Connecting new talent with the advertising industry

Whilst our wonderfully diverse UK population was finally being represented fairly on film, television and advertising screens, it was still not being reflected behind the scenes.

In April 2018, whilst Managing Director of the British Arrows, I initiated a compelling new initiative called BAD (British Arrows Doorway) to engage with Britain’s un-found creative youth, predominantly young people of colour from either economically disadvantaged backgrounds or with a non-traditional education route, and guide them towards paid jobs and great careers in advertising.

After 18 months of research, we realised that much of this demographic didn’t even know that an advertising industry existed, especially as a career option! They were training hard to enter the film, TV, music, theatre and fashion industries, but paid jobs in those sectors are hard to come by and competition is high. Whereas the advertising industry was crying out to hire this group. Ironically, it seemed the advertising industry was doing the worst job of selling itself to these un-tapped creatives and therefore BAD was created and launched.

We created an online tool called PYXIS to help young people navigate their way around the industry to see how many job opportunities there were and what entry level looked like. We also produced films from creative professionals offering hints and tips on getting in. We also ran a live jobs page and within the first year 15 young people gained employment in their dream job.

During our jury sessions for the British Arrows, our jury kindly agreed to film pieces to camera offering their advice, hints and tips on how to enter the industry. I am eternally grateful for their time and support.

We split the films by area of expertise - agency, production, post production and audio.