Channel 4 Reveals Finalists of 2020 £1m Diversity in Advertising Award

Channel 4 today announces the final six brands shortlisted to win £1m of Channel 4 airtime through its award-winning Diversity in Advertising Award which focuses on the authentic portrayal of UK BAME cultures in advertising this year.

Chosen from over 30 entries the finalists are Boots (Ogilvy UK), EA Sports (Adam&Eve/DBB), Lloyds Bank (MediaCom X GUAP Studios), Royal Navy (Engine) and in-house entries from Merky Books and Tesco. 

The finalists will present their campaign ideas to a diverse judging panel including representatives from The Marketing Society, ISBA, Thinkbox and The Advertising Association on 18th November and the winner will be announced on 26th November.

Making it to the shortlist stage means all of these brands will be awarded up to £250,000 of free advertising airtime each, in a match funding arrangement, if they are unsuccessful in winning the first-place £1m prize. This significant offer reflects Channel 4’s ambition to encourage as many of the pitched ideas to make it to air as possible and increases the total potential prize fund for the competition to over £2m.

This year’s award follows new research commissioned by 4Sales which finds there is a universal lack of authentic portrayal in TV advertising of people from all BAME communities, their backgrounds, lives and cultures. 

Each year The Diversity in Advertising Award focuses on a different area of diversity to encourage the ad industry to embrace inclusive creative campaigns – and further Channel 4’s commitment to reflecting the cultural diversity of Britain beyond its editorial content and into the ad breaks. 

Matt Salmon, sales director, Channel 4 and chair of judges said: “Diversity and inclusion are at the centre of everything we do at Channel 4, not only because it’s baked into our remit and is the right thing to do, but also because we know it makes business sense. Through this competition we strive to inspire change in the industry and our previous winners demonstrate the creative and commercial benefits of embracing diversity in advertising.   

Despite the challenges faced by the industry in 2020, this year’s competition entries showcase some really compelling campaign ideas from an eclectic variety of brands.”

This year the competition is an important part of Channel 4’s six-point commitment to be a driver of anti-racism in the creative industries and improve black and minority ethnic representation. 

Previous winners have focussed on disability (Maltesers), mental health (Lloyds Bank), the portrayal of women in the media (RAF) and the lack of representation and stereotyping of the LGBT+ community (Starbucks), seeing Channel 4 give away £4 million worth of commercial airtime to date. 

Further information about the competition can be found on 4Sales’ website www.4sales.com/diversityaward.