Packed House for Battle of the Ad Bands, Rocking for a Great Cause [Exclusive Photos]

The Chicago advertising community’s annual battle of the bands competition, aka the Battle for Hope, celebrated its tenth anniversary with a venue full of fans and six advertising agency bands. Songs by the likes of Muse, Pat Benatar, Green Day, Queen, Faith No More and Prince filled the room as confetti canons and glow sticks showered the capacity crowd at the Wrigleyville venue, the Cubby Bear.

Meanwhile, all that rocking served a great cause as proceeds from the event, which generally total around $60,000, are donated to Off The Street Club’s Camp Matthieu.

The 2023 lineup of bands included AbelsonTaylor’s Hard To Swallow, Cramer-Krasselt’s Angry PiCKles, Epsilon’s LCA Soundsystem, FCB’s Consolidated Feedback, iCrossing’s The X, and The Circle Backs, a band consisting of mostly Edelman staffers.

Here are some fabulous photo highlights from Battle for Hope…

Click here for even more photos from the festivities on the SCREEN Magazine Facebook page.

Founded in 2013 by Plus Company CTO Sujal Patel, 16 On Center Marketing Manager Kris English, and Accenture Managing Director Simon Kissler (all of whom worked for Digitas at the time), the Battle for Hope is known for packing the Cubby Bear with a standing-room-only crowd of music lovers and creative professionals.

Since the annual amount raised for Off The Street Club generally hovers around $60K, the Battle for Hope’s lifetime total donation to the nonprofit may top a million dollars by the time the event reaches its next tenth anniversary.

“Gathering for a night of fun and music is great,” says Patel. “But helping kids attend Off The Street Club’s summer camp is what it’s all about.”

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