There’s been much discussion about how the next generation of talent will reshape working life in the coming years, whether you look at social-driven trends like ‘quiet quitting’, the rise of B Corp businesses, or the fractious debate around hybrid working. With Gen Z set to make up over a quarter of the global workforce by 2025, it’s something that employers are having to take increasingly seriously when it comes to attracting and retaining talent – whether they like it or not.

If the Advertising Association’s Investing in Our Talent’s Future report is anything to go by, the big existential questions around the future of work are just as pressing for advertising as any other industry. Released in 2023, the report revealed that the number of people working in marketing and advertising fell by 14% over the previous four years, with the body urging the industry to “stem talent loss and attract new people”.

It can be hard to see what’s wrong with the ad industry from the inside, but Soursop co-founder Ravi Amaratunga Hitchcock’s background in digital media and TV has given him a unique perspective on Gen Z’s rejection of conventional career paths. “I think young people have a lot of choice about what they want to do, and they have different perspectives on what work is and what it does,” he says. “I would say we work on the cool end of advertising, and we probably do more creative and cultural projects than most, but even a lot of the young people here are in and out. You can’t generalise a workforce at all, but there is an element of political awakening and latent anti-capitalism.”