Geoff Cochrane.
Somewhere in your business right now, a team member just found out they've made the cut for VMO's Ultimate Media Champion. They're excited. You might be thinking: great, so for the next six weeks I'm losing a team member to burpees.
Stick with me.
For the uninitiated, Ultimate Media Champion is the industry competition VMO runs in collaboration with Fitness First and Goodlife Health Clubs, now in its third year. 250 media professionals across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane spend six weeks training together, backed by expert-led sessions on nutrition, sleep and mental fitness, before state finals in October crown six champions. It's tough. But we reckon it's also genuinely good for your business.
Here's the bit that doesn't get talked about enough: what your team member brings back to the desk. Six weeks of consistent training builds discipline that doesn't just stay in the gym. It shows up as sharper focus, steadier energy through the afternoon slump, and a bit more resilience on the days a client brief goes sideways.
Add in the mental fitness component we've built into this year's program, and you've got someone actively working on the exact things that make people better at their jobs: managing pressure, staying present, showing up.
Then there's the bit that's harder to measure but just as real. Camaraderie. Our industry is small and often siloed. Ultimate Media Champion puts your people shoulder to shoulder with competitors from other agencies, building relationships that outlast the finals whistle. That's good for them, and honestly, it’s good for the industry.
Thomas Grainger, one of 2025's champions from WPP Media, put it simply when we spoke to him after finals. The program gave him a framework to prioritise his wellbeing and build stronger work-life balance, something that's easy to lose in an industry built around always being switched on. His manager at WPP saw the shift too.
Michael Talbot, Client Partner at WPP Media: "Tomi has always been a high performer who is committed to improving both himself and those around him, but the Ultimate Media Champion program took that to another level, bringing even greater energy, focus and balance that was evident in the way he approached his work and supported the team."
That's the return on investment that you can’t capture in a spreadsheet but notice when it shows up everywhere else.
So, has this got you wondering how you can support your participating team members?
A bit of flexibility around early session times, since a lot of this year's training happens before the workday starts. A "how'd training go" instead of an eyeroll when they mention it in standup. And if you can spare five minutes, ask for a peek at the leaderboard occasionally and let them know you're cheering them on. Small stuff, but it tells your team member that the six weeks of early mornings they've committed to matters to the business, not just to them.
Three years in, the thing we keep hearing from leaders is that they got more out of it than they expected, mostly because their team did too. People came back from finals week with more energy, not less. Teams that had someone competing found themselves talking about wellbeing more openly, not just during UMC season but well after it wrapped.
That's really the point of all this. VMO built the Ultimate Media Champion because we believe our industry's health and wellbeing shouldn't be an afterthought squeezed in around deadlines, it should be part of how we work. Our partners at Fitness First and Goodlife bring the expertise, our people bring the effort, and six weeks later we've got 250 media professionals across the country who are sharper, stronger and more connected to their industry than when they started.
Your team member's part of that story starts now. Finals land in October. We'll be watching. We hope you will be too.
Find out more about VMO’s Ultimate Media Champion HERE or follow along on Instagram.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.