Boldspace has created a programme that enables students to learn about the various marcomms disciplines before immersing them in agency practice.
Through a partnership with IntoUniversity, the programme targets aspiring university students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The ‘Boldspace Syllabus’ breaks down communications and PR, brand strategy, creative advertising, and analytics into 26 bite-sized video modules led by senior team members.
Students get to explore different disciplines before attending a live Q&A with Mike Robb (co-founder and managing director), Nick Ford-Young (co-founder), Matt Weston (creative director), Lou Kelly (associate director) and Therese Moriarty (head of data and analytics).
The course is open to sixth form and university students. IntoUniversity alumni students can then apply for a week-long course at Boldspace’s offices in July, where they can attend talks in the morning and work in teams on real briefs from the agency's clients.
Boldspace said it will provide ongoing mentorship to students who attend the course and will offer a number of graduate scheme placements.
The new approach was driven by a motivation to overcome what Boldspace leaders describe as work experience placements that are little more than a “superficial CV-boosting exercise”.
“The system has been broken for as long as I have known it. Work experience often means very little – it is an inconvenience for managers, impossible to secure independently for young people and virtually useless to both parties,” Ford-Young said.
“Real experience needs real understanding and real work. By giving young people a whistle-stop educational tour of all vital aspects of our industry – from brand-building to analytics – we are not patronising them, but giving them the chance to experience integrated communications early enough to hopefully help persuade them to one day consider it as their career. 2020 shone a light on what we need to fix: in 2021 we intend to do our bit to contribute to fixing it.”
IntoUniversity centre leader Tom Hainge said Boldspace’s immersive experience focus showed “a real commitment to providing a truly valuable base for our students to begin looking towards a career in the advertising, marketing and PR industries”.
“Having three hours of bitesize lectures puts the agency back in the hands of our students and gives them the tools to develop their understanding on their own terms,” he added. “We hope that this set of insight lectures will provide our students with the knowledge they need to feel empowered to actively consider a career in these fields.”
