A Marathon Journey to Mobilise Change with Bec Brideson - Founder & CEO, Venus Comms and CoFounder, SuperTap
“I help clever companies become commercially smarter - leveraging the power of the female economy”
Bec Brideson is a woman of her word - leading an initiative that rallies against the lack of female-owned agencies and the problem of biased-procurement.
Bec is the CEO and Executive Creative Director of Venus Communications, The Founder of Women With Agency and the CoFounder and CEO of fintech start-up SUPERTRAP. She is one of the extraordinary 3% of women in advertising to become a Creative Director and one of only 0.01% of women to start their own agency since 2004.
Bec’s a pioneer and innovator of understanding smarter ways to market. She creates, diagnoses and develops solutions for businesses to capture and future-proof their share of the market.
Known for internationally award-winning work since the start of her career in the 90s, Bec’s agency has seen her win a slew of awards for her service to the Media industry. She’s created Government campaigns for Australia, launching women’s Aussie Rules and crowdfunding $3m for a female-only rideshare start-up, “SHEBAH”
While being a voice for the challenges of a female career and the struggle for equality, her keynotes, locally and internationally, explore the power of the female economy and how brands can maintain integrity and relevance.
In 2017 her book “BlindSpots: How to leverage the fastest growing economy” Bec illuminated the concept of seeing customer relationships through a gender lens, acknowledging innately male and female behaviours as pivotal to driving growth. “I am passionate about working with business leaders and brands that are ready to redefine their future through progressive and profit-inducing lenses - helping clever companies become commercially smarter by leveraging the power of consumer segments, especially the female economy”
“Women With Agency is ensuring women-owned business can truly compete in a meritocracy. In the same way that progressive companies recruit 50/50 without gender-bias, lets see pitch procurement policy catch up too.”
Having found out that women receive just 1% of government and corporate procurement dollars, her latest initiative #WomenWithAgency helps women-owned agencies grow awareness of the disparity in procurement across Australia, UK, USA, France and Asia. “It’s a marathon journey to create change - we’ve started with the first steps with the hope of having the Minister for Women hear us sometime soon”
What’s one of your greatest accomplishments to date and what impact did it have on you, others, society or the world?
Starting an agency in 2004, at a time when so few women were promoted into the c-suite and only 3% of women in advertising became Creative Directors, I was already struggling through an industry with a concrete ceiling and no role models. The choice to start an agency was brave. But I also felt I had no other option if I wanted to continue my career and build the healthy and inclusive culture I’d been looking for as I navigated in the advertising industry.
After a decade where I’d faced all kinds of harassment and discrimination I made a decison to back myself and build what didnt exist. I mortgaged my apartment and built my own business to create an environment where women were valued and people could thrive.
“Women can start agencies, they can run businesses and can contribute value to an industry that was initially built without them”
My business became a melting pot of diversity. We hired plenty of talented yet overlooked women (and men) who’d been marginalised and undervalued. We created growth for our clients, told stories the world needed to hear and we created a light on the horizon for women coming through university and the industry to walk towards.
What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve experienced and/or overcame in your journey as a leader?
My biggest challenge has been navigating a way to work around systemic issues. But in this century we can increasingly look to statistics, data and facts to keep objectivity and show proof points. My industry was historically built by men, so helping create change to be inclusive of both male and female perspectives has been an ongoing discussion with a reluctant audience. It can also be seen by those invested in the current reality as a political agenda - but it’s really an economic one.
I’ve to overcome being a woman in a male dominated profession, so nowadays I focus on creating roadmaps to help people see the upside and value of the female economy.
Running a business, building a start-up, traveling internationally, having a husband and kids is no mean feat. Who do you turn to for guidance, advice or support?
A village of people. I cannot choose one. I think it’s essential to have a network of experts around me. In business and in life I have people I turn to for advice, support and connection that leads to personal and professional growth.
Most recently - my network has been like-minded women from a start-up Founders program. My cohort has come from all walks of life and are starting all kinds of business. They are committed and intelligent women who are all on a journey to build new solutions. We all stay connected on our Slack channel and meet once a month to share updates and learnings. The accountability, the soundingboards and the sharing of experiences is incredible.
The difference this has made to me - it has given me incredible confidence in the future. The emerging leaders and collective intelligence shows me “these times they are a changin”
your work as a women leading change is inspiring to many, in your view what does being a leader look like to you?
A leader is someone who creates a vision, a perspective and a direction that everyone can pull their cleverness toward achieving. A leader is someone who helps people bring their collective strengths to the table, coaches them to bring their contributions to the team and gives them permission to thrive.
After 15 years of running her own agency, working with her husband, successfully navigated marriage, business and children Bec’s now focussed on helping women become recognised for their economic impact with a new fintech start-up dedicated to growing the balance of Australian’s superannuation outcomes for a better retirement.
How can women join the cause and positively impact change?
If you’re a 100% women-owned business or if you’re 50% founded and run by women with equal levels of power, then be sure to get your business registered on Women With Agency. If you’re a government agency/body or corporate brand looking to make their procurement policies and opportunities more inclusive and gender-fair then express your interest in working together by visiting Women with Agency and register your interest.
If you’re interested in connecting with Bec, check out the work of her agency Venus Communications and connect reach out on Linked In or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.