The Lucky Way: From Underground to Opportunity

by India Fizer

Lucky Generals is taking advertising beyond its usual pipelines and into the cultural spaces where overlooked talent already thrives.

Lucky Generals has launched The Lucky Way, a paid four-month internship scheme designed to tackle one of advertising’s most persistent challenges: its lack of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity. Rather than relying on traditional recruitment channels, the agency is heading into grassroots cultural spaces across the UK — from indie film scenes and comedy clubs to galleries, spoken-word venues and fan conventions — leaving cryptic signs that invite the curious to respond to a deliberately unexpected brief. With structured mentorship, financial support and a commitment to long-term inclusion, the initiative aims to open the door to four exceptional interns, and rethink how the industry finds, and keeps, its future talent.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Arthur Margetson and Sidney McLeod of Lucky Generals to learn more about this initiative.

Advertising has made progress on inclusion in recent years, yet challenges around access remain. How does The Lucky Way aim to address some of those gaps in a practical way?

Traditionally, schemes like this only tend to appeal to those who are looking for a way into the advertising industry. They’re shared on Linkedin. Whispered about in our small circles.

But we know there are so many bright, creative minds out there who don’t know we exist. Who are passing us by, because we haven’t managed to grab their attention and spark their curiosity.

That’s why we set out to create something that not only offered a way in for those looking for one, but something that would attract the type of creatively minded people who aren’t considering us.

The initiative described the approach as almost ‘fight club’ or ‘cult-like’. What drew the agency to underground cultures and closed-circle aesthetics as inspiration — and how did you balance that with the risk of alienation?

We placed stickers saying ‘this is a sign’ in creative places, so that if you saw them, it really would be a sign that our internship is for you.

I guess the sense of cult and underground stemmed from that – it wasn’t them finding us, it was us finding them.

If you’re the kind of person who’s at the front of the gig and decides to scan the weird golden sticker just to see what it’s about. Then it’s a sign. The Lucky Way is for you.

We were then lucky enough to get big golden posters up across the UK, and we even got Phoebe from production to read a weird culty radio ad, that aired on some pretty famous podcasts that shall not be named here, but they do rhyme with Off Menu.

It is stated the problem isn’t that people reject advertising, but that many never see it as an option. Why do you think the industry continues to wait for “diverse talent” to come to it, rather than going out to meet people where they already are?

I think the problem is that most people just don’t know us. We tend to be hidden behind our work, and unless you know someone on the inside, how are you supposed to discover this world?

Having said that, it’s not so easy to invest the time and the effort to get out there and find people. Let alone do it in a way that ignites something, making them want to pursue a career here.

That was the challenge.

As The Lucky Way evolves, what would success look like for you — both for the interns themselves and for the agency as a whole?

We want our interns to be the founders of the next big agency. And to hire us in senior positions with huge bonuses as a way of thanks.

But as long as they have fun and learn a lot, we’ll be happy.