Brixton Finishing School goes UK-wide to ‘rewrite advertising’s talent blueprint’

In usual circumstances, the school operates out of The School of Communications Arts on Brixton Road Station. It would typically offer 10-week courses for London-based 18- to 25-year-olds from multi-cultural, gender diverse, neurodiverse and working-class backgrounds hungry to enter the industry.

However, since June (like everyone, everywhere) the school has been operating virtually. Its 2020 intake of students was recruited through ‘online taster sessions’ and a pivot to virtual lessons was swift as plans were fast-tracked to create an “inclusive digital space” dubbed the ‘Ad-Cademy’, comprising two gateways into the advertising and creative industries.

The online courses have been designed to upskill participants in key aspects of marketing, creativity and digital, helping them build their network and increase their chances of winning a role through employability workshops including personal branding, accountability, interview tips and CV writing.

Sponsors McCann London, Brand Advance Agency, Clear Channel, PrettyGreen and Kinetic are among those to have committed to in the past to create an entry-level job especially for graduates of Brixton. Ad-Cademy sponsors include KFC, R/GA, Oliver Group and M&C Saatchi.

Now, Brixton is rolling out the Ad-Cademy programme nationwide with free, virtual eight-week courses for young talent across the UK. Opening in February 2021, it is based on the same principles as its London counterpart.

“In three years, we’ve already been extremely successful at rewriting the talent blueprint for the advertising industry,” explains Owen, who says that 95% of Brixton Finishing School graduates have gained entry-level positions with top tier agencies and media owners.

“We’ve created a new way for Londonders to come through from not advantaged backgrounds. But we’ve never been able to do it at scale before.”

Overcoming the ‘giant asteroid of crap’ that is Covid-19

When Covid-19 hit, it hit young people like “a giant asteroid of crap” says Owen. And she’s right. At the height of lockdown, data from the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) showed that short-term undergraduate work experience such as internships and placements were to be reduced in 2020 by almost a third (31%) of businesses. 68% have cancelled work experience and short-term insight opportunities this year too.

Muddled with 10 years of austerity and cuts to youth services up and down the country, it left Owen with serious concerns about the talent pipeline that would be entering the industry in years to come.

She and her team then spotted an opportunity to extend the scheme beyond its London roots. “We’d already transformed our product London-wide and I wanted to bring a bit of that magical alchemy nationwide. We’re in the prime spot to be able to do it.”

Her vision for the Ad-Cademy is to create a “nationwide free gateway to the industry, with a specific focus on getting more regional voices in the mix. She believes the future of the ad industry depends on it.

“For me, hearing a non-typically southeastern accent within our industry is a rarity and the people that do enter it from beyond the M25 tend to blur their regional identities when they step inside. We’re missing out on so much talent as an industry because of this. It’s tragic – you don’t have an advantage if you don’t fit a certain set of profiles within our industry, but that lack of advantage is further impacted on you if you’re outside London.”

Owen asks the question of how brands and agencies can engage different markets if they don’t have this representation within their walls.

“We’ve got to make a change,” she says.

Helping young people increase their employability

A significant outreach campaign, designed by Mother London, will push the programme and demonstrate that adland “isn’t an inaccessible industry a million miles away”.

A beta test with 50 students has been running since the start of November, with the official pilot intake of 500 students set to get rolling in February 2021.

The course will deliver a holistic overview of the industry and is led by industry experts, says Owen, meaning students are tooled-up with the latest skills, techniques and thinking. There is also a focus on ‘winning at work’. Upon graduation, each cohort will be assessed for work readiness.

“By the end of the eight weeks, students will be in a much, much better position. They’ll understand where their strengths are.

“Maybe they won’t even finish the course and that’s absolutely fine because having the chance to try our industry and decide it isn’t for you is a luxury most people aren’t given – certainly not at scale.”