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July 27th, 2021
With the project “easyDream”, team Watermelon won the 2021 edition of the Creative Challenge, the largest team-based competition in Europe for students and young creatives and part of the Reply Challenges program.
Launched last May 21st with the online qualification marathon (running 48h), the challenge gathered over 12,000 creative talents (+94% vs. 2020 edition) from 82 countries around the World to focus their creative efforts on nine categories: "Brand Activation", "Brand Experience", "Employer Branding", "Employee Engagement", "Digital Customer Experience", "Digital Gamification", "Fan-base activation", "Innovation Design" and "Social Media".
Spread across over 1,900 teams (+90% vs. 2020 edition), the young talents - with an average age between 14 and 24 - put their skills and personalities into the development of a creative concept based on a real brief created by Reply in collaboration with the Brand Partners of the initiative: AC Milan, Ducati, easyJet, Miele, Mondelez International, Pamela Reif, Sky, Telekom and Tuc.
Nine finalist teams, Jovenhub (for the category Brand Activation powered by Miele), Actontown (for the category Brand Experience powered by Tuc), Creative minds (for the category Employer Branding powered by Sky), Kings & Castles (for the category Employee Engagement powered by Mondelez International), Watermelon (for the category Digital Customer Experience powered by easyJet), Power Up (for the category Digital Gamification powered by Telekom), Cookies accepted (for the category Fan-base Activation powered by AC Milan), Replikate (for the category Innovation Design powered by Pamela Reif) and Creathics (for the category Social Media powered by Ducati), progressed to the final round that took place on July 1st, during which they had the opportunity to exhibit their concepts to an exceptional jury composed of the Art and Creative Directors of Reply agencies (Avvio Reply, Bitmama Reply, Open Reply, Triplesense Reply, WM Reply and Xister Reply) and some of the most renowned marketing and communication professionals of the Brand Partners of the initiative who gave tips and feedbacks on the teams’ work.
Live streamed on Facebook and YouTube, the presentations were judged on a combination of elements and skills as the quality of the presentation, the adherence to the briefs assigned, the originality of the project and the highly quality materials produced. Team Watermelon finished top of the podium, presenting an idea in the Digital Customer Experience category powered by easyJet that leverages on the users’ emotional expectations to choose the next holiday destination.
Team Watermelon, composed by Fedele Cavaliere (22 years old), Andrea De Bernardi (22 years old), Elisa Manzoni (23 years old) and Elio Raineri (23 years old), are all students of Digital and Interaction Design at the Politecnico of Milan University. The team commented the victory: “During the two days of challenge, we had a great time together, answering to a real brief, created by a real and prestigious brand. The possibility to free our creativity has allowed us to have fun and explore new concepts in many ways without constraints, leading our minds to the final result. Despite the short time, we had the chance to create an idea, capable of being shared with others and presented to an international jury, competing with other amazing teams.”
“Watermelon didn’t simply meet the brief – they exceeded it at every opportunity. Their designs employed the perfect balance of creativity, research, and UX design methodology – but on top of that, they produced stunning interactive prototypes, marketing ideas, and a thoroughly entertaining pitch video. What the team managed to pull off in a single weekend is nothing short of amazing!“ commented the jury of the "Digital Customer Experience" cateogy composed by Karina Berzinska, Digital Product Manager easyJet, Alex Black, Lead Product Owner easyJet Holidays and Alex Reekie, Senior Manager WM Reply.
The Creative Challenge is part of the Reply Challenges 2021 competition series organized by Reply for young students, talents and technology enthusiasts to promote the culture of coding and stimulate digital innovation in the fields of creativity, cybersecurity and finance.
To find out more about the Creative Challenge 2021 please visit challenges.reply.com.