Ogilvy launches a selective training programme for university students and graduates

21/03/2023

Pour it in and be ahead of the game, is Ogilvy's call to students and graduates looking to start a career in advertising. For them, the agency is launching the first year of Zero - a selective training and career programme that gives students an insight into the advertising business under the guidance of industry experts. The spring run starts in mid-April and will offer two majors - creative and social media. These will be joined in the autumn by two more, focusing on PR and the workings of an advertising agency.  Participation in the programme is free, but only for the forty talents selected on the basis of the motivational material submitted.

"Marketing and advertising, like most industries, is facing a shortage of new talent. At the same time, when we interview people, we find that although they are interesting in terms of their personal motivation, they do not have the necessary experience or skills for the role. They also often have little idea of what it is like to work in an advertising agency and find it difficult to assess whether they would be attracted to the environment. That's why we've developed the new Ogilvy Zero training and career programme. Anyone interested in learning how the top professionals at Ogilvy approach their work can sign up for free. We then select the most interesting applicants based on the motivational material we receive. This can take any form - it can be a written text, a distinctive presentation or even a video. "
― Žaneta Lohrová Jedličková, HR Director Ogilvy

Ogilvy Zero is designed as a selective semester course with four separate concentrations. In the spring semester, Ogilvy Zero will offer "How Advertising is Invented and Produced," taught by Ogilvy creative director Tomas Belk, and "How to Do Social Media Advertising," taught by Barbara Šumanská, Ogilvy's social director. In the autumn, two more courses will be added: "How to create and publish stories that sell" and "How it works in advertising from A to Z". In each discipline, ten hands-on workshops of ninety minutes each will be held weekly for ten selected applicants whose applications are judged to be the most creative.

The most successful graduate of each of the four courses will be offered a three-month paid internship at the agency. Candidates from all over the Czech Republic are eligible to apply. The application deadline for the first two open courses is 5 April. The programme is primarily aimed at university students with an interest in marketing and advertising, who wish to start a career in marketing or communications and are not yet sure which direction or specialisation to choose. It is also aimed at graduates in these fields.

The project programme has its own microsite Nultak.Ogilvy.cz. The key visual is based on Ogilvy's corporate identity and symbolically works with the motif of an energy drink can - those interested in participating in Nultak can literally "pour" knowledge into themselves within the programme and thus be a step ahead in their careers. The first flag in the Ogilvy Zero promotion was the radio spots that aired on Radio 1 in late 2022. A social media recruitment campaign is currently underway, complemented by emails to universities in Prague, Brno and Zlín, posters inside selected schools and the distribution of flyers and branded cans of energy drinks in the vicinity of selected universities.

Credits:

Creative concept: Jan Fryč, Tomáš Belko

Art: Dominik Drábek

Strategy: Žaneta Rychtová, Nikola Klepáčková

Copywriting: Vlasta Tichá

Project management: Simona Jandová

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