Get your idea out of your book and onto the street.
Every famous billboard started the same way: as a thought in someone’s head, a line on a page, a rough scribble that refused to behave.
The Behind the Billboard Competition exists to find the next one.
Created for young creative teams looking for a way into advertising, this is your chance to answer a live Out-of-Home brief, have your work seen by some of the industry’s sharpest creative minds, and put your thinking in front of the people who can help open doors.
No endless theory. No pretend client. No “nice student idea” destined to live forever in a PDF.
This is a proper brief. For a proper brand. Judged by proper creative people.
The winning team/individual will get a book crit with a Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of BBH London and BBH Dublin, have their work promoted through Behind the Billboard and Creative Circle, and be invited onto a special edition of the Behind the Billboard podcast to talk about the thinking behind their work.
In other words, it could be the first billboard of your career. The DEADLINE for submissions is October 31st 2026, so read on below!
The Brief
For our first competition, Behind the Billboard has partnered with Creative Circle and BBH London to launch a live creative brief for Audi quattro.
Your task is simple to say and much harder to do: create an Out-of-Home idea that makes people stop, look, and remember.
That might be a poster. It might be a digital billboard. It might be something that uses the street, the weather, movement, timing, context or location. What matters is that it understands the power of the medium.
Billboards don’t get long. They get seconds.
Make yours count.
Why enter?
Because the best way to get into advertising is to make work that proves you belong there.
This competition has been created to give young creative teams a genuine foot up in adland: a chance to work from a real agency brief, sharpen an idea for the outdoor space, and get your thinking in front of people who care about great creative.
It is also here to keep billboards where they should be: right at the front of the creative conversation.
Out-of-Home has always been one of advertising’s purest tests. One image. One line. One public moment. If it works there, it works anywhere.
What you could win…
The winning creative team will receive a book crit with the agency, giving you the chance to talk through your work, your thinking and your portfolio with senior creative talent, including Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, Chief Creative Officer of BBH London & Dublin.
Your winning idea will also be shared across Behind the Billboard and Creative Circle social channels, putting your work in front of the wider creative community.
You’ll also be invited onto a special edition of the Behind the Billboard podcast, where you’ll get to tell the story behind your billboard before it has even made it famous.
Who can enter?
The competition is open to students and young creatives who want a career in advertising.
You might be at college, university, portfolio school, on placement, freelancing, or working another job somewhere else and trying to get your first proper creative break. What matters is the idea.
Come as a team. Bring a partner. If you want…. Think like a creative department.
How it works
Download the brief.
Read it properly.
Think about the audience, the brand, the medium and the street.
Then create your response and submit your work before the October 31st 2026 deadline. Simply submit a PDF using the form link above along with your contact information.
The entries will be judged by Dan and Hugh from Behind the Billboard, Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of BBH London and BBH Dublin, and a member of the Creative Circle Gold Jury.
GOOD LUCK!
Dan, Hugh, Felipe, and Jeremy. x