Dreaming big and giving back

Last week true opened its doors to 16 sixth formers and their teachers from Gordano school as part of the IPA’s Advertising Unlocked Day 2022. The aim of the day was to showcase our amazing industry and range of career options to students who may have previously been unaware of the breadth of roles available or perhaps felt it wasn’t for them.

We began the day with a series of talks from true folk across our various practices, each providing a unique insight into their day-to-day, how they got into the role and advice about the best way to get into the industry. It was a lovely chance for each of us to take a step back and think about our career journeys, the benefits of agency life that we sometimes take for granted, and the different routes we took to find ourselves at true.

In the afternoon, we split the students into three teams to work on briefs based on some of our clients. All exciting and widely varying challenges:

• A brief from Aardman to create a campaign raising awareness about Season 1 of their new series Lloyd of the Flies to ensure they can green-light Season 2
• A brief from Marmalade Trust to create a campaign reducing the stigma of loneliness and encouraging people who suffer with loneliness to reach out and form social connections
• A brief from Arsenal Women’s FC to create a campaign promoting women’s football and persuading more people to come to women’s matches

It was great to see how attentive, polite and enthusiastic the students were and the depth of thinking they put into each brief. I will admit at one point I was a bit unsure about one of the team’s campaign ideas, but as I questioned their approach they gave excellent rationale, refined their thinking, and by the time they were ready to present back I was convinced they had an incredibly strong and unique idea. It really struck me how willing and brave the students were to put themselves out there with bold ideas in front of others. The raw talent and enthusiasm was infectious. 

I think my proudest moment was when I overheard one student saying she was really interested in a career in Client Services. The entire day really encouraged us to reflect on how lucky we are to work in this industry and to have had so many varied opportunities throughout our career.

Aside from the obligatory pizzas wolfed down in record time over lunch, the thing the students found most valuable was gaining a real first hand knowledge about the range of roles open to them in an agency. There was a real buzz amongst the teams as they listened, asked questions and worked together. A rewarding experience for us at true as well as the students. As one of the teachers said ‘It’s been a great day. They will be talking about this for weeks’. As will we! It was a pleasure to have the students visit us for a day. The vision that Gordano School fosters of Dreaming Big, Doing your best and giving back was in evidence for all to see throughout the day.

Our industry needs to regularly remind ourselves of what the next generation of talent has on offer and how we can make ourselves more accessible and welcoming to them. We’ll be following up with ‘our’ school, and hope to be able to offer some experience soon. What a great day!