Hot off the back of our piece on Sony offering scholarships, Ubisoft has now announced a programme to help young people get into the communications industry. Out of 30 applicants, eight 18 and 19 year olds have been chosen through a series of workshops and interviews. The scheme that was jointly put together by the publisher and Commercial Break – a group that helps underpriveleged teens get a leg up – involves the participants designing a marketing campaign for an upcoming Ubisoft project.
“We are looking forward to working with Commercial Break. As a client, we are always looking for creativity and new ideas that challenge the status quo and we believe the participants will bring a fresh perspective, especially as many of them form part of our target audience and will be on the same wavelength as the consumers we are trying to reach,” said Ubisoft's head of brand marketing Mark Slaughter (via GamesIndustry).
“We are also committed to making a contribution to helping young, creative individuals get onto a career path that makes use of their talent. We hope these first experiences will inspire them to look at further career opportunities in the creative industries.”
While the scheme won't lead to any paid employment, it is hoped that not only will it help the teens develop new skills, but that they can be inspired by the work to apply for intern positions at firms. No doubt having worked with Ubisoft the kids will be more applicable for any low level positions that open up at the publisher.
“We're thrilled to be working with Ubisoft,” added Commercial Break co-founder James Hillhouse.
“Videogames are at the heart of creative entertainment for young people and this is a fantastic first project which can draw out the creative skills from the Commercial Break team. They can't wait to get started.”
KitGuru Says: It's nice to see company's giving young people a leg up, but shame there isn't an intern system at Ubisoft that could be used as a follow up, even if it was unpaid.