Ocean Outdoor’s annual DOOH creative competition returns with £500,000 prize fund

Entries are now open for Ocean’s annual digital creative competition which fosters bold ideas in digital out of home (DOOH).

This year a £500,000 prize fund is available for six concepts which will be chosen by a panel of independent expert judges.

Previous winners over the past 13 years have gone on to win six prestigious Cannes Lions including a bronze this year for Forever Beta and The Big Issue for their campaign I’m Here.

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

Agencies, brands and creatives are invited to submit original ideas, six of which will appear on Ocean’s premium full motion DOOH platform in multiple retail and city environments including Westfield London, Westfield Stratford City and Canary Wharf.

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

The challenge this year is to leverage the evolution of the channel, using the combined power of DOOH and social media platforms to amplify campaigns, delivering impacts beyond the physical screen alone.

Entrants are invited to develop ideas using DeepScreen™, Ocean’s innovative 3D activation which offers immersive audience entertainment on a huge scale, or Ocean Labs’ suite of progressive creative tech.

This includes audience and vehicle detection, live localised data and connectivity, live video streaming, augmented reality, mid-air haptics, dynamic full motion content, interactive retail showcases and more recently dual world campaigns linking real world DOOH with the metaverse economy.

Ocean head of marketing and events Helen Haines said: “ For 13 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. Our awards raise the bar and this shone through once again this year when one of our 2021 winners Forever Beta was awarded a bronze Cannes Lions for their campaign in association with The Big Issue.

“DOOH continues to build brand value well beyond the physical screen. It’s one of the most amplified and shared communications channels across earned and social media, propelled by epic techniques like DeepScreen™. It’s these sort 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 26 and the winners will be announced on October 13 at a live event hosted by Ocean at the National Gallery in London.

For further information, check: https://oceanoutdoor.com/digital-competition/how-to-enter/