Apple has been selected as the first brand to be inducted into The One Club for Creativity’s newly established Brand Hall of Fame, part of the global Creative Hall of Fame. The recognition acknowledges the brand’s 50 years of design, branding, and communications innovation and leadership, consistently delivered groundbreaking levels of creative excellence, working internally and with agencies, Chiat/Day and TBWA\Media Arts Lab.

Formed in 1961, the Creative Hall of Fame has a rich heritage of honouring the lifetime achievements of creative luminaries, including Walt Disney, Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Gordon Parks, Saul Bass, Paul Rand, George Lois, and others. This is the first time a brand has been inducted. The One Club established the new Brand Hall of Fame to recognise brands with longstanding records of commitment to creative excellence, bold ideas, and contribution to culture.  

“It’s an incredible honour for Apple to join the Creative Hall of Fame, because imagination is woven into everything we do. It drives how we innovate, how we design, and how we work every day to empower people everywhere to create their own extraordinary things,” stated Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re grateful to be recognised by an institution that has championed creative voices for so many generations.”

Among the brand’s most famous work are the famous 1984 Super Bowl commercial to introduce the original Macintosh computer and Think Different campaign of the late 1990s, through to the early 2000s with iPod Silhouettes and two dozen I’m a Mac, I’m a PC ads as part of its Get a Mac campaign. 

More recent work includes the globally celebrated Shot on iPhone campaign now in its 11th year, Privacy, that’s iPhone in its eighth year, Emmy-Winning holiday ads, Misunderstood and Fuzzy Feelings, accessibility films I Am the Greatest and I’m Not Remarkable, and the famed HomePod film, Welcome Home.

The firm’s legacy of excellence in branding extends beyond just ads, with a consistent aesthetic that runs through the full spectrum of product design, packaging, and store design. 

Apple cofounder, Steve Jobs, was inducted into the Creative Hall of Fame in 2012. In addition, Apple and TBWA\Media Arts Labs are two-time recipients – in 2017 and 2026 – of The One Show’s prestigious Penta Pencil award, honouring the agency and brand who together have created outstanding creative work for the previous five years.

Every two years as the nomination cycle begins, the club will evaluate the more than 100-year archive of winners in its global One Show and Art Directors Club ADC Annual Awards programs to identify a shortlist of brands that have consistently been recognised as high archivers. The shortlist is then voted on by the organisation’s national and international Board of Directors.

“The Brand Hall of Fame was created to recognize the rare brands that have made creativity fundamental to who they are and, in doing so, have helped move our industry and culture forward,” stated Kevin Swanepoel, CEO at The One Club. “For more than 50 years, Apple has set an extraordinary standard for design, innovation and creative communication, with work that has been consistently recognised across The One Club’s awards. That remarkable legacy makes Apple a natural and fitting first inductee into the Brand Hall of Fame.”

This year’s Creative Hall of Fame black-tie gala induction ceremony, which serves as a fundraiser for the nonprofit One Club for Creativity, will take place on September 16, 2026 at Capitale New York. 

In addition to Apple, this year’s inductees are:

Creative Hall of Fame

• Rosie Arnold, one of the most awarded art directors in British advertising history, spent more than three decades shaping iconic work at BBH for Levi’s and others.
• Janet Champ, Wieden+Kennedy copywriter behind Nike’s groundbreaking “If You Let Me Play” campaign, transformed how brands communicate with women through work rooted in truth, empathy, and cultural impact.
• John C Jay, a visionary creative leader whose influence spans retail, advertising, fashion, and culture, helped shape brands including Nike and Uniqlo while pioneering a new model of culturally driven creativity.
• Caroline R. Jones, formerly of J. Walter Thompson, BBDO, Caroline Jones Advertising, Zebra Associates, and Mingo-Jones, trailblazing copywriter, the first black female vice-president at a major agency.
• Joyce King Thomas, the creative force behind McCann’s iconic “Priceless” campaign for Mastercard, helped redefine emotional storytelling in advertising while becoming one of the industry’s most respected creative leaders and mentors.
• Piyush Pandey, widely regarded as the father of modern Indian advertising at Ogilvy, transformed the industry by bringing the language, humor, and humanity of everyday India into the heart of brand storytelling.

Educators Hall of Fame

• Michael Conrad, former Global CCO at Leo Burnett Worldwide and co-founder of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, helped shape generations of creative leaders while elevating standards across the global advertising industry.

Criteria for being considered is three-fold:

• Impact — Those who have a celebrated body of work. This includes work that has been recognized as the best in the industry over multiple years for multiple brands, can be considered truly innovative and original in thinking and execution, and has an undeniable lasting impact.
• Influence — Those who have used their creativity and leveraged their resources to advance the industry and serve the greater good.
• Inspiration — Those who have had a measurable, positive effect on the next generation of creative leaders, and are known industry-wide as mentors, door-openers, and opportunity-creators.

Since The One Club For Creativity is a 501c3 nonprofit organisation, individual ticket purchases above US$250 and table ticket purchases above US$2,500 are considered a charitable donation. Sponsorship options are available for those unable to attend the ceremony but wishing to support and celebrate the inductees.