The Brief

For far too long our industry has complained about the lack of great young talent. But is there a lack of talent, or have we not been looking in the right places? Too much emphasis has been placed on what a young graduate studied in school. The fact is, we need people that can think, not just draw. And we believe that Ideas can come from anyone. So we opened our own school, and invited any recent graduate with Ideas to attend, regardless of what they studied in university.

Creative Execution

In China, changing studies at university is extremely difficult, and getting a job outside your degree is almost impossible. We wanted to change that. And offer anyone with a love of communication, and the ability to think of Ideas an opportunity to pursue their dreams. We value Ideas above all else. So it was only natural to create a school who's only admission requirement is Ideas.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

While the school itself was our solution, we needed to attract the right people to attend. So we created virals and print that inspired graduates to “put their heads to better use.” They were driven to our campaign site to register, and asked to complete a screening brief—think of an Idea to help China Postal Service by making letter writing popular again with youth. Given the 5-week commitment the school required, we hoped to receive 50 applicants to the school. We also wanted at least 50% of the applicants to have non-traditional communications degrees.

Results

We hoped for 50 applicants, we received 389. 73% of the applicants studied non-traditional communications degrees. And the two we hired, the two with Ideas that outshone the rest, had studied finance and computer science. 6 months after the school, we reconnected with the other 48 students. All had found employment, and all stated that the school had helped them decide what to look for in a good job.