AI BOOM THREATENS FIRST RUNG OF UK ADVERTISING CAREER LADDER AS JUNIOR TALENT FALLS 19%

Liberty Hive has launched First Flight to rebuild the advertising, media and marketing sector’s entry-level talent pipeline after the number of employees aged 25 and under at IPA member agencies fell 19.2% in a year.

Britain’s advertising and marketing industry risks creating a future leadership shortage as agencies cut back entry-level recruitment and artificial intelligence reshapes junior roles, according to specialist talent platform Liberty Hive.

The company is warning that a combination of economic pressure, changing agency structures, AI adoption and fewer graduate and junior positions is making it increasingly difficult for young people to secure their first professional role.

The consequences could extend well beyond today’s recruitment market. Junior account executives, planners, creatives and strategists traditionally form the pipeline from which agencies develop future Directors, Founders and Chief Executives.

Liberty Hive argues that reducing investment at the bottom of that pipeline risks creating a shortage of experienced people further up the industry in years to come.

The figures provide evidence of the shift. Employees aged 25 and under across IPA member agencies fell from 3,632 to 2,936 during 2025 — a decline of 19.2%.

AI AND EFFICIENCY PUT THE FIRST RUNG AT RISK

Artificial intelligence presents a particular challenge for the traditional agency career model.

As agencies use technology to automate or accelerate work previously undertaken by junior employees, businesses can potentially operate more efficiently with fewer people.

But removing junior roles also raises a longer-term question: where will the experienced employees of the future acquire their skills?

Employers are simultaneously demanding experience from candidates who have had fewer opportunities to obtain it, potentially creating a cycle in which talented young people struggle to enter the industry at all.

Liberty Hive believes the industry must therefore distinguish between using AI to improve productivity and allowing technology to undermine the development of its future workforce.

Chris Braithwaite, Commercial Director at Liberty Hive, said: “Liberty Hive and other industry experts are increasingly concerned about what’s happening at the very start of the talent pipeline. Brilliant young people are struggling to get that first opportunity, not because they lack potential, but because the opportunities simply aren’t there.”

FIRST FLIGHT TARGETS 18 TO 23-YEAR-OLDS

In response, Liberty Hive has launched First Flight, a new initiative aimed at helping high-potential 18 to 23-year-olds secure their first opportunities in advertising, media, marketing and creative careers.

Rather than operating as another CV database or conventional recruitment programme, First Flight will create a selected community of young candidates who receive mentoring, coaching, practical preparation and introductions to prospective employers.

Its founding cohort will comprise 30 participants.

They will be supported by Liberty Hive recruiters and former senior advertising executives, with the programme designed to add human guidance to a recruitment market increasingly influenced by automated processes.

“First Flight is more than a recruitment initiative,” Braithwaite said. “It’s a community built around people with passion, curiosity and determination.

“They’ll receive mentoring from people who’ve led agencies, practical experience and introductions to employers who genuinely want to nurture future talent. That’s something technology can’t replace.”

AMV BBDO TO HOST FIRST WORKSHOP

The pilot begins with a two-day workshop at advertising agency AMV BBDO at the end of September.

The programme will be curated by James Barnett, Founder of Real View Marketing, who spent almost a decade at WPP working across marketing and new business.

Barnett is also Fractional Chief Marketing Officer at 300 Consultancy, where he works with advertising agencies on areas including positioning, commercial strategy and new business.

Participants will receive practical exposure to agency life, career development and the skills employers currently expect.

The programme, however, is intended to extend beyond the initial workshop.

Participants will become part of an ongoing First Flight community providing mentoring, interview preparation, industry introductions and career support.

A DIFFERENT PROPOSITION FOR EMPLOYERS

Liberty Hive is also positioning First Flight as a solution for agencies struggling with the economics and complexity of junior recruitment.

Participating employers will gain access to a vetted pool of candidates who have demonstrated an interest and commitment to working in the industry, rather than having to work through large volumes of applications independently.

Liberty Hive’s recruiters will support the process by matching candidates with agencies and employers.

That model could become increasingly relevant if the industry finds itself caught between two competing pressures: reducing recruitment costs today while ensuring it still develops enough skilled people for tomorrow.

REBUILDING THE INDUSTRY’S TALENT PIPELINE

The challenge is not confined to advertising. Liberty Hive points to wider government analysis indicating declining entry-level recruitment across parts of the UK labour market.

However, the implications could be particularly significant for an industry historically dependent on people developing commercial, creative and client-management judgement through experience.

Liberty Hive believes employers and government should therefore consider declining early-career recruitment as a long-term skills issue rather than simply a consequence of a weaker hiring market.

First Flight’s introductory webinar takes place on 27 August, with applications for the founding cohort closing on 11 September. The first workshop will follow at AMV BBDO at the end of September.

Liberty Hive ultimately plans to expand the programme across the UK and establish new cohorts each year.

Its larger ambition is to restore a route into advertising and marketing for a generation entering the workplace at precisely the moment AI is forcing businesses to reconsider what an entry-level job looks like.

For agencies, the commercial question may be equally important. AI can remove work from the bottom of an organisation, but it cannot solve the longer-term leadership problem created if businesses stop developing the people who would eventually reach the top.