The AA Relaunches Media Business Course to help drive Talent

The Advertising Association’s Media Business Course (MBC) is to return in 2022 and will be held in the summer on 5-8 July at the Grand Hotel in Brighton.

The course, founded in 1964, will for the first time be aimed at talent with four to five years industry experience, and has been reshaped in response to the results of the first inclusion survey of the industry’s workforce, the All In Census.

The MBC aims to aid the ongoing work to rebuild public trust in advertising and the industry’s talent crisis while retaining its time-old essence.

Delegates will be divided into syndicates to work on a blue-chip client brief and create a full media strategy before pitching against each other.

During the three-day event they are guided through the process by tutors who rank among the top strategic media talent in the UK, as well as given the chance to listen to a line-up of speakers from across media and advertising today.

At its last iteration back in 2019, the MBC course had speakers including included Rory Sutherland, vice chairman, Ogilvy UK; Karen Blackett OBE, country manager, WPP; and Alex Mahon, chief executive, Channel 4.

Stephen Woodford, chief executive, Advertising Association, said: “For over half a century, our much-loved Media Business Course has been at the forefront of supporting talent development needs and we’re delighted to be rebooting it this summer with a focus on building back better. This is a major initiative tackling the retention and development of talent: one of the biggest issues the industry will face next year. Never has it been more important to support young practitioners in developing the skills they need to make strides in their careers.”

Co-chairs of MBC, Karen Stacey, chief executive of Digital Cinema Media and David Wilding, director of planning at Twitter, added: “There really is nothing quite like the Media Business Course and we can't wait to bring it back to Brighton next year. More than ever the world needs big ideas, optimism and new ways of thinking and we want everyone who comes along to feel the energy of media planning and the vibrant advertising industry. It's an inspiring, hands-on celebration of the art, craft and joy of media planning taught by the best in the industry to inspire the next generation. We'd love to see you there.” 

Register for tickets here.