Big Ad Contest: Runway est giving away up to $100,000 for fake ads

Runway launches its Big Ad Contest, offering up to $100,000 in prizes for fictional ads created with its generative video tools before the July 31 deadline.

Four weeks, seven fictional briefs, up to $100,000 in prizes: Runway is reopening its Big Ad Contest, a spec ad competition created end-to-end with its tools. Pick one of the seven briefs and produce the best possible 15-to-30-second ad, with no client, no imposed budget, and no production notes. Six of them are for invented products (blood orange soda, sunscreen, waterproof notepad, portable speaker, mushroom powder, multi-tool), with the seventh being a wild card.

All generative video must be produced in Runway, and an active paid subscription is required to submit. Audio is permitted (music, sound design, voiceover) provided you own the rights, and the official watermark must appear on the final render. The jury evaluates four criteria: concept, execution, impact, and adherence to the brief.

The grand prize is $50,000, followed by $15,000, $10,000, $5,000, and $5,000 for subsequent places, then $1,000 for each of the finalists ranked sixth to fifteenth. Submissions, solo or as a team and with no limit on the number, remain open until July 31st.