It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for with bated breath — the winners of 2024’s TikTok Young Lions competition!
The winners across the five categories have worked with incredible rapidity and performed to an exceptionally high standard against the brief provided by charity partner Shoreline in just 24 or 48 hours, depending on category!
The work produced by these teams of young creatives and media professionals under such trying circumstances is always incredible. But this year, they’ve truly knocked it out of the park.
And, before we get to the winners and runners-up, here’s a reminder of the prizes on offer for the teams — aside from getting them noticed by industry leaders as people to watch for the future.
The runners-up receive free tickets to Cannes in Cairns — the biggest and best advertising, marketing and media show this side of the equator.
The winners, meanwhile, will represent Australia in the Young Lions Global Competition, going head to head against their international rivals to compete for the crown.
Oh, but there’s more. The winners will be sent to France to enjoy the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in person from 17–21 June.
Design
Winners
Anna Forsyth and Kat Van Berkel, CHEP Network
Forsyth and Van Berkel’s idea revolved around the 65,000-year-old CV. These would showcase Shoreline trainees to potential employers and their unique cultural understanding – overcoming one of the biggest barriers to employment.
Runners up
Louis Johanson and Amy Toma, R/GA
Johanson and Toma’s approach saw them create futuristic, digitally inspired OOH assets that would serve as detailed CVs for Shoreline’s trainees. These striking assets would showcase the trainees’ unique skills to potential employers in the industries they want to work in.
Digital
Winners
Daniel Borghesi and Jake Rowland, M&C Saatchi
The M&C pair would create Shore Line — a branded fishing line made in consultation with First Nations Australians with the proceeds going directly to Shoreline. The product would be launched through TikTok via its popular fishing community and sold directly through the platform.
Runners up
Abby Clark and Laura Murphy, MBCS Australia
Clark and Murphy plan to use forgotten points tied up in loyalty schemes into a currency for change. They’ll target frequent travellers using TikTok to research their next trips and partner with travel influencers to showcase Shoreline trainees. Then, using TikTok’s donation tool, users will be able to turn points into donations.
Film
Winners
Madelene McGuinness and Jordan Ellis, VML
McGuinness and Ellis’ film shows how easy it can be for non-indigenous Australians to get into work through connections and family friends — opportunities that are not afforded to many Indigenous and First Nations Australians.
Runners up
Felix Barnett and Trinity Ross, The Bundy Agency and CHEP Network
Barnett and Ross’ work is striking, showing how acknowledgements of country can often be empty and lacking meaning. However, it would look to change these and generate donations to Shoreline.
Marketing
Winners
Krishma Sood and Arianne Riley, The Arnott’s Group
Sood and Riley would put our collective passion for Tim Tams to use, creating a new Cairns Coffee Cream flavour with local ingredients. A dollar per pack would be donated to Shoreline, with corporate tie-ins with the likes of Qantas and Nescafe would follow, creating even more buzz around this exciting new Tim Tam and Shoreline’s work.
Runners up
Meagan Bebendorf and Meagan Aquilina, Flight Centre
Bebendorf and Aquilina created “Every Dot Counts” a campaign that would use interactive assets to show the growing donations to Shoreline from corporate and individual donors alike, with each dot representing $7,000 in donations. The campaign would then retarget donors and keep the donations rolling.
Media
Winners
Ryan Hancock and Jodie Allen, Match & Wood
Hacock and Allen collaborated with League of Legends in a move bound to make a significant impact. By showcasing the education and employment opportunities that Shoreline provides for First Nations youth, this partnership is not just about business but about uniting communities for a common cause. The potential is immense, with the collaboration having the power to generate $10 million by converting a mere 0.5 per cent of users through Dreamtime skins sales alone.
Runners up
Celia Stewart and Rubi Hudson, Wavemaker
Stewart and Hudson honed in on storytelling being central to First Nations cultures using Audible to create a space to amplify the Dreamtime stories through a listening medium, bridging both distance and connection. Shoreline trainees share stories in an audio-first campaign raising awareness of the program. The campaign would use Audible’s subscriber base as a pathway to donations. Users could donate their excess credits within the platform to the Shoreline foundation — turning credits into currency.
