BBH London hunts for the UK’s most diverse creative minds to join The Barn

BBH London is on the hunt for ten of the UK’s most diverse creative minds to join The Barn, a fully-paid creative education course, designed to make the advertising industry more accessible.

The eight-month course was the creation of legendary Watford Advertising Course leader Tony Cullingham, who sadly passed away last year, and is now led by former BBH creative chief Nick Gill.

The scheme is open to anyone, regardless of their experience - the only qualification someone needs is to have brilliant, original creative ideas. Applications open from 29 May and will close on 28 June.

Successful applicants will start the eight-month course on September 30, with immediate access to BBH’s knowledge and senior talent, other top creative agencies and a range of guest speakers and mentors. At the end of the course, BBH will offer jobs to the best creative talent and help all students find employment or placements in the industry.

Previously, BBH gave junior creative roles to Aishah Siddique and Marlon Rees, who helped dream up Paddy Power’s Ballon D’Art and Katy David and Simran Sidhu, who created the most recent Tesco Mobile campaign. Other former graduates have gone on to find roles at companies including Lucky Generals, Mother and Channel 4’s in-house agency 4Creative.

Replacing BBH's original placement scheme with a creative course run by Tony Cullingham was the idea of Helen Rhodes, BBH Executive Creative Director and a former student of Tony.

Before Tony’s untimely passing, he selected the class of 2023-24, so Helen invited Nick Gill, one of the UK’s most celebrated creatives, to lead the course and honour Tony’s memory.

Nick is responsible for some of BBH's most awarded work, including Axe ‘Getting Dressed’, Vodafone ‘Mayfly’ and ‘Time Theft’ and Barnardos’ ‘Believe In Children’. He led BBH’s creative department for 10 years and was Campaign's Creative Director of the Year for three years running.

Nick said: “Taking on the challenge of The Barn in honour of my friend, the brilliant Tony Cullinghan, has been a rewarding and humbling experience. Tony worked so hard at unlocking creative minds and helping young people find a place within our industry. I’m proud that BBH is continuing on that mission. I can’t wait to get started with our next intake.”

Helen Rhodes added: “The one and only Tony Cullingham could never be replaced and we miss him every day, but Nick’s done an amazing job with this year’s Barn. Like everything he does, he’s committed 110 per cent and it’s been a great year. I’m excited to see what they all achieve. Apply now!”