Why The Martin Agency Is Backing the Next Generation

Following the conclusion of its Marty Residence programme, a 12-week immersive summer experience, The Martin Agency’s chief creative officer Jerry Hoak proudly shared on LinkedIn that the agency had hired over half of its summer interns. He wrote, “Everyone is predicting the end and reporting on the worst. Entry level jobs in advertising are being eliminated. And AI is coming for more.

“And while that might be true at some places, it isn’t here and it isn't now. Not only did we continue our Marty Residence programme, but we grew it. And we did it with the intention of hiring as many of them as possible at the end of the summer.”

Poised to shape the “next chapter” of the Richmond-headquartered agency, the backing of new talent sent a message of optimism and hope to the wider industry, suggesting that organisations should invest in people as heavily as they do technology. “For us, investing in AI and investing in talent are not mutually exclusive – we believe in raising up the next generation of leaders while evolving how we work,” explains Jerry, speaking with LBB.

This year, 18 ‘Martys’ across 12 different tracks took part in the programme, taking on paid, full-time roles in the process. Centred around working on real client briefs under the guidance of a dedicated mentor – where the majority of the experience is spent – the participants split the remainder of their time between sessions with some of the agency’s strongest talent, and working on a collaborative Marty Cohort Project.

“Each summer, the Marty class concepts, creates, and launches their own idea across social, capped with an all-agency activation and merch drop,” says Jerry. “This year’s campaign, ‘Play to Win’, tackled impostor syndrome head-on – something you can check out on our Instagram, here.”

On average, the agency hires around 55% of residents each year. This time around, 56% of the class stepped into full-time roles, across creative, strategy, account management, data analytics and content creation. In the past, many of these hires have gone on to be promoted, proving that Marty is as much a launchpad for talent as it is a pipeline for the agency’s future.

“What makes Marty special is that it doesn’t just fall under recruitment, but sits within our learning and development initiatives,” Jerry adds. “From day one, ‘Martys’ are embedded into the agency – pitching, producing branded content, shaping strategy, and earning their place on teams.

“At a moment when 80% of US hiring managers predict AI may eliminate internships, Martin has doubled the size of Marty in the past five years. And while half of gen z job seekers worry AI has devalued their degrees, we’ve consistently converted 55% or more of our residents into hires.”

A Cross-Agency Engine of Talent

This commitment toward future generations of talent has long stood as part of The Martin Agency’s legacy. However, according to Jerry, it’s something he fought hard to double-down on when joining as a group creative director in 2016, due to his belief that mentorship programmes such as these are “half the reason I'm in advertising”.

Specifically, In 1996, Martin legends Diane Cook-Tench and Mike Hughes partnered with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to launch Brandcenter (originally the Adcenter). It was the first advertising school to offer an accredited master’s programme, and its first promotional piece was a magazine titled ‘Sixty’, designed by Jelly Helm.

As it turned out, ‘Sixty’ was a “bat-signal” for aspiring creative minds everywhere. Jerry adds, “When I saw that magazine in my advertising classroom at Penn State, I knew I had to find a way to get in.”

Equally, the creation of the Brandcenter, according to Jerry, would prove “a genius move that had one foot rooted in altruism and the other in good business.” Leading to Richmond, Virginia becoming an unlikely creative hub and “breeding ground for exceptional creatives and a consistent pipeline for top talent”, the rejuvenated allure of the city pulled those that had been there early-on in their careers back to continue where they’d left off.

“Some people, like me, came to VCU and got a taste for Richmond,” he continues. “We met Mike Hughes, and Martin was immediately on our radar for a move later in our careers. Others came to Martin right away. And a lot of them started as interns.”

So, when Jerry himself came to the agency from Droga5, it’s no surprise that one of his first questions was, “Where do the VCU interns sit?” Unfortunately, he immediately discovered the agency had stopped running these internships a year or two before he joined “for all of the valid and rational reasons agencies stop internship programmes”.

“They require a lot of work and agency resources,” he explains. “When you pay fairly like we do, they’re expensive. And when times are tough, you’re never sure you’ll be able to hire.”

Nevertheless, Jerry refused to budge on his belief in the importance of the young talent. “I truly believe the fastest way to kill an agency, or industry, for that matter, is to stop investing in the next generation of talent. So, we turned the tap back on and got Marty, our summer residency programme, up and running again.”

Since then, the programme has continued to grow and evolve, and is now considered a “cross-agency engine of talent” encompassing copywriters, art directors, designers, content creators, studio artists, data strategists, account leaders, and producers.

Talent is still welcomed from VCU – and The Martin Agency is still deeply connected to the Brandcenter – but the programme’s reach also now extends further, attracting candidates from other top schools around the world, and even people from within the agency looking for a change in specialism.

In this regard, Jerry points to one participant in this year’s programme, Jamét Jackson, who started at The Martin Agency three years ago as an executive assistant, but who “inside, and on the outside for that matter, was destined to be an art director.”

After presenting the winning idea – a sweatshirt embroidered with Braille – for the annual agency-wide brief to create swag based on its mission, ‘We Fight Invisibility’, Jamét applied and flourished at One School, before applying to the Marty programme against hundreds of traditional ad school applicants.

“She got in and didn’t look back,” Jerry reflects. "She and her partner, Riley, were the easiest full-time hire decision we’ve ever had.”

Today, the programme is also an investment in the agency’s mid and senior-level employees. “Their number one request for their own growth is the ability to lead younger folks,” Jerry explains. “Residency programmes like ours give them that opportunity, otherwise, they never stop being juniors themselves, and will leave for a place that invests in their leadership potential.”

Shaping the Future of Creativity

Whilst The Martin Agency’s resurrection of the Marty programme links to its roots, the programme, as it stands today, is entirely shaped around the needs and demands of the industry in its current state.

“Martin has a special sauce and has had it for a really long time,” Jerry says. But, each wave of new talent sprinkles in their own spices to the recipe to match the moment we’re in. The business is so much more complicated than it was when I graduated 20 years ago. At that point, most internships were traditional art director and copywriter teams. Now we’re also bringing in content creators, designers, data strategists, producers, AI experts, and more.

Highlighting this year’s class as a perfect representation of the agency’s future, Jerry adds that one especially interesting aspect of this is the decision to invest heavily in social. “It’s no secret that we see social as a huge part of the future of this industry”, he says, noting that by hiring a content creator, a social media manager, and multiple social creative teams from this year’s cohort, Martin has made social the “largest investment” of the summer.

Meanwhile, internal design team, Design@Martin – which has been steadily building over the past few years – was bolstered by the full time hire of the Marty participant specialising in design. Following investment into building its data analytics capabilities, this year also saw the first-ever Impact Intel-specialist, who joined full-time as the agency looks to deliver clients with the intel needed to create cultural impact.

“Our Martys aren’t just shaping the future of Martin, they’re shaping the future of the industry,” Jerry adds. “Imagine if programmes like this existed everywhere: more doors opened, more voices amplified, more creative firepower fuelling the work. When talent has room to grow across the board, the whole industry levels up.”

Amidst widespread dialogue around a lack of opportunities for junior and entry-level talent, and the threat of AI replacing human-led thinking, Marty stands as an example of an agency looking to continue to shape and empower the minds that will become the industry’s next generation of leaders.

Jerry argues that so far, AI isn’t replacing human talent, “it’s just changing how we work, and how much we can do,” but that its impact will be felt, especially lower down the funnel. However, he believes that brands will always require the “big thinking and brand building” ideas that agencies have proven they can provide time and time again.

“AI is an incredible tool, but it needs people with big strategic minds, breakthrough ideas, and impeccable taste. I believe most of those people are still working at agencies. Some of them will continue to gravitate toward in-house client studios. But I think there are more creatives who thrive on solving different problems for a variety of clients, which is what an agency provides. You can’t automate original thinking, cultural intuition, or the spark of human connection. If we want this industry to stay relevant, resilient, and innovative, we can’t wait for future leaders to emerge by chance – we have to create space for them.”

He adds, “unless we follow in the footsteps of ‘Foundation’ and train Lady Demerzel on brand platforms, or figure out how to clone Glenn Cole, Jaime Robinson, and Susan Credle, we’re going to need to replenish our industry with real humans.”