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AWARDS
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ENTRIES OPEN FEB. 25
How far can a great idea go?
The annual Young Creatives Contest returns, celebrating the next generation of creative leaders in advertising and marketing. This year, in partnership with Zappi, we invite young talent from around the world to showcase their ideas, skills and creative vision in a bold new way.
Every breakthrough campaign starts with a simple idea, but it’s what happens next that makes it great. Today, creatives have powerful tools—AI, data and consumer insights—to help push ideas further, turning them into campaigns that spark conversations, shape culture and drive results.
For this year’s Ad Age Young Creatives Contest, we’re challenging the next generation of creatives to bring a fictional brand to life with a bold, original idea—then explore how strategic thinking and audience understanding can amplify its impact.
In partnership with Zappi, we’ve created a fictional brand of a new sparkling water Cannes Eau on the Go, using AI as a tool to help shape its foundation. This fictional brand captures the essence of creativity celebrated at the Cannes Lions Awards and Festival of Creativity. Your challenge: Develop a compelling creative execution for this brand, just as you would for a real-world client—while thinking about how consumer response could refine and strengthen your idea.
The Young Creatives Contest winner will have the opportunity to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and be honored at the Ad Age Cannes Lawn Party in June 2025.
Deadline
Monday, April 21, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET.
YOUR GUIDE TO 2025
★ Eligibility requirements
★ This year's brief
★ What you'll need to submit
★ FAQs
★ Terms & conditions
If your question isn't answered, please contact awards@adage.com.
2025 CONTEST INFO
The global contest is free and open to students, full-time agency creatives and freelance creatives who are age 30 or under on June 18, 2025. You must be 30 or younger on June 18 to qualify.
Ad Age and Zappi will announce a number of finalists, but only one winner (or creative duo) will be selected. The winner will have the opportunity to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and be honored at the Ad Age Cannes Lawn Party in June 2025, attending alongside some of the biggest creative powerhouses in the industry.
The final deadline to enter is Monday, April 21, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET.
Please read the brief and follow the instructions. Only entries submitted via AdAge.com/YoungCreatives will be entered into the contest.
THE BRIEF
Using the AI concept development agents within the Zappi platform, we’ve created a new sparkling water, called Cannes Eau on the Go. The product captures the essence of creativity celebrated at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
With eco-friendly aluminum bottles featuring interactive labels that celebrate innovative campaigns, and flavors like “Insight Peony” and “Bold Bergamot,” this refreshing beverage stimulates and inspires creativity. Designed for marketing professionals and creative trendsetters who are based in the United States, Cannes Eau on the Go embodies both artistic flair and sustainability, offering a stylish, eco-conscious experience.
The creative challenge
❑ Develop a visual creative execution that brings this fictional product’s identity to life—just as you would for a real-world client. This could take the form of packaging, billboards, digital activations (including video or static assets) or other brand expressions that fit the file requirements.
❑ Submit a short, written pitch explaining the idea behind your creative execution—what inspired it, how it connects to the brand and what you could do to refine or iterate on the idea with consumer insights.
❑ The winner and finalists will receive exclusive consumer insights from Zappi—offering a rare opportunity to understand how audiences respond to their creative. Specifically, you will learn what resonates well with the target audience and what their likes or dislikes are about your creative execution.
What we’re looking for
✔ Creativity and originality: How bold, fresh, and engaging is the idea?
✔ Strategic execution: Does the pitch effectively explain the creative choices and their relevance to the brand?
✔ Flexibility: Does the creative approach show an openness to iteration, considering how consumer insights could elevate the original idea?
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ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS
The contest free to enter and is open to full-time agency creatives, freelance creatives and students aged 30 and under.
❑ Entries must be a visual creative execution that brings the fictional brand to life—this could be a billboard, digital ad, promotional video, packaging design or other form of brand expression.
❑ Creative work should be a single image or a video that’s no more than 30 seconds in length.
➤ Images should be a high-resolution .jpg or .png file, no more than 100MB in size.
➤ Videos should be an .mp4 (recommended) or .mov file, no more than 100MB in size.
❑ Entrants must also submit a short, written pitch (350 words max) explaining:
➤ The concept and what inspired it
➤ How it connects with the fictional brand and its audience
➤ How insights could drive an even bigger, more impactful campaign
❑ Entries must be original work, entirely crafted using traditional or digital tools. AI-generated or AI-assisted visuals are not permitted.
Deadline
The final deadline for Young Creatives submissions is Monday, April 21, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET.
Need ideas? See the cheat sheet
Questions?
Visit our FAQs section. If your question isn't answered, please contact awards@adage.com.
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PRESENTING SPONSOR
FAQs
The program is open to students, full-time agency creatives and freelance creatives who are age 30 or under on June 18, 2025. You must be 30 or younger on June 18 to qualify.
We accept duos. Both team members have to be under the age of 30 as of June 18, 2025 to qualify. Teams with more than two people are not eligible to apply.
Not at all! This is a global contest and those based outside the U.S. are welcome to enter.
Please note that all submissions should be written in English.
Please note that all submissions should be written in English.
Once you've finished your image or video that brings the Cannes Eau on the Go product to life, you will need to upload the file and fill out the entry form at AdAge.com/YoungCreatives.
You can create a single image or a video that’s no more than 30 seconds in length.
• Images should be a high-resolution .jpg or .png file, no more than 100MB in size.
• Videos should be an .mp4 (recommended) or .mov file, no more than 100MB in size.
While it is not a requirement, the entry forms also allow you to share supporting materials—sketches, mockups, concept art, notes and more—so judges can better understand how you arrived at your final piece.
• Images should be a high-resolution .jpg or .png file, no more than 100MB in size.
• Videos should be an .mp4 (recommended) or .mov file, no more than 100MB in size.
While it is not a requirement, the entry forms also allow you to share supporting materials—sketches, mockups, concept art, notes and more—so judges can better understand how you arrived at your final piece.
This contest is about creativity and the power of original ideas and human imagination. Entrants are not permitted to submit previously published work, work that is not their own or work they do not have permission to use or publish.
Given the copyright and intellectual property issues surrounding artificial intelligence platforms (as well as the platforms’ own terms and conditions), entrants are not permitted to submit AI-generated or AI-assisted work.
Given the copyright and intellectual property issues surrounding artificial intelligence platforms (as well as the platforms’ own terms and conditions), entrants are not permitted to submit AI-generated or AI-assisted work.
Unfortunately, no. Anything included in an entry should be considered as public information. There’s no space for explicitly confidential information, and we ask entrants to anticipate that anything in their entry could become public—mostly because we don’t want to wind up trying to honor a winner without being able to tell anyone why we want to honor them.
The deadline for all entries is Monday, April 21, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET..
All entries are free and you can enter as many times as you like.
Judges will be looking for:
• Creativity and originality: How bold, fresh, and engaging is the idea?
• Strategic execution: Does the pitch effectively explain the creative choices and their relevance to the brand?
• Flexibility: Does the creative approach show an openness to iteration, considering how consumer insights could elevate the original idea?
• Creativity and originality: How bold, fresh, and engaging is the idea?
• Strategic execution: Does the pitch effectively explain the creative choices and their relevance to the brand?
• Flexibility: Does the creative approach show an openness to iteration, considering how consumer insights could elevate the original idea?
You can submit as many entries as you want.
Unfortunately, once you have submitted your entry, you will not be able to log in to edit the form in any way. If there is factual information that is incorrect, please contact the awards team to request a change.
Please note changes cannot be made once the final deadline has passed and judging has started.
Please note changes cannot be made once the final deadline has passed and judging has started.
Ad Age will notify winners and finalists in May using the contact information supplied in the entry form; the winner will be publicly announced in June.
Our awards team is here to help with any technical issues you might experience. Please contact awards@adage.com.
Your account on AdAge.com is separate from the account used for the Young Creatives Contest or any other Ad Age award programs. When you click "Enter now," be sure to register a new account—unless you've previously submitted to our awards and already have one. If you’re still having trouble logging in, please email awards@adage.com.
THE LEGAL STUFF
Before submitting your entry, please review the terms and conditions for the 2025 Ad Age Young Creatives Contest. Only entries submitted using the entry form on AdAge.com/YoungCreatives will qualify.
Please keep in mind: Anything you submit, including your description of the work, may be published. Do not submit anything you wish to withhold as private information or that you do not have permission to share publicly.