize the business benefit of getting a grip on this consumer base. I see a huge opportunity for a conference that is overtly targeted to men on the client side on the subject of marketing to women. I did a survey around the idea last year to men who are VPs of Marketing or Brand Managers and got a very enthusiastic response. I see this as the ying to the 3% conference’s yang. You can’t drive change at the agency side without also raising awareness on the client side. Stay tuned – this conference will debut in 2014.