2024 Brief
The Diversity in Advertising Award is challenging our industry to reach more of the population than ever before, by making TV ads ‘inclusive by design’
We want brands to create a powerful advertising creative which effectively reaches all audiences including blind viewers, deaf viewers and those with sight and hearing loss.
Campaigns should aim to authentically use inclusive design practices to ensure the narrative is understood and your brand is seen and heard by those who are often excluded.
Why does this matter?
According to the RNID, there are 18 million people in the UK who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus. In addition, RNIB states there are over two million people living with sight loss in the UK. That’s nearly 20% of the population who are currently not able to easily access or understand adverts.
And it’s not just people who experience sight or hearing loss that expect or need media to be accessible. What about British Sign Language (BSL) users or the fact that we have an aging population, people with learning difficulties or cognitive impairment and let’s not forget 72% of the population who are dual screening or have English as a second language.
Reaching more of the UK population doesn’t just make economic sense, it’s also a moral and social demand.
Download the brief
Download Brief Download Large Text BriefListen to the full brief
We want to reach more of the population
The Prize
The winner will receive £1million of 4Sales ad value across our linear, VOD and Youtube platforms for their pitched campaign, and an additional £100k bespoke social media campaign produced by our award-winning social content unit, 4Studio.
As with prior years, our five non-winning shortlist will also be offered up to £250k of match funded commercial ad space for the pitched campaigns, meaning the potential total prize pot for 2023 exceeds £2 million.
Key Dates
Entries Open
25th July 2024
Brands and Agencies are invited to submit a 2-page PDF summarising the creative concept.
Entries Close
20th September 2024
Unless an extension has been agreed (email 4Sales@Channel4.co.uk), all entries must be submitted on this site by 4pm.
Shortlist Announced
W/C 30th September 2024
A total of six shortlisted winners will be announced
Judging Day
24th October 2024
Stage two of the competition requires the shortlisted brands to attend an in-person pitch day with our judging panel.
Winners Announced
W/C 28th October 2024
Our 2024 Diversity In Advertising Winner is announced publicly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Reach out to 4Sales@Channel4.co.uk if you are struggling to meet the entry date.
Prior to submitting an entry, you MUST get full and unconditional approval from the key parties involved in your campaign idea.
In the most part, this means that the brand featured must have given approval for the campaign idea to be submitted.
However, if your campaign is solely reliant on commitment from other specific parties – eg a specific charity partner or a specific spokesperson or talent, that approval must also be sought before entry.
If your campaign pitch details partners on whom the idea is not reliant, eg Talent or Charity Partners that could be switched for a number of alternatives, then commitment from these partners is not required at pitch stage.
Take a look at ‘Entry Process’ above for full details, but in short there are two stages.
Stage 1 requires a PDF submission. This is judged by a Channel 4 shortlisting panel against the published criteria.
Stage 2 sees the shortlisted entrants invited to an in-person pitch with our main judging panel. They make the final decision on the winner based on this pitch and how best they feel it answers the brief and fulfils the criteria.
Different entrants choose different approaches in the 2-page entry. Some communicate the concept through description of the proposed campaign, others decide a sample script or imagery is needed. In short, how you choose to communicate your idea is entirely up to you.
We’d recommend you take a look at the criteria page listed above. This will give you a good guide on what the shortlisting panel will be looking for in your entry, and we’d suggest you make sure that you address all the criteria in your entry.
We strongly advise you read and understand the terms before submitting your entry.
Winners will receive the £1m+ ad value prize and will be expected to begin production of their pitched campaign.
To qualify for the prize, the produced advertisement must reflect the pitched idea, and comply with a number of timing and exclusivity restrictions as detailed in the terms.
The Prize and the Match Fund Prizes are redeemable across the Channel 4 Portfolio between 1st May 2025 and 31st June 2025.
There is the potential, subject to mutual agreement, for these dates to be flexible, pending negotiation with Channel 4 Sales.
As part of Channel 4’s efforts to champion sustainable business practices, the winner and any match funding recipients must implement the following commitments when producing the pitched advertisements;
- The brand and creative agency involved must be registered (or become registered) as an Ad Net Zero Supporter (run by the Advertising Association).
- The advertisements produced must use the Ad Green carbon calculator to measure their carbon footprint with the full and unredacted results shared with Channel 4.
- Any carbon produced as a result of making the advertisement must be off-set via https://weareadgreen.org/resources/offset-emissions-from-your-production-activities and receipt must be shared with Channel 4
- Unless a similar commitment has already been made, the brand and creative agency commit to develop and implement a long-term plan to reduce their marketing Carbon Footprint and should be shared with Channel 4
No problem – just email us at 4Sales@Channel4.co.uk and we’ll help you out!
