Ultimate Classroom becomes first branded content to score a Logie nomination

For the first time, brand funded entertainment has been nominated for a Logie Award. Network 10’s Ultimate Classroom joins a line up of six nominees from across the networks, receiving a nomination in the Most Outstanding Children’s Program category. 

UM and MBCS, the media and creative agencies for Ultimate Classroom also become the first media and content organisations to receive a Logie nomination.

The brand funded TV series Ultimate Classroom is a collaborative partnership with Paramount ANZ, the Australian Government and Defence Force Recruiting, MBCS and UM.  The concept was created to change the perception that the ADF is an employer of ‘brawn over brains’, and ultimately aimed to attract candidates considering a STEM career to join the ADF.

Emma Wood, senior client director, UM said: “A campaign like this needed a different approach to engage its audience and brand funded content offered the perfect solution.

“Working in close collaboration with DFR, and specialists from the ADF from civil engineers to telecommunications technicians, Paramount ANZ and MBCS we were able to take Ultimate Classroom into the loungerooms of nearly one million people, not to mention achieve more than a million social media hits and ultimately lift the knowledge of STEM roles within the ADF by 28 per cent. We are incredibly proud of the program, its results and of course, the Logie nomination,” Wood concluded.

Two years in the making, the four-part series tested 18 of Australia’s best and brightest high-school STEM students. Guided by maths teacher and WooTube creator Eddie Woo, TV presenter and gaming guru Stephanie Bendixsen, and STEM specialists from the ADF, the entertainment-led TV series harnessed student’s skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths in order to become the 2022 Ultimate Classroom champion.

Angelica Naranjo, head of original and integrated content, MBCS said: “We are beyond excited, humbled and honoured that Ultimate Classroom has received a coveted Logie nomination alongside such a high calibre list of programs. 

“Ultimate Classroom was an audacious idea with a challenging objective to tell a new and more accurate story of what a career in the modern ADF looks like and aimed to excite 16 to 24-year-olds to rethink an ADF career.  It has achieved all of those objectives and so much more.”

Michael Stanford, head of Paramount ANZ Brand Studio, said: "Ultimate Classroom was all about challenging misperceptions. The end result of this unique and highly collaborative process was to challenge another misperception - that brand funded shows can't play a role in truly entertaining and educating audiences in fresh and imaginative ways. We couldn't be more thrilled to be nominated at this year's Logies."

Nominees for the Most Outstanding Children's Program 2023 Logie include: Ultimate Classroom Network 10; Barrumbi Kids, SBS; Bluey, ABC; Crazy Fun Park, ABC; Surviving Summer, Netflix; and Turn Up The Volume, ABC. 

The winners will be announced at the 63rd TV Week Logie Awards on July 30, 2023.