Call for Entries: The Big Ad Gig

Eight young advertising creatives will again compete to win a 30-day paid freelance position with the return of The Big Ad Gig 2012 (www.thebigadgig.com). This award-winning event will be held during Advertising Week, produced in association with Atmosphere Proximity and The New York Times. 

 

The Big Ad Gig, now in its fourth year, is an advertising competition for young advertising professionals to highlight their creative skills. Candidates are required to submit a resume, portfolio and application to our panel of esteemed judges. 

 

The 2012 Big Ad Gig panel is filled with industry luminaries including Stewart Krull, ECD, Atmosphere Proximity; Rob Reilly, WW CCO, CP+B; Calle Sjoenell, CCO, Ogilvy & Mather New York; Tiffany Rolfe, Partner, Chief Content Officer, Co Collective; Linda Sawyer, CEO, Deutsch; and Priscilla Natkins, EVP, The Advertising Council. Stuart Elliott, legendary New York Times advertising columnist will be the moderator for the fourth year running. 

 

For this year’s competition, applicants will also have 60-seconds to answer a randomly selected interview question and only one chance to respond. This tests their creativity and ability to think on their feet. Candidates will use their computer camera to record their responses. 

 

On September 1, the judges will determine the eight finalists who will compete at The Big Ad Gig in New York. Selected finalists will be notified and invited to attend Advertising Week from October 1-5 in New York City. 

 

Finalists will be given a creative brief from The Advertising Council that will serve as their final exam. At the live event on October 3 at The New York Times Building, each finalist will have four minutes to present their solution to the Ad Council’s assignment in front of the panel of judges and a live audience. 

 

Five finalists will be awarded 30–day paid art director or copywriter positions at one of the participating agencies. One winning campaign will be produced and run on various Microsoft advertising platforms including mobile, gaming and online. 

 

“Each year our creatives come up with an inspiring and unique concept to draw people into the contest. With a real job at stake, we feel in a small way, we are giving back to the industry and the economy at large, ” said Andreas Combuechen, Chairman and CEO, Atmosphere Proximity, the agency that developed the program in collaboration with The New York Times.” We are grateful to our co founding partner, The New York Times and our Media Sponsor, Microsoft, who support this event every year and truly make it all happen.” 

 

“The Big Ad Gig provides these up-and-coming advertising professionals with a unique opportunity to showcase their creativity and gain supreme experience working with some of the top agencies and creative minds in our industry,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer, The New York Times Media Group and general manager, NYTimes.com. “As in year’s past, we are confident the 2012 contest will bring about numerous impressive submissions that feature bold, fresh and innovative ideas that will inspire future campaigns.” 

 

“We are honoured to be a part of this tremendous opportunity for the third straight year. Empowering advertising creativity across multiple screens is core to what we do at Microsoft Advertising, “said Shane Robbins, Sr. Mobile Marketing Manager, Microsoft Advertising. 

 

“This is a wonderful opportunity to engage our industry’s best and brightest new talent in developing creative that makes a real difference,” said Priscilla Natkins, executive vice president and director of client services at the Ad Council. “Our hope is that this contest will instil a lifelong commitment to using the power of advertising to creative positive social change.” 

 

Eighteen of the 24 previous Big Ad Gig contestants are currently working for several leading agencies around the country. Over the past three years, The Big Ad Gig has received several awards including, W3’s, Caples, Pixels and four Webby honourees. 

 

Keep up to date with the The Big Ad Gig at: http://www.thebigadgig.com/