Why is leadership in the world of communication female-oriented? (part 5a).

We are living through a moment of transition and great change in which values such as empathy, kindness and skills of intermediation, surely characteristics more typical of women, are fundamental elements for anyone wishing to work in the field of communication rather than being weaknesses as they were perceived in the past.

Any inclination towards professions linked to advertising, media, marketing and communication generally emerges inevitably right from the educational background. In fact, according to the Gender Equality in the Media Sector of the European Parliament, the number of women with a degree in this field who manage to find a job is similar to that of men: the percentage of female graduates in media studies over the years has been growing constantly, exceeding 44%.

This research is backed up by the Gender in marketing study, which reveals that women are more inclined to start a career in marketing: 21% compared with 16% for men.

The same scenario is confirmed in another study by The Candidate which analysed a sample of 150 companies; the study revealed that the roles most coveted and occupied by women are in marketing and social media (27%), public relations and communication (18%) and account management (14%).

An association, Global Women in PR, has even been founded to connect, champion and support women in senior PR and communication roles. The third edition of the GWPR ANNUAL INDEX, the annual survey of the association, designed to monitor and measure the position of women working in the PR and communications sector globally, revealed, however, an important fact: although two-thirds of the global PR industry consists of women, when it comes to the boards of directors, the story is quite different, as men occupy most of those positions.

Large

As regards eyewear, there are many large companies that have decided to entrust their communication strategies to women, from the historic Cadore-based businesses to European companies.

Let’s begin with Roberta Viganò, Marketing Communication Manager - Marcolin
At Marcolin, Roberta is responsible for the global communication for the Group’s brands, supervising the departments of Public Relations, Media Planning & Buying and Digital Communication, with the aim of strengthening the communication strategy and the communicative presence of the brand in its international portfolio.
Roberta has extensive experience in communication, consolidated over the years in the fashion & luxury worlds, including Bally where she was Head of Communications & Marketing EMEA.

Amdra De Marco

Elena Ranzato

The Safilo Group also counts women among its communication team: Ambra De Marco, as Global PR & Communication and Elena Ranzato, Global PR and Communication and Associate Director

Working in Safilo since 2013, Ambra De Marco is head of Global PR & Communication and manages the communication of the group’s brands, including Carrera and Polaroid. Following the Group strategies for its own brands, she is responsible for implementing the strategy and creating the communication and marketing plan with campaigns and special initiatives, activations and collaborations on a global scale. Previously, Ambra worked in the company as Global Presence Marketing for the group’s own brands and as Global Brand Manager.

Elena Ranzato joined in Safilo one year after De Marco and today manages the communication for licensed brands, thanks also to coordinated action of the Group’s PR network in more than 30 countries. In line with the positioning of each brand and in agreement with the communication teams in the fashion houses, she defines the strategy and marketing communications plan through events, productions, talent and celeb management, media plans, digital PR and influencer programmes.

Moving on to Austria with Atissa Tadjadod, Global Brand Director of Silhouette International

Atissa has gained many years of experience in the field of luxury items and mass consumption products, holding management positions. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York.

Women also play an important role in the lens sector. Here are two prime examples:

Mariastella Rizzo, Marketing Manager Transitions Italy

Mariella can count on 15 years of experience in marketing. She started her career in the luxury autmotive market (working for brands such as Jeep, Jaguar and Land Rover) before arriving in the EssilorLuxottica group more than 5 years ago. Initially, Maristella was Marketing Manager for the North Africa region, based in Casablanca (Morocco). Her task was to promote the value proposition for key brands in the group, highlighting Innovation and Performance. For 3 years now, she has been Marketing Manager of Transitions Italia in Milan. Her mission: to consolidate the image of the brand, raising its appeal. She is responsible for Media, PR and trade marketing to develop the maximum potential of optical stores that offer Transitions.

Roberta Celin, Marketing & Communication Manager ZEISS Vision Care Italia

After studying humanities, she graduated in Business Economics. In 2001, she joined ZEISS (when it was still SOLA Optical) and was responsible for the entire ZEISS rebranding following the merger in 2005. Celin dealt with various activities in marketing before focusing more specifically on communications up to the point today where she is chief of the communications department - external communication (B2B and B2C) and internal, offline and online, as well as activities of visibility raising and, recently, communication activity in the area of sustainability.

THE SMEs

Let’s look now at the SMEs with four concrete examples of companies that have made creative innovation their core business:

Michaëlla René, Marketing Manager - Design Eyewear Group

For around 20 years, Michaëlla has worked in the field of eyewear and in the last 7 years she has worked as a PR consultant for the 7 brands of the Danish Design Eyewear Group, and project manager of trade fairs. Before taking on this role, she was Head of Global Marketing for the French brands Face à Face and Alium (currently in the portfolio of the Design Eyewear Group).

Manuela Dal Canton, Communication and Marketing - Fao Flex

She has worked in the communication department of Fao Flex since 2017. After graduating in Science and Technologies of Graphic and Multimedia Communication at IUSVE, and completing a series of advanced courses in Digital Marketing, she worked at some communication agencies in the Venetian area and in the video sector. Currently, she is responsible for the online and offline image of company house brands (Dandy’s and Germano Gambini).

Marta Naval, Communications Manager | Marketing - GIGI Studios

Journalist with a background as editor-in-chief of lifestyle magazines and as a TV and radio presenter, she joined GIGI Studios almost five years ago. Management of the communication and PR sectors includes strategic planning of global communication and implementation of global communication campaigns. In addition, she manages the relationships with press agencies and the creation and management of domestic and international media planning (print and digital).

Zoe Cosby, PR & Marketing - Oliver Goldsmith Sunglasses

Since 2010, she has worked at Oliver Goldsmith, occupying various roles in the company Her main role has always been in PR and marketing, alongside management of the flagship store in Notting Hill and travelling worldwide for trade fairs, selling to opticians and fashion stores.