Every year, Spikes Asia offers 15 students from the Asia Pacific region an exclusive learning opportunity at the Young Creative Academy. The Academy’s three day programme is tailored to the specific needs of students pursuing a career in creativity under the age of 23, and includes bespoke tutorials from industry figures alongside access to relevant seminars from the main Festival programme.

A Dedicated Programme

The Young Creative Academy students have the unique opportunity to enjoy:

Special guest lectures from world-class speakers, specially designed for the Academy students. Seminars and workshops held during Spikes Asia. Access to exhibitions of the most innovative ideas from the region and beyond. The Young Creative Academy is organized in association with Cheil Worldwide.

The Course Mentor – Noor Azhar

Having practiced advertising as an art director at CreAds Advertising and Batey Ads (where he also interned in his school days), Noor Azhar went on to set up a boutique agency “Just Media” heading its creative department. He has worked with brands at many levels, but he finds working with local and inspiring brands seeking to find that brand voice in the cluttered market most challenging and fulfilling. His job as a creative person has brought him to service accounts from New York to the Maldives

Open Student Competition

The Young Media Academy is a three day structured programme of intensive learning themed around creativity in media, especially for young media professionals aged 28 years or under, working within media agencies and media owners. The objective of the programme is to demonstrate the value of creativity in media, whilst providing participants a greater understanding of the regional media and advertising industry.

The Programme

Taking place during the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, the students at the Academy will follow a bespoke three days of learning incorporating exclusive academy presentations from industry leaders and thinkers, attending sessions scheduled at the main Spikes Asia forum and by viewing screenings of the work.

The programme includes:

Understanding and proving effectiveness
How do clients judge creativity
Understanding the ways clients think and act – insights from regional brands
Deconstructing analytics and metrics in a creative advertising world
Understanding the challenges of social media and measuring ROI
The technological evolution of media, channels and consumer behavior

The Course Mentor

Phil Talbot is the former CEO of ZenithOptimedia APAC and Founder and CEO of Asia Communication Expertise. He has had over 25 years advertising experience and is widely regarded in the industry for his breadth of knowledge, strategic insight and leadership.

Phil has always put success down to having the right people working together as a team. He has mentored and developed some of the best CEO’s and their teams in Asia. Phil is respected for his passion in helping people realize their ambitions and as such, is the ideal person to lead the Young Media Spikes Academy.

The relationship between client and agency is a key component to effective and award winning advertising and it’s the responsibility of the account management team to manage this relationship.

Behind every famous category-breaking idea, campaign or programme is a great account leader. The Young Account Executive Academy is an exciting new programme designed to inspire and equip young agency account executives with the tools to lead and achieve ground breaking creativity for their clients and their companies.

The programme will not only focus on how to build stronger client relationships but also provide a deeper understanding of how creativity is making the difference for both the client and the agency.

The Programme

Taking place during the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, the participants at this Acdemy will follow a bespoke three days of learnings incorporating exclusive presentations from industry leaders, attending sessions scheduled on the main Spikes Asia content program and by viewing screenings of the work

The programme of training includes:

Creating a bravery culture
Uncovering the insights of the brief and the motivating desire for the brand and client
Creating the idea, for the idea
Inspiring idea development
Selling your idea to win
Execute the “product” as big as the idea

John Wright’s career spans leading advertising agencies J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy & Mather, Chiat Day Mojo and The Campaign Palance in Australia, UK, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

In his roles in client and agency management he has worked with companies like Qantas Airways (Global Account Director), Westpac, Carlton and United Breweries-Fosters, DHL, Coca Cola, Gulf Air (Middle East, Africa, Asia), American Express (Middle East), Unilever, Nestle, Jacob’s Creek wines and Cadbury. John has specialized experience in multi country and cross-cultural marketing communications.

John has a Diploma in Advertising from the University of South Australia, the Communications Advertising and Marketing Diploma (CAM) from the London College of Communication and the Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training (Australia). He is a part time lecturer/tutor in advertising strategy, principles and practice at the University of Technology Sydney, and is also the Australian representative for the Gunn Report.

The Young Spikes Marketers Academy is a special bespoke three day learning programme that is held during the Spikes Asia Festival. The Academy is targeted at marketers and brand managers, aged 30 years or under that work at client organizations.

The Academy explores the importance of why creativity matters for brands today. The programme includes identifying trends, looking at the impact of digital, exploring how creativity can be effective and discussing the client/agency relationship.

There is a mix of sessions including specially selected Spikes Asia Festival seminars and exclusive presentations. These sessions are structured around the following topics.

Why creativity matters for today’s successful brands
Understanding how brands are successfully integrating creativity into their strategies
Creative effectiveness-the measurable nature of creativity and why it has a proven impact on business
The impact of digital – how technology has revolutionized creativity in communications
The modern brand
Managing the creative process – how to get the most out of your agency

Delegates will hear from creatives from organizations representing the worlds of music, film production and design, among others. Creativity is at the heart of all the sessions.

This Academy is ideally suited for advertising managers, brand managers, business development managers, communications managers, marketing managers, media managers or sales managers.