Free the Bid, the pledge to give women directors a voice in advertising have announced that UK agency AMV BBDO and their client Libresse (Bodyform / Nana / Saba / Nosotros) have signed their pledge. On a news item on their website the companies comnfitr their commitment to the pledge.
AMV BBDO’s Executive Head of Production Francine Linsey said: “I love “Free The Bid”, it’s an inspiring initiative which seeks and drives much needed change in our industry. Attracting, engaging and supporting talented women and giving them equal opportunities is of utmost importance. Free The Bid gives them a platform on which they can be seen and heard. Put simply – why wouldn’t we support Free The Bid?”
Tanja Grubner, Global Marketing & Communications Director for Libresse, adds: “As a brand we believe nothing should hold women back, so being part of Free the Bid is not just the right thing to do, it is right for our brand”.
Libresse have approached female directors on all their projects with AMV BBDO, including the recent #BloodNormal film.
Free The Bid’s Executive Director Emma Reeves said: “We are so pleased to welcome pledges from both AMV BBDO and Libresse. With AMV BBDO’s pledge, we hope to be able to further implement our mission of bidding equity for women directors in the UK. Our hope is that their pledge sets the standard for this market and prompts further pledges from all major UK agencies.”
Along with Libresse’s pledge, they’ve announced a new opportunity for directors.
Libresse are continuing their #BloodNormal campaign (which aims to de-stigmatize the representation of period blood in advertising) with a short film bursary, giving three young film-makers £5,000 each to put periods on screen and help make them part of culture.
Winning films will be entered into the major short film festivals. The competition is global and multi-lingual (although due to legal restrictions in certain regions, we regret that you may not submit content if you are legally resident in France, Brazil, the Philippines, Italy or Quebec).
The panel making the final selection will be made of film and creative industry leaders, including Sally Campbell (Founding Partner and Executive Producer at Somesuch, Dame Cilla Snowball (Group Chairman and Group Chief Executive of AMV BBDO), the creatives from AMV BBDO and others.
To enter, submit your pitch, before the 11th December – you can write this as a script or simply a narrative of what your idea is. You should also show how you intend to shoot the films, including locations, potential cast and any contextual or tonal references. Be sure to include any relevant showreel or examples of similar or appropriate work.
You can find a link to the competition here.
“Libresse’s #BloodNormal Bursary is a great opportunity for young filmmakers of all genders,” said Free The Bid’s Executive Director Emma Reeves.
“Our goal is for gender parity behind the camera, which means that it’s imperative to allow all directors to bid on all jobs, regardless of gendered product associations (let’s get more women bidding on sports and car ads, please)! We hope global brands of all kinds follow Libresse’s lead and pledge to Free The Bid; not because of the product type, but because it’s simply better for business.”
If your content does not end up winning, you afterwards are free to use your content for other purposes and/or license it to third parties.
Links
http://freethebid.com
https://www.amvbbdo.com/
https://www.libresse.com/
