Diversity in Advertising Award

2020 SHORTLIST

We're delighted to announce the final six brands shortlisted to win £1m of Channel 4 airtime through our award-winning Diversity in Advertising Award.

Chosen from over 30 entries the finalists are :

• Boots (Ogilvy UK)
• EA Sports (Adam&Eve/DBB)
• Lloyds Bank (MediaCom X GUAP Studios)
• Royal Navy (Engine)
• Merky Books
• Tesco.

The finalists will present their campaign ideas to a diverse judging panel including representatives from The Marketing Society, ISBA, Thinkbox and The Advertising Association on 18th November and the winner will be announced on 26th November.

Making it to the shortlist stage means all of these brands will be awarded up to £250,000 of free advertising airtime each, in a match funding arrangement, if they are unsuccessful in winning the first-place £1m prize. This significant offer reflects Channel 4’s ambition to encourage as many of the pitched ideas to make it to air as possible and increases the total potential prize fund for the competition to over £2m.

This year’s award follows new research commissioned by 4Sales which finds there is a universal lack of authentic portrayal in TV advertising of people from all BAME communities, their backgrounds, lives and cultures.

Each year The Diversity in Advertising Award focuses on a different area of diversity to encourage the ad industry to embrace inclusive creative campaigns – and further Channel 4’s commitment to reflecting the cultural diversity of Britain beyond its editorial content and into the ad breaks.

Matt Salmon, Sales Director, Channel 4 and Chair of Judges said: “Diversity and inclusion are at the centre of everything we do at Channel 4, not only because it’s baked into our remit and is the right thing to do, but also because we know it makes business sense. Through this competition we strive to inspire change in the industry and our previous winners demonstrate the creative and commercial benefits of embracing diversity in advertising.  

Despite the challenges faced by the industry in 2020, this year’s competition entries showcase some really compelling campaign ideas from an eclectic variety of brands.”

This year the competition is an important part of Channel 4’s six-point commitment to be a driver of anti-racism in the creative industries and improve black and minority ethnic representation.

Previous winners have focussed on disability (Maltesers), mental health (Lloyds Bank), the portrayal of women in the media (RAF) and the lack of representation and stereotyping of the LGBT+ community (Starbucks), seeing Channel 4 give away £4 million worth of commercial airtime to date.

Background

The Channel 4 Diversity In Advertising Award offers an annual £1 million airtime prize for a brand who best responds to our creative brief encouraging greater representation of diverse communities in advertising - our 2020 award scheme has now closed to entries for the shortlisting process to take place.

The award is an established industry scheme designed to encourage greater and more authentic representation of diverse UK communities through mainstream UK television advertising. The importance of doing this is two-fold;

• Research shows that diverse communities feel like they aren’t accurately or sufficiently represented on screen in UK advertising.
• Omitting diverse communities from advertising means that non-diverse communities are not exposed to a true reflection of the multicultural society we live in.

Since 2016, Channel 4 has sought to encourage the UK advertising community to be more inclusive in their campaigns by awarding an annual £1million airtime prize. The prize is awarded to the brand who best responds to our revolving brief to create an advertisement which promotes their product/service in a manner which authentically represents a specific diverse community.

Whilst the winning brand receives a £1million advertising campaign for their commercial, Channel 4 also offers to match-fund (up to £250k limit each) the other shortlisted entries – with the motivation being to get as many representative campaigns on air as possible.

The overall ambition of the award is to get more representative advertising campaigns on air and encourage greater inclusive thinking within the creative process behind the campaigns.

For further information, or if you have any questions or queries, please email us at 4sales@channel4.co.uk

2020 Theme

We know that the commonly used term ‘BAME’ is imperfect and we understand that it covers a wide range of vastly different communities, each with their own identities, cultures and history. When it comes to advertising, we also recognise that the representation and inclusion of different BAME communities often face significantly different challenges and are fighting specific issues that are not universal across all the population.

However, some themes are commonplace. Our own research shows that whilst different communities are represented in varying quantities, a universal issue is that of a lack of authentic portrayal of the people themselves, their backgrounds, lives and cultures.

This is the reason that the 2020 Channel 4 Diversity In Advertising award is focusing on the authentic representation of BAME cultures within mainstream advertising. Many advertisements for mass-market products/services only contextualise the use of their products in predominately white cultural moments, and we want to encourage those mainstream brands to consider alternative environments in which their products/services could be represented.

Only by seeing advertisers feature their products/services in multi-cultural contexts can we begin to address mis-representation and a lack of authenticity in BAME representation on screen.

For further information, or if you have any questions or queries, please email us at 4sales@channel4.co.uk

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2020 Brief

The 2020 Channel 4 Diversity In Advertising Award is looking for brands and agencies to submit campaign ideas for their products/services which accurately, authentically and prominently celebrate BAME communities and their culture. The communities covered by the ‘BAME’ term are diverse, so we are not looking for campaign ideas that aim to cover the whole of the BAME community, but instead we want entrants to focus in on a specific culture, and produce an advert which celebrates and represents the culture and its community effectively – whilst achieving the core marketing objective too, of course!

Judges are looking for the core campaign idea to be a 30-60 second TV spot, which would run on Channel 4 in May 2021. If further spots executions are deemed appropriate for your idea, these are welcomed.

Ideas must primarily remain an advertisement for your product/service. This award scheme does not exist to campaign about issues or lobby for political change, it exists to drive everyday change in mainstream UK advertising through normalisation. You should always ensure that the idea drives your original marketing objective(s) – whether that be sales increases, brand awareness etc.

However, the judges are looking for authentic portrayals of diverse cultures within your ad construct. Let us see your product/service in the context of a multi-cultural Britain.

The prize is awarded based on the creative idea that the panel feel would work the best on screen for mass-market audiences, regardless of the audiences’ race or cultural background. We are not looking for ads which exclusively appeal to a segment of UK society – the scheme exists to promote and celebrate a diverse UK to all audiences.

For further information, or if you have any questions or queries, please email us at 4sales@channel4.co.uk

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Criteria

In the shortlisting process, the judges will consider the following criteria;

Prominence of BAME Communities and Culture

This year, the award is seeking to improve representation of BAME cultures within UK advertising – so we’re expecting your idea to prominently feature an under-represented or mis-represented culture and its community within your creative concept. However, the cultural context need not be the direct focus/subject of the advertisement, it could simply provide the environment in which your advert narrative takes place. The judges will be looking for truly authentic portrayals here, built on clear understanding of the culture and/or key insights you have discovered.

What is the big campaign idea ?

The idea for your campaign should be articulated clearly and concisely. We need to clearly understand what the TV ad might look like, what viewers are expected to take away from it and how your product/service is being communicated authentically within the environment of a diverse UK culture. As with any advertisement, creative concepts which feel fresh, innovative and grab audiences attention are welcomed.

How has the ad concept been conceived/developed?

It has been proven that diverse representation behind the scenes and substantial engagement with the communities featured during concept development will lead to more authentic portrayals of diverse cultures in the final ad. The judges would like to understand how your entry has been conceived and developed, what engagement you have undertaken with the community you are representing, and whether your project team is inclusive of people from a range of diverse backgrounds.

Does it meet your original brand marketing objective?

The Diversity In Advertising Award exists to encourage better representation of diverse communities within mainstream advertising. However, for this to become long-lasting change, we want to see this inclusion in the context of a successful marketing campaign – and as such, your campaign idea must set out to achieve your specific brand marketing objectives, like any other marketing campaign you run would. Please also detail how you think the concept will deliver successful results for your brand.

Feasibility and Fit with Channel 4

The winning ad will appear on UK television, across the Channel 4 portfolio. Therefore, the judges will have to consider whether they feel the advertisement idea is feasible to produce, and whether it is likely to be legal and compliant to actually put on air. For example, ideas which require specific talent involvement will need to justify the feasibility of securing said talent. Also, judges will need to understand whether campaigns would pass the legal requirements and achieve the compliance clearances for broadcast ads. Plus, the judges will be considering whether Channel 4 and it’s audience provides an appropriate home for this messaging.

Legacy and Amplification

The pitched idea needs to be a core 30-second spot, but additional amplification ideas around a longer-launch spot or different spot lengths are welcomed. Additionally, the judges would like to see some consideration of how the campaign could be enhanced to live beyond the initial TV spot(s), and how the campaign and subject matter might be reflected in your organisations broader culture and values.

For further information, or if you have any questions or queries, please email us at 4sales@channel4.co.uk

Key Info

The award opened for entries on August 20th 2020. This timescale is slightly later than usual for the scheme – this is due to the ongoing impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Key Dates

Entries Opening Date – Thursday 20th August

Entry Closing Date – Weds 30th  September 

Shortlist Announcement – Delayed until Wednesday 14th October

Pitch Day – Weds 18th November

Winner Announced – Thurs 26th November

Entry Process

First Stage – Entrants will be required to submit a 2-page PDF document outlining their idea. The format and contents of this PDF are entirely open for the entrants to determine, but in the past some entrants have submitted scripts, storyboards, or simply descriptions of the advert itself. We advise entrants to ensure their PDF entry considers each of the criteria published elsewhere on this website. The PDF will need to be submitted to this website alongside some additional entry data, including the name and email of a senior person at the featured client who has approved the involvement of their brand in your entry. You cannot submit entries without the explicit permission and support of the brand featured.

Shortlisting – Following the closing date, a Channel 4 shortlisting panel will judge the initial PDF entries against the 6 published criteria to establish a shortlist of up to 6 campaigns who will then progress to the second stage of the award competition.

Second Stage – Each shortlisted entrant will be invited to develop their campaign further, taking account of any specific feedback from the shortlisting panel, and pitch their finalised campaign idea to the main judging panel. Each pitch will have a maximum of 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of questions from the judges. We are exploring how these pitches can be conducted within the COVID secure guidelines and will update in due course.

For further information, or if you have any questions or queries, please email us at 4sales@channel4.co.uk

Judges

Here's a full list of all the members of our main judging panel for the 2020 award - we thank them all for participating...

Further judges may be added in due course

Terms

Competition Terms and Conditions of Entry

1. The competition opens on Thursday 20th August 2020 and closes at 11:59pm on Wednesday 30th September 2020
2. By prior arrangement with the organisers (email 4Sales@Channel4.co.uk) late entries will be accepted until 1pm on Friday 2nd October 2020
3. The main prize is £1 million (net) of Airtime value (the “Prize”), redeemable across the Channel 4 Channel Network (the “Channels”) between 1st May 2021 and 31st June 2021 (the “Campaign Period”). There is the potential for these dates to be flexible, pending negotiation with 4Sales.
4. The Prize is excluded from any existing share or volume expenditure commitments with Channel 4.
5. Up to five 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. 
6. No cash equivalent prizes are available.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. By entering the competition, you accept our airtime advertising Terms and Conditions available at https://www.4sales.com/trading-terms-and-conditions (the “Airtime Ts & Cs”) and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy https://www.channel4.com/4viewers/privacy
10. All entries must comply with all applicable advertising industry laws and regulations.
11. 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.4sales.com/diversityaward before the deadline of 11:59pm on 30th September 2020.  Entries must also include, where applicable, client contact details so Channel 4 can verify that the entry is client-backed. 
12. 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.
13. VOD or broadcast competitors of Channel 4 are not permitted to enter nor have their brand entered by third party.
14. All entries must feature main advertisement copy with a minimum 30-second time-length.
15. 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. 
16. 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.
17. The main Prize-winning advertisement will launch on the Channel 4 main service from 1st May 2021.  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.
18. 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.
19. At Channel 4’s request, winning advertisements must include a logo credit on any endboards when they are broadcast on the Channels.
20. 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.
21. Judging of the entries will be based on the creativity and originality of a creative concept that accurately, authentically and prominently feature BAME communities and their culture in advertising, however the judges are looking for entries that still fulfil a brand's core advertising brief.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. After the closing date, the eligible entries will be short-listed by a panel of Channel 4 employees to no more than six finalists.
26. The short-listed entrants will be contacted by email on or before Thursday 8th October 2020 (announced publicly on Friday 9th October) and invited to pitch their idea to the main judging panel at an event on Wednesday 18th November 2020.
27. Due to the current restrictions regarding Covid-19, this year’s judging will most likely be virtual, the with the shortlisted parties being asked to virtually 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 virtual judging session will result in disqualification of the entry.
28. The winner of the Prize will be notified and publicly announced by Thurs 26th November 2020. 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.
29. 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.
30. 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.4sales.com/diversityaward.
31. The judges’ decisions are final.

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

Prior Winners

The Channel 4 Diversity In Advertising Award has been running since 2016 and has so far awarded a total prize value of £4million of airtime. Here are our prior winners...

In 2016, the year of the Rio Paralympics, the award focused on the representation of disabled people in advertising, with the winner being Maltesers, who created a series of adverts featuring characters with various visible disabilities.

In 2017, the focus turned to non-visible disabilities, and the airtime was awarded to a Lloyds Bank campaign which depicted numerous mental health conditions including anxiety and depression.

2018 was a year where #MeToo, Gender Pay Gaps and a centennial celebration of some women’s right to vote was high in the public’s consciousness, so focus turned to the representation of women in advertising, as gender stereotyping was found to be a huge issue. The Royal Air Force won the competition, with a female recruitment ad that turned gender stereotyping on its head.

In 2019, a large Channel 4 research project identified LGBT+ communities as those who experience the most stereotyping and under-representation within advertising. Starbucks were the ultimate winner of the award, with a creative execution that portrayed the experiences of a trans character.