Due to continued uncertainty around coronavirus and spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., The One Club for Creativity will move all in-person Creative Week events online for 2020. The events were scheduled to take place in a number of New York venues from May 11-15.
This includes replacing the in-person One Show, ADC 99th Annual Awards and Young Ones Student Awards ceremonies with high-quality streaming events to announce Pencil and Cube winners to the global creative community. Online versions of awards ceremonies and other related content are being discussed, with details to follow in the coming weeks.
The changes to Creative Week will apply only to the 2020 edition, with all events and awards show ceremonies returning in 2021.
“With so much uncertainty at the moment, the prudent step is for us to extend our stance of not putting people at risk,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO of The One Club, a nonprofit organization. “We switched from in-person to online judging last week, and this change with Creative Week is driven by the same abundance of caution for the well-being of the creative community.”
An upside to announcing The One Show and ADC Annual Awards winners online is the ability to engage a far larger audience than can attend an event in New York.
“The mission of The One Club is to support the global creative community,” said Swanepoel. “Investing in premium streaming content offers an exciting opportunity for us to reimagine what Creative Week can be, connect with the agency and brand worlds at large and celebrate the year’s best work on a global scale.”
The move to change this year’s Creative Week is in sync with the current mindset of a growing number of companies who have announced restrictions on non-essential travel. “Award shows are an important gauge of industry trends and who is doing the best work,” Swanepoel said. “However, they should never be put before people’s health and safety.”
Unlike awards shows such as Cannes that are for-profit businesses that answer to shareholders and generate most of their revenue from a festival, The One Club is a non-profit organization that produces over 80 events around the world throughout the year and is not financially dependent on a single annual awards festival.
While The One Show and ADC Annual Awards ceremonies are highly attended events that connect creatives, they are outweighed by the combined audience for other One Club events held throughout the year such as “Here Are All The Black People”, Portfolio Night, Young Guns, Gold on Gold series, Creative Boots Camps, Creative Leaders Retreat and many others.
“As health conditions improve and business travel resumes, we will have ample opportunity during the year to engage the creative community as usual,” said Swanepoel
Last week, the club announced the switch from in-person to online judging. This change allows jury members from around the world to continue to review entries in safe environments, and enables The One Show and ADC Annual Awards to maintain the same global integrity and quality to the judging process. In-person judging will resume next year.
“As producers of one of the top-three global awards in the WARC ranking and having experienced a record year for The One Show entries, we’ll greatly miss hosting this year’s annual gathering of the global creative community in New York,” said Swanepoel. “We’re convinced it’s the right move, and look forward to resuming Creative Week and all in-person judging, shows and events in 2021.
