The Big Ad Gig Competition Opens for Entries

Atmosphere Proximity, in collaboration with The New York Times, announced today its sixth annual, award-winning, Big Ad Gig competition, which offers eight young advertising creatives the chance to win a 30-day paid internship at a top ad agency. The competition will culminate with a live event on October 1, during Advertising Week, at The New York Times Building. 

Over the past five years, The Big Ad Gig has received numerous honors including W3s, Caples, Pixels and four Webby honorees and nominations. In addition, 35 of the past 38 Big Ad Gig finalists are working full time at leading agencies nationwide.

This year, the 2014 Big Ad Gig panel features industry luminaries including: Michael Moroney, Chief Creative Technologist, Atmosphere Proximity; Sue Anderson, ECD, CP+B LA; Alfonso Marian, CCO, OgilvyOne New York; Kerry Keenan, CCO, Deutsch NY; Andrew Essex, Co-Founder and Chairman, Droga5, Priscilla Natkins, EVP, The Advertising Council. For the sixth year running, Stuart Elliott, New York Times Advertising Columnist, will serve as moderator. 

“Identifying great, young talent is a priority for all of us and is something that this program helps us all achieve. Nothing could be more relevant to aspiring creatives than challenging them to create a breakthrough campaign that puts social participation and mobile activation at the core,” said Andreas Combuechen, Chairman and CEO, Atmosphere Proximity, the agency that developed the program in collaboration with The New York Times.

Many of the past winners found out about The Big Ad Gig through social channels, specifically Twitter. Thus, this year, The Big Ad Gig is going where the prospects are by giving them the chance to apply the minute they see the brief. 

Cue Tweet Briefs; short, simple briefs that allow the entrant to apply to the competition by simply replying to a tweet. The briefs will come from the judges in form of short 15- second videos. Each one will be different and the requests will range from writing a tagline to directing a six-second spot on Vine. Candidates are required to submit a solution and portfolio all within a tweet. 

Based on the applicants’ reply, portfolio and submissions, the judges will determine the eight finalists who will compete at The Big Ad Gig in New York on September 15. Selected finalists will be notified and invited to attend Advertising Week from September 29 - October 3.

The Advertising Council’s creative brief will serve as their final exam at The Big Ad Gig live event.

At the live event on October 1, each finalist will be given four minutes to present their solution to the Ad Council assignment in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. 

At the end of the event, 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 advertising platforms including mobile, gaming and online.