Caitlin Ryan
- United Kingdom
- Member since 2015
Caitlin is the Group Executive Creative Director of Karmarama.
Originally from Australia, she became ECD of Proximity London in 2001. Under her Creative Directorship the agency won over 200 international and national awards and was one of the first to transition into a digital agency, creating work for P&G, VW, SHELL, J&J, Lloyds, Aviva, TV Licensing, Mondolez, Royal Mail, Orange, Mars, Capital One and RNLI.
In 2013 she joined Karmarama to become the Group Executive Creative Director. As one of the only ECD’s in the UK from a digital rather than a traditional background, her perspective on the work is unique.
The agency mantra of ‘Do the right thing’ is the perfect platform for creating the type of work that Caitlin is passionate about - ideas that start with consumers’ lives not a media channel, connected in seamless integration.
She sat on or was foreman for juries at Cannes, D&AD, Creative Circle, DMA’s and Campaign Bigs.. She is a member of WACL and speaks regularly on behalf of the industry, particularly on the subject of helping more women stay and thrive in in the UK creative industries.
She also owns three of London’s most popular independent café’s: Lantana in Fitzrovia, Shoreditch and Camden.
Category you’re standing for?
Creative Practitioner in Advertising
How will you support D&AD over the next 3 years?
Our industry is in trouble. We are slowly but surely walking towards an uncomfortable realization that we are not fit for purpose. I am passionate about doing everything I can to help change things now. And that means investing in a more diverse, balanced creative pool now; the ‘young blood’ of today will form the creative departments of tomorrow.
I believe D&AD are in a unique position to provide training and direction for this more diverse talent pool, and I would be honoured to support your work in every way I can.
How? Firstly by helping to shine the light on leaders who are not white, male and middleclass.. Secondly by scratching beneath the surface to really understand why we are not attracting and/or keeping creatives from more diverse backgrounds, and then do something about it.
And finally, by speaking out. Only by keeping the conversations alive and constantly challenging the status quo will we be able to ensure our industry is strong, vibrant and future facing.
Tell your fellow Members why they should vote for you?
Why should you vote for me? Because I care about more than self preservation. I think as an industry we are all lazy participants in allowing the industry to be backward rather than forward facing. The dial is not turning fast enough on making sure that the talent pool of the future is diverse. I am passionate about doing everything I can to help change this. I am doing this through mentoring, training, and whenever I can, speaking out at industry talks as well as in the industry press.
If we continue to accept the industry ‘will never change’ that the boys club is ‘too established’ and silos will never break down, then we all need to take responsibility for the consequences. I believe D&AD has the brand and influence to most successfully challenge the industry and ensure the wake up call is loud and resonates. I would love to help both shape and amplify that message.
Contact Caitlin.
