A Message from 2021 President Naresh Ramchandani

When I was young, I used to lie on my bed, close my eyes and try to feel the world turning. After all, it spins on its axis at 1,000 miles an hour. Why, I asked myself, couldn’t I feel that?

Across the last year, in a different way, I’ve felt the world turning. As society has been reorienting itself to respond to shared problems that include racial injustice, the climate crisis and of course a global pandemic, the creative world has been turning towards a new set of values, responsibilities and concerns – and sometimes so quickly that each day has brought a dizzying sense of progress.

I don’t know a single client that isn’t considering its social impact right now. As a new generation of consumers asks brands for good behaviour as well as good products and services, many clients are briefing their agencies to help explain their conduct – with the bravest clients ready to make their social or environmental purpose their differentiator.

And I don’t know a single design studio or advertising agency that doesn’t recognise this as a social and environmental moment. Client briefs are part of that. Black Lives Matter is an important part of it too. But so is good, old-fashioned ambition: whether helping people to feel a sense of community during lockdown, or advocating for vaccinations, or standing against social inequality, or standing for climate action, creative people around the world are looking to play their part in solving the biggest issues of the day.

This, for me, is why it’s such an exciting time to be a professional creative. We have a whole new set of briefs to work on, and a whole new set of questions to answer.

For example, how do we create the very best version of responsibility? It’s always going to be meaningful – that comes with the territory. But how do we make it sincere, delightful, disruptive and beautiful? Or to put it another way, how do we use creative excellence to give impact its very best chance? It’s questions like these that D&AD’s 2021 Annual helps to answer.

Look at the work created by next generation creatives in response to the New Blood briefs. Brave and brilliant creativity that builds skin cancer awareness, spreads understanding of the menopause, engages sports fans with sustainability, makes literature relevant to young communities, and more.

If we’re heading to a place where the best commercial work needs to be effortlessly ethical, much of New Blood’s contribution to the Annual tells us the industry’s future is in very good hands.

Look at the six Black Pencils awarded this year: three for the professional awards, three for New Blood Awards, and all six for fabulous projects that drive positive social change (my personal favourite being the City of Chicago’s wonderful Boards of Change initiative).

Let me underline the point. Chosen by the world’s most eminent judges, Black Pencils are the highest accolades from the world’s premier awards show, and this year they’ve all gone to projects looking to advance the greater good.

Back in 2014, I remember Steve Henry – a D&AD President’s Award winner and a mentor of mine – imploring the Black Pencil jury to reserve D&AD’s highest honour for work with social or environmental purpose. His argument was that work could only be great if it was good. This year, the Black Pencil juries did precisely what Steve had called for. This is the industry sending us the clearest possible signal.

Look at the addition of commentary pieces by voices from inside and outside the industry. Featuring views from different disciplines, experiences and identities, this is exactly what creativity should be right now: interested in, and inclusive of, as many different perspectives as possible, with the aim of making our creative work as rich as the society it’s part of.

And finally, look at the form of the Annual itself: emphatically digital, for a second year. While some criticised the switch from a printed Annual last year, D&AD’s choice to make its most potent inspiration freely accessible to the widest possible audience is unquestionably right – not just for these times, but for any time.

Of course there’s another story. Within the pages of the Annual, you’ll find plenty of great work that isn’t socially or environmentally minded. Work that draws attention to a product or service or idea in the best possible way. Work that simply “sells stuff”.

It’s not that I don’t value this work. I do. The best of it is excellent, and excellence is always hard and should always be valued. But in my view, turning social purpose into creative excellence is harder, and should be valued more highly. In that respect, excitingly, there are so many projects here that raise the watermark.

So please enjoy the Annual. And as you look through its pages, I hope you’ll feel the world turning, as I do.