6
Agency Business: Agency of the Year (11-49)
Company
Bicycle
Summary
‘The most significant media & communication agency launch in London in the last fifteen years’.
This is what we put in front of new prospects, and for good reason. Clients are crying out for dedicated extensions to their teams that are not bound by the silos of the current agency landscape. They want something joined up, from brand strategy right down to performance, and this is precisely what we offer at Bicycle under our MX (media experience) proposition.
Whilst we set out the year as Drum’s Global Start-Up Agency of the Year 2022, our single-minded focus has been on driving sustainable business growth and shedding our ‘start-up’ label. Our peloton is now rippling with powerful talent and 33-strong.
Our new business success boasts numerous household brands, we’ve broadened our offering into creative and performance services, achieved IPA CPD Gold and much sought-after BCorp status to boot. It’s been one hell of a year.
We are now among the UK’s top 50 billing agencies, and we’re the 4th largest billing media agency under 50 headcount.
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Company
Bickerstaff.734
Client
Among the clients of Bickerstaff.734 are Galychyna, UNICEF, the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, UNITED24, USAID, the State Agency for Tourism Development of Ukraine (DART), the Duke of Edinburgh International Award, Ukrainian Leadership Academy, Teach for Ukraine (part of Teach for All), fundraising platform United24 and others.
Summary
Our agency, Bickerstaff.734, has defied adversity to earn the prestigious title of Boutique Agency of the Year in 2023. In just three years, we've reshaped industry standards while navigating challenges like the pandemic and Ukraine's ongoing conflict.
With a portfolio encompassing over 32 clients, 28 successful campaigns, and over 90 words' most difficult awards, our excellence has garnered global recognition.
Amid Russia's invasion in 2022, we demonstrated resilience, achieving a remarkable 770.33% year-over-year increase in net revenue. Our unwavering commitment to customer-centric values resulted in an exceptional client retention rate exceeding 80%.
Transformative initiatives, such as rebranding Galychyna dairy, advocating for Ukraine's defense through #FreeTheLeopards, and exposing Russian crimes with a 6,000-page book, have made a profound impact.
During adversity, we raised funds for Ukraine's defense, supported displaced youth, and fostered unity through projects like Eurovision 2023's #OpenYourHeartForUkraine.
Our innovative campaigns, like "We instead of Me" and "Khortytsia," have earned us accolades. We actively countered Russian propaganda, uniting Ukraine through regional renaming.
Prioritizing quality over quantity, we deliver personalized attention, hand-picked talent, and a focus on team well-being. Our dedication to clients, talent, and innovation sets us on a promising trajectory in an ever-evolving industry.
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Company
XYZ
Client
XYZ
Summary
XYZ is a multi-dimensional agency that has defined, designed and delivered brand experiences since 2012. Their unique offer combines creative strategy consultancy, an experience design studio and a world-class production agency. Built on the principle that experience is everything and everything is experience, they create innovative and impactful interactions between audiences and the world’s most famous brands.
Celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2023, they have expanded their services to recognise the importance of thinking of ‘experiential’ beyond just production. Their client list includes: Apple, Coach, Converse, Gucci, Lego, Levi’s, Nike, and Tata Motors, and in the last 12 months they have added clients to the list such as: Aston Martin, Cointreau, eBay, FIBA, Moncler, Selfridges and Sky.
This year has seen them produce some of the most technically challenging experiences in XYZ’s history. Experiences that combined innovation, design and production prowess with exacting creative and craft, making this their most rewarding year to date.
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Company
half rhino
Summary
Born in Asia, half rhino has built a borderless brand and experience consultancy working with high profile clients across the globe and winning multiple global consultancy awards in the first 4 years of operation.
half rhino is on track to doubling the size of the agency this year, adding renowned brands such as W Hotels, HP, Hilton, Ripple and EssilorLuxottica to their already impressive roster of JW Marriott, ERM, Cargill and several tech start-ups.
They created a solution to client needs that is largely unmet by the larger groups and big consultancies – delivered through an open operating model that seamlessly blends capabilities and innovation across data, technology, AI, gaming, business transformation and innovation. half rhino pride themselves on getting under the skin of their clients’ business – a true partner and an extension of their team.
Their model is based on open collaboration and partnership – creating solutions that bridge the gap between consultancy, creative and delivery. It has led to new wins from the more established networks, creative agencies, and consultancies across the world.
half rhino remains true to its vision, continuing to focus on culture, attracting a diverse team of talent, best in class partners, and delivering work that helps the community, with an emphasis on sustainability, wellbeing, and social impact.
The consultancy culture is based in personal development, wellbeing, and fun. ‘We work with people we like, who care passionately about what they do – and that are great at what they do”’.
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Company
WiredCo.
Client
WiredCo.
Summary
MATESHIP REALLY DOES MAKE COMMERCIAL MAGIC AND 18% GROWTH.
We’ve had an incredibly successful couple of years, growing 238%. But success will never come at the cost of our culture. And in these tough and fairly relentless times, everyone needs some mateship and magic to make them go - as Kylie says - Padam.
By putting our mates first, we’re able to create an environment where mateship really is making commercial magic happen. Two years ago, we decided to focus on our people and clients by saying no to pitches. As an indie, this was hard. But this year, that investment really paid dividends. The magic our team created achieved a client satisfaction score of 95%, grew our revenue by 18% and won 10 new clients - including a global account win. But where the magic really happened was when we got recognised as AdNews Digital Agency of the Year and a Campaign Asia Content, Social and Specialist Agency of the Year.
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Company
SEEN Presents
Summary
Seen Presents is a trailblazing experiential events agency driven by a profound understanding of human emotion and culture. Under the visionary leadership of Managing Director Louisa O'Connor, our journey has seen remarkable growth, led by an exceptional team. From humble beginnings, we closed 2022 with 21 employees and a remarkable £6,849,052.00 in turnover, orchestrating prestigious events across EMEA.
Our 2023 achievements are equally impressive, maintaining team happiness, securing major new clients, achieving consistent turnover growth, and clinching the coveted Event Team of the Year at the Campaign Experience Awards. We're poised to expand our team to 30 members by year-end, further reinforcing our position as a leading agency.
Key milestones include our strategic partnership with TikTok, where we've managed 7 core client divisions, and our pivotal collaboration with Netflix, leading their 'You Season 4' launch and making our debut at Cannes Lions. Our commitment to championing women in the creative industry shines, with a leadership team that's 90% female and an overall team that's 73% female.
Our approach has set us apart, demonstrated by successful pitches valued at £5 million, triumphs against industry giants and securing two major entertainment clients. We've strategically placed Seen Presents on the map through speaking engagements, award entries, and a robust social presence, resulting in exceptional outcomes.
Our unwavering commitment to excellence, our impressive growth trajectory, and our deep-rooted client relationships position us as the deserving candidate for Agency of the Year, a recognition of our unparalleled dedication to delivering authentic, impactful, and resonant experiences.
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6
Agency Business: Agency of the Year (250+)
Company
DEPT®
Summary
With 4,000+ people across 30+ countries, 50% YoY growth, a client list that’s the who’s who of global brands and local heroes, plus multi award-winning work, DEPT® is the hidden gem in the agency world; setting the standard for what the agency of the future should be.
While others specialise in technology or marketing, DEPT® is different. It focuses 50/50 on each as it believes that if an agency is underweight on either side of the equation, it will not be able to deliver value for its clients. And with this balanced approach, DEPT® delivers pioneering work that inevitably helps clients stay ahead both culturally and financially.
Its truly global footprint across the US, Europe, and APAC, allows DEPT® to keep a pulse on what is culturally relevant across regions, which trickles down to representation, diversity, and to the impact its work creates for clients.
DEPT® is also a #goodcompany and proud to be the first global agency to achieve B Corporation certification back in 2021, which it continues to build on.
All of this combined is what makes DEPT® an agency for today and tomorrow, fuelling healthy organic growth based on longstanding partnerships with clients, proven by its yearly revenue retention of over 100% and supported by a >50% win rate for new business pitches.
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Company
VMLY&R
Summary
VMLY&R is a global advertising agency that integrates Brand Experience (BX), Customer Experience (CX), and Commerce to create connected brands that people love.
The agency has achieved significant growth and success in the past year, winning over 600 pitches and generating $215M+ in revenue since July 2022.
VMLY&R has also expanded its capabilities through strategic partnerships, such as the acquisition of Obviously, a social influencer marketing agency, and the launch of TAXI Commerce, a creative commerce capability.
The agency is at the forefront of utilizing generative artificial intelligence (AI) to connect consumers with brands, as demonstrated by its collaboration with Virgin Voyages to create personalized invitations using AI.
VMLY&R has been recognized for its creativity and innovation, winning prestigious awards and serving top global clients, including The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Intel, Pfizer, Sherwin-Williams, U.S. Navy, and Wendy's.
The agency also focuses on thought leadership, producing podcasts, virtual events, and research series that explore trends in brand marketing, customer experiences, and commerce.
VMLY&R is committed to equity, inclusion, and belonging (EI&B), supporting talent connections and educational outreach, and has created programs like the Detroit Experience Studio to empower underrepresented students in creative careers.
The agency fosters a supportive and empathetic work environment, resulting in high employee retention rates and recognition as a top workplace for innovators.
VMLY&R's commitment to making an impact extends beyond its work, with the VMLY&R Foundation donating over $3M to nonprofits and employees actively volunteering in their communities.
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Company
Wpromote
Summary
Wpromote is the secret weapon behind some of the world’s leading brands. We work with clients willing to Think Like A Challenger to achieve breakthrough performance in ultra-competitive categories. Our unique combination of best-in-class experts and innovative technology gives us the power to deliver top-tier campaign planning, creative, and measurement solutions to brands like Whirlpool, Spanx, Intuit QuickBooks, and TransUnion.
Wpromote’s growth is powered by a vision focusing on four key differentiators:
Unique Delivery Model: We establish a strategic center of media excellence unique to each client to ensure we’re taking a holistic approach that aligns tactics with core business objectives across the funnel.
Data Strategy & Analytics: Our in-house experts use Polaris, our proprietary tech platform, to leverage incrementality and data decisioning in unique ways that keep media accountable, unlock predictive capabilities, and drive business outcomes.
AI & Automation: We’re leaning into automation campaigns on all major digital platforms while testing different generative AI tools and training our experts to leverage these capabilities effectively and safely in service of client goals.
Consumer & Audience Insights: We build strategies rooted in a deep understanding of consumer attitudes and interests, marketing and brand touchpoints, media consumption, online activities, and more to ensure they reach the right people at the right time with the right message.
We strive to make Wpromote the place people want to grow their careers by offering opportunities for learning and development, prioritizing promoting from within, and applying supportive policies, including best-in-industry parental leave, and flexible work options.
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Company
Freeman
Summary
Freeman makes moments that create loyalty and trust between the world’s top brands and audiences through events, exhibits and trade shows. Ones that inspire, engage, and educate long after the experience ends.
Every day, Freeman leaders, thinkers, and doers are busy creating the perfect way to tell powerful stories in ways that audiences like to experience them. Because to serve our clients best and drive business, we are an advocate of the attendee. They want and need moments that touch them, energize them, inspire them, and make things better. From taking over show designs by creating curated experiences to designing fully integrated attendee journeys, Freeman delivers to provide exactly what our clients and their customers need.
And it all starts with a strategy centered on our client’s goals. This helps us understand our client’s and their target audience’s pain points better each time. Freeman is about exceeding expectations through great creative and execution that builds brand loyalty and trust. Not just meeting them.
Our award-winning creative and design team create in ways that audiences want and need to experience. Since Freeman has offices and clients across the globe, we have unmatched insights and perspective into creating new brand experiences for the world’s audiences.
Our unrivaled breadth and depth of event experience is what client’s look for at Freeman. We can provide and anticipate everything our clients and their audiences could possibly want and need, whether it’s a multi-city tour, a virtual event, or a simple tabletop and chairs.
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Company
Gravity Global
Client
Gravity Global
Summary
Gravity Global was created in 2008 from a chance meeting in a Starbucks coffee shop. Three marketers over coffee began discussing how B2B marketing is underserved on a global scale and not taken seriously. Something that couldn’t be reconciled with B2B being the main driver of the global economy. After a few more meetings and lot more coffee it was decided to launch a marketing agency to change this situation. Today we are over 500 specialists across 14 offices and four continents with full brand to demand capability. Over the last 12 months we have achieved 90% revenue growth and we are proud to say we now rank by revenue in the top 3 in the UK and top 2 in the US.
Other achievements: 48% headcount growth – from 345 to 509 team members. 90% revenue growth – £29m to £55m Top 3 B2B Agency by revenue in UK. Top 2 in USA. The world’s most awarded B2B Agency. 501 awards so far in 2023. (406 awards in 2022, 164 awards in 2021, 64 awards in 2020) Recognised for creating the world's most successful/awarded B2B marketing programme for Embraer 9.3/10 NPS Score – Independent client study by Plural Strategy. 2 ESG/DE&I – Benchmark & audit 14 offices to serve our clients globally. 30% EBITDA growth Headline sponsor of B2B Marketing Awards and IGNITE USA.
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Company
RocketMill
Summary
RocketMill is an independent performance marketing agency. Our team of 170 fuse technology with craft and performance with brand to create a full service offering, bringing together media, creative, customer experience, data and technology specialists with a progressive mindset and a common purpose to drive business forward for our clients.
The result?
37% business growth (July 22-23), a 75% pitch-win rate, an 80% client retention and 15 new account wins in 2023 so far (bringing our total client number to 60).
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11
Agency Business: Agency of the Year (49-250)
Company
Splendid Communications
Client
N/A
Summary
At Splendid we set ourselves the goal of growing the agency in the right way, measuring against a triple bottom line – profit, people and planet – rather than focusing on the numbers. We established vision teams to move us forward on these pillars, which delivered a year of high performance we are immensely proud of.
Through a renewed focus on new business as well as an M&A strategy, fee income grew to £6.6million - a 47% increase year on year. With a focus on coaching and team empowerment we delivered a margin of 15.2% despite investing in people for growth, a year of increasing salaries and overheads and clients looking to make savings due to the cost-of-living crisis.
Client retention remained strong with 78% of retained clients remaining on roster YoY. Our aim is to be a valued partner and we have lots of clients that have been with us for many years, for example Big Yellow Self Storage has been a client for 13 years and Tesco for over nine years.
On our path to net zero Splendid has partnered with World Land Trust. We’ve measured and carbon balanced Scope 1 and 2 emissions (electricity & gas usage) with them since 2021. In 2022 we started to include Scope 3. This is a journey, but in that year we measured and balanced emissions from home-working, printing, road travel, food & drink, post & couriers.
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Company
Amplify
Client
Amplify
Summary
Amplify is an independent global creative agency, specialising in experience and culture.
>>> Creatively
The past year was Amplify’s best yet. We’ve delivered 135+ high-profile campaigns across the world for brands including Activision, Google, LEGO, Nike, Pinterest, PlayStation and Polestar.
Our work was recognised with 36 global awards from Campaign, Cannes Lions, The Clio’s and The Drum. Most recently at the Campaign Global AOTY awards judges praised Amplify ``as a shining light to the industry.” And highlighted our creativity“...across many different sectors showing true innovation, brand experience-led thinking, and execution”. Our Global ECD Alex Wilson, was also listed as one of AdWeek’s Global Creative 100.
>>> Culturally
Our Young Blood research has helped us to dive into the people and cultures we’re interested in, which enables us to make our work hyper-local as well as globally consistent.
At SXSW 2023 we launched worldbuilding: As we continue to pioneer 'breaking formats' it got us thinking about 'building worlds' and 'creating culture' that lives beyond individual campaigns.
As a founding member of Isla we continue to help clients such as Google Polestar and Sky lead the way, applying our Sustainability Policy to help them achieve the minimum environmental impact.
>>> Commercially
We gained 54 new clients, including Activision, Bloomberg, Lululemon, Meta and Sonos. We surpassed the £50m turnover mark, representing £20m or 60% growth from 2021 (more than tripling in size since 2020).
We remain an excited and positive force in this ever-changing world, choosing to see opportunities where others see challenges.
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Company
Battenhall
Summary
Record year
Battenhall is the communications agency for the social media age, and this was our record year. Revenue grew by £2.2m to £8.8m, we achieved a 95% pitch win rate, and we invested more than ever in D&I and client innovation, whilst expanding into North America, the Middle East and Asia.
Agency innovation
Battenhall was founded on the vision that a culture of innovation and inclusivity could deliver transformative agency growth. This year saw the launch of a 20-person Social Insights team, the appointment of the agency’s first Chief Innovation Officer and creation of a four-person Innovation Team. We also launched Battenhall Studios, the agency’s social media production house, doubling the size of London HQ.
Talent & inclusion
Battenhall has pioneered ways of working to attract and retain talent. This year, Battenhall’s ‘20% time’ initiative, which gives employees one day a week to pursue cause-led work, side projects and training, delivered D&I campaigns for Stonewall, Action Tutoring and The Prison Service, the latter seeing founder Drew Benvie teaching social media safety at a women’s prison.
Media profile
This year saw Battenhall become a staple on TV screens, providing thought leadership on social media news. Alongside featuring 39 times as a social media commentator on BBC News, Battenhall was featured in a Channel 4 film on social media safety, and on ITV Sunday Morning Breakfast, where we launched our movement campaigning for safety in social media for young people.
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Company
Candyspace
Summary
Candyspace’s vision is to create digital products that are loved by everyone and 2022 was a game-changing year in delivering on that vision.
Net revenue grew by 75% year on year from £3.96m to £6.93m. That growth was informed by a 65% increase in billings across our retained clients, along with eight new client wins including major engagements with Nestle Purina and Global Media & Entertainment.
The Candyspace team launched ITV’s new streaming and VOD platform ITVX across mobile platforms and have delivered a 91% increase in streaming hours and a 38% increase in monthly active users. And for Mazda we drove a 23% increase in test drives through our Conversion Rate Optimisation work.
We invested heavily in our people and culture, including establishing four working groups (D&I, Women, LGBTQIA+ and People of Colour), appointing a mental-health first aider and implementing a fair recruitment policy and mandatory unconscious bias training. As a result our staff retention rate was 91%, 62% of our hires were women and 96% of respondents agreed with the statement "I would recommend Candyspace as a great place to work" in our annual survey.
We also launched a major initiative to address the gender imbalance in technology, Now+Next, which reached over 4,000 schoolgirls in 2022, and partnered with the Drive Forward Foundation to create multiple opportunities for young people with experience of the care system.
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Company
Stein IAS
Summary
Creativity: We need to talk about it!
Creativity is B2B’s elephant in the room. Stein IAS is the agency that understands why it’s difficult to talk about, but takes you by the hand and leads the conversation.
This year we have talked the talk, with keynotes at the big events, and walked the walk, with creatively driven marketing results for our clients.
From helping Juniper Networks drive a massive uplift in revenue, to launching the first ever B2B campaign using exclusively AI-generated imagery for ZS, we’ve joined the dots from creativity to measurable returns.
Our commitment to creativity is winning hearts. We won a WARC Award for Effectiveness in B2B at Cannes, the Drum Best B2B Brand Campaign and ANA B2 Agency of the Year. We’ve won 11 accounts, including Deloitte, Thomson Reuters, ABB and Mack Trucks.
Desmond Tutu wisely said, “there’s only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.” By putting creative effectiveness front and center, we took more than a few bites! While again achieving 95% staff and client retention, we achieved a 50%+ pitch win rate with new business revenue of £4.5M/$5.4M. Overall, we delivered £13.4M/$16M in top-line growth and a 13% increase in operating profit, both agency bests.
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Company
Brands2Life
Summary
In 2020, we became a majority-Employee Owned Trust (EOT), and we worked with everyone here to set out a plan for turbo-charged growth.
After extensive research and discussions with staff across the entire business, we settled on five key goals:
1. Reinforce and live our five values– Ambition, Integrity, Commitment, Respect and Enjoyment – in everything we do
2. Give staff an unbeatable employee experience
3. Drive above-industry-average profitable growth to hit £20m and share up to 10% of the profits with staff each year
4. Win and work with ambitious brands on creative, purposeful, ground-breaking briefs
5. Become a beacon for progressive change in our industry
In 2022 we over-achieved all these goals.
We had our best-ever year with +20% revenue growth, £4m in new business and 34 new clients. We helped clients rethink the way they communicate in a digital world. Our comms strategy and organisational re-engineering skills were in high demand and we helped Hologic, LinkedIn, Sitecore, Tetra Pak and Vodafone transform their international comms structure and strategies.
We hired 80+ new people making us a 200-strong agency. As the largest EOT in the PR sector, everyone is an indirect shareholder and gains tax-free bonuses, and our industry leading employee benefits programme includes volunteering days, paid sabbaticals, and private healthcare.
That’s why we’re known as The Agency for the Brands Transforming Our World.
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Company
The Romans
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Company
Impression
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Company
Opinium
Summary
Against the backdrop of economic turbulence, we’ve chosen to double-down on what we stand for and in what we believe, investing all our profits into launching profitable new offices and structural improvements that have enhanced the wellbeing of our teams and are already driven record revenues, profits and employee satisfaction levels.
• Resilient financials, despite economic backdrop.
• Client consultancy increased, but project fees maintained.
• Continued investment in diversification, innovation & training.
• Enhanced benefits supporting colleagues through cost-of-living-crisis.
• Given back to the communities in which we operate.
• But, most importantly, stayed true to our values.
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Company
Porter Novelli
Summary
The hardest part about a year of growth is following it with another year of growth. A bit like a second album – it’s undeniably harder; doubt sets in, people get tired, and ideas dry up. Were we just a one hit wonder? Our mission was to build on our purposeful heritage to create a story of transformation. Our goals were split across four focus areas; Clients, Clout, Culture and Commercials. We committed to increase our client satisfaction score from 7 to 8.5; to win exciting and purposeful new work. We sought to diversify our business increasing percentage of People of Colour in the business from 8% to 30% by 2025 as well as focus on neurodiversity and disability. We needed to increase the number of women in leadership positions to above 50%. We aimed to retain at least 80% of our employees and have employee favourability scores of 85%. We were gunning for 10% growth and maintaining 28% margin. Our ambition was to become the £10m agency that does business better for employees, clients, community and environment. It wasn’t without it ups, downs and hard decision, but we did grow. We grew 40% in two years and are currently writing the third album.
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Company
Coolr
Client
N/A
Summary
Coolr is a social media and influencer marketing agency based in Farringdon, London with offices in LA.
We are on a mission to reinvent water cooler moments for the digital age – that’s why we’re called Coolr!
In 2017 when Coolr launched, our CEO Adam Clyne had a vision to create an independent agency that is the most diverse and dynamic workforce possible, working with some of the world’s biggest brands. 2023 has seen us reach that goal.
Now recognised as a leading agency in the social and influencer category – Coolr competes with the biggest and best from across the marketing and creative world... and consistently outperform the market.
2023 has seen our revenue grow by 63% (from March 22 to March 23) and our headcount more than double to 80+ people. We’ve won a record number of high-profile pitches including Social AOR for Samsung, the hotly contested Social AOR pitch for Lidl, Mitchells and Butler pubs portfolio including All Bar One and O’Neills.
This year also saw us launch in the US - winning AOR for lyft and Dolby as well as expanding our global partnership with TikTok.
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4
Agency Business: Agency of the Year (less than 10)
Company
Aperture
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Company
Dadsnet Media Group
Client
UK Gov, Alton Towers, BBC Studios, Tottenham Hotspur, Ring
Summary
Dadsnet Media group is a group of creative companies, inspired by fatherhood in one goal - to add value to the lives of parents and families.
Underpinning every decision we make is the UK’s largest online community of dads, and that makes us stand out from other agencies. Every move is informed by what we know our community wants, engages with, and reacts to. Every partnership we undertake has to add value and meaning to our community, and this helps to set us apart, giving our partners added incentive to use us.
Although we aren’t a large company in terms of staff numbers, we consistently deliver outstanding results for national brands and partners, putting us in the same conversation as much bigger agencies.
Our achievements and growth this year have been phenomenal, alongside internal development and structure that positions us excellently for further growth in the year ahead. We are extremely proud of everything we have achieved to date, and are excited for the next 12 months, and some of the campaigns and partnerships we already have lined up.
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Company
Hookflash Analytics
Summary
There are lots of specialist media agencies that deliver creative, automated campaigns. But there are comparatively few dedicated digital analytics and experimentation agencies. Hookflash Analytics was founded on the 1st of January 2023, with a vision of helping clients, and media agencies, thrive through the effective use of data . We have already evolved to become a conversion engine for clients, bringing together digital analytics, SEO and web experimentation to make website experiences better for all. Our first eight months have been incredible. We’ve almost doubled our initial revenue target, grown our team 166%, worked with over 35 brands and 11 media agencies and trained over 250 digital professionals in the adoption of GA4. With a focus on building solid data foundations that can be used to put data and insight at the heart of decision-making (whether that’s choosing audiences to speak to or ways to improve a user’s on-site journey through experimentation programs) our clients include Barbour, Ooni and Red Letter Days helping to establish us as a key player in the market
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Company
NinetyEight
Summary
NinetyEight is a digital marketing agency founded and run by a team of Gen Zs. Since 2020, the agency has been a pioneer for getting the voice of Gen Z at the forefront of digital marketing. Based in Los Angeles, NinetyEight operates virtually with a team of 6 members and clientele who are globally based. We have 3 main agency departments: Client Services, Strategy + Insights, and Social Media.
In the past year, NinetyEight has won our biggest clients to date, Meta and Bumble. We’ve also bridged the gap to Gen Z with other clients including PepsiCo, Paul Frank, Turo, and more. Our massive growth in clientele drove us to double our revenue and client retention in 2022 from 2021. We have achieved many successes including our work with Paul Frank which received a 2022 Nyx Award Grand Winner in the Social Media - Social Engagement category.
What separates NinetyEight from other Gen Z Marketing agencies lies not only in our Gen Z team and founders, but in our proprietary Gen Z research community, the Koi Pond. Through the Koi Pond, we’ve delivered unparalleled qualitative insights for clients like PepsiCo and ThinkLA, 6 months ahead of top research companies like GWI. The Koi Pond has also guaranteed virality through content testing and feedback for clients like Paul Frank whose TikTok audience we grew from 500 to over 90K followers in a year with $0 in media spend.
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7
Agency Business: Best Place to Work
Company
Bicycle
Summary
At Bicycle we are shedding our start up label. We’ve had an incredible year of growth; at a whopping 42% revenue increase year on year. None of this is at the expense of our employees, quite the opposite.
The culture at Bicycle is key to our success and centres around three attributes of riding a bike. It ensures we maintain a healthy relationship with our work and we get the most out of it. It’s why we believe we are the best place to work in the industry today:
Balance - is embodied with our leading parental, overseas and flexible working policies but also our commitment to be a responsible business. We’re the youngest agency to attain BCorp status.
Momentum - is our commitment to moving forward together; with IPA CPD Gold certification, significant training budgets and supporting local charities.
Freedom - is the respect to know what is best for us and our clients; it’s why we have 85% employee NPS whilst maintaining 8/10 client satisfaction.
Our reputation has enabled us to expand the remit of the business too, with significant hires across strategy, client services, creative services and performance. Taking our permanent staff up to 33, a rise of 42% with a further four roles on the books.
Culture is the driving force of our astonishing growth and we know the need to protect what makes us special; because the climb is better tackled together.
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Company
Brands2Life
Summary
In 2020, we became a majority-Employee Owned Trust (EOT), and we worked with everyone here to set out a plan for turbo-charged growth.
After extensive research and discussions with staff across the entire business, we settled on five key goals:
1. Reinforce and live our five values– Ambition, Integrity, Commitment, Respect and Enjoyment – in everything we do
2. Give staff an unbeatable employee experience
3. Drive above-industry-average profitable growth to hit £20m and share up to 10% of the profits with staff each year
4. Win and work with ambitious brands on creative, purposeful, ground-breaking briefs
5. Become a beacon for progressive change in our industry
In 2022 we over-achieved all these goals.
We had our best-ever year with +20% revenue growth, £4m in new business and 34 new clients. We helped clients rethink the way they communicate in a digital world. Our comms strategy and organisational re-engineering skills were in high demand and we helped Hologic, LinkedIn, Sitecore, Tetra Pak and Vodafone transform their international comms structure and strategies.
We hired 80+ new people making us a 200-strong agency. As the largest EOT in the PR sector, everyone is an indirect shareholder and gains tax-free bonuses, and our industry leading employee benefits programme includes volunteering days, paid sabbaticals, and private healthcare.
That’s why we’re known as The Agency for the Brands Transforming Our World.
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Company
Opinium
Summary
At Opinium everyone is treated as an individual from day one. We work hard to build an inspiring and fun environment, supporting colleagues at work, and in their personal lives. We do this because we care, and because we understand that workplace-wellbeing is unique to everyone; complex, and multifaceted.
We ensure everyone’s professional ambitions, interests, personal needs, hopes, and dreams are nurtured, fuelled, and fired up!
In our 16th consecutive year of employee-driven growth, we're proud to have created an environment for our people to continuously do the best work of their careers by:
- Empowering them to craft their own path
- Maintaining our culture of continuous learning
- Offering a clear trajectory for progression
- Working towards our shared passion; ‘using Opinium for good’
- Extending the industry footprint
- Supporting all-round-wellbeing, financial-wellbeing, personal-growth
- An equitable and rewarding place to work
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Company
Precis Digital
Summary
Precis is a global agency committed to Nordic principles, fosters a culture of learning, collaboration, and accountability. We prioritise employee well-being with a comprehensive health strategy and offer work flexibility while promoting togetherness through team celebrations. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values, reflected in our equal pay policy, gender split, annual D&I report and efforts to increase female representation in leadership positions.
As such, our results include consistently high eNPS scores and continuous improvement year on year has earned us the reputation of being a great place to work across offices, including Norway, the UK, and Sweden. Most recently, we were awarded the Best Overall Workplace in Denmark.
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Company
VMLY&R
Summary
As an agency, we are committed to making a lasting and meaningful impact on the advertising industry. Through production of diverse work, promotion of education at every level, and engagement of diverse talent that is representative of the world we live in, VMLY&R is delivering on our mission to create connected brands. Internally, we aim to instill a similar sense of connectivity across our over 100 offices by cultivating an environment of understanding, belonging and acceptance amongst our employees.
VMLY&R works tenaciously to nurture a happier, healthier, and more motivated workforce that supports the multifaceted identities of employees and their unique perspectives and experiences through:
1. Robust and holistic employee benefits
2. Creating an agency where all employees can thrive
3. Driving meaningful and impactful client-partner work
4. Laser focus on talent recruitment, retention and development
5. Expansion of the EI&B practice
6. Measurable commitment to allyship and action
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Company
Ledger Bennett
Summary
We have seen fantastic results on the back of introducing an agency-wide coaching culture and wider initiatives that empower our people to do their best work. Our employees overcome obstacles together, seek assistance, share knowledge, and using collective expertise to do their jobs. The flexible working environment, combined with a culture of open innovation, has led to a stronger adaptation to evolving circumstances and resilience to change.
The biggest measure of the success of the work we have put in is a significant reduction in churn in just one year. In the past 12 months we have also seen an increase in:
• The transparency, approachability, and decision-making skills of the leadership team, which we tie to the increased communication.
• Managers considering different perspectives, being supportive, balancing workloads, listening, and giving constructive feedback, which we tie to our Leadership Programme.
• Opinions being heard and having an impact on the success of the company, which we tie to the above and the recognition programme.
• Effective collaboration, supportive teamwork, and trusting relationships, which we tie to the above and the mentoring programme.
• Employees feeling valued, respected, and at home at Ledger Bennett, which we tie to all the initiatives above.
Our proudest achievement is creating a place of work where people see themselves staying. In our latest survey, 96% our employees gave a positive response to if they saw themselves at Ledger Bennett in two years’ time, with 84% giving a definitive “Yes!”.
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Company
Coolr
Client
N/A
Summary
Coolr is a social media and influencer marketing agency based in Farringdon, London with offices in LA.
We are on a mission to reinvent water cooler moments for the digital age – that’s why we’re called Coolr!
In 2017 when Coolr launched, our CEO Adam Clyne had a vision to create an independent agency that is the most diverse and dynamic workforce possible, working with some of the world’s biggest brands. 2023 has seen us reach that goal.
Now recognised as a leading agency in the social and influencer category – Coolr competes with the biggest and best from across the marketing and creative world... and consistently outperform the market.
We’re proudly a diverse bunch, 31% of Coolr employees are from Black, Asian, or other minority ethnic groups and 16% are LGBTQIA+. Our 4.8 (out of 5) rating on Glassdoor sees us described by past and present staff as a ‘social-first agency that puts people first’ and ‘caring about mental health and well-being'.
In 2023 we launched our event series Coolr Sessions, taking place in our own studio space in Farringdon. Sparking conversation, promoting networking, and building a social media community, we’ve welcomed over 120 attendees so far including CMOs, brand managers, journalists and students.
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6
Agency Business: Business Growth
Company
Talon
Summary
Launched in 2013, Talon is an independently owned, global Out of Home media agency serving brands, advertisers and media partners.
Our number one objective is growth – growth for Talon and growth of OOH market share. To achieve this, we needed media agencies and clients to think differently about OOH. In the last decade, the digitisation of OOH gave Talon the opportunity to play a new game. We have fundamentally transformed OOH planning and buying through investment in proprietary technology, effectiveness, and showstopping creativity - internationally.
A full-service OOH offering, we have built a pioneering global platform for brands to connect with audiences in the outside world. We’ve invested in creating proprietary AdTech platforms - Ada, Atlas and Plato - that have revolutionised the planning, buying, execution, and measurement of OOH advertising.
In 10 years, we’re proud to have grown into a team of 300+ people, with an expanding international presence. With 12 offices across multiple continents, including the UK, US, Ireland and Germany – recent acquisitions of Evolve and Novus Media Corp, and new offices in APAC and MENA have expanded our global footprint. Through Talon International, we have the largest independent OOH global planning and buying network - delivering local and global expertise through a centralised team that operates in 100+ markets worldwide.
Today, we are a radically different, global OOH agency with unparalleled year-on-year growth.
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Company
translate plus, a Publicis Groupe company
Summary
translate plus, part of Publicis Groupe, is an award-winning LSP and Publicis Groupe’s language services agency, offering localisation solutions and language technology to world-leading brands, creative media agencies and businesses since 2008.
Following a very successful 2022, in which translate plus saw record-breaking sales translating into a double-digit growth of 11% (compared to 2021), we continue to exceed expectations, and in 2023 we have made history by reporting our best-ever H1 revenue results. Despite the global economic uncertainty due to inflation, the rising cost of living and unpredictability in consumer and buyer spending behaviour, we continue to demonstrate resilience and profitability as a company, recording a 23% growth in sales revenue in the first half of 2023. This sets 2023 on the path of becoming the best financial year in our history, beating our previous best from 2022, while meeting both internal and external sales revenue targets set by Publicis Groupe as well as our business objectives.
This category gives us the opportunity to present our achievements and factors that have contributed to our business growth by underscoring:
• The customer experience strategies and initiatives taken alongside the quality measures introduced, resulting in: existing account growth, a 91% client satisfaction rate and a significant reduction in client complaints (by 39%).
• Internal systems improvements and investments in cutting-edge technologies such as AI, including generative AI.
• Global reach through an expansive supplier network.
• Staff retention strategies through innovative workplace initiatives.
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Company
GALE
Summary
GALE started as a CRM agency with seven people in 2014. Today GALE boasts 120% year-over-year growth and has expanded into a full-service business agency with 700+ team members across nine offices globally.
GALE’s goal has always been to set the standard and make heads turn.
From the start, we set the standard for data. We’ve always believed that data must play a prominent role in marketing to understand audiences, mine insights, allow for rapid optimization, and tell powerful stories. We were named Ad Age’s 2021 Data and Analytics AOTY.
When we moved into media, we set the standard there too. Four years ago, we didn’t have a media practice; today, we manage a billion dollars in media billings–and this number continues to grow as clients turn to us as an alternative to traditional media networks. We were named Adweek’s 2023 Breakthrough Media Agency.
Today, we’re setting the standard as a fully integrated agency, servicing clients’ every need. Brands often turn to us for one of our five superpowers and expand their relationship once they recognize the strength of our offering.
We are the fastest-growing Stagwell agency, one of Adweek’s 2023 Fastest Growing Agencies, and recognized on Ad Age’s 2023 A-List.
This year, we became the largest agency to sign the Clean Creatives pledge and we snagged a Gold Lions on our first attempt for our work with Chipotle.
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Company
Gravity Global
Client
Gravity Global
Summary
Gravity Global was created in 2008 from a chance meeting in a Starbucks coffee shop. Three marketers over coffee began discussing how B2B marketing is underserved on a global scale and not taken seriously. Something that couldn’t be reconciled with B2B being the main driver of the global economy. After a few more meetings and lot more coffee it was decided to launch a marketing agency to change this situation. Today we are over 500 specialists across 14 offices and four continents with full brand to demand capability. Over the last 12 months we have achieved 90% revenue growth and we are proud to say we now rank by revenue in the top 3 in the UK and top 2 in the US.
Other achievements: 48% headcount growth – from 345 to 509 team members. 90% revenue growth – £29m to £55m Top 3 B2B Agency by revenue in UK. Top 2 in USA. The world’s most awarded B2B Agency. 501 awards so far in 2023. (406 awards in 2022, 164 awards in 2021, 64 awards in 2020) Recognised for creating the world's most successful/awarded B2B marketing programme for Embraer 9.3/10 NPS Score – Independent client study by Plural Strategy. 2 ESG/DE&I – Benchmark & audit 14 offices to serve our clients globally. 30% EBITDA growth Headline sponsor of B2B Marketing Awards and IGNITE USA.
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Company
Cactus
Summary
Hi, we’re Cactus. We’re an independent creative agency dedicated to growing brands that help people thrive in their lives. Founded on the belief that small agency creativity can solve the world’s biggest problems, and a commitment to work exclusively for clients we believe in - purposeful brands, causes, and non-profits that make the world a better place. 2022 was a notable year for our agency - the best year in our 33 year history, actually. Our agency grew by 53%, and our agency profit grew by 105%. We made some amazing work with all of our amazing clients, and are continuing to find new ways to bring our Belief and Behavior Design® Methodology into the world - not to mention increasing the number of clever Cacti.
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Company
M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment
Client
N/A
Summary
The story of M&C Saatchi Fabric is one of acceleration and business growth in remarkable measure and at remarkable pace. Founded in 2020 as a team of 2, M&C Saatchi Fabric has grown to become a team of over 25 Lifestyle specialists thriving with expertise and experience. The earned-first agency has more than doubled its profit year on year for the past three years, seeing 76% fee growth in 2022. Over the past 6 months, the agency has won 8 new clients including some of the biggest brands in the world, adding names such as LEGO, Lynx, Jaguar LandRover, FOSSIL, Hyundai and Office to its client roster.
This entry tells the story of how M&C Saatchi Fabric has achieved this growth and foretells its trajectory to breaking new ground in the lifestyle space.
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7
Agency Business: CEO
Company
Coolr
Client
N/A
Summary
Coolr is a social media and influencer marketing agency based in Farringdon, London and with an office in LA.
We are on a mission to reinvent water cooler moments for the digital age – that’s why we’re called Coolr!
We proudly nominate Adam Clyne, the driving force behind Coolr as CEO of the Year.
Adam Clyne’s exceptional leadership, unwavering commitment to DE&I, and his best-in-class results have set Coolr apart as an industry trailblazer which is underpinned completely by Coolr’s expansive growth.
And the company’s Glassdoor rating back up this nomination – with industry defining results that give Adam 100% approval rate from past and present employee reviews and 4.8 stars out of 5 for the agency.
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Company
Ledger Bennett
Summary
Andrea has transformed Ledger Bennett based on a fundamental insight: sales alone won’t drive repeatable revenue. For B2B businesses, post-sale is where the real money is made. This insight has reaped immediate positive results, not only in terms of commercials, but in the whole culture of the business. Her first initial focus as CEO was on people: making strategic hires to diversify skills and develop a coaching culture where autonomy, knowledge sharing, and collaboration was the norm. At the same time, she created a new Digital Revenue Team to deliver the new ‘Forever Customer’ proposition to clients by connecting brand-to-demand activity with post-sale activity such as user engagement and advocacy programs. . The new culture has transformed Ledger Bennett from a business with high churn (45%) and a gender pay gap of 26% to a business where the gender pay gap is getting close to equal (4%) and where 96% of employees currently see themselves with the business in two years’ time. At the same time, the agency has also seen unprecedented performance with high growth from both new client acquisition and the expansion of existing relationships. In the space of a year as CEO, Andrea has transformed Ledger Bennett into an agency with a clear vision and an ambitious, highly motivated team that is disrupting B2B marketing on a global scale.
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Company
Bospar
Summary
After graduating from UT-Austin, Curtis worked as a production assistant for B-movie producer Roger Corman on "Black Scorpion."
Curtis switched to news, winning a regional Emmy while working at KRON in San Francisco.
He then decided to pursue PR. But news remains close to his heart.
Hired by Chris Boehlke of Connecting Point Communications, they convinced Google to change its Doodle to the building blocks of Tetris, launched PayPal Galactic, and promoted the alien hunters of SETI.
The pair started Bospar in 2015 as one of the first work-from-home agencies with a national footprint, a move the press deemed "prescient" in 2020.
Under his leadership, Bospar stands up for social justice. Curtis made national news with "Bospar Messes With Texas" – the nation's first program to offer employees full relocation money over abortion restrictions.
He made news again for saving SF Pride.
Fortune named Bospar to its inaugural list of America's Most Innovative companies.
Curtis was behind 60 major account wins, including LendingClub and Hitachi Vantara.
He launched Club Courage, a campaign to celebrate brands' support of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Nearly every December, Curtis runs around San Francisco... in his underwear!
It's for a good cause.
Bospar was the only PR agency to support the San Francisco Press Club's 45th anniversary. Over 200 Bay Area Journalists attended.
He empaneled reporters from Bloomberg, Reuters, VentureBeat, and Wired to discuss the impact of AI in the newsroom at Microsoft’s Mountain View Campus.
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Company
Battenhall
Summary
Drew Benvie launched specialist social media agency Battenhall with a vision that a culture of innovation and inclusivity could deliver transformative business results. His approach is working. This year Drew launched a D&I movement campaigning for youth safety online, became a high-profile CEO commentator in mainstream media, and delivered record agency growth for the agency that has now been named 4x ‘agency of the year’ by The Drum.
Record growth: As sole founder and CEO, Drew has built Battenhall from the ground up, delivering its biggest growth this year of £2.2m to hit £8.8m turnover. Drew expanded the agency into the US and Asia, grew the team to 120 employees, and delivered the company’s largest profits of 15% EBITDA.
Cultural movements: Drew has pioneered new ways of working that place D&I at the heart of the business. This year, Battenhall’s ‘20% time’ initiative, which gives employees one day a week to pursue cause-led work, side projects and training, delivered D&I campaigns for Stonewall, Action Tutoring and The Prison Service, the latter seeing Drew teaching social media safety at a women’s prison.
Media profile: Drew is a social media pioneer – he wrote the first social media page on Wikipedia in 2006, and this year became a mainstream media commentator. He featured in a Channel 4 film, on ITV Sunday Morning Breakfast, and made 39 appearances on BBC News. Drew also launched Raise, a movement campaigning for safety in social media for young people.
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Company
The Gate London
Client
The Gate London
Summary
In 2017, when Jamie Elliott assumed leadership of The Gate, the agency was in dire straits. It had fallen out of the top 100 rankings in both creative and media and was loss-making. However, in the last 18 months The Gate has completed a remarkable turnaround to be a real industry force in 2023.
Highlights include:
1. New Business Success: The agency achieved a remarkable turnaround by winning high-profile clients and ranking 5th in Campaign's creative agency new business table.
2. Award-Winning Creativity: The Gate garnered industry recognition with awards such as a Gold EFFIE and multiple category wins at The Marketing Society awards. They accumulated nearly 50 awards for creativity, effectiveness, strategy, or culture in the last three years.
3. Impressive Growth: The Gate has achieved double-digit growth for three consecutive years and attained B Corp status.
The turnaround plan had three areas of action only:
1. Building a Strong Base: Instead of starting from scratch, Jamie revitalized the agency's brand and culture, introducing the "Walk through walls" mantra and 3 Gang Laws to shape behaviours and drive success.
2. Setting a Course, Being Open to Change: Jamie strategically reshaped the offering to focus on developing a modern, top-tier creative product with the media arm becoming part of Simon Davis’s Walk-In Media launch.
3. Focusing on Accelerators: Jamie identified and invested in creative opportunities, leading to award-winning campaigns like "Nobody is normal," "Sex never gets old," and "Bum’s the word," establishing a strong track record of creative excellence.
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Company
CopyHouse
Summary
Kathryn Strachan, steering CopyHouse, effortlessly marries rapid innovation with collective longevity. Distinguishing herself from other CEOs, Kathryn values tangible human interactions, often choosing face-to-face meetings over digital alternatives. She's not just about personal accomplishments; she champions endeavours that uplift the brand and broader community. Wellbeing isn't a mere term to her; it’s evidenced by initiatives like the four-day work week and global trips fostering team growth.
Her notable selflessness emerges when she redirects personal accolades towards her team, highlighting a deep-rooted focus on collective progression. This is even more evident on platforms like LinkedIn, where Kathryn, with her considerable following, consistently spotlights her team's milestones. In today’s remote work era, her leadership stands out. Instead of micromanaging, she’s crafted a trust-driven environment, ensuring everyone feels integral to CopyHouse's success.
In essence, Kathryn isn't following the CEO playbook - she's rewriting it. By emphasizing human connections and fostering genuine relationships, she’s setting new benchmarks in leadership.
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Company
[INVNT GROUP]
Summary
Scott Cullather is the President and Chief Executive Officer of [INVNT GROUP] The Global Brandstory Project™ which operates across nine offices, in six countries and four continents. In 2022, [INVNT GROUP] reported a topline revenue of $142 million, up 132% year-over-year.
In 2008, INVNT® the global live brand storytelling agency, was Co-Founded by Scott and Kristina McCoobery (CEO, INVNT and COO of [INVNT GROUP]), instantly challenged the core industry model, creating a live brand storytelling agency that disrupted the traditional approach to brand events. In 2020, Scott founded [INVNT GROUP], with a vision to provide creative, globally impactful, BrandStory across all platforms. This expansion creates an infinite loop of services, possibilities, and results.
The GROUP consists of modern brand strategy firm, Folk Hero; creative-led culture consultancy, Meaning; production studio & creative agency, HEVE; events for colleges and universities, INVNT Higher Ed; digital innovation division, INVNT.ATOM; the original live brand storytelling agency, ITP live; a portfolio of full-service production companies, INVNT; and, Hypnogram, the creative multimedia studio developing experiences that span the physical and digital world.
We'll cover some of Scott’s philanthropic passions shared with the [INVNT GROUP] team such as the partnership with social impact leader and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Opal Lee, and Scott’s active involvement with Charitable organizations such as BlueCheck Ukraine.
Finally this entry will highlight Scott’s role as an industry leader, and the ways in which he has led a global team to deliver brand stories that have made a huge impact on the creative industry.
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7
Agency Business: Client Relations
Company
KINESSO
Summary
Our Client Success team is driven by a core purpose: Relationship Excellence.
Unlike traditional agency-client relationships, we prioritise fostering high engagement and long-term partnerships.
Two central objectives underscore our commitment to client relations:
1. Relationship Excellence: We prioritise building exceptional relationships with our clients, exceeding the typical transactional nature of agency interactions.
2. Client Retention: Our success is measured by our ability to retain clients, a testament to the outstanding work delivered by our channel teams and the exceptional relationships we build.
The Client Success team plays a pivotal role in identifying key client stakeholders, eliminating barriers and uncovering growth opportunities. A notable strength is the firsthand experience of several team members who have worked client side, enabling them to empathise with internal business challenges.
We overhauled our client onboarding process in anticipation of 2023's projected growth and industry changes. Key enhancements include active participation in client pitches, immersive in-person sessions to understand the client's world, internal onboarding for the entire agency team, and streamlined contract management. This improved onboarding process empowers each Client Success team member to represent not only our agency but also drive growth alongside our clients from the outset.
In summary, our team is committed to excellence in client relations, bolstered by an enhanced onboarding process and demonstrated in our longevity of client partnerships which start from day 1 and in some cases span 10+ years.
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Company
Think
Summary
Our dedication to nurturing and sustaining enduring client relationships sets us apart in the industry.
Our agency has successfully developed and grown relationships with several esteemed clients, including Balfour Beatty, BIMA, Workman LLP, Galloways and Clearwater Int. as shining examples of our exceptional client relations.
Our projects are always tailored to suit the needs of each individual client, allowing us to provide solutions that are unique and effective.
With Think, clients can count on consistent excellence, unwavering commitment, and a partnership built on trust and success.
We are honoured to work with each and every one of them and are grateful for them recognising our efforts, continually rating us highly in the recommended agencies listings.
We believe in creating meaningful and lasting partnerships, so that we can grow together for many years to come.
We look forward to our continued commitment to every client as well as developing relations further.
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Company
Cyber-Duck
Summary
Cyber-Duck’s client relations team combine rigorous structure and prioritisation with a uniquely individual, attentive approach to each client. With an impressive 87% client satisfaction rate across more than 50 clients, they build strong, long-term working relationships. The team have played a pivotal role in Cyber-Duck’s evolution and growth, helping to grow revenue from existing clients by over 450% in three years, and exceed sales targets by 21% last year. This is a small team making a massive impact.
A critical factor in their success is their bespoke tier-based scoring framework, with an accompanying client management process. This approach enables them to laser-focus their time and efforts, maximising value for both Cyber-Duck and clients, while maintaining consistently excellent service levels across the board. The framework is based on three criteria (monetary, scale, and alignment) and key metrics including profitability, organisational size, cultural fit, and propensity for client to buy multiple services.
Clients view Cyber-Duck as true partners; not only technical providers, but a trusted resource for advice and help. This high level of trust also allows us to challenge and push the brief when necessary, so we can deliver solutions that go above and beyond expectations. The team deliver sustainable, long-lasting partnerships and inclusive, user-centric work, maximising long-term client value. This is demonstrated by the fact that Cyber-Duck smashed its sales targets last year by 21%, and has a consistently excellent customer satisfaction rating.
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Company
The Chosen One
Client
Minor International
Summary
Our report describes the foundation, relationship and formula to success with our first and longest standing client of 4 years, Minor International.
From the inception of our agency in April 2019, up until today. We've since developed our partnership, went through COVID-19 together, and scaled from 1 Minor brand to 12 brands, spanning multiple services across different cities in Thailand.
The strategy and approach we took with Minor International also became the foundation to our success as a Digital Agency.
It's also made us a well known player in the F&B and hospitality space in Thailand. Our close approach to work and dedication in always trying to prove value and attribute while staying creative in the F&B industry for Minor, won the hearts of people there. They've since made us their go-to agency for their multiple outlets across the country.
We're proud to represent Minor International, and proud to say we've innovated, overcome, and pivoted across multiple challenges together with them over the years.
All of us here at The Chosen One can whole heartedly say we're proud of the 4 year journey so far, and we're certain the feeling is mutual over at Minor!
See how we did it in our report -- find out more!
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Company
HROC
Summary
HROC was founded at a dining table in 1979 upon the desire to ‘do it differently’.
It’s safe to say that over the last 44 years, there has been no room for complacency in achieving this, and our impressive client retention is a testament to this.
Our commitment to doing things differently means we are not just a supplier to our clients, but a crucial extension of their marketing team.
As a result, almost a third with us for more than five years. To put that into perspective, the average length of an agency-client relationship has declined from over seven years to now less than three years. So, we’re doing pretty well.
What’s the secret to our success? Forming long-term relationships with our clients.
Our employee retention rate is 100%, double that of the average UK agency at 42%. This means our account teams are stable and consistent and committed to forging solid long-term relationships. Every client can rest assured that the team who pitches for the business is the team who runs the day-to-day activity.
We’re never standing still. We continue to diversify and widen our expertise, whilst simultaneously expanding our portfolio of services to ensure our clients stay ahead of the curve.
We’re also always looking ahead to what’s coming around the corner. As our clients’ trusted consultants, we are responsible for ensuring our fingers are always on the pulse of marketing and communications.
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Company
SEEN Presents
Summary
Seen Presents is a visionary experiential events agency, driven by the essence of human emotion and culture. Under the astute leadership of Managing Director Louisa O’Connor, we have not only expanded our client portfolio but also fostered unwavering trust and enduring relationships. Our core values, centred around dependability, empower us to consistently deliver client service excellence and creative brilliance. Our relentless pursuit of the extraordinary is exemplified through our three pillars of excellence: being consistent, curious, and creative. Our remarkable growth, marked by a 500% team expansion and the addition of global brands, showcases our ability to transcend expectations.
Our legacy clients, such as H&M, continue to thrive with us, a testament to our commitment to impeccable service and nurturing long-term connections. As we stride into 2024, our focus remains on doubling our client growth and leaving an indelible mark on prestigious events, solidifying our role as an industry leader. We are poised to excel in iconic events like Eurovision, Pride, Upfronts, Cannes Lions, and Fashion Week, ensuring Seen Presents is the name synonymous with exceptional client relations. Our mission is to create authentic experiences that resonate, embodying the very essence of human emotion and culture.
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Company
Sagittarius
Client
Liontrust
Summary
Liontrust is an established but rapidly growing asset management company. Their strong, distinctive, and evolving brand achieves the highest recall among its key audiences.
However, as a progressive leader in the sector, their website and associated digital experience was no longer fit for purpose or met the future aspirations of the organisation. The website experience failed to match the personalised offline relations the brand has fostered and data wasn’t supporting journeys or nurturing digital connections. Its weathered design ceased to deliver against its ethos of courage, power, and pride.
Sagittarius has partnered with Liontrust to completely reimagine the digital experience for its clients and investors. The strategic goals and objectives centered on reaching the right audience, inspiring them with a personalised and engaging experience, and serving their best interests through a frictionless journey. In-depth user and business research drove the transformation process, informing the reimagined experience design of the Liontrust digital experience and creating a refined hub for fund data and industry insights. The new approach embraced a revised content strategy and personalised journeys, utilising their Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Sitecore, to build strong digital connections and deepen relationships with investors.
Following the success of our work and evolving partnership, we now embark on a marketing transformations programme as we collaborate to extend personalised experiences beyond the website, to investment platforms and omnichannel brand amplification.
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Agency Business: Entrepreneur
Company
Coolr
Client
N/A
Summary
Coolr is a social media and influencer marketing agency based in Farringdon, London and with an office in LA.
We are on a mission to reinvent water cooler moments for the digital age – that’s why we’re called Coolr!
We proudly nominate Adam Clyne, the driving force behind Coolr for Entrepreneur of the Year.
Adam Clyne’s exceptional leadership, unwavering commitment to DE&I, and his best-in-class results have set Coolr apart as an industry trailblazer which is underpinned completely by Coolr’s expansive growth.
And the company’s Glassdoor rating back up this nomination – with industry defining results that give Adam 100% approval rate from past and present employee reviews and 4.8 stars out of 5 for the agency.
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Company
WiredCo.
Client
WiredCo.
Summary
THE UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTION THAT GREW A $5.5M CREATIVE BUSINESS & MULTIPLE AGENCY OF THE YEAR AWARDS IN THREE YEARS. “Why are there so few people diverse people running agencies?” a question put to me by a friend in 2018. In truth, I’d been a bit naive to the lack of diversity in my industry; both in terms of my entrepreneurial development and culturally where our industry needed to head. With only 9% of Australian comms leadership identifying as LGBTQI+, it was time I played my part. So, I set about building Australia's leading independent media and creative business. What was a small team of eight three years ago, has grown to a talented team of 35 working with clients across APAC. WiredCo. is now recognised as one of Australia’s fastest growing and leading independent creative and media businesses, and I'm proud to have played an active role in delivering remarkable business success and growth, having grown our revenue 223% since investing. Chet Patel, APAC CMO of Yum! Brands and Pizza Hut: “David played a pioneering role in connecting Pizza Hut back to culture. This perspective and deep experience helped us become Australia’s fastest growing QSR brand for 53 months and no doubt the most loved pizza brand. It’s been awesome watching him grow WiredCo. into a powerhouse agency...watch this space.” Jo Robinson, CMO, The Iconic: “David is someone who leads with smarts and empathy. I love what he’s doing at WiredCo. and I’ll take him and his business anywhere I
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2
Agency Business: Global Development
Company
Porter Novelli
Summary
Growth globally had stalled. We needed to do something different.
In the wake of the global economic backdrop and evolving client needs, we have had to keep pace. We have had to adapt. We had to adapt and innovate to meet these changing needs. We had to change our plumbing and build ourselves differently. Radical change needs radical candour. We said turned our back on the traditional hub and spoke model in favour of a more agile approach, a new type of network model. We call it the Connected Core. It enables us to operate at the speed of TikTok culture and it’s powering the growth of our clients today.
The model enables us to cherry pick talent across the world, creating a centre of excellence for each of our clients into which they can plug in additional expertise when relevant and as required.
Combining our sharp minds and smart data, the connected core brings together the best talent in a team that’s borderless and not restricted by region - providing clients with agility, connectivity and accelerated growth. The result? More organic growth with clients like Roche and Beiersdorf and new client growth in Rhodes Trust and Iron Mountain
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Company
TPT Digital
Client
TransPerfect: TPT Digital
Summary
Launched in 2020 by executives from TransPerfect Translations International, the largest language services provider in the world, TPT Digital excels in global language and performance content solutions. With 200+ digital marketing specialists in 17 worldwide locations, TPT Digital is a top choice for Fortune 100 companies and marketing agencies who want to get results in any market, any language, any channel. TPT Digital has achieved exceptional results over the past year for many clients across all verticals including Travel & Hospitality, CPG, B2B, Fashion, Agency Partnerships, and more.
Future growth for TPT Digital includes expanding offices, hiring more local experts in current and expanded markets, and ensuring global client success. This commitment to excellence cements TPT Digital as a key player in the global performance marketing landscape.
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3
Agency Business: Health and Well-Being
Company
Brandfuel
Summary
At Brandfuel, health and well-being are fundamental to how the business operates - we know our brand is only as strong as the team behind it. The events industry continuously tops lists for being one of the most stressful careers in the world and, with this in mind, Brandfuel’s approach to staff well-being has, over the years, been proactive, innovative, and inspiring.
This year’s return to more regular in-person working in our new dog-friendly Bloomsbury offices has undoubtedly had a positive impact on mental health. In fact, 2023 has proved to be an exceptional year for staff engagement and well-being activities, led by our dedicated Well-Being Lead, Bella Broadbent.
Building on the foundation of our three Fairness Principles, and the Occupational Health and Well-being ISO accreditation we secured in November 2022, Bella and her assistant, Willow, devised a Feeling Good company away day in May to focus on the benefits of looking after one’s physical and mental health. This included energetic drumming, Voga, and a thought-provoking presentation by John Parkin, the international best-selling author of the F**k It books.
After the Feeling Good Day, a survey was sent to all Fuellers encouraging them to “give credit” by sharing an adjective that they thought best described each of their fellow Fuellers. Everyone was given their own “giving credit” cloud, which showed how they had been described by their peers.
A corporate cloud was also created, which showed what a friendly, diligent and helpful crowd we are!
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Company
Cactus
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Company
fox&cat
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2
Agency Business: Leadership Team
Company
Pereira O'Dell
Summary
Nancy has been an integral part of the executive team, responsible for driving strategic initiatives, ensuring operational efficiency, and fostering collaboration across the organization. Nancy's relentless pursuit of embracing new possibilities has been instrumental in the agency's success, and why she’s been chosen to lead the growth of Serviceplan Americas.
The role of Chief Operating Officer / CFO can easily go unnoticed in a creative industry. But this year, as Pereira O’Dell celebrated 15 years as an independent that has seen YOY positive growth. We would like to recognize Nancy’s innate ability to steer and grow our business to meet the ever-evolving challenges of our industry and successfully navigate us through turbulent economic times.
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Company
Cactus
Summary
Hi, we’re Cactus. We’re an independent creative agency dedicated to growing brands that help people thrive in their lives. Founded on the belief that small agency creativity can solve the world’s biggest problems, and a commitment to work exclusively for clients we believe in - purposeful brands, causes, and non-profits that make the world a better place. 2022 was a notable year for our agency - the best year in our 33 year history, actually. Our agency grew by 53%, and our agency profit grew by 105%. We made some amazing work with all of our amazing clients, and are continuing to find new ways to bring our Belief and Behavior Design® Methodology into the world - not to mention increasing the number of clever Cacti.
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0
Agency Business: M&A
Unfortunately, the judges didn't think the entries in this category reached the standard they were looking for and therefore have not given any nominations. We can't guarantee feedback on specific entries but if you would like to know more about the judging process to help explain, then please let us know
5
Agency Business: Marketing and Comms
Company
Treacle
Summary
Hey, have you heard of Beige? It’s the agency on everyone’s lips.
It was also a massive piss-take.
Our ‘screw the status quo’ ethos means taking creative risks for our clients. And ourselves, it would seem. And what better way to do that than with a good old fashioned publicity stunt? Because nothing gets agency-folk talking more than a fake project designed to stir up debate.
We built a whole site packed full of that kind of super creative copy for a fictional agency called Beige. It had all the buzzwords, all the jargon, and all the hollow statements that most agency people recognise from every single agency website ever.
We held a mirror up to the industry with a knowing nod to the audience, making them feel as if they were in on the joke.
The noise on social media exceeded all expectations. A single post racked up close to 55,000 impressions and 36 reposts. The site saw close to 25,000 visits in just two months. Many also headed over to the Treacle website to find out who we were.
This buzz generated by our Beige campaign has no doubt contributed to some spikes against our key metrics. July ‘23 was our biggest month ever and our YTD revenue figure was 46% higher than the same period in ‘22.
We did that thing we hear agencies tell us they find near-impossible. We ate our own dog food. Beige was a risk. But it turned heads.
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Company
connective3
Summary
connective3 launched four years ago, with an ambition to work with enterprise brands globally, to reach a headcount of 100 in five years, and to establish themselves as the ‘one to watch’ for the other key players in our space.
We’ve spent the last four years carving out that space, we’ve built a team of 100+ marketers across Leeds, London and Manchester and a global client base of brands including Wren Kitchens, Ocado, Compare The Market and Love Holidays.
Our marketing strategy is built around the belief that the most valuable interactions with your prospects come through the sharing of thought leadership and insights, we champion our expert team to be the advocates for our approach. Our role as the agency marketing team is to create the platforms for our team and client base to connect, through combining events and content.
Founded in Leeds, we are hugely passionate about the power that comes from uniting the northern digital community and championing opportunities for northern marketers to connect. To support this we built a comprehensive events programme, including a series for new speakers to the industry, Digital Bites, and our one day marketing festival in Manchester – Up North attended by 400 marketers in June 2023.
As we close out our fourth year of trading, we can say with confidence that we’ve put our business on the map, and we look forward to growing our brand presence year on year as we continue to scale.
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Company
GALE
Summary
One of the industry’s biggest ironies is that agencies underinvest in their own brand. Before this year, GALE was the industry’s best kept secret – a quiet underdog in self promotion. But recognizing the importance of our own brand marketing, this year we made a deliberate effort to grow GALE’s brand presence and amplify our narrative in the public eye. The results?
- Hired out first VP of Communications
- MarComms team grew from 0 to 6 people
- Increased PR coverage 357%
- Grew web traffic 46%
- Lifted social following by over 35%
- Secured multiple accolades from A-List, to Breakthrough Media AOTY, to a Gold Lion
All this growth resulted in our most impressive new business period yet.
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Company
Qumin
Summary
Qumin is the first China-focused digital agency in Europe, with a mission to connect global marketers to China's rich and varied peoples, cultures, and trends.
To achieve this, Qumin launched a three-pronged strategy: 1. Credibility via events and PR 2. Audience ownership via social media 3. Building our own media asset from scratch.
In step 1 – we made Qumin’s China expertise known to the world by speaking at leading industry conferences including the legendary SXSW. We were quoted in top publications including the FT, BBC, Al-Jazeera, Guardian, The Times, and lectured at prestigious institutions such as Warwick and Peking University.
With this traction, in step 2, we honed in on our social media presence through LinkedIn. Our CEO’s personal brand was strategically grown to share China insights, now reaching an audience of 1M+ views per month.
Step 3 – time to really own our audiences and offer deeper value, hence our new media asset: Dao Insights.
Dao grew into one of the world's best thought-leading publications for China news and insights in the creative, tech, and marketing sectors.
A go-to resource for national media outlets, and brands like Unilever, Louis Vuitton, Lego, IKEA, L'Oreal, Nike.
Dao Insights:
Breaks China news before mainstream media.
Amasses over 600k views per year from a 0 start.
Has 25.8K backlinks – including Forbes, Business Insider, BBC, Wikipedia and more.
Transformed perceptions of China from distant and enigmatic to nuanced, actionable.
Became the perfect embodiment of Qumin’s mission to ‘Open the World to China'.
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Company
Porter Novelli
Summary
The hardest part about a year of growth is following it with another year of growth. A bit like a second album – it is undeniably harder. Were we just a one hit wonder?
The ambition was to grow. However, with just a team of two in new business and marketing, the challenge was making new business, everyone’s business. We knew that everyone had to help us shine if we wanted to reach the target of a £10m agency. Strategies included driving the power of people’s network by encouraging everyone to set up Coffee & Connects with people they know. Consistency was also key. We developed two regular content pieces across our socials and created a quarterly report based on trends. We empowered the agency for social engagement by introducing #Fridayhaveyoursay, giving teams and clients a platform to share opinions. We also realised we needed to talk more about our work so created #NewworkWednesday. Our new business process was broken. So, we fixed it and created HUSTLE – a new way of winning. We launched a new global network that turned heads and revenue – The Connected Core.
We worked hard to drive content around events including Influencer 360 and Cannes and integrated all this content into our monthly newsletter which is shared with share with clients, prospects, and the industry. All this has driven over four million impressions, eight pitches and 18% growth reaching our £10.2M target.
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2
Agency Business: New Business
Company
Cyber-Duck
Summary
With a strong focus on collaboration, preparation, multi-disciplinary skills, and laser-focused use of resources through a systematic qualification process, Cyber-Duck’s New Business team achieve impressive results. In the highly competitive public sector tender space, with an average of 25 companies bidding for each opportunity, the team have regularly won against teams three or four times larger, winning global clients on the scale of Worcester Bosch, Handelsbanken, Sport England, Cadburys, Cancer Research, Compare the Market, and The Bank of England. We don’t just go for short-term wins; we build deep working relationships to achieve long-term success. The team create compelling new business proposals, bids and pitches - sometimes disrupting the new business process entirely by winning the opportunity before shortlist or pitch stage. They secured 5 wins from just 6 tenders in the last half of 2022, exceeding our tenders target by 21%. 2023 so far shows no signs of slowing down, with a further 5 wins in the first half of the year. Their skills were critical in winning international retail bank Handelsbanken, one of our biggest ever value projects, which will enable Cyber-Duck to grow its service design offering in future. The team’s work meant 2022 saw Cyber-Duck’s strongest sales performance in 17 years. We have continued building on last year’s success by winning a new multi-year, multi-million digital transformation project in 2023. We are on track to grow total sales to £12.2 million in 2023 – a year-on-year increase of almost 19%.
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Company
Treacle
Summary
What to do when you need ready access to marketing leaders on a global scale in order to meet your ambitious new business objectives?
You could roll out the same old LinkedIn dross as most other agencies out there. Or hire some overbearing lead-gen consultant to ‘circle back’ which, well, just feels a bit ick for all involved.
Or you could piggyback on an established and thriving community and let it do the heavy lifting for you.
Aligning ourselves with The Drum as our primary new business generation strategy has helped us establish greater credibility through association, create highly-targeted awareness at scale, and find an alternative strategy to the tired and ineffective LinkedIn approach favoured by most agencies.
It’s been an important factor in us securing our first UAE-based client, landing our largest ever piece of business, not to mention delivering some enviable YoY revenue uplifts. Talk about a drum solo.
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Agency Business: Response To Change or Business Transformation
Company
Keenfolks
Summary
In pursuit of exponential growth and innovation, Keenfolks, the Integrative AI agency, set forth a strategic roadmap tailored to the dynamic global AI revolution. Our central objective focused on driving growth through the introduction of novel AI and tech services, underpinned by a commitment to surpass the remarkable revenue milestone of £8 million.
Our transformative journey began by redefining Keenfolks' essence – embracing a refreshed brand identity that resonated with our new positioning as leaders in Integrative AI. We diversified our offerings with cutting-edge AI and technology by establishing a dedicated Productization Department in Bangalore, ensuring the swift transformation of innovative ideas into market-ready solutions.
Guided by innovation, our investment in research and development birthed OG.AI, an AI-powered platform that optimized consumer engagement and sales for Fortune 500 companies.
As thought leaders, our content marketing efforts solidified our standing in the AI and tech arena, culminating in a monumental Web 3 & AI conference that left an indelible impact on the industry.
Amidst global economic challenges, our revenues surged by 60%, surpassing £8 million while expanding our client base by 83%, securing contracts with giants like Reckitt, Danone, Nestle, Diageo, and McDonald's. Our initiatives resonated with clients, as evidenced by a Net Promoter Score of 75 and heartfelt testimonials.
Keenfolks' strategic trajectory not only met its objectives but exceeded them, firmly establishing us as trailblazing Integrative AI leaders. Our journey, catalyzed by the global AI revolution, propelled us to new heights of innovation, influence, and growth.
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Company
WongDoody
Summary
WongDoody is a global creative agency with 21 studios worldwide. Founded in Seattle in 1993 by Tracy Wong and Pat Doody, the agency was acquired by the tech giant, Infosys in 2018.
A year ago, Grace Francis joined as Global Chief Creative and Design Officer (GCDO) and since then we have grown from 1200+ to 2000+ staff, offering advertising, brand design, experience, and emergent technology.
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5
Agency Business: Service or Business Innovation
Company
Wavemaker UK
Summary
There is a tension at the heart of media decarbonisation - the most sustainable media plan is no media plan. If our only advice to clients is that in order to decarbonise their media plan they need to ‘do less media’, this ignores the effect that we’re trying to drive for our clients. Wavemaker’s market-leading Eco-Effectiveness approach fuses Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) data and carbon emissions data to create a new optimisation currency – ROC (Return on Carbon).
ROC allows us, for the first time, to look at the emissions of the plan in the context of the effect that plan drives.
Quantifying ROC has shown that media decarbonisation doesn’t have a set rulebook and so we needed to find a way to decarbonise each and every client’s plan and not just point to a case study of where we did it on one occasion.
So, we built the Eco-Effectiveness optimiser which allows teams to leverage MMM data (both bespoke to client and benchmarks to them) to create scenarios tailored to their brand to show how they can decarbonise their media plan by up to 43% and maintain, or often improve, ROI.
We believe this innovative offering and approach heralds best practice in sustainable media planning. Rather than an abstract concept, it’s meaningfully changing the conversation we have with our clients around decarbonisation and ultimately the impact on their ROI.
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Company
Awin
Summary
Digital advertising is growing rapidly but ad tech’s triopoly is tightening its grip. With more than two thirds of global digital ad spend flowing to just Google, Meta and Amazon, affiliate marketing offers an effective antidote for businesses thanks to its diversified, flexible ad model.
Similarly, Awin is shifting away from a rigid, centralised network model to a platform that champions flexibility. By relinquishing the concept of a one-size-fits-all affiliate solution, Awin aims to offer an alternative to the diminishing choice and control that customers are facing within wider digital.
Awin's product development has focused on empowering clients with access to powerful tools and technology that help them achieve their own unique goals. Guided by our North Star metric to enable as many active partnerships as possible, Awin's product releases have created a diverse range of new opportunities while automation has enabled customers to focus on valuable actions such as building relationships rather than drowning in busywork.
As our customers' needs change, so do we. New teams and roles have been created to support changing advertiser and publisher needs, fixing common pain points and providing support across the platform. We believe that affiliate and partner marketing can help businesses achieve an array of vital goals without forcing them to play by someone else’s rules.
Awin’s upgrades over the last 12 months empower our customers and partners with all the tools they need to build their own unique marketing ecosystems and help them to grow their own way.
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Company
Fundamental Group
Client
Fundamental Group
Summary
Almost 20 years ago, Fundamental Media was established as a specialised media planning and buying agency servicing the asset management industry. Since then, the industry and client expectations have changed significantly and so have we. Fundamental Media has evolved into the Fundamental Group and over the past two years in particular, we have made great strides in becoming the media and marketing agency of the future.
Today, the Fundamental Group is an award winning media and marketing solutions agency that is focused on all aspects of marketing, from media buying and outcome-oriented planning, to user journey optimisation and cookie-free data analytics.
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Company
Keenfolks
Summary
In pursuit of exponential growth and innovation, Keenfolks, the Integrative AI agency, set forth a strategic roadmap tailored to the dynamic global AI revolution. Our central objective focused on driving growth through the introduction of novel AI and tech services, underpinned by a commitment to surpass the remarkable revenue milestone of £8 million.
Our transformative journey began by redefining Keenfolks' essence – embracing a refreshed brand identity that resonated with our new positioning as leaders in Integrative AI. We diversified our offerings with cutting-edge AI and technology by establishing a dedicated Productization Department in Bangalore, ensuring the swift transformation of innovative ideas into market-ready solutions.
Guided by innovation, our investment in research and development birthed OG.AI, an AI-powered platform that optimized consumer engagement and sales for Fortune 500 companies.
As thought leaders, our content marketing efforts solidified our standing in the AI and tech arena, culminating in a monumental Web 3 & AI conference that left an indelible impact on the industry.
Amidst global economic challenges, our revenues surged by 60%, surpassing £8 million while expanding our client base by 83%, securing contracts with giants like Reckitt, Danone, Nestle, Diageo, and McDonald's. Our initiatives resonated with clients, as evidenced by a Net Promoter Score of 75 and heartfelt testimonials.
Keenfolks' strategic trajectory not only met its objectives but exceeded them, firmly establishing us as trailblazing Integrative AI leaders. Our journey, catalyzed by the global AI revolution, propelled us to new heights of innovation, influence, and growth.
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Company
PXN / Indigo Pearl
Summary
PXN is one of the video games industry’s best kept secrets. From being the go-to PR platform service provider for the likes of Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and Amazon, to covering 24-hour shifts around key industry events, the team is best-in-class when it comes to industry knowledge, tech know-how and client relations. You know you’re doing something right when industry giants come to you asking for tech solutions to the issues they’re facing. The same can be said for the sheer volume of big-name clients that PXN continues to service both locally and internationally.
The PXN account team isn’t in an outsourced call centre or on the end of a chatbot system, it’s as hands on with its clients as any PR agency account team would be. The platform can be used across many other industries including, but not limited to, music, film, FMCG, consumer tech and goods - the possibilities are endless. PXN significantly lightens a marketing team’s load, enabling them to focus on the more important aspects of the day-to-day.
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1
Agency Business: Team Development
Company
Initiative
Summary
Walk-A-Mile is a professional development program that Initiative conceived to help attract and retain top talent. It has evolved to give the agency a competitive edge in how we work and deliver industry-leading results.
Through Walk-A-Mile, our people switch roles with one another for six weeks – across crafts and accounts. By experiencing another person’s role from their perspective, they get to see what it’s like to be a part of another team. The exchange helps people gain deeper understanding of the roles and responsibilities of others that strengthens mutual respect and trust.
Walk-A-Mile also allows our talent to trade places with clients and enables clients to come work with us. Over a four-week period, an Initiative employee shadows a client and a client shadows an Initiative team.
For both Initiative talent and clients, the experiences broaden their perspectives and knowledge. They learn about different working styles and new categories. They are also introduced to new tools and develop new skill sets. The program helps bring teams and clients closer together, showing everyone about how they care about their work and one another.
Clients gain more understanding of Initiative’s ways of working. They learn media fundamentals and more about our planning process. Clients educate our people about their business and the challenges they face internally that brings clarity to why they operate the way that they do.
Walk-A-Mile has helped drive near record-high TRR scores and contributed to Initiative's winning a trifecta of Agency of the Year honors.
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5
Agency Business: Thought Leader
Company
INDUSTRY
Client
MLS' Leagues Cup and Timberland's BFTB
Summary
In the ever-evolving realm of marketing and advertising, thought leadership is not a mere concept; it's the magnetic force that draws us towards innovation and excellence. Enter Oved Valadez, a visionary co-founder and executive creative director at INDUSTRY, whose journey embodies the spirit of transformation and progress. Hailing from Mexico, Oved's unwavering fearlessness serves as a powerful catalyst for igniting innovation, a trait he has honed over his remarkable fifteen-year journey.
Oved's narrative is a vivid tapestry woven with threads of boundless creativity, tracing back to his beginnings as a standout product designer and leading up to his current role in orchestrating revolutionary creative marketing ventures. This immersive journey has given rise to a constellation of pioneering achievements that redefine the limits of creative expression. Notably, Oved conceptualized Nike's groundbreaking Air Mag campaign draw, amassing a staggering one billion engagements.
Oved's creative prowess took on a new dimension as he masterminded the reinvigoration of Converse through the visionary concept and launch of Converse All Stars—an initiative that ignited a cultural metamorphosis fueled by the energy of youth. His innovative leadership shines through in groundbreaking campaigns for Timberland and MLS Leagues Cup, underscoring both Oved's and INDUSTRY's unwavering dedication to innovation.
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Company
Precis Digital
Summary
Precis is at the forefront of defining and increasing awareness about marketing ethics in response to the evolving digital landscape and the public's concerns about data privacy and user experiences. Our objectives revolve around creating awareness and inspiring action from brands, agencies, and platforms. Internally, we involve our entire organisation in establishing ethical marketing standards.
On the outside, we engage in thought leadership initiatives through surveys, PR activities, and brand awareness campaigns. Our efforts have uncovered that marketing ethics holds a prominent position for most senior marketing professionals, though practical steps are somewhat limited. Insights from consumers also underscore the necessity for a more positive online marketing experience, particularly in terms of privacy communication.
To bring about substantial change, we are actively working to make marketing ethics a tangible reality. Within our organisation, we've established a marketing ethics panel to define commitments and best practices in our marketing operations. Additionally, we are diligently raising awareness within our team. Precis is also in the process of developing its own technological solutions to counter opaque marketing practices, promoting transparency and accessibility.
Through our proactive approach in addressing marketing ethics and advocating for responsible practices, our aim is to serve as an industry exemplar, moving towards a more favourable digital marketing landscape and instigating meaningful transformations for an enhanced marketing ecosystem.
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Company
Team One and The Legacy Lab
Summary
Over the past six months, a strategy group within the walls of Team One called The Legacy Lab has set a new standard for how broad the impact of a brand consultancy can be. It’s introduced an entirely new way to measure not only brand equity, but also future brand strength. It produced five stunning short films focused on the learnings of new leaders in business, which will air this year in partnership with a major business editorial platform. It has sparked excitement amongst one of today’s most loyal K-Pop fanbases. In essence, The Legacy Lab has ignited conversations among the Marketing community, in the business and entertainment world, and in pop culture.
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Company
Spiro
Summary
For 2023 and beyond, Spiro™ is demonstrating the value of both our industry, and our agency, to brand side marketers, through several new, interrelated initiatives. Our goal is to communicate our value as not merely that we create & execute events. It’s that we design experiences to sway & stay customer preference towards their brand. We work to understand drivers & engagement motivators, design to those behaviors, & position their brand as priority in the hearts & minds of their most important audiences.
The result is what we call Brand Gravity—not merely connection, but a unique bond between brand & customer.
Further, we’ve identified the situational, psychosocial & environmental conditions affecting audiences & experiences today, for a measurable index we call the G.R.A.V.I.T.Y. Index™, to assess the success of an event real time.
The G.R.A.V.I.T.Y Index represents the "levers" universal for brands & humans, we can pull to create, measure and competitively benchmark experiences to ensure brand and commercial impact. We then deliver Brand Gravity-generating experiences via our 5-phase framework, CCXD™.
Launched in 2021, CCXD allows us to:
• Understand customer drivers along the G.R.A.V.I.T.Y. Index
• Match & map to the brand’s business objectives
• Design according to customer drivers & brand objectives
• Identify optimal channels for continuous participation
• Measure (T•RO™) the dividends of the event & participation
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Company
Qumin
Summary
Qumin is the first China-focused digital agency in Europe, with a mission to connect global marketers to China's rich and varied peoples, cultures, and trends.
To achieve this, Qumin launched a three-pronged strategy: 1. Credibility via events and PR 2. Audience ownership via social media 3. Building our own media asset from scratch.
In step 1 – we made Qumin’s China expertise known to the world by speaking at leading industry conferences including the legendary SXSW. We were quoted in top publications including the FT, BBC, Al-Jazeera, Guardian, The Times, and lectured at prestigious institutions such as Warwick and Peking University.
With this traction, in step 2, we honed in on our social media presence through LinkedIn. Our CEO’s personal brand was strategically grown to share China insights, now reaching an audience of 1M+ views per month.
Step 3 – time to really own our audiences and offer deeper value, hence our new media asset: Dao Insights.
Dao grew into one of the world's best thought-leading publications for China news and insights in the creative, tech, and marketing sectors.
A go-to resource for national media outlets, and brands like Unilever, Louis Vuitton, Lego, IKEA, L'Oreal, Nike.
Dao Insights:
Breaks China news before mainstream media.
Amasses over 600k views per year from a 0 start.
Has 25.8K backlinks – including Forbes, Business Insider, BBC, Wikipedia and more.
Transformed perceptions of China from distant and enigmatic to nuanced, actionable.
Became the perfect embodiment of Qumin’s mission to ‘Open the World to China'.
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