Under-25 brains need different support in adland
Nikki Neale • November 11, 2024

If there’s one thing I wish I’d known earlier, both when I was starting out in advertising and later, managing others, it’s that the human brain isn’t fully developed until around age 25.


Now that I’m running a mental health charity alongside consulting and training, this knowledge has completely reframed how I think about supporting young talent. Knowing that young professionals are still developing crucial skills, like decision-making, emotional regulation, and impulse control, has helped me make sense of the challenges I faced myself and the struggles I’ve seen others go through.


Marketing and advertising are famously tough on young people. We throw them into high-stakes situations and expect them to handle it like seasoned pros, often with minimal support. But by understanding where they’re at developmentally, we can rethink how we work with them. Here’s how we can create a better experience for young talent in our industry.

Guided Mentorship and Structure They Can Actually Use

Advertising is messy and fast-paced, and I used to assume people would just “figure it out” because that’s what I had to do. But young professionals need structured guidance, clear project outlines, regular check-ins, and support for managing pressure. They’re still building up their decision-making abilities, and the right kind of mentorship makes a huge difference in how they adapt and grow in this environment.


Letting Them Dip a Toe In First

Marketing roles often give young people big responsibilities from day one, but we’d get so much more out of them if we let them try different things first. Letting them rotate through various tasks, social media, analytics, brainstorming, gives them a chance to see where they really thrive and build a bit of confidence before taking on heavier responsibilities. This approach not only helps them develop more rounded skills but also gives them a better sense of what they actually enjoy.


Creating a Culture Where Mistakes Aren’t the End of the World

I’ve seen young people take mistakes really hard, thinking a slip-up means they’ve failed spectacularly – snot, ugly crying, the works. Understanding that they’re still learning has made me realise how important it is to create a culture where mistakes are part of the process, not career-ending disasters. When a setback becomes a learning opportunity rather than a crisis, it lowers anxiety, builds resilience, and encourages smart risk-taking, all of which are essential in a creative industry.


Shoes

Prioritising Their Mental Health (And Helping Them Prioritise It Too)

The “work hard, play hard” mentality in advertising? It’s tough, and for young people still building their emotional resilience, it’s a fast track to burnout. Since shifting some of my focus to mental health, I’ve seen how crucial it is to provide young professionals with support. Access to mental health resources, encouragement for a balanced approach to work, and a supportive environment aren’t just nice-to-haves; they’re essential for sustaining their wellbeing and engagement. Healthy, supported people are far more likely to stay with the agency and bring fresh ideas, rather than burning out or moving on – yet still so few agencies are investing in wellbeing (and we don’t mean a pizza because you’re working late).


Helping Them Find Their Own Path

A lot of young people in advertising feel pressured to climb the ladder without really knowing where they’re headed or if it’s what they even want  - I see this time and again with people I mentor. We can help them by encouraging self-reflection and goal-setting, making space for them to assess their own growth and career direction. Regular check-ins give them the chance to discuss what’s working, what’s not, and where they want to go. It’s about creating a culture where they feel supported in finding a path that genuinely suits them, rather than pushing forward for the sake of it.


The Bottom Line

Advertising and marketing thrive on fresh ideas and energy, and young people bring exactly that. But if we want to keep them, we need to support them in ways that recognise their unique developmental stage. It’s the difference between helping them to grow or pushing them towards burnout fuelled by our false beliefs  'it was much tougher in my day' and you only learn from 'the school of hard knocks.


I for one, know which one I’d rather see.


For more information on our agency training and mentoring + click here

A LITTLE MORE READING

Show me the bunny!

By Nikki Neale • February 20, 2026
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Lessons from Celebrity Traitors - Workplace politics in fingerless gloves and a cape.

By Nikki Neale • October 22, 2025
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It's time to give a sh*t about toilets

September 16, 2025
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What Your Marketing Budget Says About Your Ambition

By Nikki Neale • September 2, 2025
Every business faces the same question when planning for the year ahead: what should we spend on marketing? There isn’t a clean-cut answer. Nobody has the formula that guarantees growth. What matters is whether your budget matches the growth you’re actually chasing. From a sales and marketing perspective, most small to mid-sized businesses sit in one of three lanes: Zero, Incremental, or Exceptional. Smaller businesses tend to hover in zero, the more established ones work in incremental, and only a bold few step into exceptional. The trick is not which lane you choose, but whether you’re honest about being in it. Zero: hoping for the best Zero is the lane of survival. Most micro-SMEs end up here by default. Marketing isn’t in the budget, it’s something the founder (or another willing team member) crams into evenings and weekends. Social posts, the odd flyer, and a heavy reliance on word of mouth or personal networks. The problem is that “no budget” never really means no cost. 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It means bigger budgets, more risk, and a level of operational readiness that many SMEs underestimate. But when ambition and investment line up, it creates step-change growth that incremental spend rarely delivers. The mismatch trap If you’re reading this with huge ambition and a budget line of zero, it’s time for a check-in. The biggest problems happen not when you choose a lane, but when you kid yourself about which lane you’re in. Champagne ambition, beer budget. Some businesses set accelerated growth targets but fund them with incremental budgets. The marketing team (if there even is one) is told to double awareness or leads on the same spend as last year, or to land national coverage with nothing more than local-level funds. It creates frustration, wasted energy, and the creeping belief that “marketing doesn’t work,” when in truth it was never resourced to match the ambition. Champagne budget, no hangover cure. Others do the opposite. They throw big money at marketing while the rest of the business is still built for incremental growth. Leads flow in, awareness rises, but operations can’t deliver the experience. Customer service cracks, delivery timelines slip, and the reputation you just paid to build is quickly eroded. Exceptional marketing without exceptional operations doesn’t accelerate growth; it accelerates churn. Hope springs eternal. Then there’s the subtler trap of sitting in zero while planning for growth. A founder convinces themselves that word of mouth will carry them through another year, while quietly expecting sales to grow 20%. When it doesn’t happen, the blame gets pointed everywhere except the missing budget line. You can’t compound visibility you never paid for in the first place.  Planning for the year ahead Budgets are signals of intent. They tell your team, and yourself, whether you’re serious about survival, steady growth, or acceleration. They set expectations for sales, operations, and delivery before a single social post goes live. If you’re one of the 1000s of SMEs working on next year’s plans right now and you’re unsure whether your budget matches your ambition, that’s exactly where Perspective Analysis comes in. We stress-test your business for growth, help bring clarity to which lane you’re really in, and align sales, marketing and ops so your plan has a fighting chance of working. If you want a defensible budget and a growth plan that holds up past January, start with Perspective Analysis.