Digital Day 2017 was a huge success. It proved to be our biggest and best yet with 140 schools across the country (and beyond) taking part from Bournemouth to Glasgow, Cardiff to Thailand. Our digital professionals packed their lunch boxes, perfected their presentations and headed back to school to inspire the next generation about the breadth of careers available in digital.
The day gave students an insight into the industry, what it’s like working for an agency and the array of roles available from social media to developers and project managers to creatives. The day wasn’t all talks and presentations, students had the chance to tackle one of three sponsored challenges: Powered Up Pets by LV=, Smart Schools by The Diana Award and Fashion of the Future set by BIMA.
LV= asked students to create an innovative product or service that would help LV= pet insurance customers to keep their pets healthy; make pet ownership more social; or take some of the hassle out of owning a pet. The Diana Award challenge saw students use emerging tech such as VR, Ai or Robotics to make their school a better place, either by tackling bullying in school or online or making their learning experience more engaging, enriching or fun. The Fashion of the Future brief challenged students to create a piece of wearable technology that would solve a problem that students or their friends and family face every day.
The judges were blown away by how innovative and creative the ideas were. Eventually we managed to whittle down the 100s of entries to a second round of just 50, reviewed by BIMA’s Young Talent Council. 19 finalists were then sent to our sponsors, who were all excited to see the outcome of the briefs.
The winners are…
Jersey College for Girls with agency partner Switch Digital. The team Hannah Read, Ana Silva, Bethan Thomas, Charlotte Neale and Jess Greenwood won with their idea Love. Paw. U. They created an innovative app to help pet owners to improve their pets’ health and help them socialise. Features of the app include; chat helpline with qualified vets allowing people to discuss pet symptoms through chat or video function, online forum which allows pet users to connect, ability to organise and attend sponsored walks and other social events and biometric monitoring, with food, exercise and care advice tailored to specific breeds.
The sponsors had this to say to the winning team:
‘Their mock ups of the app were professional and very well thought out, referencing the common journeys the customers would take while navigating the app as well as app security. What really differentiated their entry from the rest was the thought they gave to the commercial side of the product. They thought about the cost model, they referenced advertising to non-LV= customers from within the app as well as utilising some of the features to reduce LV= claims costs! They even spoke about how they’d advertise the product via social media. Well done!” – Anthony Gribbon, LV=
Bournemouth School for Girls with their agency partner Redweb. The team Georgia Abbott, Katie Holt, Evie Fawkes, Saffron House and Mali Foote won with their idea Virtual Victim.
Students developed the idea of a VR experience/game that can be used in PSHE lessons to help raise awareness of bullying. The user can take the role of bully, victim or a bystander in real life scenarios including cyber, physical and verbal bullying. The results from each of the scenarios are sent to a central system where the teacher can evaluate students’ choices and reactions to recommend programmes or offer advice.
The Diana Award wanted to pass their congratulations to the winning team:
“We feel that they really answered the brief- not only did their idea raise awareness of anti-bullying but it also encourages the users to stand up to bullying through educating them on correct ways to do so. Although there is currently a high use of VR, we felt that they were innovative in taking a readily accessible technology and changing its use.
“The execution and clarity of the project was flawless; from designing their own logo and slogan, to thinking about ways in which The Diana Award could run the initiative. The level of thought meant that we could really see this being something even we would use out on the road delivering training!” – Jonathan Ellicott, The Diana Award
Westholme Senior School with agency partner TwentyOne Digital. Ellie Little, Natalia Lums, Amir Habeji and Adam Balapatel came up with their idea Bloombell.
Bloombell is designed for new parents to save them the confusion and time in checking their baby’s vitals. The team designed a band that can be secured to the baby’s ankle that will help parents to monitor their baby including checking their heart rate and temperature, with features to call the doctors if either are too high. Clocks on the band show when the baby last ate and drank and also has motion sensors that determine when the baby is awake or asleep. The students had also thought about how this product would be connected with other products such as a mobile and camera monitor that turns on when they’re awake and turns off when they’re asleep.
We’d like to pass on huge congratulations to the winning team:
“Not only did we feel that [the team’s] idea solved a very real problem that new parents face but they had executed it perfectly. Bloombell consistently scored highly at each stage of the judging process, with the concept for the product praised by all of the jury. Not only had they thought carefully about what a new parent might want, but their connected products and customisable colours also gave it a commercial focus. All round, it was fantastic and we can’t wait to see this product on the market one day!
“Special mentions also go to Boroughmuir High School for their idea Zeta, and John Cabot Academy and Cleveden Secondary School for tackling real life problems such as memory loss in the elderly and those who can’t read emotions.” – Bridget Beale, BIMA
The winners have scooped some great prizes including the £500 cash prize, Vue Cinema tickets, 25 points towards their iDEA bronze award, a visit to award winning studio ustwo and a visit to Sky Academy studios.
Thank you again to all the students, staff and agencies who made the day possible, and also to sponsors LV= and The Diana Award for setting such great challenges for the students to get their teeth stuck into.
We’re already planning to make Digital Day 2018 even bigger and better. If you’re a school or agency, sign up to take part here>>