Nurturing Fresh Minds: The Platform Encouraging Young People in Advertising

Getting into the advertising industry is not a simple process for many, and the route for anyone with the ambition of working in the creative sector can be unclear for those just starting out. There’s an irony there too in that it is a business sector that is largely obsessed by youth, and so involving young people in developing campaign ideas and strategies would seem obvious – however, that is still rarely the case.  

And has proven the core mission of a new platform named Fresh Minds, which will attempt to support young people entering the ad industry to gain a footing and confidence in making themselves heard.

Inspiring Fresh Minds

This was a point made by Zoe Scaman, founder of strategy studio Bodacious, when she posted to LinkedIn querying why more industry publications didn’t cater to younger people and calling for a junior edition to be produced.

“When it comes to actual Gen Z individuals who could share their real-life experiences and offer unique contributions, we excel at silencing them,” Scaman tells Creative Salon.

“Instead, we prefer to keep the attention and recognition with the seasoned veterans. And while their wisdom is valuable, they are not attuned to the emerging trends and significant shifts on the horizon. The saying goes that 'youth is wasted on the young', but in reality, we're wasting it by not listening to and learning from them. This industry desperately needs fresh blood and fresh perspectives. It's insane to me that this hasn't already been happening,'” Scaman continues.

Little did she know at the time, her point would inspire a solution that would be live within months.

Founding Fresh Minds

Zoe Mann and Alex Orton are both at the beginning of their advertising careers, with Mann having graduated from studying Creative Advertising during the pandemic in 2021 and Orton studying Human Geography, before discovering VCCP’s Ad School. Three years later she continues to work at the agency as a planner.

Mann now freelances having held internship roles before working with chief strategy officer James Whatley, who has been one of the industry professionals to support the pair iin setting up Fresh Minds – a platform that aims to give young professionals a voice.

The pair were introduced by planning director Rob Estreitinho, who was one of many to comment on Scaman’s LinkedIn post and thought they would work well together, and it seems he was correct in that assumption.

“We were keen to independently develop Fresh Minds and shape it to the needs and interests of juniors like ourselves,” explains Orton.

“Our intention is to make Fresh Minds an accessible and welcoming writing opportunity – contributors do not need to have previous writing experience, and we’re offering to support them should they need help or want to improve on their writing,” she continues.

The platform will operate each month and a form will be released that includes nuggets of inspiration and prompts while inviting juniors to share their responses and points of view and observations on topics that interest them. These will then be curated into a monthly newsletter.

The platform launched on 23 July to provide juniors with a space where they can practice writing and sharing their thoughts and provide senior advertising professionals with a place where they can hear diverse perspectives.

The aims

There are various outcomes that Mann and Orton hope will be achieved for their peers through engaging with Fresh Minds, not least helping to find routes of employment within the advertising industry.

Mann explains that it is a particularly competitive field to get into: “A lot of entry-level roles require experience, and the salaries tend to be very low. We hope that Fresh Minds can help contributors boost their CVs.”

And with experience, will come confidence for young people in how they communicate with more experienced and assertive individuals they will initially find themselves working with, which can prove daunting.

“Juniors often come from backgrounds where they are unaccustomed to boardroom environments or public speaking, and so may need encouragement or assistance in expressing their thoughts. We've been lucky to be supported and encouraged by some fantastic mentors and colleagues, but not everyone has that support system,” adds Mann.

And related to that, is the potential for younger professionals to be underestimated, and feel that their opinions are overlooked. However, the duo believe that the perspective is being lost as a result, and their ability to see certain things through a different lens, is missing. The platform will showcase that too, they intend.

The Evolution of Fresh Minds

Since launch, they have received numerous messages of support from people working within the sector who recognise the problem and welcome the idea of a newsletter that is open to a range of juniors keen to work in advertising.

They hope that the community it builds will help open up mentoring partnerships, training opportunities and junior job promotions. They have already been contacted by several industry leaders keen to offer mentoring opportunities since announcing the platform, they reveal.

And over time, once Fresh Minds is more established, a social presence is being planned.

“In the longer term, we are also keen to offer our community of juniors opportunities for networking and training sessions, focused on key skills for empowering juniors such as gravitas workshops and public speaking sessions. But for the next few months, our focus will be rolling out the newsletter,” adds Orton.

The first monthly Fresh Minds newsletter will be released in August.