RECOGNISING THE BEST AGENCIES IN THE UK
Campaign's Agency of the Year UK is now open for Early Bird entries!
These awards are your chance to shine in the creative and media industry. Offering the opportunity to showcase and celebrate the wonderful work and creations over the past year. Whether you take home the trophy or land a spot on the shortlist, you'll position your agency as a leader—attracting top talent and new business.
This year, we've added exciting new categories, spotlighting the rise of branding and social media agencies. Plus, our exciting panel of industry judges are set to bring their expertise and a fresh perspective. Ready to raise the bar in the creative and media world? 2024 is your time to stand out.
Don’t miss the Early Bird entry period—submit your work before 7 November and show the world what makes you elite!
KEY DATES
Early Bird Deadline: 7 November 2024
Entry Deadline: 28 November 2024
Shortlist Reveal: 6 February 2025
Awards Ceremony: 27 March 2025
PRICING
Early Bird: £615 +VAT per entry
Standard: £715 +VAT per entry
CATEGORIES
AGENCY
BRANDING AGENCY
This award recognises the best agencies specialising in creating, launching and repositioning brands. The judges will consider how the agency has planned, executed and evaluated branding projects for its clients.
BRAND EXPERIENCE AGENCY
This award recognises the best agency specialising in providing experiential marketing solutions.
CREATIVE AGENCY
This category recognises the most creative advertising agencies. Judges will be looking to award an agency that consistently creates work to the highest level and the scoring will be weighted towards the work more than in other categories.
CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AGENCY
This award recognises agencies specialising in providing targeted, response-driven creativity.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY
This award recognises agencies specialising in providing the best digital solutions.
INDEPENDENT PR AGENCY
INDEPENDENT MEDIA AGENCY
INDEPENDENT CREATIVE AGENCY
IN-HOUSE AGENCY
This category is open to in-house agencies that are part of brands’ businesses.
INTEGRATED MARKETING AGENCY
This award recognises the best agencies specialising in providing the best integrated marketing and branding solutions.
MEDIA AGENCY
This award recognises the very best agencies specialising in media including but not limited to planning and buying.
PERFORMANCE MARKETING AGENCY
This award acknowledges companies that best demonstrate a consistent ability to translate consumer intentions into revenue for clients, deliver ROI-based campaign activity and drive sales results for clients.
PR AGENCY
This category recognises the achievements, performance and excellent work of PR consultancies in the UK.
START-UP AGENCY
Open to agencies that are within their first two years of operation.
SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY
This award recognises the best agencies specialising in delivering social media solutions for brands. The judges will be looking for innovative use of social platforms and effective engagement strategies in the social space.
PEOPLE & TEAMS
ACCOUNT PERSON OF THE YEAR
This award recognises professionals responsible for account management who have displayed the most innovation, skills and enthusiasm in bringing the benefits of advertising to their clients’ businesses resulting in the development of solid business relationships. Judges will consider contribution to the agency and clients, client relationship management, client retention as well as new business wins, positive organic growth for clients.
AGENCY PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
This award recognises agency producers who have displayed the most innovation, skills and enthusiasm when executing agencies’ campaign ideas. Judges will consider the agency producer/ producers’ contribution to the agency and their clients, how they made difficult executions happen, contributed to the most creative campaigns and facilitated long-lasting relationships with clients in the process.
This can be an individual or a team.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS/MARKETING TEAM
Open to the communications or marketing team within the agency, this award recognises success in addressing issues related to corporate communications, reputation, brand-building, corporate campaign execution and media relations.
CREATIVE LEADER
The award recognises creative directors working (largely) from the UK who have overseen the best work during the review period. The winner will have not only set the standard for creative excellence but have also raised the bar for innovation and disruptive big ideas.
CREATIVE TEAM
This award recognises the UK team behind the best work during the review period. The winning team will have not only set the standard for creative excellence but have also raised the bar for innovation and disruptive big ideas. Ideally, the team will have created campaigns for more than one brand.
HEAD OF AGENCY
This award recognises the heads of UK agencies nationally who have individually done the most to advance their agency/network in the industry.
Judges will consider the individual’s achievements during the eligibility period, including delivery against objectives, size of local operation, client profile and disciplines, new business wins, client retention, personal involvement in staff development initiatives, innovation with results, agency/network development and contribution to the role or image of the marketing communications industry in their market.
Note, this category is broken down by discipline:
- Branding
- Creative/advertising
- Customer Engagement
- Digital
- Experience
- Media
- Integrated Marketing
- Performance Marketing
- PR
MEDIA PLANNING LEADER
This award is for the media planning and media strategy leaders who have made the biggest impact on their clients’ marketing and business results through the creative use of media during the review period. This person will be responsible for spearheading the agency’s planning and strategy efforts more broadly, even if they do not formally run a separate department.
Judges will consider the individual’s contribution to agency and client, as well as their strategic skills, deployment of research, examples of approaches to problem solving and ability to intelligently recommend, explore and evaluate new and diverse platform options. Entrants should provide as much evidence of the results of their work as possible.
NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TEAM/PERSON
This award is for the new business development person/team who has proven to have built and developed a new account or expanded the services of an established client relationship.
Judges will consider solid examples of leadership in new business development initiatives that contributed to the success and financial growth of the agency.
This can be an individual or a team.
STRATEGIC LEADER
This award is for the account planning leaders who have made the biggest impact on their clients’ business through development of breakthrough consumer, brand and communications strategies. This person will be responsible for fostering a culture of innovation within their strategy department.
The leader will demonstrate thinking that is clear, insightful and change-enabling. They will take a fresh approach to problem solving and demonstrate how they develop commercially effective solutions to clients’ challenges.
Judges will be looking for evidence of the individual and their department’s contribution to their agency, its clients and the wider planning community.
STRATEGIST
This award will celebrate the planner/strategist who has helped to deliver the best results for their clients through insightful, original and evidence-based thinking. Judges will be looking for clear evidence of how the winning planner/strategist’s work contributed to the executed campaign, and how the activity delivered for the brand. The winner of this award might focus on one brand, or work across a number of brands, but will work the majority of their time on client business, rather than departmental management.
TALENT MANAGEMENT TEAM OR PERSON
This award recognises the talent management professional or team who has most effectively aligned the network’s people strategies with business outcomes during the review period.
Judges will consider the individual’s/team’s ability to develop and implement effective talent management strategies that include talent acquisition and retention, learning and staff development, succession planning and management, agency culture integration as well as reward and recognition initiatives.
This can be an individual or a team.
AMPLIFY YOUR WIN
You’ve had a cracking night out, you’ve picked up an award, you’ve slept off the celebrations, but do the people that really matter know you’ve won big?
We’re here to help. We want to get your win out there, to the audience, in front of prospective clients (and competitors!).
That’s why we’ve put together an instant shout-about-it package: quick turnaround content that won’t destroy your marketing budget.
DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT,
HEAR WHAT LAST YEAR'S WINNERS HAVE TO SAY...
HEAR WHAT LAST YEAR'S WINNERS HAVE TO SAY...
Alastair Marchant
CEO & Founder, Meanwhile
Winner of Start-Up Agency 2023
“Winning this award gave us validation for what we’ve achieved, by those whose opinion is perhaps the most important to any start-up agency. We also noticed a real difference in how we are perceived amongst our peers and potential clientele."
Drew Benvie
CEO, Battenhall
Winner of Head of Agency - PR 2023
"The impact of winning this award as an agency has been tremendous. Not only on the team whose hard work led to this award win, but also on our clients who can see how much our partnership means all round."
WHY ENTER?
⭐ Reflect on hard work and success
Gathering your entries lets you reflect on the year's achievements, recognising the dedication, creativity, and effort of your team. It also highlights areas for growth and improvement for the future.
⭐ Celebrate and boost morale
Entering celebrates team achievements and boosts morale. Winning or being shortlisted makes everyone feel appreciated, reinforces a positive workplace culture and motivates excellence.
⭐ Gain exposure via Campaign channels
Finalists are announced across all Campaign UK channels, reaching audiences of 646K monthly website users, 1.5M monthly page views, 223.1K followers on X and 50K LinkedIn followers. Take advantage of the opportunity to build your reputation.
⭐ Secure new business via judges evaluations
The judges, including top brand CMOs and marketing directors, provide invaluable feedback. Impressing them can lead to new business opportunities and enhance your credibility.
⭐ Set yourself as an industry leader and attract new talent
Prospective employees are drawn to organisations that are recognised for their innovation and excellence. Winning this award can make your agency more attractive to top talent.
CHAIR OF JUDGES
ANDY FREEMAN
Group Brand & Marketing Director, Centrica
Andy Freeman is Group Brand & Marketing Director for Centrica, a FTSE 100 integrated energy and services company, with household brands including British Gas and Hive. Andy is a passionate and creative brand & marketing leader, with extensive experience helping to drive growth across a range of global and complex brands.
“These awards create a standout moment to celebrate the brilliance in our industry. To recognise the people and the agencies who are really at the top of their game and the emerging talent! They also provide a helpful point of reference for clients who may be looking at their future agency requirements.”
JUDGES 2024
Want to join the panel?
The Agency of the Year judging panel is made up of brand chief marketing officers and brand marketing directors.
Please ensure that your nomination is representative of one of these two job titles (or similar). The final judging panel will be comprised of an inclusive range of individuals to fully represent the industry.
Agencies are unfortunately not eligible to judge this scheme.
HEAR FROM CAMPAIGN'S UK EDITOR
"Campaign's UK Agency of the Year Awards provide shops with an outstanding opportunity to introduce their tremendous teams and creative capabilities to a panel of top marketers. The marketer judges consider a broad range of criteria, and to win agencies must demonstrate they are delivering for their people, their clients and the industry.
The scheme is a great opportunity for adland's creative companies to sing about their strengths, and I'm looking forward to celebrating their many achievements across 2024."
Maisie McCabe