• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 13, 2013

Advertising and marketing doesn’t typically garner the biggest share of budget for tech start-ups, if anything at all. But a group of Boston area agencies are joining forces to give one local start-up a customized marketing campaign for free.

That company will be the winner of a new competition called Boston Future 4 created by DigitasLBi, Arnold Worldwide, Mullen, Hill Holliday, and Allen & Gerritsen in connection with the 4As and the Future of Marketing (FutureM) conference next month.

Any start-up chases that one big break,” said Barbara Goose, president, Boston and Detroit, Digitas LBi. “We wanted to make that "big break" attainable to a city filled with the world's leading innovators by giving them the means of free marketing and branding insight from some of the top minds in the ad industry.”

The contest ties into a 4As program that trains the best and brightest of young agency employees through its Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies (IAAS). It includes its own competition, in which program participants are divided into teams to come with their own ad campaigns for the same client.

That client this year will be the winning start-up from the Boston Future 4 contest. The rules call for entrants to be located within the Boston area and have an alpha or beta prototype in the market. But they can’t have an existing relationship with any agency or marketing firm. The entry period, which began today, ends October 1.

Four start-ups selected as finalists will make pitches to a panel of judges at the FutureM conference that runs from Oct.16-18. The pitch can include video, slide shows, or anything else “that helps tell their story, showcases their product, and makes a compelling case as to why their company would flourish with the help of crafty and efficient marketing.”

Judges will include members of the 4As board, such as Greg Almieda of Global View Communications; Majja Dennis of Allen & Gerritsen; Steve Mooney of Jack Morton Worldwide; John Newton of The January Group, and Scott Rabschnuk of Hill Holliday. Audience members will also be able to participate in the voting via text message.

The winner will serve as the client in the 4As 12-week IAAS program that starts next spring.