Jumpstart, Advertising Council Australia WA’s graduate program concludes for 2023

Advertising Council Australia’s WA graduate program JumpStart concluded last Thursday, with students’ final pitch presentations held at Rare, bringing 2023 to a close.

For over a decade, JumpStart has provided participants with a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of some of Perth’s top advertising agencies, demonstrating the various roles that exist to help them make a more informed decision about where they want to work.

On the final day of the program, students were broken into four groups and sent to the program’s mentor agencies Wunderman Thompson, Moonsail, 303 MullenLowe and Initiative, to pull their first pitch presentation together.

Seven West Media’s Chief Marketing Officer Kate Molinari and General Manager Marketing Jane Stirling played the role of the client and were joined by a panel of industry-leading judges to watch the student’s presentations, provide feedback and undertake the tough task of determining a winning group.

Judges included Simon Stewart (Rare), Magda Wood (Gatecrasher), Carma Levene (Trilogy), Rob DiGiovanni (Bonfire), Krista Song (Marketforce) and Smiljka Dimitrijevic (on behalf of Advertising Council Australia).

The standard of the presentations was exceptional and deciding on a winning group was nearly impossible, but first place was awarded to Jay Cutler, Tasmia Hoque, Jessica Wilkins and Robbie Moore who were mentored by Paige English and the team at Initiative.

Special recognition was also given to Chloe Foster, who came away as the individual winner on the day, and to Braydon Gallop, the recipient of the JumpStart Consistent Achiever Award.

“We were inspired to see the depth of talent pitching in response to our brief. The teams were confident, creative and strategic,” said Molinari. “It’s reassuring to know there is such a strong cohort of students coming into our industry. The future is bright!”

Advertising Council Australia WA’s State Manager, Melissa Vella, said: “JumpStart would not be possible without the agencies who invest their money, resources and time into nurturing the future talent of the WA industry.”

“A big thanks to Trilogy, Moonsail, 303 MullenLowe, Rare, Wunderman Thompson, Initiative, Bonfire, Gatecrasher and Marketforce.”