Boomtown’s commitment to nurturing emerging talent in the advertising, marketing, and media industries is taking centre stage through its partnership with Cairns Hatchlings, Presented by Yahoo. By investing in education and skill development, Boomtown is addressing the talent gap while championing the potential of regional markets.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of the Cairns Crocodiles Festival, this program will hatch, spotlight and help nurture the next generation of industry leaders. Scheduled to take place from May 13-15, 2025, the Hatchlings is poised to inspire creativity across diverse segments of the marketing and advertising industry.
Sponsoring the Marketing category, Boomtown is taking a proactive approach to encouraging creativity and skills development among young professionals entering the industry.
B&T sat down with Boomtown chairman Brian Gallagher to uncover how the regional media company is addressing the industry’s skills crisis, providing emerging talent with real-world skills and fostering creative skills under pressure.
Enter the Cairns Hatchlings now!
B&T: What inspired Boomtown to partner with the Cairns Hatchlings, and how does this align with your broader vision?
Gallagher: Our mission to highlight the value of regional audiences to national advertisers. A key part of that is education, and as part of that, we need to engage and educate the industry’s youngest and newest professionals. By aligning with Cairns Hatchlings, Boomtown has a direct and meaningful way to reach not only the Hatchlings participants but the broader industry about the benefits of Boomtown and how they can expect the unexpected.
As part of our partnership with Cairns Hatchlings, we are sponsoring Best Marketing Team.
B&T: The Cairns Hatchlings focus on fostering emerging talent within advertising, marketing, and media. How does Boomtown plan to support participants to ensure they gain meaningful career advancement opportunities?
Gallagher: Boomtown has supported our industry since its inception five years ago and training and development is an important part of that, particularly for emerging talent. We have witnessed a skills crisis this year and we believe it’s beholden on us, and others in the media industry, to train and nurture new talent.
Our Boomtown Masterclasses underpin our commitment to fostering emerging talent. Regional Australia is vast and diverse, with a host of options for brands looking to invest, and our masterclasses teach valuable skills and knowledge about our growing regions, as well as offering some of the country’s leading media and marketing experts to discuss why regional advertising is an tapped market for brands and why it has delivered unparalleled success.
We have conducted our masterclasses since 2020, and just announced our first masterclass for 2025, featuring Katie Rigg-Smith, Chief Strategy Officer AUNZ for WPP, Tamara Howe, CMO of global food business SunRice, and Ruth Thompson, Director and Co-Founder of Talent Corp. This is our way of helping to support those entering their media and advertising careers.
B&T: Why does Boomtown believe nurturing emerging talent is so critical to the future of the advertising and media industries?
Gallagher: Ours is a predominantly young industry, so supporting their career journeys is a no-brainer. New and diverse talent brings new and diverse thinking to our industry and that is important for bringing fresh perspectives to brands – which can and should include advertising to regional audiences.
There is no one training course that helps equip young talent entering our industry that focuses on job specific knowledge and skills that can help them on the ground. This is one of the key reasons we launched the Boomtown Masterclasses and which have achieved a a 9.5 average rating score from previous attendees of more than 2,000 industry people. It’s something we are proud to support.
B&T: The Hatchlings’ competitive format is designed to test creativity under pressure. How does Boomtown see this benefiting participants in terms of skill development and readiness for industry challenges?
Gallagher: Commercial creativity and creative media planning are particular skills in our industry that is we believe is mandatory for success. Creative thinking can come from anyone, anywhere and is not limited to creative departments – and this is a key benefit for Hatchlings participants. These creative thinking skills will be important throughout their careers, when it comes to helping solve client business challenges, thinking outside the box strategically – and where a client campaign will achieve the best ROI. And that’s where Boomtown can help.
B&T: This initiative also includes pro-bono. How does Boomtown view the role of social responsibility in fostering a new generation of industry leaders, and what impact do you hope this will have?
Gallagher: One of the key reasons brands choose to advertise in Boomtown is the incredibly strong relationships residents have with local businesses, sports, charities and not for profits. Pro bono campaigns that take a values-led role in those communities can and do have a much greater impact in regional Australia.
This industry has a proud reputation for supporting a wide range of pro bono initiatives and campaigns. We believe that our future generation of industry leaders already have a strong sense of social responsibility simply because of the era they have grown up in. Bringing those inherent beliefs to their roles, and having them nurtured through initiatives such as the Cairns Hatchlings, can only benefit this industry and those causes that need our help most.
Enter the Cairns Hatchlings now!
