ExpressVPN has named Max Kaplan the winner of its Big Ad Contest, with his advert featured in the company's Times Square digital campaign.
Kaplan, a 22-year-old freelance AI video creator from Colourado, won the top prize for an AI-made short film created to an ExpressVPN brief. The contest drew more than 20,000 registrations, and the prize included placement in the Times Square display and a trip to the FIFA World Cup final.
The competition invited creators to make short video adverts using AI tools instead of traditional production methods. It was promoted through ExpressVPN's own channels and partners including Artlist and Nas Daily.
Kaplan said he had only recently started working in AI video full-time before entering the competition. He had previously been on a premed track and worked in dermatology before moving into video creation.
"I'm in disbelief. I saw so many great entries, and I couldn't believe it at first," Kaplan said.
He said the process began with testing several concepts before settling on the final idea: a robot defending a phone user from scammers.
"I put the three briefs into an LLM and used it to explore a bunch of possible hooks. Most of them didn't feel quite right, but one idea involved a tiny robot on your phone that protects you. That got me thinking: what if the robot wasn't tiny, and what if it was actually fighting off scammers?" Kaplan said.
Kaplan said he wrote the script before generating any images. "I spent a few hours really making sure the script was solid before I even generated anything," he said.
Creator shift
The contest reflects a broader shift in advertising and online media, as brands increasingly test work made with generative AI tools by independent creators. For companies, that model opens access to a wider pool of entrants, including people without agency backgrounds or production budgets.
Kaplan said he entered the field without formal directing experience. "I started making AI videos when Google Veo 3 came out, and people were doing those Bigfoot vlogs," he said. "I thought, this seems fun. I want to learn it."
"I have no background in directing. I love seeing what other people make. Some of it is astonishing. I get inspired by these people every day," he added.
Judging appears to have focused on how entrants interpreted the brand brief through AI-led storytelling, rather than on technical polish alone. The submissions ranged from comic concepts to more cinematic entries.
Nuseir Yassin, Founder of Nas Daily, said the volume and variety of submissions made the decision difficult. "I spent the last few days watching all of the videos, and honestly, I was blown away," he said. "The creativity, the storytelling, and the imagination that creators put into these submissions made choosing a winner super difficult."
He added: "AI is changing who gets to create, and this challenge proved it. Huge congrats to our winners. And thank you to everyone who joined the challenge. Keep creating. We're just getting started."
Brand response
ExpressVPN's Creative Director said the entries showed a wide range of interpretations. The company selected five winners in total, with Kaplan taking the top prize.
"We all know that AI ads will be the future of paid advertising, but the Big Ad Contest was all about finding the creators who know how to use AI to bring their ideas to life in the most creative ways," said Erez Strauss, Creative Director at ExpressVPN.
He added: "We received lots of amazing ads, from a duck saving a penalty kick all the way to aliens trying to take over the human species. Unfortunately, we could only pick five winners, but I truly believe each one of them managed to convey the importance of surfing the internet securely with ExpressVPN in a way I could never have imagined."
Adva Navon Banai, Video Partnerships Manager at Google, also commented on the submissions. "Reviewing the submissions was an incredible experience," she said. "The AI artists showcased an impressive ability to push creative boundaries, making the well-deserved winning selections stand out far above our expectations."
ExpressVPN is also distributing the selected creators' videos on its social channels with visible creator credit. That gives entrants a larger audience while allowing the company to present the work as creator-led rather than conventional agency advertising.
The company tied the competition to its role as an official tournament supporter, using the World Cup final prize and the Times Square placement to raise the campaign's profile. In the week leading up to the final, Kaplan's advert appeared alongside other campaign material on digital screens in Times Square through a partnership with Clear Channel Outdoor.
For Kaplan, the result brought both public exposure for his work and a major sporting trip. "I grew up an American football fan, but I got really into the last World Cup, and I've been loving this one," he said. "It's the best sporting event in the world. The culture, everything. It's insane."
He said people close to him reacted similarly. "He was just in shock, so excited for me," Kaplan said. "I couldn't even believe it."