By Matt Gardener, YB Victoria Co-Chair
2018 has been a massive year for Youngbloods Victoria. After four years of inactivity we brought the committee back to life, and hosted several highly successful events.
We kicked off the year with all the right ingredients: a committee hungry to re-ignite an important part of Australian advertising culture; a hint of legacy, which put us on the right track; and a bucketload of ambition.
The first thing we needed to do was to make sure we felt up-to-date, and relevant to the market we were trying to address. So, we developed a fresh new brand identity, and launched our return with the first event in four years! And in typical Youngbloods fashion, it was a party.
Initially, we were unsure how the event would go; after all, coming back so many years of inactivity we were not even confident the demand for Youngbloods was there. Little did we expect to sell over 200 tickets – a sign of the amazing things to come.
Next up, was the inaugural Youngbloods Speed Mentoring event. This was an opportunity for young suits to get personal with industry leaders from their field. On the night, Youngbloods, The Communications Council and iPopulate played host to 80 young-guns of the communications industry and 40 of our industry’s best. The mentees were left filled with sound advice, thoughtful anecdotes and a belly full of beer. The mentors told us they felt a renewed appreciation for, and faith in, the next generation of young professionals who will change the face of the communications industry.
What happened next was incredible. Seemingly out of nowhere, Youngbloods Victoria was offered the exciting opportunity to compete in ‘The Pitch’ on The Gruen against our NSW counterparts. The brief was to develop a 30-second TV ad convincing ‘millennials to move to the country side’. Youngbloods Victoria responded with the idea of Festiville – A town/festival hybrid, where millennials could live, and party 365 days a year. Thanks to the strong insight, the spot really resonated with the judges. However, it was not enough to get us the W, as NSW was able to source a spectacular director and production company, willing to work for free — producing a beautiful spot *cough* cheats *cough*. The end result — a draw… Until next time, NSW 😉
With a short gap before our next major event, we initiated a new ‘casual drinks’ initiative encouraging the young people of the industry, no matter what department or agency, to come for a casual drink and meet their counterparts from other agencies. The night was a success, with over 200 attendees and countless new connections made.
We finished up the year on a strong note. In November we held our ‘Career Limiting Moves’ event, hosting some of the industry’s most seasoned vets for a night that’s dedicated to their greatest stuff ups. The event was a smash-hit and the topics, ranging from interoffice love, to pitch disasters, and to edit suites catching on fire, were unreal.
After a successful 2018, 2019 is looking promising for Youngbloods Victoria. Plans to develop partnerships, scale and finesse event offerings along with diversity of events are all in the works. Stay tuned for next year! It’ll be a big one.
