Going to Cannes for the Advertising Festival (June 18-23) is an incredible experience. And this year, Yahoo! is going to take three talented people as our guests. One of them could (and probably should) be you!

Today we are announcing a great and fun promotion called BIG SHOT AT CANNES. We are asking you (and anyone else you can think of) to create an online advertisement (using video or flash video) on any “green” (ecological, sustainable development, alternate fuel use,etc.) subject. Among other things, you must be 21 and all entries must be in English, but there are other rules and regs you should know about as well.

But, fundamentally, this is very simple and straightforward. Get an idea, create an ad, post it at the contest site on JumpCut and tell all of your friends to go look at it. We’re looking for ads that are original and creative, that stick to the assignment and have the best over appeal. Among other things, we’ll measure “appeal” by looking at which ads get the most “action” and positive feedback. We’ll select 10 finalist judges (you can see who they are on the website) to pick three winners.

As you will see, there are lots of tools available on the website to help you make your advertisement. If you have a computer and an idea, you can do this.

A number of folks have asked me why we’re doing this. The answers are simple. First of all, being “green” is very important to us at Yahoo! and will be a major thrust in our own “Yahoo! For Good” program in 2007. In addition, we want everyone in the industry to recognize that online (and especially Yahoo!) is a wonderful place for brand adverising. We want you all to get a sense of what this thing called User Generated Content is all about. And we want you to get a feel for what is now referred to as social media.

Oh, one more thing too. All of our three winners will also receive a Yahoo! Big Idea Chair of their own. Everyone who enters will receive a special edition mini chair. And, isn’t that reason enough to enter?

Please check out all of the details at http://promotions.yahoo.com/bigshot