Teams of pupils were presented with a choice of objects and were tasked with creating a business based on their chosen item. This challenge forms part of the College’s vision of providing an outstanding ‘Education for Life’ and forms part of the Bradfield diploma. The emphasis being to develop employability skills such as teamwork, communication, and creative thinking.

The day started with an introduction to branding and marketing by Martin White, a professional marketer and parent which set the tone for the event. They then came together in groups to develop their ideas and create advertising and marketing campaigns to promote their business. We were extremely well supported by a team of current parents and Bradfield partners mentors Shell parents and partners of Bradfield who acted as both mentors and judges on the day, and we were incredibly grateful for their support.

The ideas that the year group produced were fantastic. The innovation and creativity shown when pupils were given the freedom of the college to create their marketing materials was incredible. The presentations, logos, websites, marketing campaigns, social media accounts, use of AI and advertisements pupils created were of an extremely high standard. They certainly rose to the challenge. The pupils conducted themselves impeccably and appeared to have gained a huge amount from the experience.

The five finalists delivered excellent presentations and had brilliant business ideas ranging from a solar power bank that can be used at festivals, to a company that makes straw that can detect if you drink has been spiked, to sports glasses that can monitor and athletes performance, and shoes where the more your dance the more they charge your phone. The preparation for festival season was a strong theme!

The overall winners of the Shell Advertising Challenge 2026 were the team who developed a product called ‘Root Reviver’ a hair dryer that has different adaptors to colour, straighten or curl your hair at the same time. A brilliant idea, where the team delivered an excellent pitch presentation and answered questions from the judges and audience with real clarity. It was an excellent day and impressive performances by all the teams.

Many thanks to parent mentors; Ben Slater, Charlotte Hamilton-Hill, Lianne Watson, Henry Chappell, James Miller, Flora Ng, Kirstin Kaszubowska and Nicky Hancock, we couldn’t have done the event without you.

If you are interested in supporting this event in the future, or providing general career advice to Bradfield pupils register your interest to Be Involved with Horizons If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact the Horizons team on horizons@bradfieldcollege.org.uk