In its inaugural year, the D&AD Impact awards brought industry people from around the world together in New York City to celebrate the power of creativity and its ability to impact the world commercially, socially, environmentally and politically. In partnership between Advertising Week and D&AD, the awards will return for the second year in New York on September 26, 2017, continuing their work to shine a spotlight on brands and campaigns using creativity as a positive force for change.
The first ever D&AD Impact Awards in 2016 amassed over 600 Impact entries, awarded 87 winners, gathered 1,200 ceremony attendees and brought 60+ expert judges together from a variety of industry cornerstones to deliberate and vote for the winners of the black, white, graphite and wood pencil awards. To conclude the ceremonies, Grammy Award-winning artist, Sting, gave an intimate performance to award winners and invited guests to continue the celebration of socially impactful work in the industry.
D&AD Impact focuses on real-world achievements across twelve distinct categories including: Civic Engagement; Communication & Interaction; Community; Diversity & Equality; Education; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Empowerment; Health & Wellness; Humanitarian Aid; Industry Evolution; Responsible Production & Consumption; and Urban Living.
The D&AD Impact jury, who award the various pencil awards, includes some of the most influential and innovative minds in the arts, business, communication, media, music, politics and technology industries, and is representative of the wide range of organizations committed to deploying creativity as a force for good.
The 2017 Jury members include Neil Blumenthal, Founder and CEO, Warby Parker, Arianna Huffington, Founder of The Huffington Post; Founder and CEO of Thrive Global, Anthony Casalena, Founder and CEO, Squarespace, Colleen DeCourcy, Global Co-Executive Creative Director, Wieden + Kennedy, Richard Curtis, Filmmaker, Founder, Project Everyone & Comic Relief, Frank Cooper, CMO, BlackRock, Carolyn Everson, VP, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook, Betsy Lack, Global Brand Strategy, Snap, Aline Santos Farhat, Global EVP Marketing, Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Unilever, Haiyan Zhang, Innovation Director, Microsoft Research, and Christian Davies, Creative Vice President, Global Design & Innovation, Starbucks.
New to D&AD Impact in 2017, Impact Promise will reward ideas with the potential for impact across one or more of the 12 categories that could benefit from the exposure, funding, mentoring and networking that D&AD Impact can offer. Selected projects that have an original innovative idea, and that can demonstrate how, once scaled, will have a clear, measurable impact, will be offered the opportunity to pitch for project support.
D&AD Impact is open to any agency, studio, media owner, publisher, social enterprise, start-up or brand that has contributed towards a better future. The call for entries is now officially open and the website is now live.
To learn more about more about how to enter, the 2016 winners, or to subscribe and follow along with the latest updates, head over to the official D&AD Impact website.
