Yahoo’s annual talent program Yahoo Academy has closed with a pitch-off event for charity Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD).
The class of 2024, made up of 30 from the media and advertising industry across Australia and Singapore, were challenged to respond to the pitch brief of ‘Make MMAD famous’.
Delegates were asked to utilise the tools and techniques they picked up over the course of two days, through workshops on AI, product design, strategy for the real world, earning attention and speaking to the CFO.
The teams went head-to-head in the quest for the prize, a trip to a destination marketing conference in June 2024.
Ultimately the team Guerres des Étoiles (French for Star Wars), comprised of Charlotte Delay from Spark Foundry, Daniel Miller from Kaimera and Tate Boden from Initiative, won the competition.
Their idea, Lost Beats - Amplifying the Invisible, aimed to ‘bring belief to small-town Australia through music’.
The pitch recommended an Australia-wide MMAD bus tour that would help teach the country’s youth about mental health through the power of music. The goal was to shed light on the unseen and unheard voices of young people who need someone to believe in them.
The team outlined how MMAD could leverage the content from the tour with stories that draw attention to the charity’s donation program.
Teams Flying Economy, Pitch Fit and MAC Pack also received honourable mentions for their strong approaches to the brief, sharing personal stories, defining audiences and creating compelling responses to the brief.
Winning-team delegate Charlotte Delay, senior executive at Spark Foundry, said the past two days have been immensely rewarding.
"The diversity and expertise of the speakers was inspiring and I have learnt so much that has made me think in new ways about what I do which I look forward to sharing with my team at work and our clients," Delay said.
“Winning the pitch-off was the icing on the cake. Our strategy was straightforward - fulfil MMAD's goal of engaging hard-to-reach communities by meeting them where they are - which led to the creation of the MMAD Bus, designed to tour rural communities and show up for them in person and in an impactful way."
MMAD’s co-founder Dominic Brook said Yahoo Academy brought together a bunch of legendary emerging industry leaders who are out to change the world.
"Sharing the last couple of days with them has been really inspiring, and the fact we have an actionable winning idea to take MMAD to regional Australia in an impactful way is just brilliant," Brook said.
"It really hit the right note when it came to aligning with MMAD’s mission.”
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