The EY Foundation’s Social Mobility Campaign Tackles Stigmas Around Gen Z’s Attitudes to Work

The EY Foundation, an independent charity focused on improving social mobility through access to paid employability skills programmes, has launched a poignant integrated TV campaign with Ogilvy UK to mark 10 years since its launch.

Spotlighting the overlooked potential of young people from low-income backgrounds, the campaign’s hero film follows hard-working young people and the unique skills they’ve gained. The film addresses head-on the benefits employers lose out on when overlooking underrepresented talent, while also tackling some of the stigmas surrounding gen zs attitudes to work.

The goal of this campaign is to recruit more of the UK’s employers to drive equitable work experience placements. The EYFoundation works with organisations across the public and private sectors including Ofcom, Yorkshire Building Society, TalkTalk, and Network Rail.

The campaign will be amplified with a significant rollout across linear TV, digital and print media, in addition to LinkedIn and Instagram.

Many of the rising stars chosen for the film have taken part in one of the EY Foundation’s programmes or have previously received free school meals. Tyrese Walters, who plays a football influencer, has been through The EY Foundation himself, as have students Lamia Hossain and Mary-Lou Gooden who worked on behind the scenes production.

Over the last financial year, the EY Foundation has supported 3,471 young people, worked with 322 employers, and created 3,268 volunteering opportunities. It has supported over 24,000 young people since the charity was created in 2014.

Lynne Peabody, CEO, EY Foundation said, “When the EY Foundation launched in 2014, we set out to change the fact that the circumstances beyond our control shouldn’t dictate our success in life. We have made big inroads by working with some of the most recognisable UK companies, but more needs to be done. As it stands, social mobility is reported to be at its lowest level in 50 years, which will impact the one in four young people who are eligible for free school meals. This campaign is a call to arms for more organisations to create better access to high quality work placement schemes so that every teenager, regardless of background, gets a chance to succeed.”

Rebecca Hirst, chief marketing and communications officer, EY UK said, “This campaign isn’t just about encouraging organisations to give more young people professional opportunities, it’s about showing what they miss out on when they don’t: access to the best and brightest diverse talent. The EY Foundation has already helped over 24,000 young people since it was created over 10 years ago and has the potential to do even more with a larger number of organisations on board.”

Nicolas Jack Davies, director, said, “This film is rooted in real life experiences, from the team at Ogilvy, Hogarth and The Sweetshop, to the young people we cast, and I felt the need to reflect and respect that so strongly through every stage of it. The heart of it is our young lead, and it’s no surprise he connected so strongly to the character, as a young man driven to pursue an acting career to support his family. The opportunity had such deep personal significance for him. Our job was to build the right platform for him and the other cast, and I think their performances speak to having achieved that.”

Jules Chalkley, chief ECD, Ogilvy UK, said, “This film tells such a powerful story and beautifully brings to life the stories of the teenagers who are the beating heart of The EY Foundation. It has been a real joy watching this project come to life and I look forward to seeing The EY Foundation work with more leading organisations to change even more lives.”