Outvertising Welcomes 5 New Directors

After saying goodbye to several longstanding directors we are happy to welcome 5 new directors across various work streams.

Nikky Lyle (she/her) - Community & Culture Co-Director

Nikky Lyle is a Creative Recruiter with conscience and a decade of creative recruitment experience. 

She’s also founder of Graphic Design Jobs UK, Vice President of Hope at Post Quarantine, TEDx  Speaker, The Dots list of 100+ Rising Stars, past D&AD Judge, Side Hustle Cheerleader and Domestika Teacher. 

“I’m super excited to join Outvertising as Community & Culture Co-Director. I marched with the team for London Pride last year and found everyone I met so friendly and supportive. My experience as an Outvertising mentor last year also cemented my admiration for the organisation. I’m looking forward to helping to grow the community and spread our mission. ”

— Nikky Lyle

Luke Millican (he/him) - Commercial Co-Director

Luke has been an agency side digital leader at Dentsu and GroupM. He is now a Client Partner at Meta where he works with FMCG business across EMEA. He’s passionate about developing future generations of LGBTQIA+ talent in the industry and spends time mentoring and supporting their development.

““I felt inspired to join Outvertising having witnessed first-hand the powerful work and advocacy the the team has delivered over the past few years”

“I’m passionate about helping businesses not only make their marketing fully LGBTQIA+ inclusive because it’s the right thing to do but also proving the business value that it delivers””

— Luke Millican

Dr Rodney Collins (he/him) - Intelligence Co-Director

Dr. Rodney Collins is the Global Head of Human Sciences at McCann Worldgroup. As a professional anthropologist, Rodney believes in the urgency of culture to drive meaningful action, whether that is in a protest march or a board room. He is committed to partnering with leaders to architect models for cultural and social change. 

Daniel Sinclair (he/him) - Commercial Co-Director

As an Advertising Sales Manager at WeTransfer, Daniel collaborates with brands and agencies to deliver outstanding digital campaigns. He has a wealth of experience in various roles within the advertising world that require a commercial mindset. He’s also had the pleasure of being a mentor through the Outvertising mentorship scheme and has a passion for all things automotive in his spare time.

“I’m very pleased to be joining the Outvertising board of directors, having been inspired by and exposed to the brilliant work being undertaken, through the likes of Outvertising Live and other events. I’ve been in the industry for the last eight years and there’s been some positive change, but there’s still much further we need to go. I believe that Outvertising is a great vehicle in which to contribute towards that change. Advertising feeds into many parts of our everyday lives and we need to ensure that that it’s being used to positively influence attitudes towards the LGBTQIA+ community. I look forward to helping drive success in all of Outvertising’s aims.”

— Daniel Sinclair

Naresh Subhash (he/him) - Creative Co-Director

Naresh is a Deputy Creative Director at MadeBrave - a global brand and creative agency based in Glasgow and London. He was also a mentor for DnAD shift, a contributing writer at Creative Moment as well as a judge across several creative awards across the industry. He works closely with clients and agency to elevate diversity and equity in brand and creative work ensuring that together they authentically represent people and communities. 

“I joined Outvertising to help drive true inclusion in the creative departments and increase visibility for POC queer creatives across our industry.”

— Naresh Subhash

Our response to the Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light Story

Pink News’ Amelia Hansford approached Outvertising for comment on the Dylan Mulvaney and Budlight Story. You can read the full article here. Below is our full response.

LGBTQIA+ representation in advertising isn’t new. Ikea was advertising furniture in the states in 1994 with a gay male couple. Something we regularly cover in our most popular talk, ‘Outvertising presents: A Very Brief History of LGBTQIA+ Advertising.’ You see LGBTQIA+ talent in ads of all kinds and for all sorts of products and services because it has been proven that adverts that include our community outperform adverts that don’t. And they do so in ways brands care about; things like brand recall, affinity and purchase intent. Looking at the US market in particular, a GLAAD study recently identified that if a brand publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to expanding and protecting LGBTQ+ rights, Americans are 2x more likely to buy that brand. Of course you’re going to see businesses adopt practices that help them perform commercially.

The great thing is, our queer community also benefits. Our lives and experiences can be ‘usualised’ in the most ubiquitous of all media, advertising. This leads to greater acceptance and understanding for our community and ultimately queer liberation and social equity for all.

It is important for businesses, their brands, and their marketing teams to recognise that authentic and meaningful community support is the expectation. WPP’s Beyond The Rainbow report, published last year, found that 3 out of 4 LGBTQ+ people and half of non-LGBTQ+ people think brands should do more to support the community outside of Pride Month. What this means in practice is that businesses must be driving forward inclusion in their delivery of products and services (things like changing room policies) and their work environments (things like encouraging pronoun sharing). And it means identifying meaningful ways where your business can support the queer charity sector. Again these are all things our volunteer organisation, Outvertising, regularly advocate for when we speak with businesses. 

We are currently experiencing a period of intensified trans moral panic, certainly in both the UK and the US. In this climate it’s even more important for LGBTQIA+ talent to be properly safeguarded - this must be a key consideration for brands as they plan campaigns with LGBTQIA+ talent - something we advocate for in our work. As the conversation surrounding influencer and content creator Dylan Mulvaney’s sponsored posts for both Nike and Bud Light show, trans people, particularly ones in the spotlight, are facing an inordinate amount of abuse online and unfortunately from commentators, some platformed by mainstream media outlets. Abuse like that, particularly at this scale, will undoubtedly be having a detrimental impact.

- comment from Joint CEO of Outvertising, Marty Davies (they/them)

“One thing we don’t talk about enough is the impact of LGBTQIA+ representation for the queer people working on those marketing campaigns. As affirming as it feels to see positive representation in your own work, I’ve also unfortunately had the experience of successfully selling trans talent to big brands, who were then unable to stand by that talent when the inevitable wave of transphobic toxicity swamped them online.

It’s one thing watching prejudiced consumers lash out at brands for showing allyship to trans creators. And don’t get me wrong - it hurts to watch. But it’s quite another working behind the scenes to push for positive queer representation, getting it out into the world, and then finding out too late that your client brand was ill-equipped or not well informed enough to support our community when it counts.”

- comment from Joint Founder of Trans+ Adland & Outvertising Co-Director, Jax Kenrick (they/them)

New date announcement: Outvertising Consumer Report, coming November 2023

Those who attended our annual event ‘Outvertising Live’ in November 2022 will recall that the Outvertising Consumer Report (OCR), a comprehensive report that digs into LGBTQIA+ preferences and habits when it comes to brands, was set to be released in Spring 2023. Despite the dedicated work of a number of volunteers within the Outvertising and YouGov communities over the last few months, this launch date is being postponed to November 2023.

This delay is because detailed data on sexuality and gender identity, based on the 2021 Census, is expected to be released later this year. YouGov and Outvertising are dedicated to ensuring that the OCR includes insight into the full spectrum of our LGBTQIA+ audiences and, as such, are waiting for the release of this data to ensure that the research and report accurately represents the LGBTQIA+ population.

Both YouGov and Outvertising are dedicated to the cause of making marketing and advertising completely LGBTQIA+ inclusive, and we recognise that the journey is about progress, not perfection. This report will be one part of a larger initiative between YouGov and Outvertising to ensure that we drive for ever more inclusive data collection, and ensure insights are representative and accessible.

“We, alongside our partners at YouGov, are dedicated to the delivery of the Outvertising Consumer Report in order to give our industry the intelligence it needs to champion inclusion, combat tokenism and encourage brands to make the LGBTQIA+ consumer a considered part of their strategic agenda. We can’t wait to share the full report with you in the autumn!”

— Kendra Rogers, Director of Intelligence - Outvertising