Most creative competitions challenge young hopefuls to create a cool idea for a spot. New Zealand prodco The Sweet Shop and its new media arm The Rumpus Room are going a step further, asking young creative types to dream up a global "phenomenon."

"Make a Big Noise for Fair Trade" is a new annual global competition for Oxfam International that calls on anyone under age 30 to devise a "non-traditional" idea for the charity's Make Trade Fair campaign. The winning idea will be realized by The Rumpus Room in 2007. Through a partnership with YoungGuns, the entrants will be judged by a who's-who panel of 60 creatives.

Fair trade seemed like the perfect charitable cause for advertising agencies and production companies to take up: For every dollar spent on aid, poor countries lose two dollars to unfair trade policies. Youth, particularly the 20-to-30-year-old range, is a big focus.

The Sweet Shop's MD Paul Prince says it's difficult to guess what kind of submissions the competition will attract. The criteria are virtually limitless and organizers have suggested anything "non-traditional" is a possibility: from VJ sets and viral films to live events and in-flight content.

"I'd like to see tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands involved in a couple of months - something that develops its own momentum," says Prince. "It's not so much now about buying media space as it is generating a media item. Instead of expressing an idea through the media, if you have a good enough idea the media will want to express it."

Deadline for entries is Feb. 9th, 2007.