#SeeHer Initiative Names Award-Winning Journalist and Bestselling Author Katie Couric and Triple Threat, Visionary WNBA President Lisa Borders as First Two Advisors

#SeeHer, the Association of National Advertiser (ANA)'s Fast-Growing Movement to Eliminate Gender Bias in Media Announces Advisory Board

NEW YORK — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Katie Couric and Women's National Basketball Association President Lisa Borders, former chair of the Coca-Cola Foundation and vice mayor of Atlanta, are the inaugural members of a new advisory board for #SeeHer. The movement is dedicated to powerful global, national and regional brands working together to eliminate gender bias in advertising and media.

#SeeHer was launched in June 2016 as a partnership between the ANA (Association of National Advertisers)'s subcommittee, the Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE) and The Female Quotient (TFQ). The #SeeHer mission is to achieve a 20 percent rise in accurate portrayals of women and girls in advertising and media by 2020 — the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote.

Since its founding, #SeeHer has become the industry standard in providing advertisers, agencies and media executives with state-of-the-art insight and activation strategies and tools to identify and eliminate unconscious bias in ads, entertainment content and media planning. The ANA has united the marketing industry under the #SeeHer banner, bringing the power and reach of an organization with more than 40,000 U.S. marketers and 15,000 brands to this critical business and societal challenge.

"With Katie's unmatched expertise in news and Lisa's deep experience in sports, we are well positioned to take our mission forward into two of the largest programming categories," said Stephen Quinn, #SeeHer chair. "We are delighted to have them as part of #SeeHer and look forward to embracing their expertise and insight as we continue to expand the movement."

"This is a unique time for women," said Couric. "We are galvanized and focused on making our presence known and our voices heard. I'm excited to be a part of the #SeeHer Advisory Board to bring attention to critically important issues of gender equality and representation."

"I am honored to join the #SeeHer campaign to eliminate gender bias in the media," said Borders. "#SeeHer aligns perfectly with what the WNBA stands for — using sports to create more opportunities for women and girls and to empower them, and men and boys, with the belief that we are all stronger when all of our authentic voices are included."

Since its launch, #SeeHer has teamed up with media, entertainment and advertising partners including A&E Network, to launch the #SeeHer Award during the Critics' Choice Awards telecast; and MTV, to co-create "A Woman Did That" during Women's History Month. #SeeHer also has announced partnerships with CAA and the Women's Media Center. For advertisers and agencies, #SeeHer has become an integral part of the marketing industry's process, with a growing number of clients integrating the initiative's tools into their processes, including review RFPs.

In March, #SeeHer team and movement co-founder, TFQ CEO Shelley Zalis shared #SeeHer's Gender Equality Measure (GEMTM), a new methodology to identify and eliminate gender bias in ad and content creative and media planning, at the Advertising Research Federation (ARF)'s annual meeting. The methodology has been used to evaluate more than 20,000 ads, which the ANA believes constitutes the largest syndicated post-test in history. GEMTM also has been used to measure the top 200 Nielsen-rated TV shows, and the methodology is being integrated into copy testing at the networks. #SeeHer also runs boot camps on how to use GEMTM for marketers, broadcast and cable executives and showrunners.

"Realistic portrayals of women and girls benefit everybody, mothers and daughters but also fathers and sons," concludes Gail Tifford, vice president of media & digital engagement for Unilever and co-founder of #SeeHer. "And yet, many parents say that their No. 1 concern is that there are no role models for girls on TV. Sports and news programming are ideal places to find and support those role models, and with Katie and Lisa paving the way for us, we are one step closer to the day when we can say gender equality in advertising and programming is the rule, not the exception.

About The #SeeHer Initiative

Despite the strides made to accurately portray women and women in the media, an unconscious bias persists against women and girls in advertising, media, and programming. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE) launched the #SeeHer initiative in June 2016 in a joint-partnership with The Girl's Lounge, after the White House announced the elimination of gender bias in media as critical to the nation's future. The #SeeHer Initiative mission is to increase accurate portrayals of women and girls in media by 20 percent by 2020, the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote. For more information, visit www.SeeHer.com, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About the ANA

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) accelerates growth for marketing professionals, brands, and the entire industry. With a mission to shape the future of marketing, the ANA sets the agenda for the industry, connecting its members to unparalleled expertise, industry-leading resources, and an influential global network. Representing over 1,600 companies — including 1,000+ client-side marketers, 600 marketing solutions providers, and 20,000 brands — ANA members collectively influence $400 billion in annual marketing spending. By championing the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda and the CMO Growth Council, the ANA drives actionable change, empowers marketers, shapes the marketing ecosystem, and delivers exceptional experiences at every touchpoint. Since 1910, the ANA has been setting the agenda for industry transformation. It enables marketers to advance their ambitions, make better decisions, and create lasting impact for their organizations and the industry.

About the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment (AFE)

The ANA AFE is a coalition of national advertisers with more than 1,000 brands, whose members represent $40 plus billion of U.S. television ad spend. The group's mission is to find, nurture, and support high-quality content the entire family can enjoy on multiple distribution platforms. In 2016 the AFE expanded its mission to include gender equality through its #SeeHer initiative. For more information see www.SeeHer.com and www.anaafe.net.