The One Club for Creativity has launched The One Show Fusion Pencil and ADC Fusion Cube, billed as being the advertising and design industry’s first global initiatives to recognize great work that best incorporates underrepresented groups in both creative content and the team that made it.
With the goal of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in both agency/production company staffing and creative work, the new Fusion awards will identify and celebrate great work which also demonstrates how underrepresented groups and DEI issues are utilized both “behind the scenes”–hiring diverse staff, ensuring equal opportunity, pay and treatment–and in the creative work itself, as expressed through casting, language, script and narrative.
The Fusion awards have three criteria:
- The work must first meet The One Show standards for excellence in creativity of ideas and quality of execution, or the ADC Annual Awards focus on brilliance in craft, design and innovation.
- Entrants must disclose what percentage of the agency and production company teams directly involved in this work are part of underrepresented groups–including women, racial or ethnic groups, LGBTQ+, and people with cognitive or physical disabilities–and how they implement DEI principles when putting the team together;
- How the work itself addresses factors including racial and ethnic diversity, gender diversity, ageism, cognitive or physical abilities, positive body image and sexual orientation through casting, language, script and narrative.
“Advertising that features racial diversity in front of the camera but not behind the camera is neither cool nor creative,” said Jimmy Smith, chairman/CEO/CCO at Amusement Park Entertainment, Los Angeles, and One Club Board member. “The Fusion Pencil and Cube hope to point the way to a better and brighter future. Let’s get it!”
“As a woman of color, I recognize the dramatic impact lack of representation has on individuals and communities,” added One Club Board member Sherina Florence, group creative director, 72andSunny, Los Angeles. “Representation influences how people see themselves, how they translate the opportunities that exist, or in some cases, the opportunities that don’t. The Fusion awards will encourage a more equitable industry and are a step towards redefining standards that have gone unchallenged for much too long.”
One Club Board member Keith Cartwright, president, chief creative officer at Cartwright, Los Angeles said “I’m incredibly excited that we’re creating awards that recognize not just the work advancing diversity and inclusion, but also the diverse people who make it.”
The name Fusion was selected because it represents the act of blending two or more distinct voices, cultures or perspectives to create a unified message, and a stronger new element resulting from the combination.
Dedicated Fusion juries for both The One Show and ADC Annual Awards will be announced shortly.
Once considered a long-term business goal, DEI has become an important, proven core strategy for many of today’s successful businesses and organizations. Studies show when a business makes DEI a priority, every facet of the organization benefits, including the bottom line.
The new awards also encourage brands to use this criteria as a framework for making their own marketing more diverse. They can serve as a global benchmark, representing a new way for brands to demand accountability from their agencies and partners for providing greater diversity in their work and creative teams.
“The industry has a glaring diversity problem, and this initiative is the first one to recognize those who are leading the way and motivate everyone else to get better at it,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. “The Fusion Pencil and Cube will not be easy to win, the judging criteria is a high bar that many agencies won’t be able to reach today. But it’s critical that the industry improve its level of diversity in both the work and the teams who create it, and we’ve taken action to drive that change.”
That push is possible due to The One Club’s extraordinary global reach. The One Show and ADC Annual Awards are among the top tier of leading international awards programs for all forms of advertising and design, and annually receive upwards of a combined 27,000 pieces of work entered from over 70 countries.
Entries to The One Show 2021 and historic ADC 100th Annual Awards can be submitted now, with fees increasing after each deadline period. Regular deadlines for both shows are March 12, 2021, extended deadlines are March 19, 2021, and final deadlines are March 26, 2021. Judging will take place online. No physical entries will be accepted this year, eliminating shipping costs for entrants.
The new Fusion Pencil and Cube are the latest example of The One Club’s ongoing global nonprofit commitment to pushing diversity and inclusion forward in advertising and design.
The effort began more than a decade ago when the organization started its annual Where Are All The Black People diversity conference and career fair, and continued with its global Creative Boot Camps and mentorship programs for diverse college students and other young creatives.
Last year, the club launched ONE School, a groundbreaking free portfolio program for Black creatives, and 2nd Skill, which helps address the industry’s ageism problem by providing traditionally-formed creatives with unique UX, UI and Content Strategy training to help them in their second creative career.
The One Club is a non-profit organization that puts revenue generated from awards entries back into the industry in the form of programs under its four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality and Professional Development.
Oscar and Emmy-Winning Composer Kris Bowers Joins Barking Owl For Advertising, Branded Content
Music, audio post and sonic branding house Barking Owl has taken on exclusive representation of Oscar and Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers for advertising and branded content.
Bowers’ recent film scores include The Wild Robot and Bob Marley: One Love, alongside acclaimed past works such as The Color Purple (2023), King Richard and Green Book. His contributions to television are equally impressive, with scores for hit series like Bridgerton, When They See Us, Dear White People, and his Daytime Emmy Award-winning score for The Snowy Day.
In addition to his work as a composer, Bowers is a visionary director. He recently took home the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for his directorial work on The Last Repair Shop. The emotionally touching short film spotlights four of the people responsible for repairing the musical instruments used by students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The Last Repair Shop reflects the positive influence that musical instruments have on the youngsters who play them, and the adults in the LAUSD free repair service who keep them working and in tune.
Barking Owl CEO Kirkland Alexander Lynch said of Bowers, “His artistry, diversity of style and depth of storytelling bring an unparalleled edge to the work we create for global brands. His presence on our roster reflects our continued commitment to pushing the boundaries of sound and music in advertising.”
Johanna Cranitch, creative director, Barking Owl, added, “Kris first caught my attention when he released his record ‘Heroes + Misfits’ where he fused together his jazz sensibility with a deeply ingrained aptitude for melody, so beautifully.... Read More