D&AD Impact: The awards and the programme to turn your idea for positive change into reality

D&AD Impact doesn’t only award advertising. It awards creative ideas that drive positive change in the world. Sometimes, that IS advertising. D&AD believes that being creative drives business value. But D&AD Impact’s scope is broader. It aims to show how purpose can enhance business success while promoting collective responsibility for global sustainability.

The D&AD Impact Awards are now open for entries. They applaud original and transformative ideas that have influenced society on a local, national or international scale; or can clearly demonstrate the potential for impact in the future.

This year, D&AD Impact’s fourth, includes the inaugural D&AD Future Impact Programme, which supports great ideas that have the potential to change the world. To be eligible to enter, entrants must be able to demonstrate a proof of concept – be it a marketing campaign, initiative or product – that has the potential to impact the world for good. Those selected for a place on the ten-person programme will receive access to a shared prize fund worth US$150,000, which also includes attending the D&AD Future Impact Accelerator, a two-day masterclass programme aiming to provide tangible tips and tools to inspire students to take their idea to the next level.

The mentoring provided by the D&AD Future Impact Programme will draw on the expertise of the D&AD Impact Council to help successful entrants bring their ideas to market. That council is made up of 70 people from a range of backgrounds across the creative, brand, investment, social impact, sustainability and NGO space – a group of top tier business and thought leaders who stand for positive social impact and are ambassadors for D&AD Impact’s mission. Their expertise will help great ideas to scale, and connect NGOs, brands and social entrepreneurs with creative practitioners.

Behind it is D&AD’s belief that businesses with creative thinking and design excellence at their heart are more successful both commercially and in terms of their potential for social change.

The Council’s members have been selected based on their experience and contribution towards the progress of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. They include:

Emily Kortlang, brand director, EMEA, Beats by Dre (Apple)
Danielle Krettek, founder, Google Empathy Lab
Fernando Machado, senior vice president global brand management, Burger King
Aline Santos Farhat, executive vice president global marketing & global head of diversity & inclusion, Unilever
KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, chief executive officer and founder, Sustainable Brands
Marcus East, executive vice president & chief technology officer, National Geographic
Paco Conde, chief creative officer and co-founder, Activista
David Jones, founder and chief executive officer of One Young World.

This year, three members from Australia join the council:

Richard Bullock, director, Revolver / Hungryman
Emad Tahtouh, managing director, Nakatomi
Ben Cooper, founder, Tricky Jigsaw

Read the full list of the 2019 D&AD Impact Council here: The D&AD 2019 Future Impact Council

Tim Lindsay, chief executive officer of D&AD commented, “We are delighted to introduce the D&AD Future Impact Programme. The power of great, creative campaigns to invoke tangible positive change is something we are incredibly passionate about. With the help of the invaluable expertise and experience of our esteemed members of the D&AD Impact Council, we are excited to put in place a programme which will unlock the full potential of world-changing ideas, and we hope to enable our first cohort of Future Impacters to deliver a tangible, real-world impact within twelve months.”

Work eligible for entry includes prototypes, products, initiatives and campaigns, which can be entered in a range of categories including: environment and sustainability, health and wellness, humanitarian aid, community and civic engagement, equality and diversity, and educational and financial empowerment.

Winners of the D&AD Impact Awards 2018 included Bodyform’s bloodnormal campaign, which aimed to eradicate period taboos, and Trash Isles, the campaign from LADbible and the Plastic Oceans Foundation to raise awareness of the scale of the world’s plastic pollution problem.

All categories were drawn up in line with the United Nations’ Global Sustainable Development Goals:

D&AD Impact categories:

Environment and Sustainability
Health and Wellness
Humanitarian Aid
Community and Civic Engagement
Equality and Diversity
Educational and Financial Empowerment

The pricing structure has been revised to make it easier for charities, NGOs, start-ups and SMEs to enter. Applying for a place on the Future Impact Programme costs just US$50. Entries submitted into the awards are half price for NGOs (US$325) and only US$50 for companies under three years old or with fewer than 20 employees.

Entries close on September 25 2019. Entrants who submit their application by July 17 2019 will be entitled to the super early bird discount of 30% off all entries; entrants who submit by September 4 2019 will receive the early bird discount of 20% off all entries. The D&AD Impact Future Ones to Watch List will be announced on October 9 2019, with the remaining shortlist announced on October 16, and details of the Future Impact Cohort revealed on October 23. This year’s Impact Showcase will take place on November 6 2019 in New York, in a special event dedicated to showing the winning work.