03 March 2011

Ads Worth Spreading: The results are in!

The 10 winners of TED’s inaugural Ads Worth Spreading initiative have been announced from the stage. Selected from more than 1,000 submissions from around the world, they are some of the most creative, compelling and out-of-the-box communications of the past year. The winners are a truly diverse group — from major agencies to tiny boutiques to college students and non-profits, hailing from around the world.

In an earlier interview, Chris Anderson had this to say about the effort:

“We’re seeking to reverse the trend of ads being aggressively forced on users. We want to nurture ads so good you choose to watch – and share. On TED.com, ads run after our talks, not before. As well as avoiding the annoyance of interruption, this positioning means they can run longer than the TV-standard 30-seconds. And that’s the key — in 2-3 minutes, there’s more time to tell a story, share an idea, make an authentic human connection. These winning ads, many of them long-form, powerfully demonstrate these strengths. We think they represent an exciting new way for companies to engage with the world in the internet age.”

YouTube was a key supporter in this challenge, helping solicit and review submissions and showcasing the winning ads on the homepage of YouTube.com. AICP and NiceSpots graciously provided us an easy-to-use online judging system. We were also given support by Art Directors Club, The One Club/One Show, 4A’s, IAA, IAB and Contagious Magazine. All ads are being featured on TED.com from March 21 to March 27, and in an online Winners Gallery for a year. Visit it here to see all the winners and honorable mentions >>