The creative industry, the industry that’s meant to be all about thinking outside the square and embracing new ideas, has been one of the more exclusive industries for too long.

In the UK, though, the industry has finally yielded to an imperative to increase ease of entry and diversity within it. 34 of the UK’s leading agencies have signed the Real Living Wage Pledge, an initiative spearheaded by Creature and Wieden + Kennedy London, which ensures everybody working in the sector will be paid a real living wage, including interns and those on work experience over the age of 18.

Behind the two independent creative agencies, Creature and Wieden+Kennedy London, that began the pledge is the support of AAR, IPA, Oystercatchers, and Grey London’s Diversity Taskforce. The pledge helps to ensure that nobody should ever feel a career in the creative industry, which employs more than 2m people and contributes almost £92bn to the UK economy, is unavailable to them for financial reasons.

Those who sign up to the Real Living Wage Pledge promise to pay everyone working for them or on their premises a real living wage of £10.20 per hour in London and £8.75 elsewhere, whether they be cleaners, creatives or runners, permanent or freelance. This compares to the Government Living Wage of £7.50 per hour for those aged 25 and over.

Importantly, while all participating agencies will seek accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) if they don’t already have it, the initiative includes adults on work experience and internships – areas not currently covered by the LWF’s accreditation.
According to research by Sutton Trust, 31% of university graduates working as interns are doing so for no pay, the numbers of unpaid internships have doubled since 2010 and the monthly cost to an intern working in London averages more than £1000.

Dan Cullen-Shute, chief executive officer and co-founder of Creature, stated, “Advertising, like so many industries, has a diversity problem – and, thankfully, there are a number of people working to fix that. In the past, we’d ask for relevant experience, and then too often not pay people when they’re trying to get it, which means the doors to our industry are shut to people who can’t afford to work for free.

“We’re enormously proud to be standing alongside a whole host of brilliant companies whose doors will now forever more be definitively open to everyone.”

Helen Andrews, managing director of Wieden+Kennedy London, commented, “A simple thing we can all do to remove a barrier to entry to the industry is to ensure we pay people in entry level positions enough to live. As a minimum, we pay everyone who works on our premises the real living wage and are proud to help lead the pledge to help make the creative sector more accessible to all.”

Patrick Mills, director of membership & professional development at the IPA, added, “The IPA is delighted to add its support to the Real Living Wage Pledge, and proud to see so many of our member agencies signing up to a promise that will make a real, tangible difference to people trying to break into the industry.”

Agencies who have already signed up to the Real Living Wage Pledge are 1492, 18 Feet & Rising, Above & Beyond, AMV BBDO, AnalogFolk, Anomaly, BJL, The Corner, Creature, Droga5, Essence, Everything Different, Grey London, Integer, Isobel, Lucky Generals, MBA, McCann London, Mediacom, Mindshare, Momentum, Mother, MRM-Meteorite, MullenLowe London, Now, Saatchi & Saatchi, Sunshine, TBWA\London, Uncommon, VCCP, Wavemaker, WCRS, Wieden+Kennedy London, and Y&R London.

Find out more here or contact reallivingwage@creaturelondon.com.