Starcom Brisbane has hosted its inaugural Starcom Challenge event in conjunction with Queensland University of Technology (QUT), where 10 students responded to a live brief as part of the agency’s commitment to nurturing young talent.

The all-day event, held on Friday at Starcom, was the first ever event of its type hosted by a media agency. Starcom has built on its existing relationship with QUT to give students the opportunity to work within an agency for a day.

The 10 students, working in four teams, were given a brief from client Footlocker for its ‘Back to School’ campaign with workshops helping students to interpret the brief and mentors advising teams how to respond with a media strategy and recommendations. Starcom staff judged the entries.

The winning team of Jessica Pokorski and Jasmine Hurt (main picture) will have lunch with Starcom general manager Caleb Watson, where they have the chance to learn about working in the media industry.

“Starcom Brisbane already has a strong relationship with QUT, with our staff lecturing and tutoring there and through our internship program each semester. However, we wanted to build on that relationship with a fun and challenging experience for students,” Watson said.

“The responses to the Footlocker brief from the teams of students were very impressive and demonstrated some great ideas, which made choosing a winner very challenging. I’d like to congratulate all the students and look forward to an informative lunch with the winners.”

Louise Kelly, the subject coordinator for Advertising and IMC at QUT, said: “The Starcom Challenge is a wonderful initiative that provides our students with the opportunity for some hands-on experience in a media agency with real-world mentors, along with the challenges that come with working in teams and creating ideas under pressure.”

One of the participating students said: “I loved how the Starcom Challenge gave us a great insight into agency land and how media agencies tackle a brief.”