Gloria Steinem, Tarana Burke and Ibtihaj Muhammad Featured
Program Includes Focus on 'Sheroes' Who Have Changed the World
New York, NY - June 15, 2018 - Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) announced today that the company will host its eighth annual breakfast at Cannes this year. The 2018 program "Women at Work" celebrates "sheroes" who have changed the world through their excellence, perseverance and passion.
The program will be hosted by Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO, IPG, and will be introduced by Gail Heimann, President of Weber Shandwick, IPG's leading global public relations firm; Weber Shandwick worked with client Mattel to launch the "Shero" line of Barbies. The "Shero" concept shines a light on empowering role models who inspire girls. Heimann will be joined on stage by Fencing Champion Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first Muslim-American female athlete to medal at the Olympics, and one of the models for the Shero dolls.
The program will also include an "Inclusive Innovation" panel featuring female founders from the Cannes Start-up Academy with R/GA, highlighting the knowledge exchange that can occur between early-stage companies and the world's leading agencies and brands. The program will also feature Jessica Bennett, Gender Editor at The New York Times, who will present findings on the use of diverse imagery in media in a conversation called "You Can't Be What You Can't See."
IPG's program will conclude with a newsmaker interview, featuring Gloria Steinem, Writer, Lecturer, Political Activist, and Feminist Organizer, with Tarana Burke, Civil Rights Activist and Founder, #MeToo. The BBC's Zeinab Badawi will moderate the discussion.
"This year, at IPG's Cannes breakfast, we celebrate sheroes who have changed the world through their outstanding accomplishments plus their perseverance and passion," noted Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO, IPG. "These are women who have broken through cultural, racial and gender stereotypes, who have helped stamp out bias and establish new norms. Through their accomplishments and our own work, we can more fully understand the role of our industry in helping to establish cultural norms through the work that we do as we strive to ensure that all women are included and represented both in the creation of our work and what we produce for the marketplace," he continued.
"We are at an inflection point for our industry. There is potential for substantive progress thanks to efforts like Times Up Advertising and the #MeToo movement," commented Heide Gardner, Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, IPG. "We want to ensure that our industry is well-informed so that we can take proactive steps to ensure no one from a diverse background - male or female - is left behind. Last year we presented global research showing that only straight White women from the US see gender as their primary marker of identity and that there was a relationship between intersectional identities and perceptions about feeling included in women's initiatives and benefitting from them. Gloria and Tarana not only bring multidimensional perspectives on the history of feminism and civil rights movements, but also on what is in motion today and views on what needs to happen," she continued.
The sheroes featured in "Women at Work" have launched new technologies, advanced journalistic excellence, prevailed in athletic competition and led activist movements that have changed the world. These sheroes exemplify the impact of women everywhere and inspire advertisers, marketers and media to re-think common monolithic portrayals of women, embrace the value of their diversity, recognize the power of imagery and celebrate what is possible by encouraging all women to be sheroes.
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About Interpublic
Interpublic is one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. Major global brands include Craft, FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding), FutureBrand, Golin, Huge, Initiative, Jack Morton, MAGNA, McCann, Momentum, MRM//McCann, MullenLowe Group, Octagon, R/GA, UM and Weber Shandwick. Other leading brands include Avrett Free Ginsberg, Campbell Ewald, Carmichael Lynch, Deutsch, Hill Holliday, ID Media and The Martin Agency. For more information, please visit www.interpublic.com .
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Contact Information
Tom Cunningham (Press) (212) 704-1326
Jerry Leshne (Analysts, Investors) (212) 704-1439
