*BRAND* B-Hive. Nurturing Creative and Marketing Talent.

Recruitment firm, Pitch Consultants had an idea for an initiative to encourage Birmingham’s graduating students to actually consider working in the city where they learned their trade rather than jumping on the first train to London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, or wherever. 

The concept was an awards scheme where students would be encouraged to submit entries answering a fictional creative brief from several different viewpoints - marketing, graphic design, public relations, advertising, and so on. The best entries would win paid work placements at agencies and clients throughout Birmingham and the wider region.

Me and the Pitch guys met in a pub to talk it over one Friday afternoon. We spoke about how Birmingham is 'a hive of creative talent' and that talent needed to be exposed to the many great opportunities on offer in the city. Or something like that.

That line kinda stuck – and B-Hive was born. Many years on and B-Hive alumni are plying their trades in organisations all over the region and beyond – some of them of their own making.

You gotta earn your stripes, kids.