Shifting Culture for Women at AKQA
Client: AKQA
Team: Resh Sidhu (Creative Lead & Event Host), Elena Bertolin (Graphics), Graham Davis (Copy), John Stalling (Cinematography), Ophelia Stimpson (Strategy Lead & Event Host)
Opportunity
International Women’s Day is a moment to take stock and reflect on workplace equity across the intersection of identity. With minimal time, budget and resource, a small team at AKQA NYC decided we needed to do something to make a statement about the future of our office culture.
While AKQA is a world-leading agency that produces game-changing creative for the likes of Nike, Netflix and IBM, an internal survey conducted by the team revealed that some employees – especially women – felt that they couldn’t bring their full selves to work.
Insight
We took this as a moment to shine a light on our women at their fullest, most authentic selves while facilitating a company culture where we are all allies to each other.
Because we believe the best work and ideas always come from open, collaborative environments. We needed to put a stake in the ground to help AKQA continue to foster a culture of allyship on IWD and beyond.
Execution
For International Women’s Day 2020, AKQA New York created When I’m With Her – a film, social campaign, and mantra that celebrates the unseen sides of the incredible women of the studio. An event hosted by Resh Sidhu and Ophelia Stimpson on IWD itself platformed conversations exploring anti-racism, anti-sexism and allyship with educators Jason Rosario and Veronica Cameron.
The campaign was commended and shared by renowned AKQA CEO Ajaz Ahmed, featured in The Dots – and has been rolled out to platform the women of AKQA across multiple global studios, including Sao Paolo, Tokyo and Milan.
