Fusion Pencil

In the Press: Adweek | Press Release

Once considered a long-term business goal, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has become an important, proven core strategy for many of today's successful businesses and organizations. Studies show when a business makes DEI a priority, every facet of the organization benefits, including the bottom line.

In response to what we hear from the industry, and in keeping with our core strengths as a nonprofit organization that exists to support and celebrate the global creative community, The One Club introduced The One Show Fusion Pencil.

With the goal of promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in both agency/production company staffing and in the work itself, the Fusion Pencil will identify and celebrate great work which also includes underrepresented groups and DEI issues both:

Behind the scenes, in terms of diverse agency/production company teams, ensuring equal opportunity, pay and treatment, etc.
In the creative work itself, as expressed through casting, language, script, narrative and how the work communicates authentically with the target audience.

The Fusion Pencil will recognize work based on three criteria:

The work must first meet The One Show's standards for excellence in creativity of ideas and quality of execution.
Awarded work will demonstrate that issues of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (i.e., racial and ethnic diversity, gender diversity, ageism, cognitive or physical abilities, positive body image, all kinds of discrimination, negative stereotypes, etc.), in any way those might manifest in the specific market for which the work is made, have been seriously considered and implemented in the work.
Entrants must disclose how they have implemented DEI principles when forming the teams involved in the work both:
- Behind the scenes – what percentage of the agency and production company teams directly involved in the work are part of underrepresented groups (i.e., women and other marginalized genders, racial or ethnic groups, LGBTQ+, and people with cognitive or physical differences).
- Public-facing (In front of the camera) – how the work communicates authentically with the target audience through casting, language, script, and narrative/storytelling.

This award also encourages brands to use these criteria as a framework for making their own marketing more diverse. It can serve as a global benchmark, representing a new way for brands to demand accountability from their agencies and partners for providing greater diversity in their work and creative teams.

ELIGIBILITY: January 1, 2023 – March 1, 2024

PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2023 2022 2021

Fusion Pencil

FP_01: Fusion Pencil
Final Deadline Fee: $900.00

The Fusion Pencil celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in both agency/production company staffing and in the content of the work itself. It will be awarded to work that both meets The One Show's standards for creative excellence, and incorporates DEI considerations for underrepresented groups into both the content of the work and makeup of the team that created it.