Swinburne University named winners of the 2022 Advertising Capstone Challenge

(Pictured L-R: Simon Langley (Bastion), John Greig (Western Sydney Uni), Ana Lynch (Bastion), David Reid (Swinburne Uni), Angela Morris (Bastion), Dr Nicolas Pontes (University of Queensland), Sarah King (Bastion)

Advertising students from Swinburne University of Technology, The University of Queensland, and Western Sydney University competed in the annual Advertising Capstone Challenge (ACC) 2022, last Friday 28th October. All participants were given the unique opportunity to pitch their campaign ideas to executives from the Cancer Institute NSW and Bastion.

The competition enables students to network and connect with the advertising industry through collaboration and competition by working on a real-world brief with clients and industry partners.

This year’s ACC tasked students with a Vaping Behaviour Change Brief to address the issue of vaping among young people in NSW – an activity that is both harmful to health and that could be a gateway to cigarette smoking.

Six teams from three universities made it to the finals which were hosted at The Cancer Institute NSW head office, with team Brella Creative from Swinburne University of Technology taking out the top position.

Says Sarah King, planning director, Bastion Creative: “Brella presented a very compelling strategy and creative idea on what is an extremely challenging brief. Their use of qualitative and quantitative research gave them valuable insights into the audience, the problem and potential solutions. The judges felt their proposed campaign was likely to be effective at helping the audience to understand the harm of vapes and at driving reappraisal of the risk inherent in their own vaping behaviour.”

Says David Reid, lecturer, Advertising Swinburne University of Technology: “Pitches from all University teams that made the ACC National finals were of an amazing calibre, so I am humbled that Brella Creative from Swinburne University took the crown, they killed it! The team was so professional, research was in depth, insights original, strategy clever, and creative and media execution outstanding.”

Says Ana Lynch, managing partner, Bastion Creative: “This year’s ACC gave me great confidence in our future talent with all the teams doing exceptionally well. Everyone at Bastion is very excited to welcome the winning Swinburne team to take part in mentorship and internship opportunities with the agency.”

Says the winning Brella Creative team from Swinburne University: “The Advertising Capstone Challenge lived up to its title. It was a challenging brief but had a highly rewarding outcome. Brella Creative is proud to have taken home the win for Swinburne, especially considering the talent of the competition. We’re so grateful to the Cancer Institute NSW and Bastion for the experience and are excited for the future.”

In previous years, the students have pitched to clients from Tourism Australia, McDonald’s Australia, Lion Dairy (Dare Iced Coffee), 7-Eleven (Slurpee), and Cricket Australia (WBBL).

(Pictured L-R: David Reid (Swinburne), Chelsea Knight (Swinburne, Brella Creative), Lexi Le Clerc (Cancer Institute NSW), Alicia Henry (Swinburne, Brella Creative), Alex Tink (Swinburne, Brella Creative), Adriana Yung (Swinburne, Brella Creative), Simon Langley (Bastion), Linda Montealegre (Swinburne, Brella Creative)

(Pictured L-R: Sean Doyle (Swinburne, Leading Edge Creatives), Jasmine Simon (Swinburne, Leading Edge Creatives)