Currys and AMV BBDO Named Winners of Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising Award 2024

Currys and AMV BBDO are today announced as the winners of Channel 4’s 2024/2025 Diversity in Advertising Award.  Their campaign, ‘The Sigh of Relief’, which embeds inclusive practices at the heart of the creative, will receive £1 million of advertising space across Channel 4 next year which will showcase the relief disabled customers feel when they have their needs immediately understood in safe spaces. In addition, the four runners-up are being offered the opportunity to secure match funding to get their entries on air.

‘The Sigh of Relief’ was chosen from five finalists which included McDonald’s/Leo Burnett, V&A/Adam & Eve/DDB, Open University/Havas, and Motability Operations/VCCP.

Inclusive by Design will also be the theme for next year’s Diversity in Advertising Award as it reiterates Channel 4’s commitment to accessible advertising. The channel’s aim is to encourage more brands to innovate in the craft of advertising, to make it possible for all consumers to fully experience brands, receive and understand communication, and to engage with brands’ products.

This theme follows RNID research that found 18 million people in the UK have different, diverse experiences of hearing loss and deafness, and around 340,000 people are registered blind or partially sighted. Meanwhile, Channel 4 Sales’ research identified that if more ads use inclusive techniques, they can reach an additional 14 million people across the UK.

Victoria Appleby, head of sales and chair of judges, Channel 4 said, “Since its inception in 2016, our DIA initiative has produced impactful, engaging and industry changing campaigns.  This year was no different – it was a very strong competition with each brand bringing a unique angle to the brief. However, Currys/AMV BBDO edged the rest with ‘The Sigh of Relief’. We can’t wait for audiences to see their advert, which is a wonderful example of a brand truly embracing accessibility.

I am also delighted to announce that we will return next year with Inclusive by Design as the theme for the Diversity in Advertising awards.  Helping the industry to improve the accessibility of advertising is hugely important to us at Channel 4 and we wanted to allow brands a chance to reflect and take the positive action that is so sorely needed to ensure advertising is truly inclusive by design.” 

Dan Rubel, brand and marketing director, Currys said, “Currys and our advertising agency AMV BDDO are delighted to have won Channel 4's Diversity in Advertising award. In the real world, our colleagues help disabled customers every day, bringing to life how the tech we sell can make a real difference, including through the specific lens of peoples’ disabilities. In modern tech, there are often helpful features that are not so obvious without chatting to a real life human expert, and winning this award means we can bring that to life in the world of our “Beyond Techspectations” advertising campaign, with the goal of being educational and entertaining too.”

Nicholas Hulley and Nadja Lossgott, joint chief creative officers, AMV BBDO said, “We are so excited that AMV BBDO has won the Channel 4 Diversity in Advertising competition for a record third time, now with our brilliant partners Currys. We’re very proud of all the work we do together and winning this is a big juicy cherry on top. Our “Beyond Techspectations” platform is such a big idea and we can’t wait to produce this next, meaningful and very funny, chapter.” 

A panel of eleven, which included leaders from the advertising industry as well as people from charitable organisations that work on behalf of disabled people, selected Currys and AMV BBDO’s campaign pitch from the shortlisted finalists. The entries were scored across how they reach visually and hearing-impaired people, how the entrant has considered representation with the ad, the consideration of other inclusive media around TV, and if the idea feels right for the brand and creative execution.

Currys and AMV BBDO are the ninth recipients of the £1 million of advertising across Channel 4; with previous themes having centred on authentically representing and reflecting the LGBTQIA+ community, women, those with visible and non-visible disabilities and diverse ethnic backgrounds. Previous winners include E45, the RAF, Maltesers, Vanish and FIFA to name a few.

The Diversity in Advertising Award aligns with Channel 4’s commitment to create change with ‘Inclusive Design’ one of six key principles of its new equity and inclusion strategy, Equity By Design.