The IPA, in partnership with TikTok for Business, has launched a new ad campaign featuring popular TikTok creators to attract a more diverse audience of talented young people across the UK, into the advertising industry.
The campaign has matched four successful content creators including, Benjy, Walid, Hannah Beau and Abbie Blyth, with five top advertising agencies including Havas (London), VCCP (London), VMLY&R (London), Wavemaker North (Manchester) and Leith (Edinburgh), to showcase the opportunity that a job in adland has to offer with the aim of engaging and inspiring young people from all backgrounds.
Following their visits to the agencies, the content creators developed a series of videos to bring to life the types of agencies that exist, the cultures of the agencies and the variety of job roles available. Crucially, it also signposts those watching to join 'Step into Adland' open days in November where any individual (aged 18+) can apply to experience agency life in one of the profiled agencies, to see if it appeals as a career option.
The initiative draws on the success of the firmly established IPA Advertising Unlocked programme, the annual cross-industry open day, where hundreds of agencies welcome in around a thousand school children to give them an in-depth understanding of ad agency life. The Step into Adland partnership with TikTok was initiated by former IPA President and VCCP's International CEO and Vice-Chairman Julian Douglas and has been developed by current IPA President Josh Krichefski to address a core thrust of his presidential agenda to open people’s eyes up to the wealth and breadth of job roles on offer in adland and in doing so attract the best talent.
To showcase the opportunities our exciting industry has to offer and to attract the best and most diverse talent of the future, we have to actively go where these individuals are.
"And, as the latest IPA TouchPoints data shows, with over half of 16-24s using TikTok - and for the best part of two hours a day - I believe there is no better way to reach an audience that wouldn’t necessarily come across our industry let alone consider a career with us than by teaming up with them and their influential content creators. In doing so, we hope to build a more diverse workforce that will expand horizons, offer new perspectives and grow our businesses."
"We were honoured to be asked to support such a positive and important initiative by the IPA. The IPA Advertising Unlocked programme has been incredibly effective in supporting young people taking their first step into the world of advertising, and we’re incredibly happy to be able to play a part in expanding this programme through Step Into Adland."
Creators are the lifeblood of TikTok, so being able to work with them, the incredible agencies - who volunteered their time, office spaces and people, and the IPA all for such a positive cause has been a thoroughly rewarding experience and one we hope we can replicate in the future to continue to address a challenge that affects us all.
The ad campaign and accompanying organic content will roll out on TikTok from this week onwards. Watch the ads on Tik for Business (@tiktokforbusiness) and the full content on the IPA’s TikTok channel (@the__ipa).
The longer-term ambition for the initiative is to increase the number of agencies participating over the years and to be able to chart the careers of those who pursue careers in the advertising agency business as a result of taking part.
In addition to this new Step into Adland initiative and Advertising Unlocked, the IPA has recently worked with ScreenSkills on the Discover Creative Careers 2023–2025 programme which aims to inspire young people across England to pursue a career in the creative industries. The industry-led initiative has been awarded more than £1 million from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to develop and deliver a programme of hybrid opportunities, resources and activities that will ensure there is a larger and more diverse intake of talent via a broader range of routes into the creative industries.