The world of advertising invites schools and colleges across the UK to participate in the largest industry-wide “Open Day” on Wednesday 12 November 2025.
Advertising Unlocked is now open for registration.
Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to take part in Advertising Unlocked – the advertising industry's largest "open-day". Sign up by Friday 2 May.
Sign up as an agency Sign up as a school/college
On Wednesday 12 November, agencies across the UK will open their doors to the next generation of talent, providing students with practical insight into adland through activities such as workshops, interactive discussions, office tours, and creative challenges. This is a unique opportunity to introduce students to the world of advertising, providing them with a chance to learn more about the industry and the careers it offers.
Watch highlights from Advertising Unlocked
Advertising Unlocked 2024 was a great success, with 77 advertising and media agencies hosting around 2,000 school children across 14 towns and cities across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Hear about the experiences from some of the agencies and schools/colleges involved below.
Despite [student] being a bit unsure about going to [an agency], he came back raving about his experience!! He really enjoyed it, and now wants to work in advertising...so a great success. Thank you so much for organising it and giving pupils the opportunity.
How it works
After you apply, we will match agencies with schools/colleges – all the agency needs to do is prepare for the students' arrival and the school will bring a group of students on the day. The agenda, timings and structure of the day are to be decided between agency and school, providing the ultimate flexibility and oversight you need to put on a fantastic event for everyone involved.
Matching is conducted based on availability, the number of students the agency can host, and the location of the school/ college to the agency. This means we might not be able to provide a match.
Activities at agencies around the country include:
- Working on real creative briefs and pitching their ideas to agency staff
- Developing social and experiential ideas into a fully-fledged ad
- Hearing from current employees in the ad industry and their career journeys
- Learning practical advice about getting into the industry through CV-building workshops and talks about agency internship programmes
The Advertising Unlocked team will provide you with resources and material to help with planning, creating an agenda, and next steps.
Have a question about Advertising Unlocked? Please check the Advertising Unlocked FAQs - and if your question hasn't been answered, please email adunlocked@ipa.co.uk.
Last updated 13 January 2025