Starting Out fifth foundations

I was always one of those classic people who had no idea what they wanted to do in life. I toyed with job ideas ranging from accounting to firefighting – though I’m not sure being Fireman Sam would have done much for my street cred. I always pictured myself working in an office but hated the thought of working in a stuffy corporate world. At the same time, I loved all things art, crafts, and design. One day, someone suggested advertising to me, and that changed everything.

Not being the academic type, I never really considered university until I stumbled across a creative advertising course. It sounds dramatic, but that course genuinely changed my life—if I hadn’t found it, I think I’d still be lying on my parents’ sofa. For the first time, work made sense to me, and more importantly, I actually enjoyed it.

University was great. My course mirrored the real world of creativity, and I worked in a creative duo, which allowed me to focus on art direction. The course opened a lot of doors – regular trips to agencies like Ogilvy, McCann Bristol, and Havas gave us real-world experience. These felt like competitions I had to win, so we put everything into every pitch.

That hard work paid off. In our final year, our university was allowed to put forward ten students to showcase work at the D&AD New Blood Festival. My creative partner and I made the cut. We took full advantage of the opportunity, pestering Creative Directors for book crits and attending every talk and workshop we could.

Then came the unexpected twist: our course leader picked us to present to the New Blood judges. We dropped everything, pulled together a last-minute presentation, and delivered it in front of 30 industry professionals. The next day, judges were looking for us at the festival, we had won a spot in the New Blood Academy.

The Academy was an intense, surreal week spent learning from some of the best in the industry. At the end, we had to present our work to over 100 industry professionals, which was absolutely terrifying. But it was worth it because that’s where we met Shane, Simon, and Laura from Prism Sports & Entertainment (now VML). They had remembered us from book crits on day one and had been trying to track us down for a potential job.

Welcome to the Real World

Fresh out of university, waiting for a job offer… It felt like a lifetime. I spent six months working on my portfolio, arranging meetings in London with creatives and CDs, siffing out placement opportunities and staying in touch with the Prism team, hoping for my first real opportunity.

And then – BOSH! A job offer… as a store manager at Co-op. Not quite what I had in mind, but a boy has to live. For the next six months, I juggled that job while making monthly trips to London to maintain my industry connections.

Then one day, mid-milk-stacking, I got the call. A job offer at Prism for me and my creative partner. Needless to say, my notice was handed in immediately—like a young King Curtis, they were never seeing this face again.

In the Industry

Finally, we were in – Fresh junior creatives in the fast-paced world of sports and entertainment. We were thrown in at the deep end and learned advertising and content creation in the best way possible.

Early on, we got amazing opportunities—shooting content for Holiday Inn x London Marathon, and creating comedy skits with F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo. Everything was going great… until someone ate a bloody bat.

Covid struck and suddenly the world of sports sponsors went into panic mode as without live sport events, brands had nothing to post. What followed was months of frantic, intense work as we scrambled to keep brands relevant. My creative partner and I ended up working solo just to keep up. That period forced us to grow into ‘all-rounders,’ each developing a broader skillset. After three years (and a promotion) at Prism, I got a message on LinkedIn. The SVP (EMEA) of The Fifth, Sam Coleman, slid into my DMs with a job opportunity.

After a few interviews, I knew this was my next step. I took the leap, went solo, and started as a mid-weight creative – working my way up to senior by saying yes to everything thrown at me. I picked up new skills in content creation and production as we won more social accounts.

Final Thoughts

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend my path to anyone, but if I had to give advice, it would be: just be a doer. Don’t wait around for others. Keep up with your connections, try new things, and just do it. A liitle bit Shia LaBeouf, but you get the picture.

You can find out more about Sam and connect with him here on LinkedIn.

Check out our previous Fifth Foundations below:

How I Swapped Fashion Journalism for Influencer Marketing: Fifth Foundations

Fifth Foundations: Joel Newman, Associate Creative Director

Fifth Foundations: Laina Claydon, Marketing Executive