We are thrilled to announce that Auric Essentials has been selected as a regional finalist in the Global Startup Awards (GSA) 2025, the world’s largest independent startup ecosystem competition, spanning 120 countries across 12 regions. This nomination places us among the top healthtech innovators in the Oceania region, encompassing Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.

Adding to this honor, our Co-Founder and CEO, Adam Good, has been nominated for Founder of the Year, recognizing his leadership and dedication to advancing personalized wellness through AI-driven aromatherapy.

Global Startup Awards: Celebrating Innovation Worldwide

The Global Startup Awards (GSA) aim to identify and celebrate the pioneers of innovation and entrepreneurship from around the globe. Established in 2012 as the Nordic Startup Awards, GSA has grown exponentially, now active in 154 countries across seven continents, divided into 19 regions. The competition serves as a platform to connect, promote, and showcase startups and entrepreneurs, elevating them to the global stage through strategic communication, public relations, competitions, and events.

Why This Matters for Auric Essentials

Bringing a hardware-recurring business model to scale is no small feat. The journey has been relentless and unpredictable, but moments like this remind us why we keep pushing forward. Being nominated in the HealthTech Startup category affirms our commitment to pioneering a holistic, AI-powered wellness solution that integrates scent, technology, and science to enhance daily life.

What Makes Auric Essentials Stand Out?

Auric Essentials’ nomination in the HealthTech Startup category is based on key innovation criteria, including:

• AI-Driven Predictive Analytics: Leveraging data insights for personalized interventions and optimized wellness experiences.

• Innovative Fitness & Wellness Solutions: Promoting healthier lifestyles and preventive care through groundbreaking technology.

• Alignment with Global SDGs: Our mission supports SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-being, with a focus on sustainable innovation (SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure).

Founder of the Year: A Testament to Leadership

Adam Good’s nomination for Founder of the Year is a significant milestone, recognizing his ability to:

• Drive exceptional business results while leading Auric Essentials towards global expansion.

• Inspire his team and set a new standard in wellness tech innovation.

• Create a business model that seamlessly integrates hardware, AI, and personalized wellness experiences.

The Founder of the Year award acknowledges leaders who have made a tangible impact, demonstrating vision, resilience, and the ability to scale a startup within five years of founding.

How the Global Startup Awards Work

The awards follow a rigorous selection process:

• Regional finalists are evaluated by an expert jury and public voting.

• Public votes hold equal weight to one jury member, making community support crucial.

• Regional winners advance to the Global Finale, gaining unparalleled exposure and international networking opportunities.

Oceania’s Newest Startup Category

2025 marks the expansion of the Global Startup Awards – Oceania, recognizing the region’s fast-growing startup ecosystem. Covering Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea, this platform is dedicated to celebrating visionary startups and founders while fostering collaboration across the region.

What’s Next? Public Voting & Grand Finale

With public voting playing a key role in determining the winners, we invite our community, supporters, and industry peers to cast their votes for Auric Essentials and Adam Good in their respective categories.

Winning at the regional level will propel us onto the global stage, offering new opportunities for investment, strategic partnerships, and further innovation in the wellness tech space.

Join Us on This Journey

This nomination is more than just recognition—it’s a testament to the groundbreaking work happening at Auric Essentials and within the broader healthtech industry. We are committed to pioneering Mood as a Service, making personalized wellness accessible through AI, scent technology, and seamless integration with modern lifestyles.

Thank you to Global Startup Awards for this incredible honor, and to our supporters who believe in our mission. Stay tuned for updates, and don’t forget to cast your votes!

For more details on the nomination and to vote.

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In an exhilarating turn of events, Auric Essentials has been crowned the Australian Startup of the Year, earning the prestigious opportunity to represent our country at the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this November 2024. This recognition is a testament to our innovation, hard work, and a beacon of Australia’s vibrant startup community’s support and collaboration.

The Entrepreneurship World Cup is one of the globe’s most significant and diverse startup pitch competitions and support programs, giving out a staggering $4 million in cash prizes and $150 million in in-kind prizes. The competition has become a cornerstone for entrepreneurs aiming to catapult their ventures into global success.

The Australian National Final was held on Tuesday 27th of February in Melbourne hosted by the Startup Network, in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Network, showcased the nation’s brightest and most innovative minds. Competing against brilliant peers like Arani S., Paul Bevan, and Tina Funder was an honour. Congratulations to Paul Bevan for clinching the People’s Choice award; your innovation truly resonates with the people.

Our heartfelt gratitude extends to the Startup Network, Australia’s largest startup community, and its tireless leaders like Vicki Stirling, Ryan Burns, and Stephanie Hall, among others, for fostering an environment where ideas can flourish and entrepreneurs can thrive. With over 60,000 members, this community stands as a pillar of support and a catalyst for growth for startups nationwide.

The journey to the EWC is a significant milestone for Auric Essentials. As a young company, the platform and exposure that this competition provides are invaluable. It’s a chance to showcase our innovative approach to wellness through technology fused with AI and aromatherapy and learn, network, and potentially secure investments to scale our impact globally.

The EWC and Global Entrepreneurship Week represent the pinnacle of entrepreneurial spirit, breaking down barriers and uniting innovators, investors, and policymakers across 200 countries.

As we prepare for this global stage, our mission extends beyond personal success. We aim to highlight the incredible talent and potential within Australia’s startup ecosystem and contribute to the broader narrative of innovation and economic growth.

As we look forward to November and December, our focus is unwavering. We’re not just participating; we’re aiming to make a mark, inspire, and bring home not just awards but partnerships, opportunities, and a wealth of experience that will propel Auric Essentials and the Australian startup community forward.

Thank you to our mentors, supporters, and the startup community. This journey is a testament to the power of collaboration and the boundless potential of ideas nurtured by a community that believes in them. We are immensely proud to represent Australia on the global stage and promise to make you proud.

Stay tuned for updates on our journey to the EWC, and explore the plethora of events coming up through the link in the comments below. Here’s to a future where innovation knows no bounds and the spirit of entrepreneurship shines brighter than ever.

Together, let’s make history.
🚀 #AuricEssentials #EWC2024 #AustralianStartup #GlobalEntrepreneurshipWeek

WPP was today named the most creative company of the year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

WPP agencies collected a total of 176 Lions, including 1 Titanium Lion, 4 Grand Prix, 36 Gold, 47 Silver and 88 Bronze, with winners representing 40 different countries.

For the first time since 2019, the Cannes LIONS International Festival of Creativity took place in person to showcase the best creative work from around the industry.

A total of 25,464 entries from 87 countries which, combined, provided a phenomenal insight into creative marketing globally. The sheer volume of entries demonstrated the value of creativity to corporates, to trade and to growth.

Ogilvy was awarded Network of the Year and took home a Titanium Lion together with Wavemaker for Shah Rukh Khan My Ad for Cadbury, a data-driven campaign that personalised ads for local businesses impacted by COVID-19.

WPP winners and shortlisted entries came from every part of the company, and from across its agencies. VMLY&R won a Grand Prix for its I Will Always Be Me campaign for Dell and Intel, designed to make it easier for people with motor neurone disease to bank their voice by reading a story, and a Grand Prix for Maxx Flash’s The Killer Pack, which helps, through biodegradable packaging, combat deadly diseases like malaria and dengue caught outdoors in India. Speaking in Color for Sherwin Williams by Wunderman Thompson won the Grand Prix for Creative B2B – a prestigious win in the inaugural year of this category – for its voice-activated colour-selection system. A Grand Prix for Media Placement was also awarded to MediaCom’s Hope Reef for Mars Petcare (with AMV BBDO).

The Creative Company of the Year award is given to the company which earned the most points across its agencies. WPP was also the most awarded company in the Creative Business Transformation category, reflecting the company’s expertise in creating new and innovative products and services for clients, and reimagining customer experiences or business models.

The award comes at the end of a week when WPP also announced a pro bono partnership with the government of Ukraine on a global campaign to demonstrate that Ukraine is open for business, launched an initiative with IBM to tackle bias in advertising technology, and supported the industry’s global Ad Net Zero plan that follows the lead of WPP’s own net zero commitments announced last year.

WPP was named the most creative company of the year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. WPP agencies collected a total of 190 Lions, including a Titanium Lion, 12 Grand Prix, 28 Gold, 57 Silver and 92 Bronze, with winners representing 38 different countries.

The award is based on the accumulated points total from agencies within each holding company. It is the first time that WPP has won the Holding Company of the Year award since 2017, and reflects investment in creative talent as part of WPP’s strategy for growth.

Ogilvy was the standout performer, with eight Grand Prix and a Titanium Lion for work including Stevenage Challenge (DAVID) and Moldy Whopper (DAVID and INGO) for Burger King; Courage is Beautiful for Dove (the moving tribute to front-line workers featuring the faces of healthcare professionals, etched with the marks from long hours in protective equipment); and Naming the Invisible by Digital Birth Registration for Telenor Pakistan.

WPP winners and shortlisted entries came from every part of the company, and from across its agencies. AKQA’s H&M Looop, a pioneering in-store recycling system designed to inspire a more sustainable approach to clothing among consumers, picked up a Grand Prix for Design, as did Superunion’s stunning work for sustainable packaging brand Notpla. VMLY&R’s ingenious I Am for Starbucks, which created a safe space for trans people in Brazil to have their names legally changed, was awarded the Glass Lion for Change. Degree Inclusive by Wunderman Thompson for Unilever, the adaptive deodorant for people with upper limb disabilities or visual impairment, was an Innovation Grand Prix winner.

WPP today revealed the five winners of its first Extraordinary Awards, designed to celebrate and recognise the best work from across the company and its agency brands.

This year’s winners were selected from almost 1,000 entries across five categories. Four reflect WPP’s offer: Communications, Experience, Commerce and Technology, while the fifth – the top prize – is for the best example of Creative Transformation for clients.

90 leaders from across WPP, drawn from all disciplines, from creatives and strategists to planners and technologists, came together to review the entries in a global judging process.

The entries, from 100 cities and all WPP’s networks, encompassed everything from inspired art and copy, powerful communications strategies and inventive media planning to hyper-engaging digital experiences, stunningly effective ecommerce platform design and game-changing martech implementation.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “Creativity is more than just a great idea. It has the ability to bring about change and to transform businesses. In a year defined by disruption, we launched these awards to celebrate our people and recognise work that demonstrates the power of creativity to build better futures for our clients and communities.”

The five winners, revealed today during an internal award show for all WPP employees:

Creative Transformation:

Geometry – London, MediaCom – London, Ogilvy – London, 

 

Bootiques: Breaking the Mould of Christmas, Boots 

This cross-agency team broke the mould of Christmas advertising with a multichannel experience that delivered true personalisation at scale for the whole nation to interact with and enjoy.

Communications:

DAVID – Miami and INGO – Stockholm, 

The Moldy Whopper, Burger King 

Against all industry aesthetic practices, the team launched an impactful campaign that featured the iconic Whopper rotting over a period of 35 days. This rule-breaking campaign sent a simple and clear message to consumers – Burger King food has no preservatives.

Experience:

VMLY&R – Melbourne,

 

 A Future Without Change, Monash University 

By showing a future that shouldn’t exist, this integrated campaign – supported by digital OOH, online films, social posts and ongoing VR experiences – helped recruit and inspire the next generation to change it.

Commerce:

Geometry Global – Dubai,

 

Lifebuoy’s Handle on Hygiene 3.0, Unilever 

In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the team re-designed and rolled out Handle on Hygiene 3.0, a world-first innovation and impactful shopper activation campaign to improve hygiene, developed in partnership with Barrows.

Technology:

MediaCom – Tel Aviv and Grey – Tel Aviv, Rabbi Bot by Always, P&G 

This customised app, developed in consultation with rabbinical authorities, uses the power of AI to determine the end of a woman’s menstruation cycle, replacing the need for Orthodox Israeli women to undergo uncomfortable, in-person consultations with a rabbi.

For more details on the winning entries, special commendations and the full shortlist, and to hear from the panel of judges, please go to wpp.com/wpp-extraordinary-awards.

The enormous – and underserved – market for people with disabilities is ripe for innovation and disruption. Companies that understand this and take advantage of the opportunity will be making a strategic decision with long-term benefits.

I wanted to dedicate this months blog post to Christina Mallon who leads Inclusive Design at WPP agency Wunderman Thompson, where she consults brands on how to implement inclusive design practices into their business strategies.

Christina is a woman at the forefront of an important movement towards inclusivity in design and advertising. She has a unique and special voice, championing individuals often ignored by these industries–particularly those burdened by physical disabilities.

At the start of Christina’s professional career, her arms slowly became paralyzed. The transition to “disabled” was challenging but has never slowed her down for a second. As a young digital marketing professional starting her career with a physical “disability” she felt under-represented as a consumer. Rather than being discouraged, she recognized the opportunity to grow awareness and make a measurable impact within the industry.

This realization inspired her to start an inclusive design practice at Wunderman Thompson and lead one of the only incubators focus on wearable tech for people with disabilities called Open Style Lab. She has partnered with brands like Macy’s, IKEA, Tommy Hilfiger, and Microsoft on how to make their customer experiences more inclusive.

Christina outlines her point of view of accessibility verses inclusivity.

Accessibility enables people with disabilities to make use of products and services, but it is very often an item on a checklist rather than part of the DNA of a design.

Inclusive design puts usability by the largest number of people – including those with disabilities – at the very heart of the creative process. The end result can be a hands-free controller for a videogame, a handbag with Velcro closing for people with limited upper-body mobility or a space with lowered countertops for people who use wheelchairs. Inclusive design works best when it’s not intended for a specific need, but rather benefits anyone who uses it.

Understanding disabilities

Disabilities can be divided into four categories: mobility, vision, hearing and neurological. Simply put, a disability might seem like a personal health condition but the World Health Organization (WHO) does not define it that way. Instead, it says that disability reflects the interaction of the features of a person and the features of the society they live in. Disability occurs when a product, service or environment is not suited to a person’s capabilities.

Getting started: how do you design inclusively?

On the surface this would seem a varied and difficult task, with as many solutions as there are different disabilities. But this is not the case. The goal of inclusive design is to create one product that works for all. Instead of helping people conform to inflexible systems, products and services should be able to adapt to the capabilities of whoever needs to use them.

We can understand this better by looking at the difference between an accessible parking spot and a smart assistant with a screen. The parking spot improves access to an already existing infrastructure that is not designed to cater for people with disabilities. A smart assistant with a screen can be adapted to the needs of whoever is using it. It might enable someone with limited mobility to turn on lights or someone with limited vision to hear the news, but it can also enable a non-disabled person do those things as well.

Three core principles of inclusive design

Recognise exclusion. Exclusion occurs when we use our own biases to solve problems. Inclusion requires us to consider the widest possible set of capabilities of the people who might be using a product or service.

Learn from diversity. In designing for people with disabilities, we must recognise that a key feature of their daily lives is adaptation. We’re not designing for limitations but rather for people who can adapt to new situations. In recognising this, we can unlock the true potential of the design for the people who it is intended to serve.

Solve for one, extend to many. Inclusive design focuses on what’s universally important to all people. If you create a solution that works well for someone who cannot hear, you might be surprised to find out that it also increases the productivity and improves the life of a person who can. A simple example might be a self-driving car: it enables a blind person to increase her or his mobility, but it would also likely be a safer and more convenient option for anyone else.

While WPP had yet another successful Cannes Lions Festival it was the announcement from the company to take on a series of initiatives designed to ensure it is playing its part in tackling pollution from single-use plastics by the end of the year demonstrated to me the company vision of a creative transformation company.

WPP will no longer buy or provide single-use plastics such as bottles, straws, cutlery, and cups in any of its 3,000-plus agency offices and campuses worldwide. And it will make it easier for people to recycle their own plastic materials at work.

WPP has also signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, led jointly by UN Environment and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, thereby endorsing the vision of a circular economy for plastic in which it is designed never to become waste or pollution. Other signatories include Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Johnson & Johnson, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, SC Johnson, The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever.

The company has also committed to working with partners and clients to inspire consumers to think differently about plastic packaging and change their behavior; create more sustainable approaches to product and packaging design, and develop new systems for delivering and recycling products.

Facebook is among the first partners to collaborate; the two companies are exploring ways to work together to harness their collective global reach to drive action among consumers.

The Cannes announcement follows a special internal WPP summit in May which brought together people from across the company’s agencies to discuss how to reduce the impact of plastic on the planet, from redesigning products, packaging and experiences to creating closed-loop systems and using communications to improve recycling rates.

It also builds on various existing initiatives within WPP agencies. To kick off the program, WPP will host a series of “Unpack the Problem” creative hackathons over the summer to develop actionable ideas that help tackle plastic pollution.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “Our industry has the tremendous collective power to bring about change for the better, but our efforts have to begin at home. Taking the plastic out of Wire & Plastic Products by phasing out single-use plastics in our offices is just the first step. People expect companies to act responsibly and help them live more sustainably, and our clients look to us to help them deliver brands with purpose. We look forward to working with partners across the industry and using our creativity, insight, and scale to make a difference.”

On the Cannes Advertising award front, the WPP agencies brought home more than 180 Lions, including five Grand Prix: Air Max Graffiti Stores by AKQA São Paulo for Nike; Keeping Fortnite Fresh by VMLY&R Kansas City for Wendy’s; The Tampon Book: A Book Against Tax Discrimination by Scholz & Friends Berlin for The Female Company; The Last Ever Issue by VMLY&R Warsaw for Gazeta.pl, Mastercard and BNP Paribas (a collaboration with Wavemaker that also won a Titanium); and Bluesman, again by AKQA São Paulo, for Baco Exu do Blues.

Notable Gold-winning work included campaigns for Burger King and Coca-Cola by Ogilvy’s DAVID Miami; Wunderman Thompson London’s The Not So Beautiful Game for the National Centre for Domestic Violence; and The People’s Seat for the UN from a WPP team led by Grey London with BCW, Finsbury, Kantar, MediaCom, Townhouse Productions and Wildfire all contributing.

The world’s first non-rectangular football field has been constructed in the community of khlong toei, a densely populated area of Bangkok, Thailand

The project, which includes a series of play areas, seeks to demonstrate that otherwise vacant asymmetrical spaces can be utilized for outdoor recreation.

The scheme has been developed by AP Thailand, in collaboration with CJ worx, who hope that the project will help enhance relationships among the people in the community. The ‘unusual football field’ is an unorthodox setting that redefines the boundaries of the traditional 105 by 68 meter rectangular football pitch.

The concept originated from an idea called “Think Space,” with the goal to transform a small and irregularly-shaped field into a practical football field that still allows fair play between teams. The idea questions the limits of space in order to illustrate our brand’s belief that “Space can change one’s life.”

The Unusual Football Field was developed in Khlong Toei community, a highly populated area in Bangkok which is believed to have no usable space left. However, in reality, there are numerous asymmetrical spaces scattered across this district.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-hayO8bXL4

“The vision to break the norm or what is possible with an abandoned space—it’s very clever,” said Sandra Planeta, Design Lions jury president and founder of Planeta Design in Sweden.

Planeta said she and the other jury members spent a great deal of time discussing the concept of design in the process of selecting the Grand Prix winner and really looked at the power that design has to influence culture. “The Unusual Football Field” was a perfect example, she said.

“We wanted to pick a piece that shows the best qualities of our category and what design can deliver,” Planeta added. “And that piece was touching so many points. It’s breaking the grid, it’s doing something unusual, it’s so smart, it’s simple, it’s human, it’s bold. It really contains all the ingredients we’re working with. All 20 of us [on the jury] want to go back home and create different football fields.”