A national competition from Sage has given start-up Gather.ly a two-week residence on BlowUp Media's 160sq m out-of-home 'giant poster' in London's Tech City.

SMEs from around the country were invited to submit a 60-second pitch to explain how the visibility of a billboard could help to promote their business. As the winners, Gather.ly was given the chance to OgilvyOne to finalise the design before the advertisement goes live.

The competition was the result of market research conducted for Sage by Neo@Ogilvy, which found that gaining visibility was the key concern for SMEs and start-ups.

"The judges were really impressed by Gather.ly’s entry; they are worthy winners of this fantastic prize," states Paul Cairney, head of brand marketing at Sage UK. "Our own research has found that getting your voice heard in a crowded marketplace can be a challenge."

"Despite us being one of the last entries, the idea of Gather.ly seemed to resonate with people and they really got behind us," adds Andy Hewitt, co-founder at Gather.ly. "It's relentless as a small business trying to disrupt a market as established as ours, but being reminded about how much people really care about what we were doing, and feel a part of it, motivates us to keep fighting."