The results from UnLtd’s ‘Pitch for Purpose’ competition are in, with Tessa Chong and Max Rapley from The Monkeys taking top spot.

The inaugural Pitch for Purpose competition, running the entirety of July, challenged the industry to come up with a ‘product for purpose’. The winning idea would be brought to life by UnLtd as the industry’s first social commerce project to generate funds for children at risk. The winners would also be treated to two tickets to New York.

Chris Freel, CEO of UnLtd comments, “We were overwhelmed by the amount and quality of entries that we received. From a custom sanitary range and clever apps to loaves of bread, the entries were all incredibly creative, well-thought through and based on great insight.” 

The finalists pitched their ideas last week on stage to a panel at Advertising Week APAC. The panel of ‘Great Sharks’ – Adriane McDermott, CMO at Seafolly; Brent Smart, CMO at IAG; Kerry McCabe, CEO at PlayersVoice and Margie Reid, managing partner at Thinkerbell – chose Tessa Chong and Max Rapley – art director and copywriter, respectively – from The Monkeys as their winners.

The winning idea, ‘Goodstock’, is a media asset platform that gives creative agencies access to better quality stock made by professionally respected artists. According to Chong and Rapley, it also presents artists an opportunity to donate their work for a good cause.

The other finalist pitches included:

• ‘Against the Grain’ – bread with purpose by Joshua Hogg and Sam Enshaw from Initiative
• ‘One All’ – custom sports merchandise by Joel Grunstein and Jeff Seeff from Special Group, and
• ‘UnLtd: Looks’ – an ethical fashion concept by Camille Gray and Jason Maggs from Initiative.

Freel continues, “The finalist pitches were all excellent and it was inspiring to see how much creativity, talent and passion to use our skills for good there is in our industry! 

“While there can only be one winner, we are looking forward to working with all the finalists to find a way to bring these brilliant ideas to life.”

According to Thinkerbell’s Reid, one of the panel’s judges, ‘Goodstock’ stood out for its ability to generate funds relative quickly, “due to the real need for a high quality and unique stock image platform.”

“Judging the Pitch for Purpose finalists was a tough job – the caliber of entries was outstanding, which made picking a winner no easy task. It’s wonderful to see such a positive initiative being supported by the many great minds we have in the industry.”

Winners Chong and Rapley comment, “We’re over the moon to have won UnLtd’s inaugural Pitch for Purpose. There was some stiff competition from some genius creative people.

“We’re feeling lucky to be the ones headed to New York. And looking forward to working with UnLtd to make our idea a reality.”

Marketing is proud to have UnLtd as its Content Partner. UnLtd brings the Australian media, marketing and advertising industries together to tackle a big issue: undoing youth disadvantage. We urge you to visit unltd.org.au and get involved.

Further Reading:

• Is your purpose idea good enough to win a trip to NYC? UnLtd launches Pitch for Purpose »
• Partnerships and the power of the big idea with UNICEF global chief of brand building »
• Purpose in progress – one year later with Afdhel Aziz »

Image credit: UnLtd