Grace Blue Launches TRANSITION Ad Campaign to Assist Advertising, Media and Marketing Professionals

Grace Blue Partnership, the global executive search business, has released details of a new advertising and marketing campaign for TRANSITION, its free to use online platform for displaced talent. The campaign, developed pro-bono by adam&eveDDB, will run across premium digital out-of-

home sites in the UK and US, through inventory donated by Ocean Outdoor and Outfront Media, coordinated by Posterscope.

The campaign comes as support for the site grows from companies and associations including TikTok, PwC, Deloitte, Channel 4, Karmarama,

Childs Farm, the PRCA and the ICCO. TRANSITION has received sign-ups from hundreds of professionals worldwide, with 50 employers looking to access talent, offer mentoring and support professional development with content.

The campaign, with the headline ‘Working from home is tough. Not working from home is tougher.’ runs for a 10-day period, acting as a call-out for all advertising, marketing and media professionals impacted by Covid-19. It launches as the furloughing scheme enters its final phasing-out stage and the true level of redundancy to hit the industry will become clearer. In the UK, the campaign will run in the advertising, media and marketing sector’s creative hubs including London, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds and Edinburgh, including on the iconic Piccadilly Lights screen. In the US, the campaign will run across several sites in Times Square, New York.

Research of sign-ups to TRANSITION in the first two weeks since launch has revealed that 45% have recently been made redundant, from a mix of agencies (68%), advertisers (19%) and media owners (13%). A further 16% of sign-ups are worried about their job security while another 10% have been furloughed. The remainder are either looking for inspiration to support their careers or are from employers and associations looking to provide advice and guidance.

Juliet Timms, founder of Grace Blue Partnership, said: “Firstly, I want to express our thanks to the brilliant creative contribution from adam&eveDDB and the generosity of inventory from Ocean Outdoor, Outfront Media and Posterscope. It is wonderful to see such collaboration across our industry in support of TRANSITION and the many people affected by the Coronavirus crisis. There’s no doubt talent faces a tough time over the coming months but we are determined to do all we can to make sure the loss to our industry and its marvellous talent base is minimised as much as possible.”

The company continues to call for support across the community as the crisis brought about by Covid-19 disrupts employment in the world’s advertising, media and marketing industries.

TRANSITION is now supported by more than 40 global trade associations and organisations including the WFA, IPA, 4A’s, ISBA, The Marketing Society, Advertising Association, D&AD, Spikes and NABS. The partners are providing content and support for career development and, where applicable, new job opportunities, in a response to the widespread impact on talent retention. The site also includes current job opportunities from organisations including Amazon, Snap Inc and Headspace, with the anticipation that this will continue to grow. Organisations are encouraged to join the efforts to create opportunities for those who find themselves out of work.

Grace Blue, which has offices in London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai, estimates the Covid-19 crisis could have implications on the career development of advertising, media and marketing professionals, posing a real threat to strategic, creative and technical capabilities for brands around the world. TRANSITION has been created to limit this impact by providing a community platform for displaced talent to rapidly connect with employers who are fast adapting to a different set of customer behaviours and need specialist expertise to transform business models.

The list of partners for TRANSITION is as follows:

World Federation of Advertisers, Advertising Association, The Marketing Society, ISBA, 4As, IPA, MAAG, AAMS, WACL, NABS, MGGB, AAF, IAB UK, D&AD, DMA, WARC, Market Research Society, Spikes, Marketing Academy, Marketing Week, Headspace, Amazon, Snap Inc, Fortnum & Mason, UK Learns, AnalogFolk, Flock, The 3% Movement, The Female Quotient, DeGennaro, IICO, PRCA, Oyster Catchers, Diageo, PwC, Channel4, Deloitte, The Guardian, Vayner Media, Karmarama, Havas Health and You, TikTok and Childs Farm.

Any organisation that wishes to support – whether a company or trade association – should visit the website.