The advertising industry has a problem. Access to creative jobs requires portfolios, and the training needed is costly and time-consuming, creating huge barriers for many aspiring creatives. In 2020, the industry finally asked itself, “How can we provide opportunities for historically underrepresented creative talent?” At Goodby Silverstein & Partners, we also asked ourselves, “How can we create a solution that’s not performative, actually does what it’s intended to do and provides ongoing opportunities?” The Academy at GS&P was created as a permanent, tuition-free, sustainable training ground for young talent who lack access to training—and the jobs that require it.

To launch a career in advertising as a copywriter, art director or graphic designer, a portfolio is required. Expensive, for-profit portfolio schools have historically provided a path for aspiring creatives who could afford to set aside two years and tens of thousands of dollars to develop necessary skills and a portfolio. This dynamic has drastically limited the pool of talent. And in 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States snapped racial and socioeconomic disparity into clear focus.

Adding to the challenge, agency clients began to expect—and often demand—diversity across the table at meetings with their agencies. And wait; there’s more: Not only is diverse talent sparse, but also portfolio-school enrollment is shrinking, and there are more companies—agencies plus, increasingly, in-house creative groups—vying for a rapidly shrinking trained talent pool.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education.” This is a charge we take to heart. The Academy is tuition-free. We provide travel stipends. We adjust the curriculum and schedules to meet students’ financial, personal and familial responsibilities. The requirement to pay and set aside two years for a full-time commitment are eliminated.

But we don’t stop at “inclusive and equitable.” We also focus on the word “quality.” The director was recruited from a leading portfolio program to ensure a concise and effective curriculum. Instructors have included a team who were the most awarded creative team at Cannes in 2021, agency creative directors who shot Super Bowl commercials, a designer who is a social media influencer and creatives at all levels of the agency. These are the folks who do the job every day and share their insights. Additionally, each student is assigned a dedicated mentor who advises them throughout—and beyond—the program.

The Academy doesn’t just educate a diverse cohort each year; it enables the students to be competitive in a very competitive job market, with a commitment to continue educating a fresh cohort every year. The agency plans to hire approximately 30% of the graduates each year, and the others are prepared to work elsewhere, with skills to succeed and add their voices to the industry.

Situation:

● Over the past five years, portfolio-school enrollment has fallen.

● More companies are looking for top young talent—not just agencies but in-house creative groups as well, putting pressure on companies to find talent.

● In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement in the US awakened a need to provide access to top advertising jobs to everyone, not just those who can afford the time and cost of training.

● Clients are demanding diversity in the staff of their agency partners.

Brief:

Create a solution to offset the costly talent pipeline and barriers to entry for a diverse pool of aspiring creative talent.

Objectives:

To create a permanent resource for aspiring, young creative talent to learn and develop a portfolio at little or no cost.

It’s no secret that in the US, barriers to accessing top advertising jobs have limited the diversity of creative talent, voices and perspectives. It’s an industry that requires skills and portfolios, and the financial responsibility for learning those skills and developing those portfolios falls on those who are seeking careers.

In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement in the US awakened the nation and shed a bright light on the failures of the ad industry to work in a real way to provide opportunities for historically underrepresented voices.

What if we create a yearlong, on-site, tuition-free portfolio school taught by some of the brightest minds in the industry? We then could not only develop our own copywriters, art directors and designers but also might succeed in adding some fresh voices throughout the industry—voices the industry lacks, desires and very much needs.

To the two founders of the Academy, the need was apparent. One founder, the agency’s director of talent, noticed a decrease in available top young talent at the same time that diversity in creative departments became a virtual industry mandate.

The target was, simply, creative talent who cannot afford portfolio schools and the time required to attend a full-time school to develop skills.

When GS&P launched the Academy, we used various tactics to spread the word and accept applications. They included the agency’s social channels, personal networks, influencers in the Bay Area, and national and regional organizations focused on diversity and equity. We also leveraged the ad press with articles in trade magazines.

The Academy’s message at launch was that its curriculum was developed by an 18-year veteran of advertising education with a track record of placing thousands of creatives in the industry.

The Academy at Goodby Silverstein & Partners hired a full-time director and launched with a website, social media accounts and PR that garnered close to 300 applications. From the pool of applicants, 14 students were selected. Over the academic year, 37 instructors taught 27 different classes, including Strategy, Typography, Headlines and a collaborative Capstone class focused on solving issues in society. Classes met (and continue to meet for the second cohort) two to four evenings per week inside the agency’s San Francisco office. Students have 24-hour access to the building, with a dedicated Academy room replete with a printer, snacks and art materials.

Graduation for the inaugural cohort, self-dubbed “The Control Group,” was attended by over 100 guests, including family, teachers, and agency partners and founders.

For year 2, the Academy also received approximately 300 applications, and the 15 students selected are thriving.

The Academy has graduated one class of 14 students, all of whom received job offers in the industry, with four of them now working in GS&P’s creative department. The inaugural cohort included 79% people of color; the current cohort is 87% people of color. In some cases, graduates of the Academy not only discovered their creative voices but also discovered the industry itself. They are now lending their voices on work for big-name, national clients. Importantly, exposure to this diverse group has had a profound effect on the instructors in the program as well. Thirty-seven instructors have had the opportunity to hone their skills as creative directors and mentors. They have developed empathy for young talent and their unique struggles. The Academy has, in essence, become a training ground not only for the students and their future careers as creatives, but also for the teachers as agency leaders and mentors.

GS&P’s CCO, Margaret Johnson, has said that a goal of the Academy is to, in at least a small way, change the industry by creating access to historically underrepresented creative talent. That is the ultimate goal: To encourage an real change in advertising education and have agency creative departments that think, look and sound like the nation who will see their work.

To that end, we are currently selecting the third cohort. As applications come in, they are, year over year, more competitive and more impressive.

As an agency, GS&P hopes to continue feeding the industry young talent while also providing a pipeline to our own creative department.

Our campaign is an in-house educational program so we weren't able to measure carbon emissions.