Interviews, insight & analysis on digital media & marketing

Media Business Course opens call to brands

The Advertising Association’s Media Business Course (MBC) has opened a call to brands to provide a brilliant communications problem for practitioners to solve. 

Marketers are invited to submit a brief for delegates attending the iconic course which is returning this year from 5-8 July at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. In recent years MBC delegates have tackled comms briefs from Domino’s, Yorkshire Tea and easyJet. 

Founded in 1964, the Media Business Course is firmly established as the place where thousands of young media industry practitioners are given an inspirational and often life-changing learning experience. Agencies, media owners and advertisers are also encouraged to register their rising stars for the course, which is open to those with four to five years’ industry experience.

Delegates will be divided into syndicates to work on a blue-chip client brief and create a full media strategy before pitching against each other to become the coveted MBC winners. During the three-day event they are guided through the process by tutors who rank among the top strategic media talent in the UK and enjoy a stellar line-up of some of the best speakers in media and advertising today.

The deadline for brands to send in their ideas for a brief is March 31st and submissions can be made via the form here.

David Grainger, Chief Strategy Officer, iProspect and MBC Committee Member said: “If you’re a marketer with a thorny problem to solve, then over three days we’ll unleash the collective brainpower of 120 of the media industry’s finest thinkers in pursuit of a brilliant answer. The responses are nothing short of inspirational and more than one have subsequently snuck into the client’s commercial calendar.”

Supporting the course programme, Emma Botton, Group Brand, Proposition and Marketing Communications Director, Tesco, said: “Tesco is delighted to be taking part in the Media Business Course. It is more important than ever to ensure we invest in our talent and equip them with the necessary skills to flourish at every stage of their careers.”

MBC is returning to the industry calendar following a short hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic. A top line-up of speakers is expected for 2022, following contributions in 2019 which included Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK; Karen Blackett OBE, Country Manager, WPP; and Alex Mahon, CEO, Channel 4. The MBC 2019 Showreel can be viewed here