DE&I: Accelerating Change with Holly Cliffin
When Holly Cliffin joined Anomaly Europe three years ago as the European talent acquisition director and DE&I partnerships lead, it was her job to refresh and set out the creative agency’s recruitment commitments with a DE&I lens. Since then she’s built that role out and developed a suite of partnerships for the agency that have helped it to become a more diverse, equitable and inclusive agency.
Here, LBB’s Alex Reeves speaks to Holly about what she’s learned throughout her career in people and talent, and how that can be applied to shift the dial on DE&I in advertising.
LBB> What drew you to the field of DE&I?
Holly> I grew up in an ethnically diverse world. My school was multicultural, and my South London upbringing included being part of a racially blended family. All this equipped me with an expectation of diversity in my social and professional life.
From my corner of London, diversity appeared to be the norm. However, upon entering the workplace this 'normality' quickly evaporated. It soon became evident that the advertising industry is racially and ethnically unrepresentative. A blatant lack of diversity was also evident across socio-economically sectors, disability, and gender. This disconnect eventually inspired me to question this reality and how we might effect change through DE&I.
Working at Anomaly has allowed me to properly lean into this. It is a place that is different to the industry norm, and DE&I has always been embedded into its DNA.
LBB> Before it became your job role, what was your specialism? And how did you get involved?
Holly> I currently have a split role, where I am the European talent acquisition director and DE&I partnerships lead. I am the first recruitment point of contact for prospective candidates and present candidates to hiring managers. When I realised I had power to influence positive change within departments to encourage healthy diversity, I felt inspired to embrace this.
I dipped into the space in my last role at WPP where I supported the D&AD Shift programme, but on joining Anomaly almost three years ago, my first task was to refresh and set out our recruitment commitments with a DE&I lens. I now run our portfolio of DE&I partnerships.
Anomaly is built on the belief that diverse thinking leads to better outcomes. It’s part of our DNA. Different talent with different skills and perspectives is fundamental to our model. We encourage an emphasis on ‘cultural add’ over ‘cultural fit’ which often means it takes a little longer to hire but we are determined to continue celebrating individuality.
LBB> There’s a lot of frustration around the industry’s glacial pace when it comes to improving DE&I across all sorts of axes. What’s getting in the way?
Holly> Important societal change takes time. It also needs money, resources, and consideration. The leaders that make the decisions within a company need to have DE&I as their focus and be held accountable. Decide what change they want to see and be unreasonable in their pursuit of this change. In challenging times often one of the first budgets to be reduced is DE&I – that is not the case with Anomaly. Two years in a row, we have hit the IPA's DE&I targets, and in 2022 were one of only four creative agencies in the UK to do so.
LBB> Outside of the advertising industry, where do you see examples of large-scale meaningful progress (if at all), and what should our industry learn from it?
Holly> No industry in particular seems to be leading the way, but I have personally noticed the fashion industry stepping up, especially within representation. Certain areas seem to be radically transforming and with the likes of Edward Enniful, (former editor in chief at Vogue) at the helm, it's inspiring to see what can be achieved through a handful of visionaries in such a short space of time.
LBB> The dimensions of DE&I can differ somewhat according to geographic/cultural context - I’m curious, where you’re based, what are the big issues or most urgent elements of DE&I that you need to address?
Holly> We often look for non-linear backgrounds and people's ability to think differently, and this is across all levels. The people at Anomaly understand that to recruit and retain talent we need to adapt at every stage of an employee's lifecycle. Something we are now investigating is how we can be more inclusive to neurodiverse talent. I once read “if you're not inclusive, you're exclusive”. The creative industry has more people who are neurodiverse than any other sector (over double), yet it's not something that is typically supported.
LBB> In your role, what have been some of the most meaningful projects or policies you’ve been involved in regarding DE&I?
Holly> One of our successful partnerships has been with Brixton Finishing School and its sister initiative the Ad-Cademy. Their mission is to build an equitable 'superhighway' into the creative, media, and tech industries and improve the early years’ experience for people from under-represented communities. We are committed long-term partners and Anomaly’s very own Lachlan Williams, our European transformation director, is on the board and helped curate the Ad-Cademy initiative. We’ve been fortunate enough to hire over 10 people into junior roles from the two programmes over the past two years.
From a global perspective we have internally sourced and trained a group of people who, as part of their role, are focused on strengthening our cultural awareness, sensitivity and competency across our creative output. We've named this initiative CREW (Content Review for more Equitable Work).
LBB> What role are clients playing in holding agencies accountable and driving better DE&I (e.g. via RFPs)? Is this something you are seeing or would like to see more of?
Holly> Global clients especially are asking for more detailed information on our approach to DE&I, (including stats). Our clients also want to work with people from different backgrounds, races and ethnicities and genders. It’s encouraging to know we are aligned on our values, beliefs and attitudes to make sure we are helping to create a more equitable workforce.
LBB> We often see DE&I siloed or pigeonholed as an HR issue - what’s the key to ensure that it’s embraced as an agency-wide or industry-wide responsibility?
Holly> Being part of the people and talent (HR) function myself, I have first-hand experience of this. I am aware facilitators need to be assigned to ensure we are delivering on what we set out to collectively achieve. We do have a fantastic global head of DE&I and each office has its own ERGs and DE&I champions. I often hear that DE&I should be everyone's responsibility, but as one of the Anomaly founders once said, 'if everyone is responsible then no one is responsible'.
In my experience, especially at Anomaly there is no shortage of hunger for change and willingness to dedicate time and energy to create a more blended industry. Over 55% of the London and Berlin offices have been involved in at least one or more external DE&I initiative (whether it be mentorship, hosting a masterclass, attending a speed-networking session or portfolio review) which demonstrates the shared passion for change. Anomaly was set out to be a change agent, and this is one way we live up to that. Without the many contributors we wouldn't be where we are today.
LBB> What resources/platforms/programmes have you found useful on your DE&I journey and would recommend to our readers?
Holly> We've had huge success with Brixton Finishing School and Creative Lives in Progress. Both help us connect and support underrepresented junior talent enter the industry and have been integral to our success so far. This is in both our London and Berlin offices. In addition, and as of this year, we've been selected to partner with the aforementioned night school programme D&AD Shift with Google for people without a university degree.
LBB> The scale of the change needed is so massive that individuals can often feel powerless without the levers to move huge structures. What's a more personal act of positivity that you've seen recently that others could look to as inspiration for change on a the human scale?
Holly> On a more personal level, mentoring is a great way to get started. The main barrier to the industry is access, so being connected to someone who you can potentially open doors for and offer invaluable advice will help transform their career. Organisations such as Creative Mentor Network in the UK and TLNT & TLNT in Germany are doing great work in this space. Training is also crucial, there are lots of organisations offering unconscious bias workshops, and for many agencies this is a great way to educate their workforce.
LBB> If you’d like our readers to take one thing away from this interview what would it be?
Holly> We change slowly but we adapt quickly. So, embrace and encourage change and you'll reap the rewards sooner than you expect.
