"Hopefully digitization will bring genres like gender marketing to extinction"

Werbewoche: Why aren't there more women in the executive ranks of the communications industry?

Simone Fluri: Especially in an advertising agency, the personal commitment for such a position must be very high. For employees who focus on their family for a few years alongside their professional life, regardless of whether they are women or men, it can be very strenuous to rise to management level or to survive there.

How many women work in your agency and how many men?

At Valencia Kommunikation, the proportion of men and women is roughly balanced.

Does your agency have equal pay?

Yes.

Suppose your agency introduces a women's quota. What do you think of that?

I think it's the wrong way to promote women. It's more appropriate to select new employees regardless of their gender; every person is unique. Diversity in a team with different personalities and correspondingly many social and professional skills is certainly an asset for an advertising agency!

What would have to change to make it easier for women to reconcile family and career?

Perhaps the only possibility is that men can also have children? No, realistically speaking, there needs to be a rethink. Men must be recognized by society for their commitment to the family in the same way as women. Family work should be shared between the parents. The traditional roles of the strong man who secures the family financially and the gentle woman who looks after the children are definitely passé. But many modern men and women are clearly not willing to say goodbye to this. An apt example of this is one of the largest information platforms for young parents in Switzerland, swissmom.ch. How are men supposed to feel addressed or responsible there? Men and women should share responsibility for the children. Or at least make a joint decision about who wants to take on which roles. Sustainable employers must enable their valuable employees, whether men or women, to work part-time. As a leader in my agency, I try to exemplify a lot of this and hope to contribute to a change in thinking.

If you were a man - would you be in a different position today?

I hope that wouldn't have made a difference in my agency.

What can men do better - in relation to your professional environment?

To be convinced of oneself or to pretend to be.

What can women do better in your professional environment?

Finding pragmatic solutions.

Why are there more advertisers of the year than advertisers of the year?

Because men are more often convinced of themselves. As women are still usually the ones trying to balance work and family life, they have to compromise on many things. The focus is probably less on putting themselves in the limelight. They need all their energy for their work at the agency, for their clients or for their children.

Which professional colleague has impressed you the most in her career so far?

Nadine Borter and Regula Bührer Fecker, who both received the award for Advertiser of the Year - even in quick succession.

Have you - in relation to your professional career - ever had negative experiences that you would not have had as a man?

I don't think so, or at least it wasn't so formative that I can still remember it ...

What advice do you have for young women who want to enter this industry and reach your position in the medium to long term?

Only do it if you are passionate about it, but then do it properly!

Do you recommend that young women enter your industry?

Basically yes, just as I would recommend it to a young man. However, the industry is changing so much that I find it difficult to predict what kind of job a female advertiser will have in five years' time.

What do you think of the gender discussion in your industry in general?

I think it's better to focus on a person's personality rather than their gender. But the old-fashioned role stereotypes persist so stubbornly that too many people are simply afraid to change anything. Anyone who thinks differently is always an outsider, but without a rethink, no change will take place. Hopefully, digitalization in advertising will lead to the extinction of genres such as gender marketing. Because with the new possibilities, data-driven creativity, for example, a user can be targeted in a much more complex and precise way than putting them into one of two categories, woman or man.

Published so far:

Pam Hügli

Petra Dreyfus

Tomorrow: Andrea Bison, Thjnk Zurich

This article is from the "Women's Issue" of the Advertising Week (8/2018, May 4, 2018).

Editors: Ann-Kathrin Kübler, Thomas Häusermann