Creative CEO gives Barnhill students Top Tips

‘Be brave’, ‘be resilient’, ‘be diligent’ and ‘be yourself’ were described as the key to success by Simon Mannion, who has worked with the likes of Lionel Messi; brands such as Adidas and Starbucks; and various celebrities. This philosophy has helped his agency grow to 1000 offices worldwide.

The Character Curriculum event was attended by Arts and Careers students selected by Miss Thomas. Event organiser Mr Potts said, "Simon was really generous with his stories, and was even prepared to share some of his contacts to help our students get ahead!"

Read what students had to say:

"Today's event with Simon gave me an insight into the creative industry and more specifically ad agencies. I learnt about how ad agencies run their campaigns and the different careers within an ad agency. What I found inspiring about today's event was Simon's story on how he got to be a creative director and the main thing I took from it was he didn't give up until he got to where he wanted to be. At the end of Simon's presentation, I had the opportunity to ask a question concerning where he and his agency source music for their adverts. This knowledge was very useful to me as I plan to pursue music production full time. Mr. Potts also asked Simon how I could reach out to ad agencies and Simon said he'd recommend me to some people he's worked with! As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed today's event. Thanks, Simon and Mr Potts!"

Cayden, Year 12

"A group of students were selected to join a meeting with Simon Mannion, who is a creative director for advertising agencies. Simon Mannion’s job as a creative director means that he helps sell products for brands, whether it’s for the latest football boot sold by Adidas, or for the most recent gaming laptop sold by Asus. Mannion mentioned how throughout his 20 years experience, he has learnt four lessons. These are ‘be brave’, ‘be resilient’, ‘be diligent’ and ‘be yourself’. These four lessons have allowed Mannion to be successful in this type of career and produce a copious amount of advertisements. This meeting with Simon Mannion was a brilliant experience and we were very lucky to have him talk to us!"

Tayla, Year 12