By AdWorld
Copyright adworld
A team of young media planners from Core Exchange has won this year’s NewsBrands Ireland Power of Planning competition with a campaign that challenged them to promote healthier lifestyle habits through trusted news platforms.
The six-strong group-Emma Brassanini, Alex Sheerin, Christine Power, Hanna Akinso, Michael Poufong and Hollylee Higgins- took first place with their plan “Today’s Choices, Tomorrow’s Change.”
Judges praised the entry for its detailed interpretation of the brief, strong audience insights and compelling strategy.
Zenith, also part of Core, came in second place in the competition and received a commendation from the judging panel.
This year’s fictitious brief centred on a government-backed initiative designed to tackle pressing public health challenges, including nutrition, exercise and mental health. Participants were asked to show how news brands’ platforms — from print and digital to podcasts, social channels and branded events — could be used to reach three distinct age groups.
The task called for tailored messaging that was relevant and motivating to each audience and each team had just six hours to prepare their plans.
“Huge congratulations to Core Exchange. Their plan stood out for its level of detail and excellent understanding of audiences — where and how they consume news, and how best to engage them. The team demonstrated strong ideas for driving awareness, engagement, and action across multiple touchpoints,” said Aoife Hofler, media director, with Javelin and one of this year’s judges.
Fellow judge Christine Matthews of Kantar Media added: “The plan was both creative and practical, with a clear strategy, strong central theme, and impressive audience mapping across all available news brand platforms, including live events.”
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Power of Planning competition which is organised annually by NewsBrands Ireland.
According to Lisa Buckley, communications & programmes director at NewsBrands Ireland, “This is the 10th year of our Power of Planning competition, and we are always inspired by the energy and creativity of the participants. The initiative highlights the reach, diversity, and effectiveness of using news brand platforms. Congratulations to Core Exchange on their brilliant plan, to our runners up Zenith, and to all the teams who took part this year.”
The competition formed part of the wider Power of Planning education day, during which participants also met commercial teams from national news publishers including DMG Media, Business Post Group, News Ireland, The Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Reach Ireland and the Irish Farmers Journal.