IAA ‘Big Idea’ 2022 Challenge winner announced
The International Advertising Association (IAA) has revealed the ARMADA team from the University of Canberra as national champions of the IAA BIG IDEA 2022 Challenge. Runners-up were two teams from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) – “Melt Creative” and “Fuse Agency”.
The announcement:
Over one hundred and fifty undergraduate students from all over Australia participated in the IAA BIG IDEA 2022 Challenge with five teams emerging as finalists with teams from the University of Queensland and the University of the Sunshine Coast being the other two finalists teams.
This year, the IAA BIG IDEA program to foster the upcoming generation of talent coming into our dynamic industry has been proudly supported by Ziinkle as client partner, MultiConnexions as planning partner, and Mumbrella as media partner.
IAA BIG IDEA is Australia’s national marketing communications challenge specially created for undergraduate teams from Australian universities and colleges with courses in advertising, marketing, media and communications. The program gives students the opportunity to hone their communication skills and talents in a real-world, career-ready learning experience with a real-life client project that is critical training in the preparation of graduates for transition from university into professional practice.
Ziinkle was the client for IAA BIG IDEA 2022. This year’s IAA BIG IDEA challenge was to create an innovative, high-impact campaign that will help grow awareness of Ziinkle and drive app downloads targeting Australian millennials and gen z’s. Connecting with the target audiences on an emotional level to communicate the benefits and points of difference of Ziinkle was an integral part of the brief.
Ziinkle Co-Founders, Melanie Leahy, and Elisse Alexander said: “We were absolutely blown away by the quality, level of creativity, confidence and hard work that the teams displayed throughout the competition. The thinking and delivery of ideas were of the standard we’d expect to receive at a corporate level from our tier 1 agency partners. Each and every participant should feel so proud of what they’ve achieved and we’re confident they will all have every success as future advertising and marketing professionals and have a huge positive impact on this already wonderful industry.”
The five finalist teams pitched their campaigns in face-to-face presentations to the judges following which the winning team from Canberra University was selected and announced as the IAA BIG IDEA 2022 National Champions and presented with the winners’ trophy. This high-energy event was held at Meta and hosted by the IAA BIG IDEA 2022 Jury Chair, Alexandra Sloane, Meta Director of Customer Marketing ANZ.
Abby Fulton a member of the winning team commented: “Competing in the IAA Big Idea was a unique experience like no other. I am so honoured to have been a part of such an incredible experience. Working as a team on behalf of a client, allowed us to push our limits, challenge ourselves and be bold. We are so thrilled to have won the 2022 IAA Big Idea Challenge.”
Dempsey Ward from the University of Canberra winning team, said: “The IAA Big Idea Competition was an incredible experience and allowed me to feel confident heading into the professional industry. The process of going from small ideas and mind maps to a full and complex big idea, marketing plan and creative executions was extremely rewarding and reignited my passion for marketing communications. I have made countless and unforgettable memories whilst working through this competition, and would recommend for students to really push themselves and to test their skills by competing in the IAA Big Idea Competition.”
Shara Ranasinghe, Faculty Advisor for the winning team endorsed the value of participating in IAA BIG IDEA. “This year’s big idea challenge allowed the students to work on a unique client that required a creative solution to gain market attention and traction. It enabled the students to step out of their comfort zone and enhance their strategic and creative thinking skills. More so, it gave them a real-life opportunity to experience and work as creative problem solvers. Seeing the team win the big idea 2022 challenge for their bold campaign pitch is thrilling. Thank you, IAA and the IAA Big Idea organisers for providing great opportunities for our students.”
The Jury for this year’s competition included senior professionals from key industry sectors:
Alexandra Sloane, Meta – Director of Customer Marketing ANZ(Chair of Jury)
Melanie Leahy and Elisse Alexander , Ziinkle – Co-Founders
Emma Shepherd, Mumbrella – Acting Deputy Editor
Giorgia Butler, Nunn Media – Head of Strategy & Innovation
Stewart Heys, Woolies X – Head of Automation – Personalisation & Identity
Simone Gupta, Havas PR Australia- CEO
Summing up on the 2022 IAA BIG IDEA challenge, IAA Australia Chair, Heather Leembruggen said:
“IAA BIG IDEA 2022 finalist teams delivered some impressive presentations showcasing insightful, innovative solutions and creative campaigns. The students really worked with tremendous passion and energy to tackle this year’s challenging brief from Ziinkle, and they came up trumps with lots of workable ideas with real potential for market implementation.
“This is what makes IAA BIG IDEA so rewarding for the IAA as well as the student participants. We are proud to have been able, for the past 20 years, to give hundreds of undergraduate students the opportunity to hone their skills and their talents in working on a hands-on project for a real-life client in a real-world situation which gives them a valuable learning experience and a taste for their future careers. Fostering professional development is a key IAA mission and IAA BIG IDEA truly encapsulates that.
My congratulations to all those who participated in the IAA BIG IDEA 2022 challenge – they all won a fantastic experience!”
Source: IAA Australia Chapter
Got a tip?
topics
ARMADA
Fuse Agency
IAA BIG IDEA 2022
Melt Creative
University of Canberra
University of Queensland
Ziinkle
