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

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

The day’s challenge began with a high-energy workshop led by Tara McKenty, Executive Creative Director AU/NZ of AKQA, 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), Angus Whitton (Commercial Manager, The Walt Disney Company Melbourne) and Justine Leong (Managing Director, AKQA Australia).

Teams were guided to frame “How Might We” statements, introduced to Westfield and Disney’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 as a place to create, share, discover, inspire and connect, using Disney 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 and Disney 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.

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

Check out the talented future creative leaders on each winning team. Who knows? You might see their names and their winning idea winning a few LIA statues next year.

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.”