Last Friday in Sydney’s CBD the best young talent pitched proposed Bupa campaigns to head marketer Naomi Driver and a panel of industry heavy weights. Tasked with tackling a live business brief from Driver herself, four university teams went head-to-head in IAA BIG IDEA 2026.
Taking home the afternoon was team Newish Purple from the University of Queensland.
The winning team impressed judges with their Big Idea, ‘The Bupa Athlete’, which was innovative and insight-driven. It addressed Bupa’s brief, “How can Bupa make health feel as valuable and important to protect as the other things young Australians care about?”, with creativity, strategic clarity and commercial relevance.
The team saw that active young Australians readily invest in their boots, gym memberships and club fees but rarely in their own health. So they cast the body as the one piece of sporting equipment that can’t be replaced, under the line “Look after the gear you can’t replace.”
As the winning team, Newish Purple received the 2026 prestigious IAA Big Idea National Trophy and recognition from industry leaders and peers across the marketing and communications sector.
Following the four presentations, B&T spoke to various judges and the consensus was that Newish Purple was the team that had the “biggest idea”, and could back it up with relevant research.
View this post on Instagram
Driver praised the quality of the student submissions and the value of industry engagement with emerging talent.
“The calibre of thinking and creativity from this year’s students was incredibly impressive. The winning team stood out for its strong understanding of the brief, fresh approach and ability to connect with real consumer needs,” she said.
“At Bupa, we’re passionate about supporting the next generation of marketing and communications professionals, and congratulate the winners and all finalists on an outstanding effort.”
On behalf of all the judges, Driver also expressed to the finalists that the marketing industry “is feeling incredibly optimistic about the future talent coming in.”
The three other teams represented University of Queensland, University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and University of Canberra.
Run by the International Advertising Association (IAA) Australia, the competition is now in its 24th year and gives emerging marketing and advertising talent the chance to tackle real-world industry challenges.
Rather than completing a theoretical university assignment, students gain experience solving the same kinds of strategic and creative challenges faced by professionals across advertising, media, communications and marketing.
Following an outstanding competition that attracted student teams from universities across Australia, four finalist teams presented their strategic solutions to a distinguished industry judging panel at the IAA Big Idea 2026 Finalist Event held at the LinkedIn Offices in Sydney CBD.
This year’s challenge was developed in partnership with Bupa Australia, providing students with the opportunity to tackle a live business brief and demonstrate their creativity, critical thinking, strategic planning, and communication skills.
Sheba Nandkeolyar, President of IAA Australia, congratulated the winning team and all participants.
“The IAA Big Idea Competition continues to showcase the exceptional talent emerging from Australia’s universities. This year’s finalists demonstrated remarkable strategic thinking, creativity and professionalism in responding to a real-world business challenge,” she said.
“Congratulations to our winning team, whose work stood out for its originality, relevance and strong understanding of both the consumer and the client brief. The Big Idea Competition is a program that brings academy and industry together. At IAA our focus is to enrich the industry through advocacy best practises, creativity, innovation and shining the light on the next generation leaders”.
The IAA Big Idea Competition forms part of the IAA’s ongoing commitment to nurturing the next generation of marketing, media, advertising and communications professionals by creating meaningful connections between students and industry leaders.
