Why B!G? Why now?

Award shows recognize execution, and clients largely compensate for it. Some shows recognize effectiveness, but they, too, are tied to traditional media executions. And while our own Agency of the Year competition equally values both the creative and the strategic side of the agencies’ work, we also focus on individual campaigns.

This year, strategy wanted to add something new to the mix. We wanted to get a sense of the scope of work agencies are doing that is beyond advertising, work that explores the range of contributions that agencies make to their clients’ complex business challenges in the areas that span internal branding, shaping customer experience, segmentation or developing new products, for example.

So we created the B!G Awards.

It celebrates the intellectual contribution of agencies – sparkling examples of thought leadership that go beyond campaign contributions – and the results they engender.

Who qualified?

Agencies submitted a case study from a client that has a media spend of over $20 million and that represents $2 million or more in revenue to the agency.

What we asked for

We requested work – beyond advertising – in a case study format that an agency has completed for a client that highlights the insight, solutions and impact that the agency’s contributions have made to solve a broader business problem.

How we picked a winner

We invited five members of the advertising community with a range of experience – from strategy, to consulting, to teaching – to act as judges. We asked them to consider each case study in three areas: Strategy (strategic brilliance), Creativity (from innovation to execution) and Impact (the broader effects of the idea) and offer a score from one to 10.

We then averaged each agency’s score to determine the winners.