At Fantastic, we’re committed to nurturing new marketing talent as part of our ongoing dedication to help young professionals rise through the ranks while expanding our client services and creative teams.
To support this, we’ve made three placement hires recently, while promoting a recent graduate to a full-time role. We’ve had an ongoing placement support scheme in place throughout our 20-year history, which has ramped up in the last couple of years due to agency growth.
Emelia Lowis has stepped into the role of senior account executive, following a placement year with us, and an additional year working part-time during her final year of studies. Emelia graduated with a first honours degree in BA Business Management from Leeds Beckett University and has worked across a variety of B2B and B2C clients during her time here.
She found Fantastic “stood out” to her because of this variety, saying “as a full-service agency, I knew I’d be able to experience different areas of marketing and work across a range of industries and audiences.”
On joining Fantastic full-time, Emelia said “It’s been exciting. Having already been part of the team, I knew the agency, clients and processes, but I’ve been able to take on more responsibility. It’s also a great milestone to progress from placement student to Senior Account Executive.”
Meanwhile, joining the agency’s creative team on year-long placements are two BA Graphic and Communication Design students, Maryam Ilhisuni and Aidan Ryan, who both study at the University of Leeds.
Maryam says the placement represents an opportunity to “gain valuable experience in the creative industry”, and the chance to put into practice skills she’s learnt academically under the guidance of an “incredible and talented creative team”.
Her aim for this year is to improve her design skills further when challenged with real design briefs and learn as much as possible about the way the industry works.
Aidan also sees the value in getting “real hands-on experience with a variety of clients” and views the placement as an opportunity to become a more well-rounded designer. He’s found the work exciting so far, saying “what I’m learning and becoming able to do makes it all worth it.”
Lara Elliott-Moore has also joined Fantastic’s client services team on a year-long placement from Leeds Beckett University, where she’s studying BA Marketing with Advertising and Management.
Lara saw this year as the “ideal opportunity” to build on her academic learning, and says it’s been both challenging and rewarding so far, saying “throughout the experience, I’ve felt well supported by everyone at Fantastic.”
She wants to use the placement to strengthen her industry knowledge, broaden her experience, and ultimately have the skills and insights to support her future marketing career.
The appointments reflect our continued effort as an agency to support the next generation of marketing professionals, with multiple team members having now risen through the ranks and progressed from placement roles into more senior positions.
We also regularly provide short-term placements for students earlier in their studies and careers, with dozens of young people getting hands-on experience into a marketing career this year alone.
Speaking about the new hires, our managing director, Sally Willis said, “Securing a job after university is harder than ever for many graduates, and at Fantastic we want to do our bit in helping bridge that gap between studying and work.
“Placement students are keen, ready to learn, and always come with fresh ideas, and we’re already delighted by the contributions from Maryam, Aidan, and Lara. Hires like Emelia, who’s now spent two years in and around our team, show just how strong our talent pipeline is, and why it’s so important to keep investing in the next generation.”
Want to grow and learn in a supportive, fast-paced agency environment? Take a look at our careers page.
