Ocean Outdoor’s Digital Creative Competition Returns with £500,000 Prize Fund

Entries are now open (July 13th) for Ocean Outdoor’s annual digital creative competition which returns for 2021 with a £500,000 prize pot.

This year there are two categories - one for brands and a second for charities. 

Entrants are invited to submit original concepts, six of which will appear on Ocean’s premium full motion digital out of home (DOOH) platform in multiple retail and city environments including Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City and Canary Wharf.

Other stand-out UK wide digital formats include The Grid which covers 10 UK cities, The Loop networks in Manchester and Birmingham city centres and the XL roadside network which covers key commuter cities. 

The competition also offers agencies and creatives the chance to secure a slot on the prestigious Piccadilly Lights in London, operated by Ocean on behalf of Landsec.

Previous winners of Ocean’s digital creative competition have gone on to win five prestigious Cannes Lions, including a silver Outdoor Lions this year for The Old Piccadilly Lights which was created by Anomaly for Ancestry.

This year’s competition is an opportunity for brands to leverage the evolution of the medium, using the combined power of DOOH and social media channels to amplify campaigns, delivering impacts beyond the screen alone.

It’s also a chance to leverage Ocean’s proprietary technology including mid-air haptics and DeepScreen, Ocean’s innovative new forced perspective 3D activation.

Ocean Labs’ progressive technology suites offer audience and vehicle detection, live localised data and connectivity, live video streaming, augmented reality, dynamic full motion content and interactive retail showcases.

Ocean head of marketing and events Helen Haines said: “Ocean’s creative competition continues to challenge screen-led thinking, inspiring the advertising industry to redefine human engagement, using DOOH as the centre piece of that work.

“For 11 years, globally award-winning ideas have been submitted by the media and creative industries, placing digital out of home at the centre of creativity and the media plan. More recently, DOOH has demonstrated how it delivers brand value well beyond the physical screen, becoming one of the most amplified communications channels of the year. It is these kind of concepts that we are looking for. All you need is an idea and if you win, we will make it happen.”

To keep the entry process simple, concepts should combine jpeg images or a short video with a written narrative of 500 words (max). Entries will be judged by an independent panel of experts.

It is free to enter the competition. Entries close on August 27th and the winners will be announced on October 14th at a live event.

Click here for further information.