With more than 120,000 entries from across the globe, CBRE's Urban Photographer of the Year competition’s 12th year was its largest and broadest reaching. I achieved this by cutting out all above the line media spend and focusing purely on digital and social media channels. My digital media strategy included a home page takeover on Shutterstock and YouSendIt, creation of a new CBRE Instagram channel and segmented influencer marketing for key competition categories.
This was a world record year - previous year received 78,000 entries - this year we had over 120,000 entries. Engagement with CBRE brand on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instragram trebled.
Launched in 2007, the CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year (UPOTY) competition has become the largest of its kind in the world, drawing over 29,000 entries from more than 110 countries in 2016 alone. The competition challenges both amateur and professional photographers to capture the essence of the urban landscape.
As a company whose roots are in the urban environment, the creation of the Urban Photographer of the Year competition allows CBRE to demonstrate their passion for and knowledge of city life while at the same time celebrating the individuals who are helping capture and share its most intimate and inspirational moments.
Importantly, for CBRE the competition creates elasticity for the brand, serving as a platform to connect with broader consumer-oriented audiences by demonstrating passion for and knowledge of urban environments around the world.
For 2019, using Our Cities campaign as inspiration, I wanted to build on what narratives are evident in the popular culture about cities and in particular the future of city living. Images can be a powerful way to communicate, and to sell ideas. This competition allows you to break away from statistics and talk explicitly about the images that are being used to describe cities and imagine their futures. You can see the juxtaposition of Our Cities and UPOTY in the creative execution of UPOTY 2019.
2019 Competition Strategy
URBAN PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2019
GLOBAL COMPETITION - CBRE
2017 - 2019 Global CBRE Campaign.
World-Record Results
Website
Social Media
