10 years creating a culture of innovation

Young Innovator Awards

Overview

The Young innovator Awards exists to create tomorrow’s innovators by offering a hands-on, learn-by-doing experience. Students are challenged to come up with a unique innovation that will make the world a better place. The best entries, as judged by top innovators in NZ and abroad, win internships at leading businesses in the Bay.

With a vision to foster a culture of innovation in our region, Woods co-founded the programme and have been a ongoing partner for the past 10 years, encouraging creative thinking for the leaders and visionaries of the next generation.

Deliverables

Brand Story & Messaging - Brand Identity - Advertising - Environmental - Packaging - Printed Collateral - Digital Marketing - Video

Identity

Leave your mark

The brand identity encourages students to leave their legacy through innovative thinking. The ‘ leave your mark’ concept was inspired by the great innovators of the world that are remembered for their legacy.

We developed a fingerprint device to illustrate the concept, showcasing that each student can leave their imprint on the world.

Video & Social

Over the years, we’ve created several promotional videos to encourage students to get involved, while educating parents, teachers and businesses about the benefits of the Young Innovator Awards. We’ve also partnered with the team at YiA to develop engaging social media content across multiple platforms.

Experiential Marketing

When marketing the YiA programme, we aim to engage in ways that show we champion innovation not just for students, but for the awards themselves.

After years using printed posters to hold a ‘People’s Choice’ vote leading up to the awards evening, we decided to create an interactive digital display in the shape of a giant stamp. The 3-dimensional stamp with touchscreen display reinforced the concept of the whole awards – to ‘leave your mark’.

We also ramped up our launch event – partnering with Night Owl Cinema to open the awards with an outdoor movie night and help spread awareness of the programme amongst students, parents, and the community. More than 5000 turned up to Mount Drury for an unforgettable night under the stars watching Disney’s Moana.

With student feedback telling us that “innovation is hard”, we introduced them to innovation in its simplest form – through a Paper Plane Make-a-thon at Bayfair mall.

The design process was mapped out visually on the display to help make it easier for children, with staff on hand throughout the whole project to encourage and offer advice. This promoted an open discussion about innovation where kids were constantly questioning, learning and creating.

The display is now used as a resource to teach innovation throughout schools in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions.

Partnering With Influencers

The Young Innovator Awards has attracted some world-class judges and guest speakers from home and abroad, which reinforces just how important initiatives like this are – not just for our region, but for all those who believe in the power of innovative thinking.


Results