Google Creative Sandbox Invites Digital Creatives to Showcase Work

Remember Google's Agile Creativity Pitch to agencies? It's now amping up its own digital creativity to attract ad agencies to come and play in its Creative Sandbox, an "open platform to surface and celebrate" inspiring new campaigns and digital creative.

The name is no doubt familiar to digital types, as Creative Sandbox was the banner under which Google hosted events, dating back to San Francisco, Chicago in 2008, and more recently popping up as events to inspire creatives in Cannes, New York, London and Shanghai.

Now the party is moving online with the launch of a virtual gallery to share and showcase new creative work .

“At its core, Creative Sandbox is a crowd-sourced, social experience designed for exploration and inspiration,” Dexigner comments.“Agencies can upload their work to share the building blocks of the technologies and insights behind each project and how it came together.” 

As the project's Google+ page states,

At Google, we're amazed by how the ad industry is using the digital canvas to bring brands and ideas to life. So we've created a space where agencies can share their digital campaigns, from across all platforms, that push the boundaries of how technology and creativity work together...and the stories of how those campaigns came to be. Vote to push your favorite projects to the top. Tell other creators what you love, admire, or just can't believe. And if you've done something amazing lately, send it in. We'd all love to see it. Jump in. Explore. And let’s play. creativesandbox.com See stellar work from +Ogilvy & Mather +The Barbarian Group +Tribal DDB +Goodby Silverstein & Partners +JWT Paris +TBWA\

Different from Facebook Studio, which seeks to inspire, educate and recognize "the most creative, innovative, and effective marketing that makes use of the Facebook platform," campaigns featured in Google's Creative Sandbox don't require Google technology, but similar to FB Studio, work is graded by visitors and the most popular rise to the top.

AKQA collaborated with Google to develop the online hub for using digital campaigns as case studies. Project submissions are accompanied by a short description of the work in four chapters; About (goals, date of launch, region), Building Blocks (underlying technology), Fast Stats, and Team. Users vote if a project is Smart (blue), Fun (yellow), or Cool (green) with each vote nurturing a petal on a rating flower. Two examples of campaigns featured for the website's launch:

"Only The Liberation" (UncleGrey Denmark) created for the launch of Only Jeans this year: "You're invited behind the scenes in the making of the award winning The Liberation. This movie, fashion catalogue, music video, game is the world's first on demand video retail environment. Created to interact with the female teenage audience and rewarded for it's originality, idea and production."

And Pencils of Promise, a New York-based non profit that builds schools in developing countries: In the highlighted campaign, AKQA partnered with Pencils of Promise to create and develop a new fundraising initiative for the 2011 holiday season. The campaign, Made with Pencils, aims to help raise awareness and support for global education. The concept behind Made with Pencils centers on the potential in a single pencil for learning and sharing thoughts, ideas and creations. Through the initiative, ordinary pencils are being used to build schools and transform futures.

Google hopes Creative Sandbox will become "a space where everyone can see this insanely great work, talk about it, and roll around in it like a big happy dog. The Creative Sandbox is a place to flash your brilliance, spark new digital ideas, inspire and be inspired.”