ADD2210 The Women We See research for Behind Every Great City campaign

MD2099 approves £1m expenditure on marketing and engagement campaigns for the GLA. The PR agency, Freuds, was procured via a competitive process for the Mayor of London’s Behind Every Great City campaign. The campaign highlights London’s story in the history of the women’s suffrage and equality movement, celebrating significant milestones and achievements while identifying and tackling barriers to women fulfilling their potential.

One strand of the campaign is the ‘Women We See’ research, which will launch a diversity of women in advertising competition from the Mayor of London and TfL. Freuds assessed all of the leading London universities to identify the best research partner. Freuds recommended UCL because they have a strong gender studies department, their experience best matched the research brief and they were responsive and receptive to working on the project.

The total cost of the work is £40,000, £29,000 of which is being covered by sponsorship from Exterion and JCDecaux. Exterion and JCDecaux are also working with the Mayor of London and TfL on the advertising competition so there is a strong link between both aspects of the Behind Every Great City campaign. Therefore, the net cost of the work to the GLA is £11,000.

Of the total £40,000 cost, £20,000 is the cost of the academic research via UCL. The remaining £20,000 is for polling (quantitative research), video content for press and use on social media and design costs for the final research report.

The GLA will procure UCL directly and requests an exemption from the contracts and funding code to procure the research competitively. The polling, video content for press / social media, and design services for the final research report (estimated expenditure of up to £20,000) will be procured by the GLA’s PR agency, Freuds. Freuds was procured competitively.

For the research to be newsworthy and to highlight and progress the issue of gender representation in advertising, the research must be independent and academically robust. UCL is presently the leading London university in researching gender studies. UCL already has a working relationship with Freuds, which will save time and money in proceeding with the research and as such, UCL is unique in its ability to provide compatibility with existing agency, Freuds, for the Behind Every Great City campaign. Working with a commercial research agency, would likely be more expensive and could be detrimental to the project (less independent and not academically robust). Going through a procurement process would likely result in the same outcome.

The recommendation is to appoint UCL as the research company. Given they are the leading London university in gender research, they will need no prompting or advising as to what is required. UCL has the knowledge and contacts to offer the most in-depth and robust results. As such, UCL offers value for money.

UCL already has a good working relationship with Freuds, therefore there is no need for introductions, handover period or gaining of a working relationship as these are already in place.

The research aims, as part of the Mayor’s Behind Every Great City campaign, to identify women’s and men’s views on the portrayal of gender in advertising in London. The research will be solutions focused, providing recommendations to brands and the advertising industry on what women and men would like to see in advertising to ensure it positively and accurately represents women.

The research will launch the Mayor’s and TfL’s diversity of women in advertising competition.

The collective aim is to highlight the issues around the representation of women in advertising that are still present today and to encourage brands and the industry to portray women positively and accurately. The intended outcome is for the research and competition to act as a catalyst to a step change in the advertising industry.

Under s149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Equality Act), as a public authority the Deputy Mayor/MOPAC must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and any conduct that is prohibited by or under this Act; and to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Protected characteristics under the Equality Act are age, disability, gender re-assignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage or civil partnership status (the duty in respect of this last characteristic is to eliminate unlawful discrimination only). The Assistant Director is referred to the Appendix which sets out the public sector equality duty in full.

The Behind Every Great City campaign is part of the Mayor's overall commitment to tackling gender inequality. The research and competition aims to ensure the diversity of women is accurately and positively represented in advertising and this includes women with protected characteristics.

a) key risks and issues

Not undertaking the research and competition will be detrimental to the Behind Every Great City campaign as this is a key strand of the year-long campaign. If the issue of diversity of women in advertising is not highlighted, brands and the advertising industry will not progress, which will continue to impact on how women are seen and how they see themselves.

The £29,000 sponsorship for this research project is aligned to the UCL research proposal. Not undertaking this research with UCL could risk the sponsorship for the project, resulting is an increased cost to the GLA.

b) links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

The Behind Every Great City campaign, including the research and competition, is part of the Mayor's overall commitment to tackling gender inequality.

c) impact assessments and consultations

The GLA’s PR agency was procured competitively and it has assessed all of the leading London universities to identify the best research partner.

UCL’s research proposal has been appropriately interrogated to ensure meaningful results that have the potential to drive a step change in the advertising industry.

The estimated total cost of this proposal is £40,000 and will be part funded via sponsorship income totalling £29,000 from ‘Exterion’ and ‘JC Decaux’ who jointly manage the TfL advertising estate. The balance of £11,000 will be funded from the GLA’s Marketing & Engagement budget for 2017-18 as approved by MD2099.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

- the decisions requested of the Assistant Director fall within the powers of the GLA, to do anything which may be considered to be facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the exercise of its functions in a way which promote the improvement of the environment in Greater London; and

- in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
(b) consider how the proposals will promote the health of persons, health inequalities between
persons and to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
c) consult with appropriate bodies.

Section 9 of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code (“Code”) requires that a tender exercise be conducted for services with values of that proposed or that they be called off from and accessible framework. However, section 10 of the Code provides that exemptions from that requirement may be approved by the Assistant Director where a specific ground for exemption applies. One of those grounds is that the supplier is unique in its ability to provide compatibility with an existing service. Officers have indicated at paragraph 1.6 that this ground applies and have indicated in paragraph 1.7 that this contract offers value for money. Therefore, if the Assistant Director is satisfied with the content of this report and the grounds for exemption outlined they may approve the exemption sought. If so approved officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place between and executed by the GLA and UCL before any commitment is made to the commencement of such services.

Officers are seeking receipt of sponsorship in this decision. The GLA may seek sponsorship when exercising its section 30 general power under its power to charge third parties for discretionary services under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003 provided that the charges levied do not exceed the costs of provision.