General Mills Only Wants an Ad Agency Staffed with 50% Women and 20% People of Color

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The company is in the process of asking ad agencies to pitch for its creative account, which will cover its advertising, production, and content across all its US retail brands.

Speaking to AdAge, General Mills chief marketing officer Ann Simonds revealed the food giant has stipulated that the competing agencies must be staffed with at least 50% women and 20% people of color within their creative departments.

Simonds said: “We are very excited about that. If you are going to put the people you serve first, the most important thing is to live up to it and make it a key criteria.”

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A survey conducted by The 3% Conference–an event that champions female leadership–found that women make up 46.4% of the ad industry, yet just 11.5% of creative directors within those agencies are female.

It is for that reason that General Mills has specified diversity quotas specifically within the creative department.

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