Announcing the Winners of the Alexa Cup, a Pitch Competition for Agencies and Tool Providers

During the last three months, more than 75 agencies and tool providers in 12 countries competed across the globe in the Alexa Cup. The challenge offered an opportunity to push the boundaries of what is possible with voice leveraging the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK). It was a forum to showcase their creativity, innovation, and technical prowess to produce delightful and engaging, customer-centric voice experiences. Teams were tasked with creating a 10-minute “pitch,” which included development of an Alexa skill and complementary voice strategy for an organization or client that solved a customer need. This consisted of the comprehensive go-to-market strategy, inclusive of planning, design, development, campaign plan, and results measurement and iteration. Each finalist team included a planner (or a strategist), account manager, creative designer, developer, and campaign/media planner. Teams were rated on a scoring rubric that consisted of target audience & value, originality, technology, feasibility & usability and go-to-market strategy & promotion.  

Final Pitch at the Voice Summit

After qualifying in country and regional rounds, the three regional finalists from the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions competed in a final pitch at Voice Summit in Newark, New Jersey, which drew voice enthusiasts from 26 countries, including brands, agencies and tools providers, developers, engineers, designers, and sonic branding specialists. Our judging panel consisted of Kerry Elsdon (Global VP of Digital Marketing, Mastercard), Nithya Thadani (CEO, RAIN), Jonathan Patrizio (Principal Solutions Architect, Mobiquity), Mark Webster (Director of Voice Product, Adobe) and Dave Isbitski (Chief Evangelist, Amazon Alexa).

We’re excited to share the 2019 Alexa Cup World Champion winning teams and what they pitched:

• Gold Cup - Clemenger BBDO (Australia): Pitched their “Inner Voice” voice strategy and Alexa skill experience that seeks to help people with anxiety on a daily basis or any time they feel like they need someone to talk to.  They pitched on behalf of independent non-profit organization, Beyond Blue. Congratulations Sabrina Riedel, Olivia Gatt, Damian Asling, Sylvain Simao and Stuart Aitken.
• Silver Cup - Publicis Commerce (United States): Pitched leveraging Barbie’s™ 60th anniversary with a voice strategy and Alexa skill experience.  The solution grants children and families access to immersive brand and product experiences through daily interactive content, including free and premium content. Congratulations John Elliott, Ali Amarsy, Nicolette Amber, Jon Hackett, and Andrew Klein.
• Bronze Cup - SayItNow (United Kingdom): Pitched their voice strategy and Alexa skill experience that leverages the marketplace Booxscale.  The voice marketplace brings customers the ability to book and pay for services from thousands of merchants in the UK via voice. Congratulations Charlie Cadbury, Sander Siezen, Kane Simms, Jozef Wallis, and David Biagini.

We want to send a sincere thank you to all the agencies who participated in the Alexa Cup, judges, and global Amazon teams that supported the event.

Country Winners

Here are the list of country winners. Congrats to all the winners, and we really appreciate your participation in the Alexa Cup and passion for voice.

Americas

• Canada – Connected
• United States:
  • Publicis Commerce (East Coast)
  • Ogilvy (Midwest)
  • Globant (West Coast)
• Mexico – Nativo // Digital

Europe

• United Kingdom – SayItNow
• Germany – MRM // McCann
• France – MRM // McCann
• Italy –  Juxhin
• Spain – MRM // McCann

Asia Pacific

• India – FCB & Boltd
• Japan – TOKAI Communications
• Australia & New Zealand –Clemenger BBDO

Ready to Build Voice Strategy for Your Brand?

Visit Alexa Skills Kit page to learn more about Alexa skills, and the Agency and Tool providers page to find experienced skill builders and tools.