It’s a New Year and time once again for The Drum to dish out its New Year’s Honours. So, which marketing services agencies commanded the most column inches in the past 12 months? Whose bottom ends grew and client lists multiplied? Which agencies have consistently produced top notch creative work and whose trophy cabinets are fit to burst? Here we bring you The Drum’s agencies of the year.
LONDON
Design agency of the year: Brand Opus
2011 started well for Brand Opus; the agency picked up two Design Effectiveness Awards from the DBA in February. And things just got better from there. Named in the top 10 packaging design companies in the UK, client wins include Pizza Express, McCain and MasterCard with creative work reaching beyond the UK and into global markets. The agency was also briefed on Belvedere, Rowse and Barefoot SOS. As if that wasn’t enough, Brand Opus will pick up three more Design Effectiveness awards this year, ensuring 2012 starts with a bang.
Advertising agency of the year: Adam & Eve
Describing itself as a ‘young’ communications agency, Adam & Eve is an agency capable of bringing the best out of mature brands. Creative work for Phones4U and especially Fosters caught the eye in 2011 but the agency’s commercials for John Lewis are what earned Adam & Eve its New Year’s Honours for 2011. The classic TV ads are just the right side of schmaltzy, capturing the British retailer’s brand heritage perfectly.
Digital agency of the year: SapientNitro
2011 was another strong year for SapientNitro: Its Sneakerpedia campaign for Footlocker – creating the world’s largest sneaker archive and first visual wiki – earned the agency 16 awards last year, including a Gold Cyber Lion at Cannes and Gold at Eurobest. Add in campaigns for Ladbrokes, AR Lungs and EnjoyEngland.com, the latter winning ‘Best Tourist Board Website’ at the British Travel Awards, and 2011 has been a success for the digital powerhouse.
Media agency of the year: Carat
Carat’s partnership of Nivea and Asos last year demonstrated why the agency continues to be a global player. To have the clout to bring together two international brands is one thing, to engineer a campaign that works across bought, owned and earned media is quite another. Social media, newsletters, personalized emails, advertorials and magazines were all utilised to promote the joint Asos/ Nivea competition, creating a buzz around both brands. This year The Drum will work with Carat to explore the future of retail and the role of media.
Social Media agency of the year: We are Social
The name says it all. If one agency is synonymous with consistently innovating in the social space, it’s We Are Social. The stand-out campaign from the past year has to be Heinz ‘Get Well’ soup - personalised cans of soup available to be ordered for ill friends on the brand’s Facebook page. With offices in seven countries and premium brands like Moet & Chandon coming on board, it’s hard to believe the agency is still only three years old. The year ended with the agency being appointed by Heineken for the UK social media account for Jacques and Bulmer’s.
Integrated agency of the year: Kitcatt Nohr Digitas
The merger of Kitcatt Nohr and Digitas early last year proved effortless, or so it seems. There are plenty of highlights from Kitcatt Nohr Digitas in 2011, the recent integrated campaign for National Book Tokens just one that caught our eye. The agency picked up new business from the likes of Nationwide and Aviva Investors, and rounded the year off with Gold at the DMA Awards for best use of copy in its WaterAid Diarrhoea TV ad. New business included global integrated advertising for Aviva Investors and Asus/Intel, Nationwide DM, and the global digital hub for Samsung’s Olympic Games Activity. Awards included Gold for Best Use of Copy at DMA Awards for its WaterAid campaign and Best Integrated Marketing Campaign at the Revolution Awards for its Snickers campaign.
PR agency of the year: Man Bites Dog
2011 saw the PR consultancy for the service economy continue to focus on its core offering, despite a temptation to diversify in a tough marketplace, growing its free income by 63% and generating a profit margin of 36%, picking up accounts with Yell, KPMG, ABN, AMRO and Hay Group EMEA. The social team also picked up digital clients MakeitCheaper.Com and Rufus Leonard.
One to watch: 23 Red
23 Red appeared on the radar last year with smart, ethical campaigns for Change4Life and Bacardi. Bacardi in particular made great use of social media and male role models such as Michael Schumacher to drive home the brand’s ‘drink responsibly’ message without preaching. The only festive blues at the end of 2011 its campaign for Bluewater switching up traditional Christmas colour schemes. 23 red – a safe bet for 2012.
SOUTH WEST
Advertising agency of the year: Bray Leino
Bray Leino was tasked with overseeing the campaign to promote the 2011 Census across England, while the agency also picked up business with BACS, Norwegian Fish and Smokefree SouthWest. Freederm also released a new marketing campaign and idents around its sponsorship of the revived Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, and continued to work with Superdry, L&G and BP. 2011 also saw the recruitment of Alistair Bryan as managing director of the agency’s Direct Response Business and Julie Lewis as head of performance and talent, alongside the launch of Bray Leino Vivactis, and the acquisition of Yucca Media, strengthening its e-commerce offer.
Design agency of the year: Duttons
The past year has seen Duttons pick up accounts with Lafarge, Organic Centre Wales, Hemsley Fraser and d&b audiotechnik as it strengthened its portfolio in two key areas – food and healthcare – with the acquisition of design agency Gravity. The healthcare sector has been another area of growth, as the agency picked up work from GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, The Meningitis Research Foundation, the journal of Bone & Joint surgery, and Fortius Clinic, a specialist orthopaedic and sports medicine group.
Digital agency of the year: Strange
Strange picked up work with Superdry, Cult and Avery Dennison and also saw strong account growth for Brittany Ferries and thehealthcounter. com, while picking up Gold for Campaign of the Year for Brittany Ferries at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Awards and being a finalist in award categories for Marketing Services Company of the Year at The Drum Marketing Awards, Finalist for Digital Agency of the Year at the Blades Awards and Gold at this year’s Travel Marketing Awards. Working together with Walker Agency, the agency also designed, built and launched the new corporate identity and website for the Lefktro fine foods brand.
Integrated agency of the year: Thinking Juice
The big news for Thinking Juice was the agency’s merging with Aylesworth Fleming to create the Emerge Group in September, while it also picked up awards such as Best in Creative and Best in Effectiveness at the 2011 RAR Awards. Creatively the agency was also behind a print ad campaign for Wyke Farm and was appointed lead creative agency for sports brand Mizuno. A pan-European B2B campaign for Amdocs was also developed Thinking Juice has been appointed to handle the creative and advertising business of DPAS, one of the UK’s leading providers of dental practice administration services.
PR agency of the year: JBP
Bristol and London based public affairs and PR agency JBP expanded into Birmingham which brought in new clients and strengthen ties with companies that it already worked with in the Midlands. National accounts were picked up including Neal’s Yard, Veolia, Reuben Power, RSG, LeisureDome, British International Helicopters, MCD Properties, The Private Clinic and Teleperformance. Award winning campaign work was also developed for Bath & West Show (winner of CIPR PRide Gold Award) and the launch of Knowaste.
Social Media agency of the year: Rubber Republic
Creatively, Rubber Republic has said that it has had one of its strongest years; having produced Marvel’s most viewed viral for summer blockbuster ‘Thor’. The agency has also developed a flash game, ‘Love Struck’, for HIV charity Body & Soul, ‘2050’ a fun app with a very serious message for DECC and an interactive digital experience for C4’s ‘Life After Death’. Rubber has also continued to seed online content alongside producing partners including Paramount, BBC, JWT, Fallon, Tailor of Shoreditch and GlassEye Inc.
One to Watch: Strawberrysoup
In 2011 Strawberrysoup rebranded and hired highly respected creative John McFaul. The agency saw its client roster swell with brands such as American Express, L’Oreal, Orange and Wiley & Sons all hand over briefs, while projects included a branding, design and digital project for Arts Bournemouth, an identity for price comparison website Jenzoo and the design of a number of identities for UK cycling events across the UK.
MIDLANDS
Advertising agency of the year: Cogent
In the past year, Cogent has launched its first TV campaign for redspottedhanky.com, as well as devising projects for Ranger Rover Evoque and AGA while also winning accounts with Hozelock, AIG and London Midland. The agency also launched the new e-commerce website for Calor. Last year also saw the appointment of marketer Alan Gilmour, former director of insight and marketing for the Identity & Passport Service, as brand, PR and customer insight director, and the hiring of communications consultant for both Lloyds Banking Group and The Department for Children, Schools and Families, Louise Brucknall to its PR division. The agency also came out top of a YouGov reputation survey, voted for by senior marketers, while creative team Casey Hennessy and Jenny Barton picked up the print prize at the UK Cannes Young Lions Award.
Design agency of the year: Michon
2011 was a busy year for Michon in terms of work, which included creating online and direct mail communications for E.ON’s move to allow its customers to use Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay towards energy bills. Other work saw it develop a range of ‘How To’ videos for Ronseal’s YouTube channel, the redevelopment of the brand and website for London Array, a new undergraduate campaign for the University of Greenwich, as well as a Christmas Facebook app for Thorntons.
Digital agency of the year: Freestyle Interactive
Being named Digital Agency of the Year at last year’s MiNetwork Awards, was just one of several major awards picked up by Freestyle Interactive at the ceremony, as well as the Grand Prix, Midlands Marketing Business of the Year and the Best Mobile Strategy or Campaign for its Arriva M-Ticket campaign. Managing director, Suzanne Linton was also nominated for the Vitalise Business Woman of the Year Award, while the agency opened an office in Paris as it aims for growth across the UK and France.
Integrated agency of the year: McCann Erickson Birmingham
McCann’s Birmingham continued its success in 2010 right into 2011, with the hiring of executive creative director Vince McSweeney at the beginning of the creative revolution that led to it publicly naming (in an ad in The Drum) the creative teams they wished to poach from elsewhere. A bold move, but it worked. The agency also created its highest profile campaign to date for GM Vauxhall’s sponsorship of the England football team, which won an Epica Award for Media Innovation. The agency also picked up 38 pieces of business including Hitachi Europe, Bentley, National Express, Vauxhall and Reed Digital and experienced a year-on-year growth of 20%. Other awards included the Chairman’s Award, as well as eight Golds and one Silver, at this year’s Cream Midlands Awards, and eight Golds, one silver and one Bronze at the Fresh Awards, as well as three gold and two Silver trophies at the Midland’s CIPR Pride Awards.
Media agency of the year: Brilliant (Now MediaCom)
See Yorkshire entry.
PR agency of the year: Willoughby PR
New business for the agency was plentiful, picking up contracts with companies such as Wacky Warehouse, Flaming Grill, Fayre & Square, Taylor Walker, Chef & Brewer, Karndean Flooring, Lakeside shopping centre and Regis hair salons. Meanwhile, B2B clients included Bosch Rexroth, Yamazaki Mazak, multi-utility service provider and asset manager Energetics. The agency also picked up four awards at the Fresh awards, including the Grand Prix for the Warwick Castle Christmas at the Castle campaign, and give Awards at the CIPR PRide Award Midlands for Outstanding Midlands Consultancy.
Management Team of the Year: Mike Rose, Martin Heffernan & Ian Boulter of Chapter
In 2009 Rose, Heffernan and Boulter set out to reinvent the agency model. Two and a half years later they have proven that their model of smaller, closer and better can and does work after doubling the size of the agency in 2011. They have continued to carefully piece together their first 15-strong chapter, which saw Lambie Nairn client services director Mark Baxter installed as the agency’s first chapter head. In January they also appointed cofounder of Big Communications, Phil Wright, as chairman of the agency, went on a new business romp attracting clients such as Nissan Cared4, Biffa, Bentley Pre-Owned, See Saw, Christies Bedrooms and Christies Bedrooms. So, the team is now poised to realise their agency vision in 2012 as they begin to construct the agency’s second and final chapter.
One to Watch: Clusta
The Birmingham digital creative agency has continued to create some impressive content for media platforms such as E4, developed a Facebook game to promote new series Beaver Falls and Channel 4 Weather while developing a linked touchscreen aquarium, website and iPhone app for Selfridges ‘Project Ocean’ and a Microsoft surface application for Chanel’s Blue de Chanel. The agency was also involved in the launch of the Toyota Camry in the US, working alongside above-the- line agency Conill, developing mobile Facebook app Camry Commute, which allows users to record their daily commute. Another app ‘Fish Fight’ was created to promote the Channel 4 series featuring Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, while another Facebook app was created, featuring facial recognition, as part of the j20 glitterberry campaign ahead of Christmas.
YORKSHIRE
Advertising agency of the year: Golley Retail
Last year saw the team grow to 25, hiring 12 new members within the year, with some moving through to the Golley Retail office that was opened in London. Former Samsung UK marketing manager Stacey Kenward was hired from Delta’s Asda House team. The retail marketing division was officially launched in April as a result of the amount of work the Leeds office was undertaking within retail. This has seen it pick up work with Nestle, General Mills and Heinz.
Design agency of the year: Elmwood
In the year in which its founder Jonathan Sands