Competition Seeks Top Ten Ads Worth Spreading

TED Partnerships, organizers of the famed - and star-studded - conference series that focuses on big ideas, predicting the future and developing "ingenious solutions to global problems" has issued a challenge: create an ad worth spreading. Now an ad worth spreading should be nothing new to the ad community because every ad should be crafted in a way that makes it worth being seen by many. Sadly, that's not the reality in which we live.

Nonetheless, TED wants the industry's creative minds to submit their best work and work which creates new forms on engagement with audiences. TED Conference Creator Chris Anderson describes the challenge, saying, "We want to encourage development of ads-with-a-difference. Ads that engage our audience authentically, intelligently, delightfully. Ads that people will want to share because, like the rest of TED, they encapsulate ideas worth spreading."

Are you up to the challenge? You better be. We are, after all, the advertising industry. If we can't place in several top spots of this challenge, do we really deserve to continue calling ourselves advertising experts?

All the contest details are here. Videos between 30 seconds and five minutes should be submitted to TED by February 7, 2011. A judging panel will select ten winners and those winning entries will make their debut during TED2011, February 28 - March 4 in front of 1,500 of the brightest people in business, be placed on the TED.com for a week and appear on YouTube's homepage. One representative from each winning team will also be invited to attend one day of TED2011 in Long Beach with travel and lodging paid for by TED. Check out the full prize package here.