For brands, agencies & creative teams
Turn one brief into many creative directions.
Kleon Open runs public visual challenges that help organizations explore ideas, see what resonates through community judging, and select a Sponsor’s Pick.
Creators use AI and digital tools to respond to your brief. Kleon Open manages the challenge, reviews submissions, presents the public gallery, and organizes the results.
Why sponsor a challenge
Explore more. Learn faster. Choose deliberately.
Explore creative directions
Invite creators to interpret a product, campaign, theme, character, world, or visual idea from different perspectives.
See what resonates
Head-to-head community judging reveals which concepts connect most strongly and why they stand out.
Choose what fits
Community results identify broad appeal. Your Sponsor’s Pick recognizes the concept that best matches your objective.
The process
From brief to public results.
- 01
Shape the brief
Kleon Open helps turn your objective into a clear public creative challenge.
- 02
Invite interpretation
Creators respond with original visual concepts using AI and digital tools.
- 03
Review and judge
Approved entries enter a public gallery and head-to-head community judging.
- 04
Select and recognize
Community judging determines the Community Winner and rankings. You separately select Sponsor’s Pick.
- 05
Publish the results
Placements, category honors, and Sponsor’s Pick become part of the public challenge record and creator portfolios.
Deliverables
What a sponsored challenge can include.
- Collaborative challenge and brief development
- Branded public challenge page
- Submission intake and moderation
- Public gallery of approved concepts
- Head-to-head community judging
- Community rankings and category honors
- Sponsor review packet with selected images and results
- Sponsor’s Pick selection
- Public results page
- Optional creator introductions for licensing discussions
Final scope depends on the challenge, timeline, promotional support, and sponsorship package.
Two prize tracks
Two selections. Two opportunities.
Community Winner
The highest-ranked submission through community judging.
Sponsor’s Pick
The submission selected by the sponsor based on its objective, brand fit, or preferred creative direction.
The same submission may receive both honors.
We recommend separate prizes for Community Winner and Sponsor’s Pick. Prize amounts, eligibility requirements, and payout conditions are defined before the challenge opens.
Good fit
Designed for early creative exploration.
Sponsored challenges are most useful when an organization wants to explore possibilities before committing to a final direction.
- Campaign and activation concepts
- Poster, cover, and key-art directions
- Characters, mascots, and fictional worlds
- Product-launch imagery
- Cultural and community themes
- Visual identity territories
- Entertainment and editorial concepts
- Unexpected interpretations of an existing brief
Kleon Open is designed for concept discovery and public creative engagement. It is not a replacement for final design, production, legal clearance, or agency execution.
Confidential, embargoed, or unreleased briefs may not be suitable for a public challenge.
Creator rights
Creators retain ownership.
Creators retain ownership of their submissions.
Sponsoring a challenge allows you to review approved concepts and select Sponsor’s Pick. It does not automatically transfer commercial rights to you.
Commercial use, production work, exclusivity, or intellectual-property transfer requires a separate agreement with the creator unless the published challenge terms explicitly state otherwise.
See the Terms of Use for full details.
The format
A visible creative event, not a hidden request for ideas.
A Kleon Open challenge gives a brief a public life: creators interpret it, viewers compare the results, strong concepts earn recognition, and the sponsor identifies the direction that best fits its goal.
The community shows what resonates. You choose what fits.
Start with a pilot
Begin with one focused challenge.
Sponsored challenges include a Kleon Open platform fee and a separate creator prize pool.
Tell us what you want to explore, when you want to launch, and the type of participation you hope to attract. We will return with a proposed challenge structure, timeline, and scope.
Request a challenge proposal
Tell us what you want to explore. We will review the idea and follow up with questions about scope, timing, and the proposed prize pool.
Common questions
Before you propose a challenge.
- Who chooses the winner?
- Community judging determines Community Winner and the public rankings. The sponsor separately selects Sponsor’s Pick.
- Does the sponsor own the entries?
- No. Creators retain ownership unless a separate agreement or the published challenge terms provide otherwise.
- Are the entries production-ready?
- Kleon Open is designed primarily for concept exploration. Final execution, production, and rights clearance may require additional work.
- What does sponsorship cost?
- Each proposal separates the Kleon Open platform fee from the creator prize pool. Pricing depends on scope, timeline, promotional support, and reporting needs.