Why Young Talent Should Be the Defining Force of Creative Organisations

Where, as world-class professionals in world-class creative organisations, is our attention directed? Is it towards making things we are proud to be known for?

Is it at increasing shareholder value for our clients? Creating a sliding baseline in both the ability of our teams and the degree of invention in each project? Or is it directed at the increasing profitability – read: ‘efficiency’ as rates are unchanging – of our own companies? For any and all of these things, the provision of opportunity for young talent is as close to a silver bullet as can be found.

Above: Ian Wharton, group CD at AKQA

The prevailing (and unsound) criticism of declaring such value of young talent fluctuates between ‘we’ll invest in their training and they’ll leave to use it elsewhere’ and ‘this only adds fuel to the widespread millennial entitlement syndrome so they become impossible to manage’.

As a countermeasure, industry systems such as processions through funereal graduate selection schemes and ballooning title hierarchy are too often still in effect. These accomplish one of two things; either they dismantle so much confidence that many young people think they aren’t worthy and live in fear of underperforming, or they turn new talent away from agencies altogether to pursue endeavours more suited, such as startups or, in a new trend, seek agent representation as individuals. 

D&AD New Blood in all its forms, as an exhibition, award programme and two-week Academy where fifty Pencil-winning students are housed inside 10 WPP agencies, is proof alone of the merit of young creatives. If not already, it should be a highlight of your year. Reflecting on New Blood 2018, here are four reasons young creatives deserve our attention.

"The first one through the wall always gets a little bloody. This will be your young talent."

1. Their prime motivation is output

Not remuneration, which sits midway down the list. Not awards. Not a hand on the next rung. Output is what sits at the top. If young people can feel fulfilled in the intent and direction of their ambition – which is context-dependant and requires managers to act as diagnosticians – the work will have all of their enterprise and imagination. The concepts of failure, politics and resting on laurels will not serve as even momentary distractions. Work they are proud to be known for, and that is all. A nice reminder.

2. They want that work to have a successful outcome

These young people are not looking for benefactors. Increasingly they come out of education understanding commercial reality and yet are astute enough to not let it police their creativity by dwelling on precedent. This is combined with first-hand kinship with a demographic notoriously difficult to advertise to and yet one that holds the keys to the kingdom for brands. The byproduct of this is longterm shareholder value from communication that has a mix of the illogical and the accountable.

"Are we being the expectant audience of young talent? Are we providing platforms for their careers in our organisations?" 

3. They want to be continually tested

The first one through the wall always gets a little bloody. This will be your young talent – people in perpetual education who are not yet at the point where they feel the need to look like they have all the answers. Emerging technology will thrill them, but be courted with enough suspicion so its application has meaning and not used simply because it’s within reach. If provided room to take leaps of faith, young talent starts a chain reaction of up-skilling and innovation.

4. The overwhelming majority are, or want to be, multi-disciplinary

What the world demands of creative people is diversity and depth of thought. People who are hard-coded to turn their hand to unforeseen circumstances. Even desire them. Young talent sees creativity as being wholly transferable. They have been afforded this exploration by not knowing anything other than having access to the means to learn almost any skill online. A writer is a photographer. A designer can make films. An illustrator animates. Young talent enables a broad application of creativity from lean teams that have resilience to seismic shifts in channels and tools. Brilliant, immediate efficiency. 

On the question of our attention, are we being the expectant audience of young talent? Are we providing platforms for their careers in our organisations? And are we inviting their influence on our teams and processes? We have everything to gain, if so.

See the winning work of D&AD New Blood here. Meet the Academy students here.