Start-up Business of Baby wins Dentsu Aegis Network’s Brainbox idea incubator competition

Business of Baby has taken out Dentsu Aegis Network’s (DAN) in-house idea incubator competition, Brainbox, winning a $100,000 investment from the group at the annual Brainbox Pitch Night on Friday night.

Business of Baby is a centralised platform that helps parents navigate their child’s administrative and healthcheck requirements by connecting them to the right Government and Organisational information. The idea was presented by Isobar strategy director, Sharon Behen.

Now in its second year, Brainbox was developed by DAN with the simple goal of bringing great ideas to life. Judged on the key areas of originality, impact, practicality, measurability, development process and applicability, Business of Baby triumphed over an impressive 30 entries from across the group.

Such was the quality of the  entries on  the night, the judging panel awarded a second winner, committing DAN’s CSR, Diversity & Inclusion councils, and Isobar’s resources to supporting Ngarandi, a digital platform that collates and hosts Aboriginal stories and history.  Ngarandi was developed by an inter-agency group made up of Isobar’s Nowlab director Dave Budge, and specialist Indigenous communications agency, Cox Inall Ridgeway’s Harpreet Kalsi, Aden Ridgeway, Yatu Widders-Hunt and William Trewlynn.

Alongside Business of Baby and  Ngarandi, ‘Old Mates’ – a community platform solution that connects two generations (old and young) to create meaningful connections and relationships in everyday situations – took out the People’s Choice award. The team made up of iProspect’s Divya Voleti, Isobel Taylor, Thomas Curtain and Damien Tang won flights, accommodation and two tickets to SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Says Simon Ryan, judge and CEO of Dentsu Aegis ANZ: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do, and I was thoroughly impressed by the ideas presented by our people at Pitch Night.

“We have seen great integration across our businesses, highlighting the breadth of talent we have in ANZ, and I was incredibly proud to be able to award a second winner, with a community-led idea to be brought to life by our own teams.”

Says Konrad Spilva, judge and Isobar Group CEO and head of innovation DAN ANZ: “Dentsu Aegis Network is full of smart, creative people with brilliant ideas, and Brainbox is the ultimate celebration of this.

“Business of Baby brought us an idea that was practical, well-researched, and most of all, addressed a clear need for new parents who need help navigating the myriad of admin tasks that are thrown their way in the early years of a child’s life. Particularly we loved that Business of Baby helps fathers and partners take more ownership of maternal health in the early months.”

Says Behen: “Winning Brainbox is a huge validation of an idea I’ve been sitting on for quite some time. The process of entry forced me to think about all the elements and craft a pitch that was tight enough to make others believe it’s a good idea too.”

“Brainbox is a fantastic platform because many of the business ideas that come forward, are by nature, disruptive and digital – and DAN is well-placed to bring them to life. For me, DAN had much of what I need to bring my idea to fruition, so it seemed like a natural fit. I’m glad I put my best foot forward and submitted.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that supported, assisted and cheered for me – you realise the depth of your support in the network at moments like this.”

Brainbox is a flagship initative of DAN’s Innovation Council, an inter-agency cohort of senior leaders charged with driving the Group’s commitment to innovative ideas and thinking, for the benefit of clients and staff across Australia and New Zealand.

As well as the $100,000 investment from DAN, Behen will be given a day per week for six months to bring the minimum viable product to life.  Once Business of Baby is in market, she will receive one third of their business’ revenue from day one.

Dentsu Aegis looks forward to providing further updates on Business of Baby as the product is developed over the coming months.

(Pictured L-R: Simon Ryan, CEO, DAN ANZ; Sharon Behan, winner of Brainbox; Konrad Spilva, CEO of Isobar Group and Head of Innovation DAN ANZ)