Starcom Ireland took home the top prize at the first NNI POP Press Planning Competition yesterday. Media planners with three years experience or less participated in the competition, which was judged by a team of industry leaders: Paul Farrell, IPG Mediabrands; John Gildea, Owens DDB; and Kathleen Moore, Tesco Ireland.
Responding to a brief, teams from Starcom, Mindshare, Mediavest, Aegis and OMD had just a few short hours to prepare their strategies and plans. Representatives from the various NNI advertising departments were on hand to provide information about their products and answer questions. Each team was then given just seven minutes to present to the judges.
The teams were judged on the basis of five criteria: Interpretation of the Brief; Strategic Thinking; Best Use of the Press Medium; Use of Budget; and Presentation Skills. The judges were extensive in their praise for all the teams but it was Team Starcom who scored the highest number of points.
Presenting the trophy, Anna Clarke, Advertising and Marketing Manager for NNI thanked all the participants and the judges and said “when we launched NNI POP, our aim was to encourage young media planners to engage with newspapers and news media publishers. The response has been really positive. This is the first planning competition that we’ve held and we are delighted that so many agencies were able to participate.
I am delighted to congratulate Team Starcom and I wish all of you up-and-coming media stars great success in your careers”
Yesterday’s media planning competition is just one of a series of events and competitions organised by NNI for young media planners. Rachel Ennis of OMD said: “I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I’m new to planning having worked in search the last 3 years so yesterday really benefitted me – I certainly learnt a lot.”
Siobhan Connor of winning team, Starcom commented: “It’s really exciting to be part of such a great initiative. We all learnt a lot from taking part and it was great to have our peers there to learn from as well as suppliers and judges to gain experience from.”
For further information:
Anna Clarke
E: aclarke@cullencommunications.ie
T: 01 668 9099
