New Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) President, Josh Krichefski, will today (March 27) announce his three-pronged ‘People First’ agenda to boost the overall health and wealth of the agency business.
His speech will be broadcast live on the IPA website at 3pm today, followed by a live Q&A session.
In the speech, Krichefski will set out the three key tenets of his agenda – opening eyes to reframe advertising’s cultural and societal relevance in modern Britain to attract the best talent, hearts and minds; opening hearts to help retain and nurture advertising talent by being more inclusive than ever, and opening minds to look after the wellbeing of everyone working in the ad agency business by focusing on and supporting initiatives that promote positive mental health.
Krichefski said: “We don’t have factories, trucks, manufactured goods. Our people are everything. It’s their brilliance and imagination which is what makes us who and what we are. And that’s why we have to look after them. Let’s take the steps needed to create the most inclusive workplaces imaginable. And let’s support a resilient, thriving and mentally healthy workforce and empower them to write the future of advertising.”
Among key tenets of his speech, Krichefski will call for IPA member agencies to commit to a minimum of 15% of their staff complete the IPA Diversity & Inclusion Certificate, call for a work environment conducive to mental well being, and announce a partnership with controversial social media platform TikTok, which has recently been sanctioned on government-issued phones in the US, UK and EU over Chinese spying fears, to demonstrate the variety of roles in the industry and promote the nationwide agency open-day for schools, Advertising Unlocked.
The IPA will partner with TikTok to match specific TikTok content creators with five select agencies under the plans, with work already underway thanks to former IPA President Julian Douglas.
