D&AD New Blood Academy with WPP

The Brief:
As the world's largest communications services network employing 190,000 globally, WPP sought to recruit exceptional young talent, align their brand with creative excellence and build stories within the creative press.

Key Shared Objectives:
1. Prepare young creatives for jobs in the industry.
2. Create an authentic and valuable learning experience.
3. Connect exceptional talent with WPP agencies.
4. Raise awareness of WPP amongst graduates.
5. Demonstrably show that WPP cares about creativity.

Our Response:
D&AD runs the 40-years-strong New Blood Awards, a programme that distributes design and advertising briefs by consumer brands to 2,000 University courses around the world. Thousands of entries are submitted annually with approximately 200 Awarded and deemed THE prime talent pool by the creative industries. Whilst New Blood Award winners are typically able to deliver brilliant ideas on paper, they struggle to secure jobs due to lack of industry connections and the confidence to pitch themselves and their ideas.

Simultaneously, WPP lacked an established scheme to recruit junior creative talent.

Our big idea saw us inviting WPP to sponsor and fund an extension of the New Blood Awards programme in the form of a two-week creative boot camp. Titled the New Blood Academy with WPP, we positioned the programme as higher education’s 'missing semester' and the ultimate prize for New Blood Award winners. For WPP, we would hone the skills and mindset required by industry but forgotten by University. For prize-winners, we would prepare them for the realities of industry, and upon completion of the Academy provide them with a strong creative voice, a book of contacts, and job opportunities.

Project Detail:
D&AD staff collaborated with WPP agency directors to feed in desired skills during the selection process, devise multidisciplinary curriculum, lead workshops, and provide mentorship to students all to ensure the Academy invested in talent most hireable for WPP agencies

The Academy class represented graduates from higher education creative courses such as art direction, copywriting, graphic design, film, animation, and user experience/user design. They worked in pairs and groups throughout the two weeks for exposure to disciplines they may not have had in their course, preparing them for collaborations common within the industry. Mentors also represented various disciplines to demonstrate how their skills translate into professional roles and to show the breadth of opportunities available in the industry.

An authentic and valuable learning experience was then delivered over two weeks. Here are some of the highlights:
> A half-day session generating ideas on tight deadlines with Nick Eagleton, Creative Director at London design studio The Partners.
> A half-day session to refine presentation skills and build self-confidence at Punch Drunk Theatre Company’s highly stylized experimental village in North London.
> A full day immersive experience working inside of Google Labs using artificial intelligence tools to drive social change.
> A lecture revealing the creative process and storytelling techniques of Award-winning commercial director Dougal Wilson, the mastermind behind John Lewis Christmas ads.
> A half-day session for individuals to examine and establish their creative values with athlete Charlie Dark, founder of Run Dem Crew, a 500-strong running collective of creative minds.
> Five teams of five formed to work in-house at a top London agency to respond to a commercial brief and compete in a pitch event. Agency hosts and mentors included: AKQA, Fitch, Grey, Brand Union, The Partners, VBAT, Addison Group, Ogilvy & Mather, Wunderman, VML, Landor, Geometry Global, J. Walter Thompson.

D&AD amplified WPP’s creativity and career opportunities by activating the partnership in the following ways:
> Digital marketing to position the New Blood Academy with WPP as the ultimate prize for the New Blood Awards. Social posts and presence on D&AD’s New Blood homepage featured highlights from past Academy years and alumni success stories (100,000+ visitors annually).
> A mural of the “Fifty Faces to Watch” from the New Blood Academy with WPP class of 2017 live-illustrated by artists Marylou Faure at D&AD’s New Blood Festival, the highest footfall event for graduates in London. The co-branded mural became one of the most Instagrammed features of the 2017 Festival.
> A 30-page supplement inserted within the September issue of Creative Review, a UK-based trade publication for the creative industries. The Academy class of 2017 spent one day writing and designing content to fill the 30 pages that best showcased their experience with WPP, learnings from the curriculum, and their individual talents. 7,000 were mailed to subscribers and 14,000 impressions and 122 engagements were generated from content available on creativereview.com

The Results:
21 of the 50 New Blood Academy Class of 2017 were employed by WPP.
To add context to this impressive employment statistic:
> 14% of Art + Design Graduates are employed in their sector after 6 months [Higher Education Statistics Agency, UK 2016/2017 Summary]
> vs.75% of Academy attendees were employed in creative positions after 6 months
> Class of 2017 saw 75% of attendees being hired in junior creative roles 42% of which were in the WPP network

The benefits of the New Blood Academy with WPP are on going for both D&AD and the global network. D&AD has gathered unparalleled insights into the skills needed for successful creative careers that it has used to develop a night school for non-University educated talent and a global online curriculum. WPP has provided direct pathways to employment and increased retention for top talent.

“From where I sit [the Academy] is a fantastic way for our agencies to get a head start on the best talent coming into the industry. So the more of us that get involved, the better. These young talents will get hired. They will be the future. Let’s make sure most of them join us!” -John O’Keeffe, Global Creative Director, WPP

As a result of the Academy, WPP agencies have been connected with exceptional talent. The following case studies represent a sampling of alumni currently employed within the WPP network:
> Aileen Poe
Current role: Senior Designer, FITCH
“From day one she showed a level of maturity and strategic thinking that instantly caught our attention. She has been involved in a range of projects– not least playing a fundamental role in McLaren and Adidas accounts. Both of which she has helped develop client relationships and produced beautiful and effective design.”
-Matt Michaluk, Creative Director, FITCH
> Joanna Osbourne
Current role: Junior Copywriter, Ogilvy & Mather
“When she first came to Ogilvy, she was already a very good writer. But in her time here, she's gone from strength to strength. She is currently working across all of our Unilever clients, from purpose-led social campaigns, to hard-working product TV ads, to high-profile global brand re-launches. It's tricky stuff. But she's taken to it all like a duck to water.”
-Jonny Waters, Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather
> Mark Nevard
Current role: Junior Designer, Addison Group
“We’ve got to compliment D&AD for identifying him, and encouraging him so that we could then reap the benefits.”
-Peter Chodel, Executive Creative Director, Addison Group

Additionally, awareness of opportunities with WPP amongst the creative industry and graduates seeking jobs has increased. D&AD’s post-Festival survey results compared with the post-Academy survey prove WPP is seen as a desirable employer.
> 100% of alumni are likely to recommend the New Blood Academy with WPP to others.
> 100% of alumni said the New Blood Academy with WPP prepared them for work placement at a WPP agency.
> 94% of alumni were inspired, challenged, and satisfied with their Academy experience.
> 94% of alumni gained a “more familiar understanding” with what WPP has to offer as an employer vs. 14% of Festival attendees who say they have a “familiar understanding” with what WPP has to offer as an employer.
> 89% of alumni said the New Blood Academy with WPP had a direct positive impact on their career trajectory.

Not only did the New Blood Academy with WPP excite graduates about entering industry, it strengthened internal ties amongst the hundreds of WPP agency employees who engaged with the young talent throughout the programme and connected them with their creative roots.

“It’s an honour but for us to take part in the Academy is also incredibly important. Not only do we get exposed to the best of the best talent in the world but also it’s what reminds us of the reasons why we got in the industry. It reminds us why creativity is so useful, it reminds us what it’s like to nip at the heels of other people and the importance and usefulness of youth in creativity.” -Ian Wharton, Group Creative Director, AKQA