For more than 20 years the Association of National Advertisers’ Multicultural Excellence Awards have recognized brands and agencies that produce outstanding advertising and marketing campaigns centered on diverse communities and important social issues. The Awards feature 14 categories including one dedicated to LGTBQ-focused campaigns.
A call for submissions recently opened and runs through August 4, 2021. Submission details, full category descriptions, and other important information can be found here.
This year GLAAD is proud to partner with the ANA’s Multicultural Excellence Awards as part of our newly launched Visibility Project.
“The Association of National Advertisers continues to bring industry leaders together and provide critical resources for brands and agencies to ensure authenticity to inclusive campaigns,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “The Multicultural Excellence Awards not only recognize outstanding projects, but raise the bar for inclusion across the industry.”
Last year at the 2020 Multicultural Excellence Awards, Verizon and its ad agency McCann Worldgroup received the Best in Show award for “Love Calls Back,” which featured four LGBTQ people reconnecting with family members via telephone calls that were filled with acceptance.
Mastercard and its ad agency McCann Worldgroup also received a 2020 Multicultural Excellence Award in the LGBTQ category for its “True Name” campaign, a product update allowing for chosen names to appear on credit cards and other financial products, ensuring transgender and nonbinary people would have a card that reflects the name they actually use. GLAAD worked with Mastercard on the campaign’s launch to let the trans community know about the update.
GLAAD and Procter & Gamble recently launched the Visibility Project to increase the quality, quantity, and diversity of LGBTQ inclusion in ads. GLAAD and P&G’s 2021 survey of ad executives at brands and agencies showed 61% of Advertisers and 60% of Agencies strongly agree that companies that feature LGBTQ people and scenarios in advertising are “helping consumers understand and respect LGBTQ people.”
Be sure to submit inclusive ad campaigns by the ANA’s extended deadline of August 4, 2021.