Amongst the spectator sports on offer at UrbanToronto, one that stands out for its perennial popularity is Condo-Marketing-Bashing, or CMB. A UT CMB campaign normally starts with a swipe at what the building has been named, continues with a laugh at the what the renderpersons are doing in the images, and finishes up with a long sneer at the hyperbolic ad copy.

That said, there’s little unanimity around here about which ad campaigns deserve the derision and which ones don’t… but the truth is that a lot of thought goes into the marketing of the multi-million-dollar structures that now account for the vast majority of Toronto’s growth. Nobody wants to launch a campaign that falls flat.

Accordingly, Lifetime Developments have a fresh idea for their newest project, The Bond. The Bond will be a slender condominium tower standing at 290 Adelaide Street West, and designed by Core Architects. Perhaps you’ve seen the early teaser ads running already, or the early renderings.

Now, Lifetime is giving any Ontarian* interested the opportunity to come up with an ad for the building, and they are setting up a contest to pick their favourite: Design An Ad for The Bond. When they say the public, they mean you: you may submit an ad design for consideration, and you get to vote on your favourite submissions. The prize for the winner of the contest? An iPad2, and a your ad will be featured in The Bond’s upcoming advertising campaign.

(* There are some rules! Please refer to the fine print in the instructions below, or visit www.thebond.ca/contest/)

The contest starts today - August 19 - and runs to midnight EST on September 13. Submissions will be posted on Lifetime's Facebook page, with the most “likes” determining the winner.

Submissions must start with the current teaser ad as a template. Designers may either replace the images within the lettering, or may replace the background. The poster should show engagement with the project. All of the technical details are described in the images below.

Everything you need to enter the contest is at the contest's official website www.thebond.ca/contest/. Check it out, put on your thinking cap, and win that iPad!


Related Companies:  Core Architects, gh3, Milborne Group, SKYGRiD