The game plan
Inspiring new ways of working
Rather than creating another communications campaign, we designed a hands-on experience where friendly competition between IAG’s eight divisions could build new skills and shape mindsets. The IAG Agent World Cup used a familiar tournament framework, reimagined with deadpan humour, to show that even non-technical employees could create extraordinary AI agents. The “Light the Spark” theme made innovation feel accessible and relevant to everyone, while each division was given its own imaginative name and identity.
Getting match ready
Bringing a 15,000-strong squad together
In the lead-up to the two-week tournament, a series of digital adverts, divisional communications, a SharePoint information hub and launch video built awareness and encouraged employees to join their divisional team. Each round was designed to sustain momentum by introducing new ways for employees to engage. Behind the scenes, teams received coaching to build their agents before competing in a qualifying round to select their final squad. Demand exceeded capacity, requiring entries to be capped for the inaugural tournament.
Game on
Learning by doing
More than 400 employees took part in a day-long qualifying event, creating 135 agents before each division selected its final three agents. In the quarter-finals, employees voted through Match Centre – a bespoke app built for the tournament – exploring agent profiles before selecting their favourites in each match. Over 5,600 votes were counted, creating excitement across the organisation while exposing people to ideas from different parts of the business, with live score updates adding to the drama. For the semi-finals, GenAI itself became the judge. An in-house agent, named the “ReferAI”, assessed every submission against the criteria of storytelling, ingenuity, simplicity and impact, generating team scores alongside detailed feedback for every entrant.
Beyond the final whistle
Creating lasting business value
The live Sydney final brought together judges from Google, Gradient Institute and IMA, while offices across Australia and New Zealand hosted popcorn watch parties and hundreds more tuned in online. The winner was decided by the final vote of the final judge, bringing the tournament to a dramatic conclusion. Its impact extended well beyond the event itself: all 135 agents were added to Agent HQ, creating a growing library of ideas that teams can discover, adapt and build upon. Many are already saving time, reducing costs, improving quality and delivering faster customer outcomes. Most importantly, seeing colleagues – not technical specialists – create such powerful tools helped break down one of the biggest barriers to AI adoption, inspiring others to believe they could do the same.
Client feedback
The Agent World Cup was amazing. It was the best, most engaging group-wide event in the eight years I’ve been at IAG. The production quality was outstanding, and there was a real buzz. It definitely ‘lit the spark’. ”
Duane Herring
Executive Manager, Digital Workplace and Contact Centre Technology
