Ever looked through an advertising Hall of Fame list? It doesn’t really which one you choose, you’ll find mostly white men. The One Club for Creativity’s 2017 Creative Hall of Fame is beginning to look a bit different. This year’s inductees include the first African American and the first Latina on its list, and three women overall.

Tom Burrell is the first African American to be inducted to the Creative Hall of Fame. In 1971 Burrell founded the agency now known as Burrell Communications, making it the world’s first and largest African American-owned, full service communications agency. Burrell changed the face of American advertising by understanding and highlighting the positive aspects of black American culture. And he led the way in transforming both the way people of colour were portrayed in communications, as well as their roles within the industry itself.

Until his retirement in 2004, he led the agency to create decades of award-winning work for brands like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, P&G (Crest, Tide), Polaroid, Kraft Foods, General Mills, Mobil, Toyota, HP and Partnership for a Drug-Free America. A collection of his work for Coca-Cola is archived at the Library of Congress for its cultural and historical significance.

Rebeca Méndez the first Latina inducted into the Creative Hall of Fame. Méndez is director of the university’s CounterForce Lab, a research and fieldwork studio dedicated to using art and design to develop creative collaborations, new fields of study, and methods to research, create and execute projects around the social and ecological impacts of climate change.

Diane Cook-Tench is founding director of the VCU Brandcenter, the graduate program of Virginia Commonwealth University, who was inducted into Educators Hall of Fame. Prior to her academic career, she won more than 100 awards for her creative work while at The Martin Agency.

Susan Hoffman is co-chief creative officer of Wieden+Kennedy. Hoffman is Wieden+Kennedy’s “employee #8”. She has spent more than three decades at the agency and is responsible for some of its most memorable work for Nike and others. She opened W+K London and W+K Amsterdam, and has intermittently served as executive creative director for the Portland, New York and Delhi offices. As co-chief creative officer, Hoffman currently oversees the entire global network.

David Lubars is chief creative officer of BBDO Worldwide & chief creative officer and chairman of BBDO North America. In the 13 years since he joined BBDO, Lubars has helped transform the agency into the most creatively awarded in the world and a recipient of more than 15 Agency of the Year awards. He was named one of the top 10 creative directors of all time in a recent Forbes CMO Network article.

The five new inductees join top adpeople such as David Ogilvy, Bill Bernbach and Lee Clow in the Hall of Fame list. The first inductee was Leo Burnett, in 1961.

“The Creative Hall of Fame is the ultimate recognition of a storied career as a creative professional,” stated Kevin Swanepoel, chief executive officer, The One Club for Creativity.

“These are creatives whose work has transcended advertising, influencing pop culture, uplifting African-American culture, laying the groundwork for the next generation of creatives and even having an impact on thought and action on climate change.  They are titans of our industry.”