A team of media planners from Core Exchange have won this year’s NewsBrands Ireland Power of Planning competition with their media plan “Today’s Choices, Tomorrow’s Change.”

The winning plan was developed by Emma Brassanini, Alex Sheerin, Christine Power, Hanna Akinso, Michael Poufong, and Hollylee Higgins, who impressed judges with their excellent interpretation of the brief, strong audience insights, and compelling strategic execution.

The Brief

This year’s fictitious challenge was based on a new government-led initiative designed to tackle some of Ireland’s most pressing public health challenges. The campaign’s goal was to inspire healthier lifestyle habits — spanning nutrition, exercise, and mental wellbeing — while addressing the different needs of three key age groups.

Teams were asked to demonstrate how news brands’ trusted platforms, broad reach, and creativity could cut through misinformation and motivate positive action across generations. The campaign brief called for a plan that would:

• Deliver impactful, tailored messaging to three distinct audiences.
• Showcase the full range of news media platforms – from print and digital to podcasts, publishers’ social channels, and branded events.
• Highlight the power of news brands not just as trusted sources, but as flexible, creative partners for public health campaigns.

The challenge was not a “one size fits all” approach, but to connect with each group in a way that felt relevant, relatable, and motivating. For added pressure, the teams had just six hours to create their plan.  

Judges’ Feedback

Aoife Hofler, Media Director at Javelin, said:
“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.”

Christine Matthews, 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.”

A close second place went to Zenith, whose entry was also highly commended.

Celebrating 10 Years of Power of Planning

Reflecting on the competition’s milestone year, Lisa Buckley, Communications & Programmes Director, NewsBrands Ireland, said:
“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.”

Industry Connections

As part of the Power of Planning education day, participants also met with commercial teams from Ireland’s leading national news publishers, including: DMG Media, Business Post Group, News Ireland, The Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Reach Ireland, and the Irish Farmers Journal.

Irish news publishers collectively reach 80% of the population every week across print and digital platforms (Kantar TGI). NewsBrands Ireland represents the country’s leading publishers, promoting the vital role of trusted journalism in society and showcasing the unique commercial power of news brand audiences to advertisers.