Priyanka Gohil and Aman Aragonda responded to a UN OCHA brief in 24 hours, pitching a digital campaign to mobilise USD $23 billion and save 87 million lives across Asia-Pacific
Schbang has clinched the Digital category win at Cairns Hatchlings 2026, the Asia-Pacific creative competition held at the Cairns Convention Centre in Australia, marking a significant moment for Indian creative talent on the international stage.
Cairns Hatchlings is one of the most pressure-tested creative competitions in the region. Finalists receive a brief and have exactly 24 hours to go from ideation to execution to live presentation. This year’s brief was driven by OCHA and supported by the UN Foundation, challenging teams to develop a culturally resonant idea to motivate the private sector and the public across Asia-Pacific to collectively raise USD $23 billion and save 87 million lives in 2026, built around the campaign platform Reunite for Humanity.
Schbang’s Digital category entry, led by Priyanka Gohil and Aman Aragonda, zeroed in on a tension at the heart of the brief: in a world where digital connectivity is widening the gap between people, how do you use that same world to bring them together for a cause? Their answer was AI. Observing that AI platforms are today used universally, from wealthy individuals to large private sector organisations, the duo proposed using AI as the connective layer between those who have the means to give and the 87 million people who are offline and in critical need. The platform would channel funds directly to the UN’s humanitarian efforts, while ensuring donors could see the real-world impact of their contribution.
The judges called it “a seriously impressive piece of strategic reframing and problem solving, unique and fresh.”
Priyanka Gohil said, “The brief was about solidarity, but the digital world is doing the opposite. It’s pulling people further apart. We wanted to flip that. What made this harder was that I am a product designer and Aman is a graphic designer – neither of us works on campaigns day to day. This was completely out of our comfort zone. But we used every insight we had from our industry, stayed up through the entire 24 hours, and trusted the strategy we had built.”
Aman Aragonda added, “We did not sleep for a single minute. The moment the 24 hours ended, we were straight into our presentation. But the exhaustion didn’t matter because we had built something we believed in. We started from a very difficult reality, designed the entire flow of our presentation to be strategic from start to finish, and even asked the judges for feedback at the end. That kind of conviction, I think, is what carried us through.”
Dipshika Ravi, National Creative Director at Schbang, said, “Winning is one thing. But what makes this special is the idea Priyanka and Aman brought to the table. Using AI not as a tool for the privileged, but as a bridge to those who have nothing. That kind of thinking, done in 24 hours, on a brief of this magnitude, is what Schbang is built on. I could not be more proud of them and of what this team represents. “
Schbang placed two teams in the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 finals, with Priyanka and Aman in Digital and Beverly Coutinho and Sneiden D’souza in Publishing. It is a marker of how far Indian creative talent has come, and a sign of where it is headed.