A campaign to help create national awareness of the plight of Australia’s Returning Service Men and Women, has seen advertising agency BCM and charity, Walking Wounded, take out oOh!’s Million Dollar Pitch.

BCM’s winning pitch aimed to raise awareness and funds for the charity organisation, which was founded by Brian Freeman in 2014 to support the recovery and rehabilitation of returned Australian soldiers.

The pitch highlighted the fact that while 41 soldiers have died in Afghanistan, 121 returning soldiers have committed suicide.

CBA marketer and the chair of the judging panel, Stuart Tucker, said the combination of a powerful campaign purpose and brilliant creative execution for the Walking Wounded campaign maximised the reach and engagement offered by the Unmissable oOh! network.

BCM was one of five finalists pitching in Sydney today to a panel of judges, which also included Leo Roberts from Coca Cola Pacific, Cameron Curtis from Near, Sunita Gloster from AANA, Derek Green from Ogilvy, Nicole Milward from Razor/Joy and Brendon Cook and Michaela Chan from oOh!.

oOh!’s CEO Brendon Cook said while only one of the pitches could win, the quality of the finalists’ presentations – including Moxie Products for the Never Alone Campaign, Tourism Australia, Grey for Cure Brain Cancer and UM for Lego – was outstanding with all judges agreeing that each “got 10 out of 10 for the innovative way they utilised Out Of Home to get their messages through.”

“The finalists communicated clear messages that all Australians should hear and used our network in creative and innovative ways to deliver an impactful and engaging campaign,” Cook said.

“As a result we will be working with all of the finalists to help them in getting their message out.”

AANA CEO and judge, Sunita Gloster, said the quality had touched all of the judges with emotive messaging “that made us laugh, cry, be shocked, surprised and delighted.

“While generally judging leaves you exhausted, we all walked away invigorated by what we saw and heard.”

Working with oOh! the winning pitch team will develop and launch a $1 million cross-format Out-of-Home campaign.

The pitch team, which consisted of BCM’s Paul Cornwell and Nick Ikonmou and included veteran Sargent Rachael Ingram, also win a round the world site tour taking in iconic OOH locations in London and New York and finishing in Austin for the world’s largest marketing and interactive festival.

oOh!’s Million Dollar Pitch invited professionals working in media and creative agencies to show why they deserved an opportunity to pitch for a $1 million Out Of Home campaign.