Graham Fink, the British multimedia artist and former chief creative officer at Ogilvy and Mather, has stepped up to chair Ocean Outdoor UK’s 2026 Digital Creative Competition.
Fink heads up a stellar panel of 25 independent judges drawn from global brands, creative agencies, media agencies, publishing and Out of Home advertising.
Now in its 17th year in the UK, and sixth year in other group markets, Ocean’s competition calls for bold ideas and original concepts that push the creative boundaries, using the latest techniques and technology available across premium DOOH formats and Out of Home environments.
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The UK jury will convene in September ahead of the awards event which will be held at One Marylebone, London on 8th October for the second year running. Every year, the competition invites submissions from commercial brands and non-profit organisations. The top three winners in both categories will share a prize fund of £500,000 in media space across Ocean’s UK network, with awards for Gold, Silver and Bronze positions.
The two Gold winners will then go on to compete for the European Grand Prix against the Gold winners in the six other Ocean competitions.
This year’s Grand Prix went to the Manchester agency TBWA\MCR and the charity Prost8 for Dodge the Finger, a humorous interactive campaign delivering a serious health message to men aged over 50. Their campaign went on to be shortlisted for a Cannes Lions in the Engagement /Media, New Realities and Emerging Tech category; and was crowned Most Impactful OOH and Ambient Campaign at this year’s Prolific North Creative Awards.
For the first time this year, the UK has also introduced a new extra category for creative, art, film and design students which will be judged by the audience at the event itself.
Ocean Outdoor UK marketing director Marie Le Hur said: “As a channel OOH continues to evolve, a combination of better screens, new formats and locations, sophisticated technology and audience data providing even greater opportunities for brands, agencies and creatives to create work that delivers real world results.
“Recently called the ‘last level playing field of creative awards’ by our Gold non-profit winners, anyone with a great idea can enter, and if you win, Ocean will work with you to make your idea happen.”
Giving guidance to applicants, judge India Pearce said: “I’m looking for ideas that marry creative flair with innovative technology. Show us something that would stop us in our tracks, captivate our imagination, or deliver a truly compelling experience.”
The UK student category is presented in association with Lloyds Bank and based on a brief to raise awareness and drive brand advocacy for the brand as a student account provider. Shortlisted entries will be judged live at the awards event in October. The prize is a two week internship with Ocean Labs and a creative workshop with Lloyds Bank. Students should contact [email protected] for the full brief and further details.
Entries for Ocean’s Digital Creative Competition remain open until 21st August and it is free to submit your ideas. To keep the process simple, entries should combine jpeg images or a short video with a written narrative of 200 words. Find out more here.
This year’s line-up of UK judges includes:
- Graham Fink, Chair, British multimedia artist and formerly chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather in China
- Ben MacLaren, head of media planning at Sky UK
- Natalie Mackle, head of media, The Magnum Ice Cream Company
- Drew Satchell, marketing manager, Lloyds Banking Group
- Georgina Bramall, chief marketing officer, GiffGaff
- Charlotte Tudor, VP marketing, Disney UK/EMEA
- Verity Phillips, media lead, Netflix
- David Patton, CEO, D&AD
- Susan Liu, head of experience production, BBH
- Joseph Petyan, CEO UK, VML
- Amy Coomber, chief creative production officer, Neverland
- Karam Bakr, brand media director, Croud
- Andrew Stone, creative director, Jellyfish
- Laura Jordan Bambach, founder and chief creative officer, Uncharted
- Ben Beazley, executive creative director, Omnicom Productions
- India Pearce, associate creative and design director, Havas Play UK
- Henry Daglish, CEO, Bicycle London
- Curtis Weir, OOH group director, Publicis Media
- Matt Searle, executive creative director, Dentsu Creative UK
- Tommy Gleadell, planning director and head of OOH, the7stars
- Roy Shepherd, head of OOH, Goodstuff
- Katy Hindley, group innovation director, Posterscope
- Sam O’Connell, head of OOH creative solutions, WPP Media
- Georgie Moreton, deputy editor, BITE, CreativeBrief
- Visha Kudhail, global marketing consultant and author of Authentic Marketing
