Unsigned Union Returns to Give Up-And-Coming Talent a Foot in the Door

Six of the country’s top agencies are combining their considerable creative power and prestige yet again to give amazing unsigned talent from all walks of life and backgrounds the tools to get signed. 

Lucky Generals, BBH, Mother, VCCP, New Commercial Arts, Wieden + Kennedy and Leo Burnett are holding another ‘Unsigned Union’ event dedicated to celebrating and supporting underrepresented creators in the advertising industry, whether they be photographers and directors or animators and illustrators or anything in between. 

You can see a teaser trailer showcasing some of the artists and their work here:

But they are calling on industry leaders to go and see the talent on display for themselves and find roles for them in their businesses. 

This year the event will be hosted by Lucky Generals. To promote the event, the agency has also created this energetic and captivating teaser trailer that beautifully showcases the skill and talent that will be on display. 

Gary McCreadie, the deputy ECD at Lucky Generals, said: “This is the sixth year of the Unsigned Union and it has just been a conveyor belt of amazing talent from all backgrounds and walks of life. Many have been signed up, but not enough for us to feel like our job is anywhere near done - so we are calling on anyone looking to fill their businesses with true talent who will deliver new and interesting ideas to come along and sign someone up.”

Taking place on July 6th at 160 Exmouth House, PineStreet, London, the event will provide exposure for the talent as well as giving them access to opportunities and mentorship programmes within advertising that they may otherwise not get. Creative Mentor Network, a UK-based charity working on making the creative industries more accessible and inclusive to young creatives from lower socio-economic backgrounds,a social enterprise set up to create a more accessible and inclusive future for young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, will also be on hand on the night to support unsigned talent and help businesses attending understand how they can make their workplaces more accessible and offer the unsigned talent coaching and advice on how to get a foot in the door in advertising.

The initiative was originally launched by BBH in 2018; this is the sixth year the Union has come together to showcase some of the most progressive talents in the industry. Many of the talent discovered by Unsigned Union have gone on to be signed by a number of companies. 

Directors have been signed by Link, RSA and Black Dog Films, while some of the photographers have had their work featured in places as varied as The Tate Britain to British Vogue, Vice, INDIE Magazine, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, and Refinery 29 and for clients such as Chanel, Zadig & Voltaire, l'Oreal.