Channel 4 announces shortlist for £1million Superhumans Wanted prize

1 June 2016

 

 

• Nearly 90 entries whittled down to final eight
• Initiative encourages advertisers to feature disability in ad campaigns as part of broadcaster’s Year of Disability

Channel 4 today announced the final eight brands shortlisted for its Superhumans Wanted initiative following almost 90 brands and agencies pitching campaign ideas featuring disability and disabled talent to win £1million of the broadcaster’s commercial airtime.

The eight shortlisted brands are: Amazon and Lucky General; Barclays and BBH London; Dove and Ogilvy; H&M and adam&eveDDB; Lloyds Bank and adam&eveDDB: Lynx and TMW Unlimited; Malteasers and AMV BBDO; and Purdey’s and iris Worldwide.

Launched as part of Channel 4’s Year of Disability, the £1million Superhumans Wanted prize will be awarded to the brand or agency with the strongest campaign idea – and their ad given an exclusive launch spot in the 2016 Rio Paralympics Games Opening Ceremony on Wednesday 7th September.

The competition, launched at Advertising Week Europe in April, extends the broadcaster’s far-reaching commitments to improving diversity on-and-off-screen beyond just its editorial content and into Channel 4’s important commercial airtime.

Jonathan Allan, Sales Director at Channel 4, said: “We launched Superhumans Wanted to encourage UK advertisers and agencies to think differently about how they represent disability in their TV ad campaigns as we enter into the Rio Paralympics – and the response from the industry has been completely overwhelming. It was a tough shortlisting process but we believe we have the best of many unique campaign ideas in our final eight – and a real challenge awaits our expert judging panel to pick just one winner. Most importantly we hope that this initiative will inspire better disability representation in advertising and improve diversity in our commercial airtime.”

The judging panel, chaired by Jonathan Allan, includes: Tim Lefroy, CEO, Advertising Association; Claire Beale, Global Editor-in-Chief, Campaign; Tom Knox, President, IPA; Mike Hughes, Director General, ISBA; Chris Bovill & John Allison, Heads of 4Creative; and Dan Brooke, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Channel 4.

The winning campaign will be announced on Thursday 9th June 2016.

Channel 4 announced in January that 2016 would be the broadcaster’s Year of Disability with major new commitments to boost on and off screen representation of disabled people. This will include doubling the number of disabled people appearing in 20 of Channel 4’s biggest shows – with disabled contributors contributing to hit programmes such as Gogglebox, The Island, Grand Designs, Hollyoaks and First Dates. £300,000 will be invested in new talent initiatives, with an off-screen commitment to progress the careers of 20 disabled people already working in the industry in Channel 4’s 20 biggest suppliers. And, within Channel 4, 50 per cent of all the broadcaster’s apprenticeships and 30 per cent of all its work experience placements will be ring fenced for disabled people.