Agencies Seek to Boost Non-Traditional Talent Pipeline

As the advertising industry continues to diversify its talent network, the overarching challenge remains to be transforming a short-term fix into long-lasting and on-going permanence. Meet and greets, trivia Deutsch NY is hosting a free, virtual, week-long program called Summer C.A.M.P.—creative, advertising and media program—to teach about the different disciplines within an agency and the processes that go into creating brand-building marketing communications. This program—hosted Aug. 2–6—is open at no cost or barrier, though participants are required to commit to the full week. Participants will also attend a Q&A with Deutsch NY CEO Val DiFebo and a Strategy 101 session with Karan Gera, svp and group planning director. Students will also have the unique opportunity to schedule individual 20-minute meetings with employees at Deutsch NY for mentorship or portfolio reviews, as well as participate in a trivia game night with information based on the industry and the sessions covered over the course of the week. The week will culminate in a hackathon on Friday in partnership with Make Ads with Me, an organization founded by Deutsch NY associate creative director Jessica Lomasson. Registration is open until July 28 at midnight. How to be a good troublemaker Wieden+Kennedy (W+K) is joining forces with the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University for the new creative promotion in media program starting in the Fall 2021 semester. The program includes an array of classes, including “Hood Marketing 101: How Blackness is Bought,” “How to Be a Good Troublemaker” and “Nothing is an Accident” to help students discern the difference between creative impact and traditional creative work. “How culture gets made is mostly a mystery,” said Michael Hagos, creative director at Wieden+Kennedy. “We want to show more people how to get in the room, how to claim a seat at the table and how to channel their unique voice and creativity to solve business problems.” Students will have the opportunity to learn from Wieden+Kennedy’s “diverse” staff, including Hagos, head of planning Dr. Marcus Collins and filmmaker/creative Tania Taiwo. Grammy Award-winning musician and entrepreneur Megan Thee Stallion recently announced plans to provide a full-tuition, four-year scholarship for a student looking to pursue their education at the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports and Entertainment this upcoming semester. Prospective students looking to enroll in the school in the fall can still apply for the scholarship opportunity at apply.liu.edu/rn. No frauds allowed BBH Singapore recently addressed “imposter syndrome” through a project that celebrated professional success without the compulsive need to humblebrag or negate achievements. The two-week project, spearheaded by four interns in the agency's Barn Internship Program, corralled business professionals to contribute their experiences with this self-doubt. The LinkedIn campaign page for "Our Imposter Stories" showcased several prominent members of the public, such as Jamus Lim (MP, Sengkang GRC), Alvin Tan (Minister of State, MTI) and Leanne Robers (co-founder, She loves Tech), and now houses a collective of testimonies and resources covering different aspects of the fraud phenomenon. Lastly, AIGA Los Angeles, the chapter of the professional association for design, is aligning with the LA Unified school district’s career technical education in arts, media and entertainment (AME) program to invite AIGA members from a variety of creative and design professions into the classroom to discuss their careers and share work examples. The alliance will also provide hands-on learning and workshops introducing design practices and applications. Before the end of the school year, AIGA LA facilitated two successful engagements, with an introduction to user experience/user interface design with Adobe’s Matthew Carlson and a workshop on journey mapping with Carbon Five’s Gintel Gee. Looking forward, the AME program will incorporate these topics into the curriculum along with additional volunteers and engagements. Interested participants are invited to email the group at lausd@aigala.org. Dove seeks to diversify advertising messaging