IAS launches Upstarts for young industry professionals

With the aim of making the communications industry fun, engaging, and educational, Upstarts was created by a passionate group of nine young professionals in marketing and communications roles at various organisations in Singapore.

The organisation held its first event last Monday at the BBH Singapore office, attended by more than 200 young communications professionals in agency and in-house roles around Singapore, as well as several students from tertiary institutions getting ready to enter the industry.

Sir John Hegarty, founding partner of BBH, was the keynote speaker at the event, giving a talk on “10 reasons why this is the best time to be in advertising”.

His presentation included several examples of award-winning work that gave the audience a glimpse into the critical role that technology has played in helping communications professionals tell compelling stories over the years, and also gave them a sense of the power that professionals in the communications industry have to start debates and effect change.

Lindsey Cummings, chairperson at Upstarts, noted that there have been very few platforms in the communications industry which cater to professionals who are in the early stages of their careers and that offer them the opportunity to develop new skills and network with their peers.

“Almost all the existing industry events are targeted at senior professionals with many years of experience, and as a result youngsters are often hesitant to network, or feel that the content of the talks and seminars is simply not relevant to them,” she added.

“We saw the opportunity to establish an organisation that celebrates the hard work of young people in the industry in Singapore, and also provides them with the tools and inspiration to keep getting better.”