DON’T MISS THE GRIFFIN FARLEY’S BEAUTIFUL MINDS STRATEGY & PLANNING BOOT-CAMP THIS SUMMER

 BICsters be on the lookout for the application deadline (sometime in June)

Last summer, I attended the Griffin Farley Beautiful Minds Program. It is a strategy & planning boot camp inspired to mentor young talent who want to break into the increasingly competitive advertising industry as strategists or planners.

The program takes place at BBH New York and lasts for 4 days.

How the program works:

The first day is the networking day where you get to meet your group members (they randomly divide you in groups of 5-6 people), chat with aspiring planners and strategists just like you as well as industry well established professionals who are the speakers or program mentors.



The second day is when the program officially kicks off.
The day starts at 8 am with a series of great speakers sharing their own insights and experiences: how they got their first job, advice on how to transition into the industry, what are the best strategically driven campaigns and etc.

They assign you a mentor, to help you navigate the whole process and provide industry expertise and guidance. Then the brief comes (everyone gets the same brief. Last year the client was UBERPOOL). Once of the program leaders gives some client background:  who they are and what is business problem meant to be solved.

Then everyone breaks into their own groups with their respective mentors and TIME TO GET SOME GRINDING! Your better have a sense of urgency because you have 24 hours to come up with an interesting solution/ idea/ insight to present the next day to the judges.

                                      


The third day is the PITCH: where your team gets to present your idea to a panel of experts/ judges. The challenging part is that the pitch is timed, so you have 10-15 minutes to go over everything!
After all the teams have shared their ideas, the judges meet and get to decide which are the 3 finalist teams who get to present their idea the following week in GOOGLE.

The fourth day is the GOOGLE presentation. It is a very exciting day for the finalist teams, since not only they get to share their thoughts and ideas but also present it in front of a huge audience full of recruiters, heads of strategy and planning and related industry experts, followed by a networking event afterwards.

The program is really well known in the industry. For example a week after the boot-camp was finished we received an invitation from McCann to attend one of their strategy panels followed up by a networking meeting as well. 



              

Key takeaways:

1-      To receive, first you have to give: seeing all these industry leaders and mentors freely giving their time, caring about the next generation, fostering talent, developing great minds to continue the legacy of Griffin Farley as well as all the people who came from all over the world just to participate in this program is very inspiring and reminds you that to receive first you have to give.

2-      The importance of networking, investing time to grow your own network of like-minded people who challenge you and inspire you to work harder and be a better version of yourself.  
3-      Be a sponge: always be learning and on the lookout for conferences to attend, networking events or competitions to participate, because you never know where you are going to get your big break!

In conclusion, if I had to describe the program with one word I would say: magical. One of the things that motivated me and inspired me the most was getting to learn the story behind the creation of the program.

"In February 2013, Griffin Farley lost his battle with mesothelioma. While he was a Strategy Director at BBH New York, Griffin dedicated much of his time to aspiring planners/strategists hoping to break into the industry. So many junior strategists got their first coaching, their first training, their first career advice, their first ‘Don’t worry, let me explain….’ from Griffin. We'll never forget him and his unrivaled generosity. The advertising industry is becoming increasingly competitive. More than ever, aspiring planners need people like Griffin. We created the Griffin Farley Search for Beautiful Minds to capture Griffin's spirit and continue his legacy.”


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