Lucy McKillop reflects on putting the dentsu 'volunteer days' to good use.
When I started working at dentsu as the Carat Brand Director, I was told about the excellent benefits that come with working here. I was delighted to hear that each dentsu employee is given three extra days away per year to dedicate to a good cause or their passion project. Having been closely associated with Outvertising since 2018, I have made good use of the time given. As the joint CEO for the past 3 years – and coming to the end of my term in that role – I am working towards delivering Outvertising Live on the 22nd November. Outvertising is the advocacy group, set up with the sole purpose of making the advertising, marketing and media industries completely LGBTQIA+ inclusive.
On Wednesday this week, Outvertising, with strong input from dentsu talent (two people from our organisation appearing on different panels), will be bringing the half day conference to life focused around the theme of BE SEEN – queer visibility, and that of our allies, is more important than ever before: figures released earlier this year showed that UK has slipped down the ILGA rankings from 1 in 2015 to 17, today. In layman’s terms this looks at the safety and legal equality that queer people feel and are protected by in their county – this ranking looks at European countries.
That’s why I am so pleased that Carat’s Brand President has agreed to join the final panel of the day, a focused panel where Fiona Lloyd will be joined by Mat Foster – Ogilvy’s DE&I lead, with discussions led by Chris Dunne Thinkbox’s Head of Marketing (and the incoming joint CEO for Outvertising when my tenure ends).
The focus of their panel is “See and Protect your Queer Talent” – looking at the mental health crisis faced by our industry, and how this particularly impacts the queer community, and what organisations can do about it. Fiona spoke about this to The Drum on World Mental Health Day, so this is a continuation of that conversation – something that Fiona is particularly invested in, after personal experiences earlier this year.
We will update this article with the panel recording when it happens.
For more information on anything discussed in this article you can contact: Outvertising | dentsu HR | Mind | LGBT Switchboard
