Advertising Council Australia (ACA) has opened enrolments for Semester One of AdSchool, alongside a new mentorship initiative designed to help advertising and marketing professionals step into more complex roles.
The AdSchool Mentorship Series gives professionals the chance to win three one-on-one mentoring sessions with industry leaders across client and account leadership, strategic planning, and management, offering practical guidance they can apply immediately.
“We’ve got an industry full of capable people moving into bigger roles faster than they are being trained for,” said Simone Goldstein, Head of Professional Development at Advertising Council Australia.
“Too often they’re in survival mode, running on autopilot and relying on instinct instead of actually leading the work. That only gets you so far. Mentorship and structured training give them the clarity and confidence to step up properly, with direct access to people who’ve done the job at the highest level.”
The 2026 mentor line-up includes Tori Lopez, Managing Director at Special Group; Zac Martin, Strategy Director, and Virginia Pracht, Head of Strategy, at TBWA\Australia; Sarah Wood, Director at Think HQ; and John Linton, Managing Partner – Strategy at Berlin.
AdSchool Semester One includes five courses — Core Strategic Planning, Advanced Strategic Planning, Account Leadership and Manager Fundamentals —which will run nationally over eight weeks, part-time from May through to July.
An Evaluating Media workshop, focused on navigating complex media conversations, takes place in Perth on July 10.
This year’s facilitators include Matthew Richards, Group Strategy Director at Ogilvy Australia; Simon Wassef, Group Chief Strategy Officer ANZ at M+C Saatchi; Edward Hughes, Client Services Director at BMF; Lisa Gumbleton, Group Head Creative Strategy & Client Management at Think HQ; and more.
Goldstein added: “At a certain point, you can’t hide behind execution. You’re expected to lead, make decisions and stand behind them. That’s where a lot of people realise they’ve been winging it. AdSchool is about fixing that.”
Win a Mentorship Series – submit entries by 30 April.
Semester One courses