W+K’s cream of the young creative
By Hugh Jordan. Fresh talent. Wieden + Kennedy London yesterday launched its Platform initiative, giving a group of bright young minds the opportunity to work on briefs for some of the world’s biggest brands.
The lucky 13, cherry-picked from around the globe, all come from an arts, science or technology background. They will pass a minimum of six months at W+K, with two-thirds of the time spent on business projects – communications, strategy and the like – and the remaining third on vocational projects. Along the way the group will receive training from a variety of mentors, all from an arts, science or technology background themselves, all top practitioners in their respective fields.
“The idea for Platform grew out of a project we’ve run for the last three years called W+K-side,” says Sam Brookes, md of Platform. “We’d take in four people each year from outside the advertising industry and get them working on briefs for some of our clients. Seeing the way they approached the briefs, the ideas they came up with, was a real inspiration”.
So much so that W+K has scaled up the operation considerably.
The Platformers will work out of a specially built extension to the agency’s Shoreditch offices. All are paid weekly and, if they impress over the six months, have the chance of a permanent job.
With so much on offer, W+K wanted to make sure it selected the cream of up-and-coming talent. That meant going international.
“We did a huge recruitment drive at top educational establishments across the globe,” says Lucy Collier, placement coordinator for Platform. “We seeded an advert through all of our available networks to ensure that we attracted interesting, creative, culturally aware people.”
Over 200 people applied, with each responding to an online brief and creating a video profile. It was then down to Collier to sift through applicants and select the best for an open day.
An equal amount of work went into securing patrons for the project. Global strategist Russell Davies, Deep Kailey, fashion editor at Vogue India, and Jeremy Ettinghausen, head of digital publishing at Penguin, have all been confirmed as mentors. They are not paid and must give up time to impart their knowledge to the young Platformers.
So, what’s in it for them?
“The benefit for the patrons is that they get to work with young, fresh, not yet fully formed talent,” says Brookes. “A Platformer can also work on projects for the mentors too, effectively as a freelancer. It’s a skills exchange.”
As this is Platform’s inaugural year, Brookes says the next six months will be a steep learning curve for everyone involved – including her.
“It is quite difficult defining what exactly Platform will be until we see the talents and skills at our disposal,” she explains. “Once that happens will have a much clearer idea of what the future holds.”
