LONDON, UK — With 48 entries in its shortlist, the Impact category remains one of the understated at D&AD. To showcase what the judges are looking for among the works about climate solutions, innovation, effective communications, and D&AD gathered four jurors to reflect on the deliberations and the handful that won Wood, Graphite, and White Pencil.
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer of Impact BBDO
Kicking off the discussion is Ali Rez who picked the “Shellmet” idea from TBWA\Hakuhodo, Japan. He described it as something which took a local problem of leftover scallop shells, and solved it in a way with global implications: creating a helmet which is both appealing to wear and circular in its environmental impact.
Read more about the campaign here.
Chloe Davis, Founder of It Takes A Village Collective
Meanwhile, Chloe’s pick uses artificial intelligence to create a beautiful and brilliant idea that helps children with autism. “The Autism Journey” by Africa Creative gives unique and evocative cue cards to children who have difficulty expressing themselves.
While she described it as an idea that gives voice to the voiceless, she also raised how technology can appropriate works taken from movies and characters, and whether that is discounted when the cause is for good. The work won a Wood Pencil.
Read more about the campaign here.
Paco Conde, Co-founder and ECD of Activista
In the case of “Renault – Plug Inn” which was chosen by Paco, Publicis Conseil anchored on the charging of electric cars and people’s use of devices and gadgets. The 2023 Cannes Grand Prix winner for strategy was, in his words, “Airbnb for car chargers.” Leveraging the behavior and tendency to borrow chargers, Renault transformed home chargers into rentable charging points resulting in a beneficial situation for the manufacturer, drivers, and homeowners. He highlighted how this work exemplifies being able to describe your “idea in a phrase” to demonstrate its effectivity.
Read more about the campaign here.
Priya Prakash, CTO for Design for Social Change
Meanwhile, Bang Creations’ “Maeving R1 Motorbike” commissioned a carbon emission study in championing eco-conscious urban mobility. Furthermore, she lauded the authenticity of the project which is underlined by its base in Coventry, a city that was historically associated with these machines.
Standalone, the motorbikes takes its design cues from classic English bikes of the 1950s and 60s —combining poetry, business, and emotion in the campaign. And as an overall piece of advice, she talked about the importance of making ‘worthy’ products desirable in their own right.
During the discussion, the jurors likened the category to asking people to eat kale. Yet with an irresistible product in its own right, consumers will not feel compromised on their choices.
That means for brand owners, having to choose to do good to drive business results. At its core, authenticity is still the encompassing differentiator in all the work in the festival, calling for brands and agencies to be transparent and responsible in its use of technology and pursuing purpose with passion.
Read more about the campaign here.
View the full list of Impact winners here.
adobo Magazine is an official media partner of D&AD 2024.
