Astral Out of Home‘s Carte Blanche competition is looking for the next great OOH advertisement, and this time it’s looking more heavily to the west.
When Carte Blanche started in 2010 it was only open to Toronto and Montreal before expanding to Vancouver in 2013. This year the competition is accepting entries from Calgary and Edmonton, widening the scope of the competition to a number of agencies.
“There’s a huge amount of creative energy in these cities and we can’t wait to see what they will come up with,” said Lucy Collin, vice-president of marketing and innovation, Bell Media Sales, English Canada.
The expansion of the competition into Alberta comes on the back of Astral Out of Home’s own expansion west, said Collin, referring to the purchase of Macdonald Outdoor in Edmonton last June. Astral Out of Home’s inventory in Alberta includes 16 digital canvasses in Edmonton, and two in Calgary.
The contest, which opened March 23 and closes April 13, allows agencies to design an entry with complete creative freedom for a client of their choice, provided the client signs off on the completed product. Entrants are able to submit as many times as they wish, even multiple times for the same client, provided the client approves all entries before submission.
“The great thing about [the competition] is that it’s quite easy to get involved because it’s free to enter. We don’t require a client brief. All we need is your big idea,” explained Collin.
This year’s formats for submission differ by region, with Montreal submissions being focused on vertical billboards, Western submissions involving digital horizontal billboards and Toronto utilizing transit shelter advertisements.
The entries must pass two rounds of judging. The winners of the competition win a trip for two to Cannes in June, as well as $50,000 in media to execute their campaign.
Astral Out of Home has also been working to stir up buzz for the competition with the help of Chris Blanchard, a fictional personality who offers his expertise as an “Idea Catalyst” for the contest.
