What happened at Creative Data Academy Edinburgh 2019?

After academies in London and Manchester, 2019’s Creative Data Academy series came to a close in Edinburgh on the 15 – 17 July. The academies were supported by the Derek Holder Legacy Fund and in Scotland by SSE Plc and the DDI. 30 aspiring data-driven marketers joined us at The University of Edinburgh’s Inspace building to explore the ins and outs of the industry.

The first day saw academy sponsors SSE plc set the students a data brief which they worked on over the course of the academy.

Over the three days our students heard from a diverse mix of speakers (from local companies including Standard Life, TSB Bank, Anmut, MBN Solutions and The Data Lab), visited Merkle to find out what agency life is like and attended a networking reception where they were given the opportunity to mingle with local industry professionals and make those all-important connections.

Insights from the sessions helped the students create their campaign for SSE which they pitched their responses to on the final day to a panel of judges from SSE.

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Haochen Li, an Accountancy with Finance 4^th year student at the University of Glasgow said:

"The academy far exceeded my expectations. I was impressed with how much was packed into such a short period of time and yet everything was executed with extremely high quality. Before coming, I knew I was interested in the data industry but wasn't 100% sure. After this event, through the knowledge I acquired from industry experts and collaborating with a team on a real-life project, I am now convinced that this is the field I want to work in. It has definitely been extremely helpful and helped me to gain confidence whether that is through acquiring more knowledge in the field or developing essential skills such as presentation and collaboration skills. To anyone that is interested in data and marketing, please do sign up - you won't regret it!"

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Robin Huggins, Director of Academy and Client Services at MBN Solutions and speaker at the academy said:

"I was honoured, once again, to be asked to deliver Employability Training to this year's Creative Data Academy in Edinburgh. MBN Solutions have a long-standing commitment to nurturing grass-roots talent in the Data & Marketing space and it's an absolute pleasure to be asked to collaborate with so many like-minded industry practitioners. The students, once again, raised the bar with their level of commitment, knowledge and enthusiasm and I look forward to watching them progress their careers within the Data & Marketing industries.”

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Want to find out more about the Creative Data Academy? If you’re interested in attending an academy next year click here, or, if you’re seeking the next generation of fresh talent and are based in and around London, Leeds and Edinburgh then we’d love to hear from you! There’s lots of partnership opportunities and an array of ways you can get involved. Drop us an email to find out more.

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