Thinkerbell launches Thrive@55; the internship program that’s only available to people aged 55+
Thrive@55 is an 8-week fully-paid internship at Thinkerbell, one of Australia’s hottest creative agencies, and as the name suggests it’s only available to people over the age of 55.
This is probably discriminatory to everyone else. Did the lawyers advise against it? Yes.
But the reason Thinkerbell is launching Thrive@55 is there’s a growing and obvious age gap in the majority of companies operating in advertising, public relations and media in Australia, and indeed the world. In fact, Just 5% of ad agency employees globally are over 50, with the median age for employees sitting at 38.
Says Emma O’Leary agency C.O.P. (Culture, Operations and People): “We’ve created this internship program because our older generation are massively underrepresented in the advertising industry, and have a lifetime of experience to bring to our agency, and our industry. We want our staff and clients to benefit from people with years of life experience, and vice versa.”
Thinkerbell is looking for spritely people over the age of 55 to bring their magic, and experience to the agency, across creative, account management, office management, finance, media, digital services, illustration, strategy, photography – you name it.
Says O’Leary: “You could be a retired hotel concierge that’s interested in running our front of house, a detective who wants to do some insights work, or a newspaper cartoonist who’s looking for the next creative challenge. We don’t mind where your experience comes from, as long as you think you have something to give to our industry.”
Applications for the internship are live today and will close on October 20, 2020. From there, applicants will be shortlisted and selected via an interview process, with applicants considered in both Thinkerbell’s North and South offices (Sydney and Melbourne).
If you’re excited, and a little bit scared, by this opportunity visit thinkerbell.com/thrive to apply.
Oh, and to all you youngsters out there who might feel unfairly treated, don’t worry, we’re always on the look-out for great talent, of all ages – just contact Thinkerbell directly with your enquiries.
49 Comments
Maybe there are so few older people in the industry because one gets to an age and discovers the excessive hours and pressure to continue to fill the meaningless vacuum is not worth it?
I’m 33 and I feel this way.
Thinkbell will do anything for a headline & angle for agency of year entries
But still looking forward to this agency doing some decent work.
ok grandpa time to put down your sangio and get on the tools
show us what you’ve got
Interesting. What if I’ve been in the industry for 30+ years already though? Do I have to intern again?
Why not actually hire some 50+ people rather than put in this tokenistic, headline-grabbing effort?
“We’ve created this internship program because our older generation are massively underrepresented in the advertising industry, and have a lifetime of experience to bring to our agency, and our industry. We want our staff and clients to benefit from people with years of life experience, and vice versa.”
The reason older generations aren’t represented in the industry is because agencies aren’t willing to pay/can’t afford those with years of advertising experience.
This will be good for the odd 55+’r who wants or needs a change of career.
But it will do nothing to solve the real problem of ‘aging out’ which plagues the industry.
I am definitely interested in your Thrive 55. When do yo9u think your next round will be available. Thanks, great idea.
but have a look at their ranking on Best Ads… someone is liking their stuff.
PAID internships for people under 20 would be good also. The industry is age-ist, it’s just the younger people don’t get paid at all and work for free-ish.
So young people don’t get paid anything.
And old people don’t get hired at all.
When do I start to rake in the cash they promised me in uni?
I think it’s a great idea. Well done Thinkerbell. Love to hear how it goes.
said no one ever
As someone who ‘studied’ advertising at uni, I can’t quite tell if you’re serious or not.
Did anyone actually ever tell you to expect a lot of money working in advertising?
I was told very early on that this was industry grossly underpays for 90% of your career, and then you’re booted out when you’re too old.
Their work is trendy and gimmicky. Not once has any if their work made me jealous. Furphy. Nearly. But this agency just seems so needy for attention, relevance and dialogue it doesn’t produce quality classic work. The Vegemite cricket piece was mediocre in its craft. So I sadly agree. After 4 years they must be exhausted. Or they may be happy being a near enough agency. World class they are not.
It’s a great initiative that should be applauded!
Ageism is a real issue that many agencies talk about however very few actually do any thing about.This is action that will make a difference. Stop slagging from the sidelines and do something at your agency to improve diversity.
Never waste a crisis hey.
When the haters hate you
Top idea.
I don’t think they are haters. They are genuinely questioning why they get so much attention for producing such….
Which successful company do we hate this week? CHEP? Deloitte? Thinkerbell?
I’ve always wondered about the phrase “keyboard warriors”. The word, “Warrior” suggests bravery, but anonymous trolls don’t really fit that description. Well done, Thinkerbell.
Fuck, I think this is amazing. No one who is currently 55 is retiring at 65. We’re all going until we’re at least 70, and anyone under 40 with mediocre superannuation savings thus far, probably longer. So this is a really exciting prospect for people looking for real change when they’re getting filtered out of all sorts of roles day after day, week after week. It’s about time someone made a step forward to combat the ageism in our industry. I too am looking forward to see what comes of this. Diversity is more than ethnicity, sex, sexuality and gender. Ageism is the glaringly bright pink elephant in the room that will affect each and every one of us more than any other industry. Hopefully this inspires more change. And as for the haters… Thinkerbell could fucking invent the cure for cancer and you’d still say it was shit work. Try saying something nice, huh?
This is a brilliant concept for so many reasons – not the least actually finally facilitating real diversity in agency land.Maybe its also smart forward thinking to look further than their own navels and possibly identify who is going to have the consumer dollars when we get into and out of this recession. Maybe thinkerbell are gearing up with the the people who know how to talk to the next most important consumer audience.
And Stop with the cynical hating of everything – you are embarrassing.
Good luck to all involved and I hope we get to see and hear from some new “old” faces in the industry for a change.
Back in 2015, I played a 70yr old who wasn’t cut out for retirement, so then I interned at a hip online fashion site – Hilarity ensued!
How will the oldies fit into the Tinker/Thinker job title nomenclature? My submission is Wrinkler
I object to the word spritely (on several grounds) but applaud the initiative!
Despite what you think of the Thinkers and Tinkers and their little bells, I’m not sure how anyone can begrudge this initiative. Walk into any creative department and most would be in their 20’s. Our industry doesn’t respect it senior thinkers. And most who have been in the industry for less than 10 years walk around with a sense of entitlement and without the same work ethic.
I applaud Thinkerbell. Not sure I’d PR it as it come across disingenuous. The name “Thrive@55” is also a bit gimmicky too. So if I’m 54 or 58 I can’t apply?
I love the idea. Life experience teaches us so much. Having the wisdom to solving complex problems whether they’re business, emotional or relationships has got to be a bonus in any business. Plus the younger people learn and are taught ways to navigate the highs and lows of this fun and creative business. Everyone wins. Ideas can come from anywhere.
Hi all thanks for the positive comments and support of this idea. We’re glad so many are seeing it for what it is, a sincere, creative, and ultimately we hope a useful idea to address ageism in the industry…. (particularly relevant for advertising creatives / readers and commentators on this blog).
Fantastic! I’ve been advocating this for a decade. Just so hard to get people in Mngt at agencies and clients to face demographic realities. It’s an ageing but not old populations marketplace. The future for any business is the New Life Builder ( the 55-75.year olds)… Well done to all
An award winning Writer / Researcher with 31 + years of expertise earned in India and internationally. Disciplines covered are > multi-media Advertising Campaigns on a pan-India basis ; Corporate Reputation specialist with four rigorous models published in leading India periodicals; which have been successfully deployed for large PLCs for IPOs, Rights Issues and various other objectives. An internationally trained Account Planner at Lintas, London . A superior Strategist for Alcoholic beverages, Beer, Iron and Steel. Petrochemicals and the InfoTech industry. Have been lead Communications Partner for IBM, HP, Intel, Novell Networks, AutoDesk, etc. I would love to work for your team – this reference was provided by Dave McCaughan.
Rich in talent and famous in Bombay >http://events.exchange4media.com/ink2015/Rajendra.html
If Tinkerbell are doing something good, which they are, they deserve some credit. Great work guys
Emma. You may not write a lot of press releases so you should be more careful. . Your grammar needs some old skool correction. It should be “…generation is…” not ‘are”.
So, the good, experienced, well-travelled folk at Thinkerbell – between them – don’t know any brilliant 55-year-olds in advertising, who are out of work and need work, that they could employ? Then again, a quiet, simple initiative like that would never come to an award juries attention, would it?
….nor would it raise awareness of the issue.
Yeah, no one knows about ageism in advertising. Such a hidden, silent malaise.
if you worked in the 80s/90s and didn’t make a motza when the cash taps thundered like niagara, then maybe you deserve to be eating tinned soup while raging at millenials from your la-z-boy. ya blew it!
this little anon’s career strat is to not blow the budget on sangio and nudie jeans and be out of it before it does me in.
p.s. this is a young man/woman/they’s game because they squeeze the life out of you, particularly in 2020 with the hyperspeed-turnarounds. not sure if my ticker could handle this post 45, but good luck. i’m sure you’re good with markers.
As someone’s who’s mum became redundant from her dream job and needed to switch careers in her 50’s I think this is awesome. She had to retrain herself in marketing and working her butt off to be a wizz at a lot of new tech, but still employers consistantly choose young people over her, even though she brings a completely different perspective. Age-ism is so real in Australia and to give people over 55 a shot of making it in this industry as a newbie, while still bringing years of other experience into an agency, is an amazing thing. Fuck yeah Thinkerbell.
This is a good idea.
I know a 55+er that applied, haven’t even received an automated response.
I can understand people selling their ideas when advertising paid better. I really don’t know why people would enter the industry today. Why would you work ridiculous hours creating ideas that try to make someone else rich? As the barriers to starting a business/building your own product has never been lower, my question is why wouldn’t you try and spend the time doing that? Why offer an industry skills and experience that are simply not respected? As Bob Hoffman recently stated, “People over 50 are creative enough to dominate the Nobels, Pulitzers, Oscars & Emmys but {supposedly] not creative enough to write a fucking banner ad.”
As ideas go, this is no game changer. But as an awareness piece, this is really nice work. Kudos to Thinkerbell – and all up-and-coming 55-year-old interns to be.
What’s with your graphic? The person on the left looks like an 85 year old creative cliche & the guy on the left looks 35!
Are you just looking for kooky creative cliches that you’ll use to plug yourself to show “what you’re doing for the poor old oldies”.
What about just regular looking oldies, who just look plain & average, who had a good solid career rise in the advertising business until they hit their 40s & are from then on completely ignored.
This age-ist issue in the advertising game wouldn’t be there if agencies like you hired “older” people (from 40 & up) as a REGULAR UNSAID practice & not have to make it a point & that that you are doing us a favour!!!??!!!
It’s Christmas Eve, and after four rounds of the interview panel with Thinkerbell (Jim Ingram, Emma O’Leary and Pip Butler) they didn’t offer me their Thrieve@55 internship.
But given their level of interest, it’s obvious that the package that I offer as a Mature Elder is quite appealing.
So as my goal is to maintain my zest for living, let’s chat.
Bernard Kelly 0414 778 518 bernardkellygeelong@gmail.com
Genius
Sadly, the advertising office conditions that over 55’s are used to are long gone. Not only no offices, but even more hellishly, sometimes not even any cubicals – only shared tables. No sane person over 55 can cope with such noise, distractions and nonsense. Or the massive change in office culture where one is expected to ‘guard one’s mouth’ against Woke Millennial monitoring at every moment of the day. Fuck THAT, kids.
I think this is a great concept and I hope it takes off as I know many in this age group able to fully commit to employment and would thrive due to it. Myself at 60 unemployed and having had a lot of medical problems during the last five years, with three and half years of the last five years whereby I was medically unsound to work. My thinking is that a medical certificate of soundness would have to be a must as training and financial input should not be at a loss. I worked for as long as was possible to commit fully to my employers. I think this concept should not be abused by those willing to take and not give back fully. I know my local government employer was happy to employ 55 plus but I thought some of these employees a waste of resources as some older employees were at work but not technically working as prepared to rode on the back of other employers. Remaining in employment only to increase their super, but not all were like this. I think most of us will work until we can’t commit successfully anymore. Food for thought.