Did you know that we met living unicorns? The ones that breathe, smile and speak human language. They exist, although it is harder and harder to meet them with every passing year. Of course we are not talking about the mythical horned horse, we are not that naïve. Plus, we would conjure such unicorn with help of CGI in just few hours. No. The real unicorn is a young person interested in advertising. For people like us, who love advertising and marketing, it’s hard to believe that younger generations don’t see something magical in our profession.
We wanted to see if we were alone on this planet, so together with mBank, we came up with workshops for people curious about advertising. We called them “Work In Progress.” This name reflects the nature of our work—even when we finish something and release it into the world, the market, the audience, competition, and a million other factors quickly change, making us start all over again. We admit that it’s not easy to live under such conditions and to constantly search for new answers and solutions. On the other hand, none of us knows of a profession as creative, passionate, and demanding of constant improvement, observation of people, and culture.
Work In Progress is an annual workshop for high school graduates and students. We don’t require anything beyond a willingness to learn about the behind-the-scenes of advertising work. We want to share our knowledge and passion, present work that makes us jealous, and show the challenges we face. It’s an opportunity to meet people on both sides of the process—the advertising agency and its clients. Together, we solve tasks, laugh at the world’s best commercials, and try to understand why it’s so rare to create something that most people like. Creative directors, strategists, marketing directors, account managers, ad producers, directors, and many other interesting figures who have a lot of stories to tell are mentors during the workshops.
The Work In Progress workshops are free of charge. They take place in Warsaw, and are more than just a learning opportunity. After two editions, we see that it’s a place to make new contacts and friendships. Those who come up with the most interesting ideas, the most unconventional approaches, or extraordinary enthusiasm are invited to a paid internship at the agency. For many, it’s the first opportunity to peek into any kind of job and take a closer look at the most boring part of adult life—besides doing the dishes, of course.
Two people who completed their internships have already received and accepted job offers at Molecular Worldwide. They are a young strategist Ola Szajnecka and creative creator Sylwia Sobol. Both of them are assigned to interesting and ambitious projects, but also to those that require good craftsmanship and more reliability than creativity. For both, we have a lot of warmth and kindness because work is not just about duties but also about the best human relationships.
We are looking for unicorns, and we find young and curious people. We can’t promise them a life paved with roses, but we will happily show them what work combined with passion can look like.