AdSchool Semester One.
Advertising Council Australia (ACA) has opened enrolments for Semester One of AdSchool, alongside a mentorship initiative designed to help advertising and marketing professionals step into more complex roles.
The AdSchool Mentorship Series gives professionals the chance to win three one-on-one mentoring sessions with industry leaders across client and account leadership, strategic planning, and management.
“We’ve got an industry full of capable people moving into bigger roles faster than they are being trained for,” said ACA head of professional development Simone Goldstein.
“Too often they’re in survival mode, running on autopilot and relying on instinct instead of actually leading the work. That only gets you so far. Mentorship and structured training give them the clarity and confidence to step up properly, with direct access to people who’ve done the job at the highest level.
“At a certain point, you can’t hide behind execution. You’re expected to lead, make decisions and stand behind them. That’s where a lot of people realise they’ve been winging it. AdSchool is about fixing that.”
The 2026 mentor line-up includes Special Group managing director, Tori Lopez, TBWA\Australia strategy director Zac Martin and head of strategy Virginia Pracht, Think HQ director Sarah Wood, and Berlin managing partner – strategy John Linton.
AdSchool Semester One includes five courses — Core Strategic Planning, Advanced Strategic Planning, Account Leadership and Manager Fundamentals —which will run nationally over eight weeks, part-time from May through to July.
An Evaluating Media workshop, focused on navigating complex media conversations, takes place in Perth on July 10.
This year’s facilitators include Ogilvy Australia group strategy director, Matthew Richards, M+C Saatchi group chief strategy officer Simon Wassef, BMF client services director Edward Hughes, Think HQ group head creative strategy and client management Lisa Gumbleton, and more.
Mentorship series entries close April 30.
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