Home Depot, ESPN, Disney Join 2026 Brand Hall of Fame Class

Five brands — The Home Depot, ESPN, Disney, Budweiser and Chick-fil-A — now sit in The One Club's Brand Hall of Fame, bringing the three-year-old list to 15 companies. Apple scored a separate first: it is the only brand ever named to The One Club's Creative Hall of Fame, an honor previously reserved for individuals.

The One Club for Creativity announced the 2026 class at the Brand Hall of Fame Awards Gala, held during The Gathering Festival in Banff, Canada, in October.

Who received the awards?

Each brand sent a named executive to accept:

• The Home Depot — Whit Friese, VP, creative marketing
• ESPN — Jo Fox, SVP, marketing
• Disney — Jason Reacher, VP, segment content creation and digital integration, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
• Budweiser — Andrew Oosterhuis, VP, marketing, Labatt Breweries of Canada
• Chick-fil-A — Dustin Britt, executive director of brand strategy, entertainment and media

Note who showed up. These are VP- and SVP-level marketers, not CEOs. Read that how you will.

What came before?

The 2026 class follows two earlier cohorts. The inaugural 2024 class included Coca-Cola, the NFL, Levi's, McDonald's and MTV. The 2025 class added Gatorade, American Express, Fender and Dove. Five inductees per year, every year — a fixed quota that raises an obvious question about scarcity.

How does selection actually work?

A committee of senior marketers picks five winners each year from a list of 100 nominees. Nominees don't need to lead their category. They are graded against 10 criteria measuring sustained success over decades. The One Club did not publish the criteria themselves, so outsiders can't audit how the committee weighed, say, Home Depot against ESPN.

Mandy Balak, president of The Gathering Festival and a selection committee member, defended the standard in a statement: "Every brand in this room has been tested by decades of change and is still here, still growing, still shaping how people live. That's rare."

She added: "The Hall exists to study it as much as celebrate it, so the next generation of builders knows what it actually takes."

Fine words. But "tested by decades of change" fits plenty of brands that didn't make the cut from the 100-name nominee pool.

Why did Apple break the Creative Hall's rules?

The Creative Hall of Fame has historically honored individuals who shaped the creative industry. Apple is the first brand admitted, a structural change The One Club justified on the grounds that organizations create the conditions for creative work, not just people.

Adam Izen, chief awards officer at The One Club for Creativity, framed the choice around consistency: "What does it take to build a lasting creative legacy? For Apple, it's a commitment to creativity that runs through its products, its design, its communications and the tools it puts in other people's hands, held for decades."

He said the move "acknowledges the role organizations play in creating the conditions for great work to happen, again and again." Whether one brand-first exception becomes a trend — or stays a one-off — is next year's question.

What's next?

Nominations for the 2027 Brand Hall of Fame close on Dec. 31. That gives CMOs and their teams a narrow window to put their brands in front of the committee.

For marketing leaders, the practical takeaway is thin. The Hall confers recognition, not revenue data. But the 10-criteria, decades-long yardstick does signal what senior marketers say they value: endurance over campaigns. Your Q4 numbers won't get you in. Staying power might.