The Denver 50: How to enter your idea

These instructions also live on newdenveradclub.com. But let's get it out there.


About the Denver 50

The Denver 50 isn't about backslapping and gladhanding and plastic pieces of hardware that you can display on your agency shelf. Because advertising in the year 2007 isn't about those things.

Advertising is about ideas. And ideas are bigger than individual executions. Bigger than individuals.

The Denver 50 is America's first idea-centric award show. You submit your idea, and as many executions as you need to illustrate it. Our judges will pick the best 50 ideas. Then we'll put out a book that shows the world just how good this market can be.

Our judges include the very best creative directors from the world's very best agencies.

1. Mike Byrne, CD and partner at Anomaly/NY
2. Kevin Roddy, ECD at BBH/NY
3. Robert Rasmussen, ECD at R/GA
4. Jason Zada, ECD and founder at EVB
5. Mike Lescarbeau, President and CCO at CarmichaelLynch


How do I enter The Denver 50?

1. Write a 50 to 150-word description of your idea in a Word document.

2. Decide which execution or executions best represent your idea. You could choose a single piece. Or up to 10 executions in an integrated campaign.

3. Optimize the executions you want to submit with your idea according to the specs below.

4. Put all the executions in a single folder with your Word document.

5. Title the folder with the name of your agency and a number. (For instance, the second entry from Thomas Taber + Drazen would be tiltled "TTD2.")

6. Repeat this process for as many ideas as you want to submit to the Denver 50.

7. Burn all your folders to CD-ROM or DVD.

8. Each submission is $100. Make checks payable to the New Denver Ad Club for the appropriate amount.

9. Deliver your disc (or discs) and check to Matt Ingwalson at Karsh\Hagan, 2399 Blake, Denver, CO 80205 or to Ted Morse at Thomas Taber & Drazen, 1610 15th Street, Denver, CO 80202. Submissions must arrive by August 28.


The Rules

Let's keep this simple, shall we?

1. Entries must be submitted by 6:00 pm on August 28, 2007.

2. $100 per entry. Each entry can include one to 10 pieces that represent the idea.

3. The idea must have been created in Colorado.

4. The idea must have debuted publicly between 1/1/06 and 8/28/07. That's 20 whole months worth of work you can submit.

5. Both NDAC members and non-members are eligible.

6. You cannot submit any piece more than once. For instance, do not submit a print ad campaign and then also submit each ad in that campaign separately.


How do I size my files?

Option 1 - Compose a two-minute (or less) slideshow or video about your idea. You can include photos, videos, a voiceover, or whatever you want along with the elements of your idea. This is how they do the Titanium Lions at Cannes. For examples, see canneslionslive.com/titanium.

Option 2 - Follow the instructions below.

1. Print ad, editorial layout, outdoor, logo, poster or other printed piece: Convert your file into a .jpg or .gif. Make it fit within 900x600 pixel space. The total file size must not exceed 1Mb.

2. Video, animation or commercial: Create a 320x240 .flv file. Compress the video at 400Kbps and the audio at 96Kbps. If you'd like to submit a .mov, make sure it is 320x240 and no larger than 4Mb.

3. Website or microsite: Your site must be hosted somewhere for it to be judged. Submit a link to the site. If you choose, you can also submit a screencapture of your idea to demonstrate a key detail, following the requirements for a print ad or poster.

4. Web banners or rich media: Send us your .swf, .gif, .flv or whatever your deliverable was, no larger than 4Mb. If you feel it must be seen in context, you can submit a screencapture.

5. Event, signage, packaging, 3-D piece, environmental or guerrilla activity: Take a photo and then follow the requirements for a print/poster idea. Or take a movie and follow the requirements for a video/spot.

6. Radio spot or audio track: Submit an .mp3. File size must not exceed 2Mb.

7. Something else: Write an explanation in a Word doc and add it to your folder. Be as clear as possible. Include a photo if you like. If this isn't working for you, post a question on this thread.

Shh, there was a Creative Pod meeting last night

The Creative Pod meeting last night was a little quiet. Maybe the Rockies game across the street jammed up parking. Or maybe people were just saving their energy for tonight's kickball tournament. The upshot was that about eight of us gathered at Thought Equity to watch the latest reel from Lurzer's Archive and discuss the Denver 50.

Tim of Thought Equity volunteered to help us find a venue for our November show. Two folks from Crispin dropped by to let us know they plan to enter. Fueld had some ideas for a viral video. I seem to remember drinking a Blue Moon.

More buzz for iRovr

iRovr, a social experience created for the iPhone by a TTD developer, is all over the Internet today.

Mashable loves the thinking, but wonders if iRovr can attract a big enough community:

Whether iRovr gains critical mass is doubtful, but this certainly points the way as to how social networks should work on the iPhone.

KillerStartups discusses the features:

Among iRovr's features are photo/video sharing, of course, bookmarking, and blogging. And we cannot forget the user profiles. Every iRovr member gets some ego-space to share his/her deets. Everything is specially attuned to the tiny dimensions of the iPhone screen. New media comes in update streams and you don't even have to access the browser.

Pigs, pitching and the Denver 50

I'm not the first person to blog this quote. Or the second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth:

The whole creative process is stupid. It's like washing a pig. It's messy, it has no rules, no clear beginning, middle, or end; it's kind of a pain in the ass, and when you're done, you're not sure if the pig is clean or even why you were washing a pig in the first place.

That goes double for pitching, which Marc Brownstein recently laid into at Small Agency Diary:

I'm not advocating abstinence from dating. It's just that the courting process has gone too far. It's often a waste of an agencies' time to pitch among 12 other shops. Narrow it down, clients! Apply some discipline to the process.

Pure's Gregg Bergan had a good column in The Denver Business Journal not too long ago. He opined that a trip through an agency's portfolio and a long lunch was a better predictor of relationship success than a creative shootout:

Schedule a time to visit each agency. Ask to meet with your entire prospective team and no others. Don't agree to a meeting until all of them can make it. Ask to see a portfolio that represents the work of the actual people who would be on your account. If the agency portfolio includes work of others, you don't want to see it.

OK. But the pitch process survives not only because clients like seeing a bunch of work for free. Creative departments, despite the strain, often love a shootout. It's competitive. Energetic. And win or lose, it gives writers and art directors a whole lot of chances to produce stuff for their books.

When we created the idea for The Denver 50, we all agreed that past award shows thrived on snappy headlines and big egos. And we wanted the New Denver Ad Club's first show to let go of those things and embrace the thinking of agencies like Bartle Bogle Hegarty, Anomaly and StrawberryFrog.

Letting go of the pitch process would take the same sort of willpower.

WOW Phone with Unlimited Long Distance spot

Produced and directed by Incite. Geoff Eakin of TTD was the art director.