How To... Make the Most of a Ladies Lunch

Last week, CZAR Amsterdam held its annual Ladies Lunch on July 6, attended by almost 70 women from the Dutch ad industry. The purpose of the lunch was to discuss the role that women play in adland and to give women a chance to connect with other likeminded individuals in a safe and informal setting.

We caught up with EP Karlijn Paardekooper, who organises the lunch, to find out what her top 10 takeaways from the event were.

1. The shift from classical TV commercials towards more online-drive content is in full swing. Although TV commercials don’t go extinct, they are indeed becoming a rarity. Our job is to find a way to keep the level of quality we’re known for for all kinds of new media outlets (and corresponding, somewhat inferior budgets). That’s a great challenge.

2. Along with this shift, we see that more and more agencies build up their own production units. Although we understand this from a monetary perspective, we absolutely discourage this development. Quality and creativity should be the denominators in our industry. And producing is a craft, it’s a skill that not only CZAR, but all other production companies have cherished and nurtured over the years. We’ve developed the craft of production/direction over the course of the last 25 years. We know what we do, and we like what we do. Both the quality and creativity are of utmost importance to us. But these elements seem to be irrelevant for in-house production units.

3. The directors are our most important assets. They determine the level of quality. Therefore, building up their ways of expressing their creativity bottom up (as we do through our junior department CZAR jr.), is still the best way to get the most of our directors. Loyalty and mutual respect, that’s what it’s all about.

4. Every year, CZAR jr. wins a price at the Young Director Award at Cannes. This was widely discussed and shows that the way we work through CZAR jr. & CZAR really gets the most out of our junior directors.

5. Although our junior directors are very important to us, our seniors went home with some Lions in Cannes. For instance, Bart Timmer went home with three Lions for his Volkswagen film, Laughing Horses.

6. Altogether, CZAR and our liaison Bacon went home with no less than 12 Lions this year. A very good score.

7. We see the shifts in the industry and we always strive to be ready to anticipate any changes. We’re currently developing some features, but cannot tell you too much about it.

8. Since it was a warm day during our luncheon, some women got really, really hot. ;)

9. The invite read ‘Happy in the Hamptons’ (last year’s invite read, Côte at the Keizer (we’re located at the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam)), so some ladies thought there was a dresscode. We always encourage our guests to come as you are. And some fancy dresses are always nice.

10. The responsibilities and number of roles people in our industry can take was discussed. We see that the account manager these days can also take over the producer's role. Our answer to this is the same as our answer towards in-house production units, which is best summarised by the Dutch expression “Schoenmaker, blijf bij uw leest" - which literally translates to “A shoemaker must not go beyond his laft" - and reminds us that everyone’s talents and competences should be individually valued.