Marketing & Media News South Africa

Creativity contest could unleash community potential

Adobe's 2012 Gocreate creative contest, now in its third year, offers over US$120 000 in prizes but this is expected to increase over the next few months, as more sponsors and other leading global brands come on board to support creativity. The contest runs until 30 November 2012.

Aimed at the youth, young creative professionals and students, this online social media platform gives them an opportunity to showcase their talents, creativity and skills to the world and be rewarded for sharing and connecting with like-minded individuals on the web portal.

The competition calls on entrants to upload their work onto the website and lobby for ratings via social media channels, using tools such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter, which are integrated into the website. Entrants with an average rating of 100 or more qualify for the Hall of Fame, securing their place to claim the top prizes in the contest. In addition, the public are also encouraged to vote for their favourite entries in the different categories and stand a chance to win great prizes.

Profile works with others

In many instances, the community value of the project outstrips the competition element, as the entrants can profile their work with others in their field and share ideas.

Says Leonard Rabotapi, marketing and PR manager, Sub Saharan Africa & Israel at Adobe Systems Incorporated: "The company is all about creativity. We understand that unlocking creative potential is key to economic and societal growth. The challenge is that globally less than half of employees describe themselves as creative and only one in four feel that they are living up to their creative potential.

"Through programmes like this and solutions like the recently announced Creative Suite 6, which help creatives realise their ideation, the company is championing creativity in all its forms and across all platforms and devices.

"From the results of last year's initiative, the competition is gaining support and traction as a creative community platform. The almost 3000 submissions and more than 53 000 votes for entries we received in 2011 were phenomenal and the commentary and advice exchange was invaluable."

The company partners with organisations and brands such as Nikon, The Loerie Awards, Labspace, Blackapples/Bragbooks, Enjin, Comztek, Touchvision, Daxdata, The Training School, Sternfx, Shalevsoft, COA Group and Digicape and other partners to realise the competition's dream to "Change young peoples' lives through a digital experience".

For more, go to www.gocreate.pro.

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