Supporting the next generation of creative talent
The late, great Whitney Houston famously sang?“I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way”.
And so last Thursday morning, with Whitney ringing in my ears, I headed to Birmingham City University’s Parkside building to take part in the Forward2023 conference.
This exciting event gave me an opportunity to talk to students who’ll be graduating from BCU’s Visual Communications, Graphics, Photography, Digital Marketing & Future Media courses next year.
It also allowed me to listen to inspirational speakers like Prof. Jonathan A.J. Wilson, a LinkedIn Future Voices winner no less than 4 times.
The highlight of the day was engaging with all the students, both during the panel discussion I took part in and afterwards in the cafe.
I was asked questions like
“What’s the best thing about working in an agency?”
My answer - the variety.
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One day I’m working with an amazing independent school on a?rebrand project?that will transform perceptions of a centuries-old institution.
A heartbeat later I’m watching our award winning creative team precisely and immaculately position items at a photoshoot for a global fragrance brand (follow us on Instagram?for more info on that one soon).
And the next day I’m thinking about how to breathe new life into branded movies on TikTok.
Another stand-out question came in the panel discussion, when I was asked how agencies can prepare the ground for the next generation entering the industry.
After fiddling with the mic for a few seconds, I said that it was our responsibility to ensure we create a collaborative, inclusive and innovative culture where everybody’s views are heard and actioned.
After all, nobody is an island and to do all those cool & eclectic projects I’ve just described needs the team of creative experts I’m lucky enough to work with every day.
Here’s to the future.
PS, if you like this post and would enjoy spending a minute reading about whatever's on my mind each Friday, I'll soon start publishing them regularly on here as LinkedIn Newsletters. Watch this space!
Fractional Chief Delivery Officer and GenAI Delivery Consultant | Leadership, Management, Strategic Planning | EMEA & US
2 年Really great to connect up with local students — important to put the stuff learnt in the rarified academic world into the context of agency life. Nice one, Dave.
4x LinkedIn TopVoices winner. Branding Professor. Speaker. Consultant. Halal Branding expert. Musician
2 年??pint of squash! I don’t mind squash, I’ll even take 0% beer. I’d love to hang with you! I guess it was just to highlight that some people feel the pint??and a pie?? test has connotations with not fitting in and the underrepresented feeling uncomfortable in some spaces. Back in the days, some pubs were tricky and potentially dangerous places for a black person like me. After a few drinks some people might start to say uncomfortable and dumb stuff I don’t wanna face, so often I made my excuses. Also the after work networking culture where deals get done, when others have to go home to look after their kids affects people. That’s why I framed it as a 40hr a week rule: could you hang out with people for 40hrs a week and enjoy it? Non-drinking is a growing trend too https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/10/young-people-drinking-alcohol-study-england
Working with Human Insight and Intelligence to Maximise Competitive Advantage and Accelerate Growth ? CMO, Bus. Development Support, Strategy Expert, Brand and Value Proposition Creator, Fractional Marketing Director.
2 年Dave, did you really just use the Whitney line but without it being a joke? Respect.