Youth Impact Challenge

Mobilizing 900+ young entrepreneurs to make a social impact.

Focus

  • Social Innovation

Year

  • 2022

Disciplines

  • Web Design
  • Campaign Strategy
  • Video

Introduction

Founded by InvestEco and Renewal Funds, the Youth Impact Challenge disburses thousands of dollars to young social innovators every year. They approached us to build their website and run an advertising campaign that would connect with young people across Canada.

Challenge

How do we get a diverse range of young people to enter the competition—as opposed to just existing entrepreneurs and high-achieving youth. We needed to create an accessible message that didn’t intimidate people who had never considered themselves for competitions like this before.

Create an accessible message for a diverse audience of youth.

Approach

We started by benchmarking work in the sector, and defining the Youth Impact Challenge’s niche amongst a crowded field of youth innovation competitions. We decided to focus on community-oriented projects that prioritized impact over anything else. On top of that, we prioritized appealing to youth who were in the early stages of developing their passions and ideas.

Execution

We built a website and ad campaign that leveraged empathetic language and a bit of satire to draw in youth.

Website

The Youth Impact Challenge website used bright colours, casual language, and pictures of a diverse range of excited young people to speak to its audience.

Video

We ran a set of video advertisements that were both high-energy and satirical to spread the message.

Static Ads

To compliment the videos, we created many static placement ads that hinged on the same core messages.

Outcome

We met our impressive application goals—engaging thousands of youth in the process. Executive Director Shitangshu Roy said this:

"We have had the privilege at the Youth Impact Challenge (YIC) to work with MMC since our founding in 2020, and have found their team to be incredible partners in helping strategize & optimize our marketing efforts. We especially appreciate their awareness of current trends, diligence in conducting best practice research & willingness to take risks. Indeed, since the start of our relationship, the team have shown consistent care in considering our evolving needs, flexibility in working with us through challenging times & a strong commitment to quality in the work that they ultimately deliver. And here, we want to give particular credit to Tristan for his creativity in finding unique solutions to complex marketing challenges & Tony for his exceptional ability to tell compelling stories through his art. Finally, beyond our professional relationship, we are also inspired by the advocacy of the MMC leadership team in their consistent advocacy of youth issues & demonstrated passion for climate action through efforts like their Climate Warriors quiz, with a clear sense of impact in driving the kind of work that they choose to do."