The One Club for Creativity is showing that its decades-long commitment to diversity and inclusion isn’t going stale with the launch of The One Show Fusion Pencil and ADC Fusion Cube, the advertising and design industry’s first global initiatives to recognise great work that incorporates underrepresented groups in both creative content and the team that made it.

The aim of the new Fusion awards is to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in both agency and production company staffing as well as creative work. The awards will identify and celebrate great work which also demonstrates how underrepresented groups and DEI issues are used 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,” stated Jimmy Smith, chairman, chief executive officer and chief creative officer 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 colour, I recognise 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, stated, “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.

Studies show when a business makes DEI a priority, every facet of the organisation benefits, including the bottom line. The new awards also encourage brands to use these criteria as a framework for making their own marketing more diverse.

“The industry has a glaring diversity problem, and this initiative is the first one to recognise those who are leading the way and motivate everyone else to get better at it,” noted Kevin Swanepoel, chief executive officer, 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.”

Entries to The One Show 2021 and 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.