NABS Fast Forward Team Winners Announced

A team of rising stars from across adland have been revealed as the winners of Fast Forward, our industry’s renowned pitching training programme run by industry charity NABS.

Fast Forward has been running for 26 years and has trained hundreds of talented adlanders, boosting their confidence and mental wellness as well as their skillsets.

Team Gen-Hope won the pitch by responding to a live brief set by The Children’s Society. The Children’s Society is a national charity working to transform the hopes and happiness of young people facing abuse, exploitation and neglect.

Team Gen-Hope's members were: Jack Bear, Cherry Thinking; Louisa Baker, Group M; Adeola Bankole, Outernet; Oliver Burton, News UK; Peter Lord, Adam & Eve DDB; Jack McManus, Reach PLC and James (Jimmy) Wynne, Accenture Song.

The team’s mentors were Chris Mitchwell (OMD), Emma Munro-Faure (Gamble Aware) and Hannah Brady (Craft).

The core proposition for their winning pitch was: “Gift your story to help save theirs.”

Josh Croston, lead creative, The Children's Society, said, “Working with NABS has not only been a brilliant cross-charity experience that supports future industry leaders, but it has also proven that when the industry pairs brilliant thinking with a passion
to support children and young people, everyone can benefit. The way this year’s teams rallied around our retail brief in order to help us overturn the decline in children’s wellbeing has been incredible to see and we’re very thankful to all of the participants
for their time, effort and brilliant ideas.”

Altogether, 52 talented people attended Fast Forward. Each delegate was picked by their employer to attend. Course fees, paid by the employer, go straight back into NABS so that the charity can continue to advance the mental wellness of the industry. 

James Appleby, chair of Fast Forward and managing director, Conquis, said, "This year's Fast Forward course has been a brilliant example of how much passion there is in the new generation of our industry. They soaked up every masterclass from our speakers and
put each one to work in their pitches, as well as injecting their own team's character and creativity. It was great to see such positive work in a just a few weeks.”

Sue Todd, CEO, NABS, said, “The industry and NABS continue to support Fast Forward because we know how vital it is for people to experience these learning opportunities together. It’s not just about development, although that’s crucial; it’s about helping delegates to build their networks as well as their confidence and hopefully friendships."

To register your interest in signing up your talent for Fast Forward 2026, click here.