Creative LIAisons pitch bold phygital ideas to Westfield ANZ in AKQA led workshop

Yesterday, the Creative LIAisons tackled “Create 4 All of Us”, a high-stakes design thinking workshop hosted by AKQA, Westfield ANZ and an entertainment brand. Thirteen teams of ten Creative LIAisons attendees from across the globe were challenged to ideate, make and pitch, enduring phygital experiences for Westfield ANZ and an entertainment brand, applying everything they’ve learned so far in Vegas.

The day’s challenge began with a high-energy workshop led by Tara McKenty, Chief Creative Officer, AKQA ANZ, alongside Amy Copley (Head of Marketing, Brand & Communications, Scentre Limited Sydney), Richard Schmid (Head of Marketing, Activations & Brand Partnerships, Scentre Limited Sydney), Jacqueline Waine (General Manager, Marketing & Community, Scentre Limited Sydney) and Justine Leong (Managing Director, AKQA Australia).

Teams were guided to frame “How Might We” statements, introduced to Westfield ANZ and an entertainment brand’s brief, and given a crash course on phygital: experiences blending physical and digital worlds. Rapid-fire “Crazy 8” ideation (eight minutes, eight ideas) followed before experts circulated to give feedback as team created, made and refined their pitch. “Give it your best shot. We’ll bring your best ideas to life,” challenged McKenty. “You never know, it might just win a Grand LIA next year.”

Over a few hours, teams tackled a live brief to create enduring insta-ready phygital activations or innovations showing Westfield ANZ as a place to create, share, discover, inspire and connect, using the entertainment brand’s franchises to entice more visitors to spend more time offline at Australia and New Zealand’s leading lifestyle and entertainment destinations.

Evaluating each idea for their concept, context and scale, our six facilitators from AKQA, Westfield ANZ and the entertainment brand were blown away by the ingenuity of the pitches produced in such a short time, remarking how quickly the lessons of the week were put into action.

Jacqui Waine, General Manager Marketing and Community, Scentre Group (Owner and Operator of Westfield in Aus and NZ) told CB: “We are thrilled at the quality of ideas from the talented LIAision creatives. It’s an amazing program and it’s been a pleasure to attend alongside our incredible agency partner AKQA.”

McKenty added: “Every year the bar gets higher. It’s thrilling to watch mentees solve problems with fresh thinking, often in ways even seasoned pros wouldn’t consider.”

So, which team of rising stars shone the brightest? Team Wynners took top honours with their engaging idea, Screen Time. Teams Double Down and Triple Sevens followed as first and second runners-up, respectively. Team Merger received a special commendation for being the day’s standout presenters, while Teams 9 and 10 were also recognised with special mentions for their creative ideas.

Rhiana Merota, Intermediate Art Director at Special and one of two New Zealand representatives at Creative LIAisons this year, was part of Team 9, which received a special mention said: “I’m proud of our team. We landed on a simple idea quickly, brainstormed some pitch theatre (ICYMI: This was using ‘the force’ to turn lights off and open doors. And to sell the idea in mid-presentation, that ‘force’ was Kate Jefferys and I opening those doors). We placed with a solid ‘special mention’ – But we’ll just quietly claim that as third place. Shout out team 9.”