Bettering society through the power of creativity and branding emerged as a prevalent theme at the recently concluded Advertising Week (9/25-29) in NYC. Underscoring this event orientation was the 2017 D&AD Impact Awards, a joint venture between Advertising Week and D&AD.
The aim of the 2nd annual D&AD Impact competition is to identify and celebrate transformative creative ideas that have had real impact and, ultimately, contribute towards a better and more sustainable future in which purpose is aligned with profit.
In total, 98 D&AD Impact Pencils were handed out during an awards ceremony last week (9/26), with Graphite and Wood Pencils being bestowed upon work that the judges considered world-leading across twelve distinct categories, ranging from Environmental Sustainability to Financial Empowerment and Humanitarian Aid. For the second year running, these categories reflect the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with the aim of helping the creative industries address real global issues.
This year, the entries demonstrated renewed focus on issues of health, gender equality and child welfare. 13 brands and companies took home a D&AD Impact White Pencil, the premier accolade for creativity for good. The D&AD Impact Black Pencil, reserved for truly game-changing work, was awarded to three projects:
- McCann Worldgroup India and The Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan, "The Immunity Charm," which encouraged Afghan mothers to vaccinate their children by way of traditional charm bracelet
- McCann New York and State Street Global Advisors," Fearless Girl," which highlighted that companies with women in leadership perform better, with a statue of a daring young girl standing strong on Wall Street
- J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam and Free a Girl Movement, "School for Justice," an ad campaign to raise awareness of child prostitution in India
Scoring White Pencils were:
- 180LA for Boost Mobile’s “Boost Your Voice”
- J. Walter Thompson for Black Lives Matter’s “Unsafety Check”
- FCB Canada for Canadian Down Syndrome Society’s “Down Syndrome Answers”
- Leo Burnett Beirut for ABAAD Resource Center for Gender Equality’s “#Undress522”
- Serviceplan for Plan.Net’s “What’s German”
- Area 23, An FCB Health Network Company’s “The Trafficking Exam”
- Serviceplan Korea for Dot Incorporation’s “Dot. The first Braille Smartwatch”
- Freundliche Grusse for Public Eye’s “Return to Sender”
- The Classic Partnership Advertising for Medcare Women & Children’s Hospital’s “Footnote For The Breast”
- Cossette for SickKids Foundation’s “SickKids VS”
- POL for TV-Aksjonen NRK & Red Cross Norway in partnership with IKEA’s “25m2 SYRIA”
- McCann NY for State Street Global Advisors’ “Fearless Girl”
- J. Walter Thompson London for Shell’s “Gravity Light”
New to D&AD Impact this year was D&AD Impact Promise which rewards ideas with the potential for impact across one or more of the 12 categories that could benefit from the exposure, funding, mentoring and networking that D&AD Impact can offer. Selected projects that have an original innovative idea, and that can demonstrate how, once scaled, will have a clear, measurable impact, received the opportunity to pitch for project support in front of venture capitalist Bill Tai; Aline Santos Farhat, SVP global marketing, Unilever; and Jason Harris, president/CEO, Mekanism. Petit Pli Ltd. for “Petit Pli – Clothes that grow with your child” and Supple Studio for “Straightline” were selected as the most outstanding projects in need of additional support.
The awards were hosted by Hasan Minhaj, special correspondent, Daily Show, who also hosted the 2017 White House Correspondents Dinner.
D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay said: “In today’s uncertain political times, the role that businesses and brands play in shaping and influencing the world cannot be overlooked. Following the success of last year’s inaugural awards, the need for world-changing creativity and campaigns has become more important than ever. Consumers and citizens demand accountability and action. This year, our mission was not to acknowledge and celebrate, but to highlight the opportunity businesses have to harness the power of creativity as a force for good and galvanize real change to improve our society. With the added introduction of our Promise Award, D&AD Impact is taking action to provide the support needed to make a powerful, innovative idea a reality and continue our work to make a better future.”
Talking points
The spirit of brands speaking out to address issues was evident in a number of Advertising Week sessions. For example, Starbucks’ chief Howard Schultz was joined by Mic’s Chris Altchek to discuss the “untouchable” topics that are challenging the corporate world today from unconscious bias to community activism and social good. Schultz acknowledged that not every CEO wants to jump into these conversations but stressed it’s critical to face the important issues head on. Initiatives like health care for all employees, providing opportunities to urban youth and hiring refugees in response to the travel ban are just a few of the ways Starbucks is trying to “make the people who work for us and the communities we serve better.” Schultz stressed that giving a purpose to your messaging and advertising is essential for adding trust and loyalty in your organization.
Other discussion highlights during the course of Advertising Week included:
•Actress/producer Sarah Jessica Parker and Glossier’s Emily Weiss joined Instagram’s COO Marne Levine and ABC’s Rebecca Jarvis to discuss the role of Instagram in building a business. The four women shared their passions on the platform, including getting lost in the Instagram rabbit hole and connecting with folks from across the world. Parker said how she loves getting to converse with people whose paths she would never cross–that’s what she finds most valuable about the platform. Weiss spoke about how Glossier was launched on Instagram and how it was built in real time alongside the Instagram community. She shared how the Glossier face wash was launched through an Instagram post because the company asked about the community’s dream face wash and who would play it in a movie. The four women panelists also spoke about the importance of prioritizing a business and personal Instagram page and finding a supportive and authentic community on Instagram.
•Addressing what’s on The Black Agenda, DL Hughley hosted a panel with Women’s March co-founder Tamika Mallory, among others, to discuss economics, health care, education and race relations in modern America. The panelists talked through the importance of going to school for a purpose, persevering no matter your race and the importance of having immigrants being ingrained in American culture. NBC News/MSNBC correspondent Ali Velshi said immigration is something that is global and historic–something that was around in Jesus’ time. DL Hughley joked saying, “They had CNN in Jesus’ time?” Rounding out the conversation, Mallory highlighted the importance of being internally and externally accountable in today’s world. Hughley noted the importance of hard work, learning about it from your predecessors and passing it along to yours kids: “My father said, ‘you don’t gotta be a race horse you got to be a mule.’”
•Google’s Sridhar Ramaswamy and Walmart’s Marc Lore joined Fortune’s Adam Lashinsky for a Town Hall on the future of commerce, or the unofficial title as given by Lashinsky–the “anti-Amazon alliance.” The Google and Walmart executives talked about how new technology like AI, VR and AR needs to be treated as a platform to enhance user experience and can be an extremely useful tool in developing a seamless and easy shopping process for customers.
•Snapchat hosted a Town Hall featuring Snap Inc. chief strategy officer Imran Khan, Hearst chief content officer Joanna Coles, and HBO CEO Richard Plepler to announce Snapchat’s new 3D Augmented Reality World Lenses allowing brands to create their own AR social media stars, as Snapchat did with the dancing hot dog. Snapchat touted its brand partnerships with Bud Light and Warner Bros., the first to try out the new tool. The team also shared some striking stats about the platform’s usage including how users have played with the dog face lens for 7 thousand years worth of playtime, how 75% of people aged 13 to 35 are on Snapchat and how two-thirds of lift in ad awareness come in the first two seconds of usage.
