With a brief to design and create an innovative campaign for a client using Immediate’s portfolio of brands – including Radio Times, BBC Good Food and Lonely Planet Traveller – media agencies across the UK contributed to the competition. Specifically, says Immediate Media, the campaign needed to optimise the power of Immediate’s 18 million monthly UK audience across special interest sectors as diverse as Food, Cycling, Weddings and Gardening.
The judges – including Immediate Managing Director of Advertising Duncan Tickell, Magnetic CEO Sue Todd, Karmarama Managing Partner of Content Jamie Toward, and Campaign Deputy Editor Maisie McCabe – reviewed the six-strong shortlist looking for insight, originality, effectiveness and creativity.
The MediaCom entry, from partnership planners Jess Gibbens and Olivia Reidy, brings holiday specialist Thomson’s long-haul destinations alive through the power of story-telling. The judges agreed that the compelling and innovative content, tapping into key passion brands across the Immediate portfolio, would inspire the audience to create new experiences for themselves.
Immediate will create the £150,000 campaign for Thomson Long Haul, allowing Immediate’s consumers to explore their dream destination and start creating their own holiday stories before they even board the plane. The campaign will combine the power of print, native advertising and a unique audience engagement tool to personalise the experience, says Immediate. MediaCom and Thomson will also benefit from additional effectiveness research as well as a chef’s table experience worth over £5,000. The campaign will launch in early 2017.
Duncan Tickell says: “Imagine is all about effective creativity – creating integrated and innovative solutions that generate new ways to engage our audiences. While the Great Minds competition had a really high calibre of entries, MediaCom’s pitch for Thomson really resonated for all the judges. Deep insight and great creativity: I’m excited about telling this story!”
Olivia Reidy adds: “We are thrilled to win the Great Minds competition. We put significant effort into our entry to generate insight about the Thomson audience and how it fits so well with the Immediate brands and audience. We are really looking forward to bringing this campaign to life with Imagine.”
The runner up prize of £50,000-worth of media and content was awarded to Compass Holidays, for an idea submitted by APT Marketing. Compass Holidays specialise in walking and cycling short breaks and holidays around the UK and Europe. The agency’s ‘Tour de You’ idea used great brand insight to perfectly match the passion areas of Immediate brands to Compass Holidays’ breadth of offering. The campaign will focus on brands including BBC Countryfile, BBC Wildlife and olive to focus on the range of specialist tours Compass offer.
The full shortlist for Great Minds 2016:
* Airbnb entered by Starcom Mediavest
* Compass Holidays entered by APT Marketing
* Hellmann’s entered by Mindshare
* Sainsbury’s entered by PHD UK
* Thomas Cook entered by Dentsu Aegis Manchester
* Thomson Long Haul entered by MediaCom
Imagine delivers audience-led solutions for commercial partners. It has full access to Immediate’s creative and editorial expertise, and the 30-strong content studio is supported by specialist video and photography facilities, rich insight and data services, says Immediate Media.
