Leeds creative agencies back emerging talent at city’s first Portfolio Night

‘Crit me baby one more time’ brings 16 agencies together to offer portfolio feedback and advice to junior creatives

What is believed to be Leeds’ first ever large-scale Portfolio Night for junior creatives has been hailed a huge success.

Hosted at marketing agency Perfect Storm’s Leeds HQ, there was a waiting list for the ‘Crit me baby one more time’ event, which saw 37 junior and mid-level creatives bring their portfolios to share with leaders in the industry for their support, guidance and constructive feedback.

Driven by Matt Rennie, head of creative at Perfect Storm, and Phil Cookson, director at creative and marketing recruitment agency Creative Resource, 16 Leeds agencies got involved to offer their expertise. They spanned advertising, branding, design, digital and the wider marketing sector, meaning those attending could be matched to the most relevant professionals.

Attendees varied from students and graduates to mid-level creatives wanting to change direction, with people travelling from as far as Lincoln and Nottingham to attend. It is hoped the event can run quarterly going forward.

With significant coverage about the difficulty juniors are having breaking into the creative industries, with increased use of AI and reducing numbers of entry-level roles, Matt and Phil were keen the event avoided the negative doom-mongering, instead wanting to energise and cheerlead the talent that is out there.

Matt Rennie explains: “It can be hard to keep your chin up when all you’re hearing is negativity, and in many cases you’re sending off hundreds of applications and hearing literally nothing back. So, we wanted to run an event which felt positive and hopeful – and boy, were we all blown away. The talent out there is staggering. AI cannot beat what these creatives had to offer. The inspiration, passion, creativity and insight shown was mind-blowing. It was an absolute honour to be able to offer advice and positive feedback, and to hear how helpful that was to those who have often struggled to get any meaningful time in front of people in the industry. Thanks to everyone involved. I’m already looking forward to the next one.”

Phil Cookson added: “Events of this nature are invaluable for the next generation of creative talent in Leeds, they get to have two-way conversations about their work and process with top creative leaders. The energy and enthusiasm in the room was infectious all night and made it quite clear that the future of the creative industry in Leeds is in good hands. There’s often a risk that people end up feeling their only option is to head to London – and what a waste that would be for the North.”

The agencies involved in the event were: Perfect Storm, CreativeRace, Kiss, Coffee Design, The Sharp Agency, Savvy, Jaywing, Journey Further, Northern Artillery, Boldism, Engage Interactive, Fox Agency, Live & Breathe, Chilli, Finn and IMA.

Source: Perfect Storm

  Agency, Creative Resource, Leeds, Perfect Storm, Portfolio Night, UK