‘Red Bull BUILD’ hopes to stimulate competition

If you are one of those students looking for a chance to make a name for yourself as a programmer, a visual artist or even a musician who can manipulate digital sound, the Red Bull brand energy drink is sponsoring a contest that calls on the creative young minds of America’s college campuses to create their next interactive advertisement – a video game based on the Red Bull X-Fighters, the official freestyle motocross team of Red Bull.

Every July since 2001, the best motocross racers from all over the world have united to create the Red Bull X-Fighters and they have consistently filled the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid as well as Plaza Mexico in Mexico City. Masters of their craft, the racers do their most astonishing stunts and fancy mid-air shifting.

But it is the overwhelming success of the events that inspired the development of a video game based on them. Red Bull communications manager Elli Applen said the team “provides us with a unique opportunity to present the students’ game to a truly global audience. With X-Fighters taking place in both Mexico and Spain, we can be confident that the game is viewed by people all over the world.”

The campaign, titled “Red Bull BUILD,” banks on the notion that such a contest will spark enough competition to generate innovation. Five teams are selected from the multitude that will enter, and they will be required to “pitch” their submission to a panel of industry leaders who have been identified by Adobe as the top Flash designers in the world. The panel will write its feedback and critique all five teams who enter, but only one team will go on to fully produce its game.

One of the judges on the panel, Jesse Warden, commented on the size of the contest and the possible benefits of winning the contest.

“The global economy is here,” she said.