Diversity in Advertising Award

The Award

The Channel 4 Diversity in Advertising Award is a commitment to help improve diversity in advertising by offering a £1m airtime prize each year.

The 2019 Winner

Following a fantastic range of entries from almost 40 brands and creative agencies, and some incredible pitches from our finalists, the 2019 award was won by Iris London for the brilliant #WhatsYourName campaign with Starbucks. High commended were Wavemaker UK and Screwfix.
 

About the Award

The Channel 4 Diversity In Advertising Award will return in summer 2020, with another £1million airtime prize on offer. 

The Channel 4 Diversity in Advertising Award is a commitment to help improve diversity in advertising each year. Each year the £1 million airtime award is focused on a different area of diversity and encourages the advertising industry to embrace inclusive campaigns and extend Channel 4’s leadership in diversity beyond its editorial output and into the ad breaks.

The 2019 award focused on how the LGBT+ community is represented in advertising. Brands and creative agencies were invited to develop a campaign which explores both the proportion of representation and how this community are represented in adverts.

The LGBT+ focus was chosen following the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and from the findings of the world's biggest study into inclusivity of TV Advertising, commissioned by Channel 4 and YouGov. The study set out to help us and the industry better understand both the level of representation of minority groups in TV Advertising and exactly how they are being represented, as well as exploring how each group feels about their current portrayal.

The study shows that not only are the LGBT+ community underrepresented appearing in just 3% of commercials, which is around half the actual population estimate, but also when they are represented they are rarely in lead roles. As a consequence of this, they feel their representation is primarily tokenistic, using negative stereotypes, meaning that 6 in 10 LGBT+ people we interviewed said they don’t feel they are well represented in advertising.

Click on the Criteria tab for more specific information pertaining to the brief that was set out, and what we expected of entries. 

Criteria

The award was set up to encourage the UK advertising industry to think differently about diverse inclusion in all its forms. In 2019, we are focusing on the representation of the LGBT+ community in advertising.

Our brief was designed to tackle both proportion of representation of the LGBT+ community and how they are portrayed. It involved challenging negative stereotypes and avoiding tokenism, to help to normalise the LGBT+ community on-screen. The winning campaign in this award needs to stand as a beacon for the issue, calling out the challenges and making a positive statement to our audience.

As in prior years, Channel 4 called on the UK advertising industry to tackle these challenges head on, and we offered a £1million airtime prize to the best campaign which does just that. However, we were not looking for simple  ‘issue-led’ ad copy. The winning commercial will fundamentally still promote and advertise whatever product or service the advertiser has. It still needs to work for the brand's original objectives and sales message, whilst supporting the positive portrayal of the LGBT+ community in advertising.The judges will also look favourably where entries have considered other forms of diversity, outside of the core LGBT+ in advertising brief.

Campaigns which surprise or challenge the audience, and engage them in positive discussion and debate about the issue are welcomed.

The core campaign idea needs to be a 30-60 second TV spot, which will launch on Channel 4 in Feb 2020. However, the judges are keen to see how the campaign idea could live beyond that spot, elsewhere in the world of TV and also how it might translate through the rest of the media landscape.

In the short-listing process the judges considered the following criteria:

• The Big Idea - The campaign idea needs to be articulated clearly and concisely. Concepts which feel fresh, new and grab your attention are welcomed.

• Meets Brands Objective - We're looking for campaigns that set out to achieve a specific brand objective and detail how the concept will deliver successful results.

• Prominence of the issue - We're looking for the issue of the incorrect portrayal of the LGBT+in advertising to be prominent within the creative concept - this does not mean the issue has to be the focus, but it should be prominent.

• Feasibility and Fit with Channel 4 - The winning ad will appear on Channel 4, therefore judges will have to consider whether they feel the ad is feasible to bring to air - would it pass the requirements and clearances for broadcast ads, is Channel 4 an appropriate home for this messaging?

• Legacy and Amplification - The judges would like to see some consideration of how the campaign could live beyond the initial TV spot.

Entry Process

Entries for 2019 have now closed.

Entries needed to take the form of a 2-page (max) PDF document. A specially selected Channel 4 panel then create a shortlist of entries who will progress to the next round.

Shortlisted entrants will be invited to pitch to our main judging panel on the afternoon of Tuesday 17th September at Channel 4's London headquarters. The pitch will consist of 10 minutes presenting and 10 minutes of questions.

The winning campaign will be announced on 24th September, with the winning company expected to produce and clear the advert in time for broadcast from Feb 2020.

Be sure to check out the terms and conditions on the dedicated tab before entry, and if you have any questions, email us at 4Sales@channel4.co.uk.

Key Dates

Here are all the key dates you need to know for the 2019 competition.

The 2020 award will launch this summer - watch this space!

Judges

We are delighted to have the following people on the 2019 judging panel:

Jonathan Allan, Chief Commercial Officer, Channel 4 (Chair)

Yasir Mirza, Head of Inclusion & Diversity, Channel 4

Eoin McLaughlin, Creative Director, 4Creative

Jane English, Creative Director, 4Creative

Claire Beale,  Global Editor-in-Chief, Campaign

Lindsey Clay, CEO, Thinkbox

Leila Siddiqi,  Head of Diversity, IPA

Karen Fraser, Strategy Director, Advertising Association

Gemma Greaves,  CEO, Marketing Society

Angus Wyatt, Chair 4Pride, Channel 4

Sanjay Sood-Smith, Executive Director, Stonewall

Mark Runacus MBE, Co-founder Wax/On and PrideAM Chair

Sarah Garrett MBE, CEO at SPM Group and Founder of British LGBT Awards

Annie Wallace, Actress

Rules

Competition Terms and Conditions

Channel Four Diversity in Advertising Award 2019

1. The competition opens on 5th June 2019 and closes at 4pm on 10th July 2019.
2. The main prize is £1 million (net) of Airtime value (the “Prize”), redeemable across the Channel 4 Channel Network excluding BT Sport (the “Channels”) between 1st February 2020 and 31st March 2020 (the “Campaign Period”).  
3. The Prize is excluded from any existing share or volume expenditure commitments with Channel 4.
4. Up to four further entries will be offered the opportunity to secure match funding to get their entries on air during the Campaign Period. Channel 4 will match-fund airtime investments of £250,000 and over with airtime to the value of £250,000 (the “Match Fund Prizes”). Investments below £250,000 will not be matched by Channel 4. Investments above £250,000 will only be matched by a maximum £250,000 of value. To qualify for a Match Fund Prize, the £250,000 investment must be excluded from any existing share or volume expenditure commitments with Channel 4. 
5. No cash equivalent prizes are available.
6. Any additional media costs (such as VOD) and any production costs for the winning entries are not included in the Prize or the Match Fund Prize and are the responsibility of the winning entrants.  For avoidance of doubt, agency commission will not be payable on the airtime value.
7. By entering the competition, you are committed to producing an advertisement that reflects your winning entry. Channel 4 will require regular contact and review sessions to ensure the creative concept being produced is true to the winning entry.
8. By entering the competition, you accept our airtime advertising Terms and Conditions available at https://www.Channel 4.com/trading-terms-and-conditions (the “Airtime Ts & Cs”) and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy https://www.channel4.com/4viewers/privacy?intcmp=footer_privacy
9. All entries must comply with all applicable advertising industry laws and regulations.
10. In order to be eligible for the competition, a written entry of no more than two pages in length must be submitted with business contact details on www.Channel 4.com/diversityaward before the deadline of 4pm on 10th July 2019.  Entries must also include, where applicable, client contact details so Channel 4 can verify that the entry is client-backed. 
11. Only entrants who are in the following categories may enter: media, advertising and creative agencies, entering with explicit backing of the client; and brand marketing teams.
12. VOD or broadcast competitors of Channel 4 are not permitted to enter nor have their brand entered by third party.
13. All entries must feature main advertisement copy with a minimum 30-second time-length.
14. All entries should be suitable to run in all dayparts or have a pitched version able to run in all dayparts, and the position in break will be natural delivery. 
15. All airtime will be booked at the absolute discretion of Channel 4, but we will try to plan efficiently for the winning brands’ target audiences.
16. The main Prize-winning advertisement will launch on the Channel 4 main service from 1st February 2020.  The winning advertisement must premiere on the Channels and run exclusively on the Channels for the duration of the Campaign Period unless otherwise agreed by Channel 4 in writing.
17. The Prize and Match Fund Prizes value will be spread across the Channels at Channel 4’s discretion and must be fully redeemed within the Campaign Period. Any remaining value left after this time will be lost.
18. At Channel 4’s request, winning advertisements must include a logo credit on any endboards when they are broadcast on the Channels.
19. All prizes are awarded at Channel 4's discretion.  Channel 4 and/or the competition judges (acting reasonably) reserve the right not to select a winner or shortlist any entries, and/or to remove or amend selection criteria and/or the structure and operation of the competition if entries are not of the requisite standard.
20. Judging of the entries will be based on the creativity and originality of a creative concept, which should accurately and positively represent the LGBT+ community, or the issues faced by the LGBT+ community in advertising. The judges are looking for entries that fulfil a brand's core advertising brief whilst encapsulating positive inclusion of the LGBT+ community. The competition is about encouraging more representative (and less stereotypical or a tick-box exercise) representations of the LGBT+ community in mainstream advertising and the judges will be looking for campaigns which reflect this ethos.
21. The prizes are awarded to the selected winning ideas, brand and creative agency. The prizes cannot be transferred to a different campaign concept, or to a different brand or creative agency.
22. In the unlikely event that Channel 4 believes the advertisement produced does not match the concept of the original winning pitch, Channel 4 reserves the right to withdraw the applicable prize.
23. Entrants understand that any information in the entries marked specifically as confidential will be seen only by the judging panel and competition organisers. Information contained in the finalists’ pitches highlighted specifically as confidential will only be seen by the judging panel, the extended judging panel and competition organisers. Please ensure to clearly identify which specific elements of your entry are confidential.  Other non-confidential information about the entries and may be used by Channel 4 in the promotion of this activity. However, rights in entries and the right to produce the campaign ideas remain with the entrants.
24. After the closing date, the eligible entries will be short-listed by a panel of Channel 4 employees to no more than six finalists.
25. The short-listed entrants will be contacted by email on 16th July 2019 (announced publicly on 17th July 2019) and invited to pitch their idea to the main judging panel at an event on 17th September 2019.
26. The judging will take place at Channel 4 office at 124 Horseferry Road on 17th September 2019, the with the shortlisted parties asked to present their ideas in front of the judging panel which will be made up of advertising professionals from across the industry.  Inability to attend the judging session will result in disqualification of the entry.
27. The winner of the Prize will be notified and publicly announced by 24th September 2019. At this stage, the details of the winning campaign will not be revealed.  The winners of the Match Fund Prizes will be notified at a time agreed between the winners and Channel 4.
28. Any press releases referring to the competition or the campaigns pitched as part of the process must be discussed with and approved by the Channel 4 press office before publication.
29. Channel 4 reserves the right to amend the competition rules during the judging process if the chair of the judging panel deems it necessary. In this event, Channel 4 will notify all entrants of the change and will publish the updated rules on the competition website www.Channel4.com/diversityaward.
30. The judges’ decisions are final.

For any questions on these terms, please email Channel 4@channel4.co.uk