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The Young Talent Academy

The academy is open to professionals aged 30 and under working in Saudi Arabia’s creative and marketing industry who want to advance to the next level in their careers. Each academy brings the world’s most inspiring speakers to share their experience, expertise and creativity with participants.

Why apply


Expand your network: Surround yourself with a community of inspiring leaders and like-minded peers, who will inspire and motivate you to push boundaries, think outside the box, and create truly remarkable work

Stay ahead of the curve: Gain the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in your field. Invest in yourself and watch your career soar!

Unlock your creative potential: Explore opportunities to challenge the traditional norms and discover innovative ways to solve creative challenges. Be ready to push out of your comfort zone to help you grow both personally and professionally

Be recognised in the industry: Embrace the opportunity to challenge other young creatives and have your work appraised by a jury of industry leaders. Build confidence and raise the bar for creative excellence

“Leveraging the deep understanding of cultural nuances and incorporating them with mastery of art, copywriting, and technology, in order to deliver impactful solutions for brands.”

Rayyan Aoun
Executive Creative Director
Wunderman Thompson KSA

Young Talent Academy Timeline

Important Information

  • This pass is for working professionals 30 and under with at least 1 year of working experience in the creative and marketing industry
  • Applicants should have a good grasp of the English language – all academies take place in English and require discussion and collaboration
  • Before committing to attend the Athar Young Talent Academy, it is crucial to obtain approval from your employer and ensure that you have no conflicting prior commitments
  • Applicants must be based in KSA, with a working/residence visa. Any nationalities may apply

*Please note the programme may subject to change at organisation discretion

Monday 13 November

  • Registration
  • Keynote sessions
  • Hack brief & Team allocations
  • Hack workshopping

Tuesday 14 November

  • Keynote sessions
  • Hack workshopping
  • Hack submissions

Wednesday 15 November

  • Team presentations
  • Winner announcements

  • Accommodation and travel expenses will need to be borne by the applicant. The academy will take place at Hotel Crowne Plaza Riyadh RDC
  • The Young Athar pass for the two days of the Athar Festival, which includes lunch & refreshments on Academy days, content and networking opportunities (only winning teams will receive a seat at the Athar Industry Awards on 16 November to collect their trophies)

Young Talent Academies 2023

Academy Overview:
Future focussed design is pivotal in driving innovation and pushing the boundaries of the design world. Deep dive into case studies of groundbreaking design concepts that will ignite how you approach design in various fields. You will explore innovative solutions for shifting audience demands and identifying, pinpointing and understanding the needs of the consumer during the design process.
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Academy Overview:
Be inspired by a new approach to collaboration that consistently fuels inspiration. Learn how agency-clients can co-create to find powerful insights that lead to disruptive ideas. In this academy, you will learn how to ask the right questions to uncover hidden opportunities, embrace co-creative mindset leveraging combined expertise, and how to foster agency-client relationships that challenge norms and embraces fresh perspectives and innovative ideas
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Academy Overview:
From start to finish, a marketing plan integrates different marketing channels to create a seamless customer journey. Explore ways on how cross promotion across various mediums can reinforce the brand message and optimise audience engagement. In this academy, you will learn how to strategically select both traditional and digital channels based on the audience and campaign goals, measure the effectiveness of each communication channel, leverage the capabilities of  future centric mediums and how to integrate  them to the marketing mix.
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Academy Overview:
Resilient brands possess certain key qualities that enable them to withstand and navigate through various challenges and disruptions. These brands have a strong consumer-centric focus and strive to understand their preferences, behaviours, and expectations. In this academy, you will look at consumer behaviour, market trends and competitor strategies to refine your brand strategy, track the effectiveness of your efforts, and build trust and brand equity.
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Academy Overview:
Today consumers want their brands to address challenges and contribute to positive change.  PR plays a critical role in managing and enhancing a brand’s reputation. Led by industry experts, you will learn how purpose-driven PR initiatives build trust and credibility and shape public perception.
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Academy Overview:
Storytelling is a powerful tool used throughout history to captivate audiences across generations, and today storytelling is what captivates an audience and gives brands a voice. Today a new generation of consumers are entering the marketplace and language is pivotal in crafting narratives to resonate and build loyalty. Learn how to create authentic content that enlightens and influences Gen Z and Gen X and explore the secrets behind successful brand storytelling to speak their language, capture their attention and drive meaningful engagement to drive success.
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Academy Overview:
Words have the power to evoke emotions, drive actions, and create meaningful connections. Develop your writing prowess and hear from experts who will share their expertise in the art of writing persuasive and compelling content for a variety of mediums. The academy will explore persuasive writing techniques, creating emotional connections and leveraging social proof to influence decisions.
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Academy Overview:
Award-winning campaigns often stand out when they effectively address and solve real-world problems. In this academy, we analyse award-winning work using innovative, technological solutions to drive impact, shift society and culture and create positive change. Explore using novel and creative approaches aimed at making a difference.
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Academy Overview:
Brand experiences are powerful marketing strategies that aim to create memorable experiences for audiences. By focussing on implementing creative concepts and utilising immersive technologies to invoke feelings, marketers can elevate the brand experience to the next level. In this academy, you will  explore how creating seamless on-ground experiences build emotional connections, increase engagement and differentiate from competitors.
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Academy Overview:
It is important for brands to transform in the digital world, and to reach their customers through digital mediums. Digital transformation helps brands stay relevant, compete effectively and thrive in the face of future challenges. In this academy, you will gain an understanding of emerging technologies such as AI, VR and MR to capitalise data to anticipate trends, unlock valuable insights to engage audiences through captivating digital storytelling and drive brand growth in the digital space.
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Academy Overview:
Core of every brand reveals an unwritten story that moulds its values, mission and objectives. Equip yourself with the knowledge and insights to shape brands through compelling strategies. In this academy, we go beyond theory and dissect award-winning works to understand the strategic plans utilised that are aligned with the brand and learn how to leverage future centric technologies to analyse market and audience trends.  Gain skills to track campaign key metrics to make data-driven adjustments and measure results.
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Academy Overview:
Award winning campaigns leave a lasting impact by harnessing  game-changing channels  to amplify brand messages. Learn from industry experts the best practices that will elevate your media buying capabilities. In this academy, you will analyse case studies that showcase the power of inventive and strategic media implementation, learn to apply analytical techniques to evaluate media ROI, learn how to optimise media spending and create game-changing experiences for your target audience.
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Want to be an Academy Juror?

As an Academy Juror, your pivotal role involves evaluating hack challenges presented by participants. Your expertise and insights will shape their learning experience and discover the next generation of talent.

Before you apply, please review the criteria below:

  • Jury must have a minimum of 8 years experience working in agencies, brands or consultancies within fields, including but not limited to Advertising, Marketing, Branding, Design, Entertainment, Media, Events, Publishing, Creative Technology, Retail, and E-commerce
  • Must have a good grasp of the English language – as presentations will take place in English
  • Must be available for judging the Young Talent academy on-site, at the Crowne Plaza RDC, Riyadh on 15 November 2023
Got a question?

For any academy related inquiries, please contact us directly at bony@atharfestival.com