Talk about shifting tides. Media agencies are fast becoming the ad industry darlings. With increasing reach, innovation and, yes, creativity, they’re generating the kind of respect and influence unheard of as little as five years ago.
So it’s timely that strategy’s Media Agency of the Year competition is back in full force and bigger than ever. This year, we expanded the voting process – including recognition of negotiators and Quebec agencies – and continued to ask sellers across the country which media director and agencies are tops in the biz.
This year’s winners include some tried-and-true favourites as well as some new faces. But one thing’s for sure, with the rapidly changing marketing landscape, things will never be the same again. Without further ado, strategy’s 2005 media agency winners…
The process
How do you get to be Media Agency of the Year?
* The winner is determined by a confidential poll of top media sellers across the country.
* Over 800 people at TV networks, magazines, Web sites, newspapers, outdoor and other media companies were contacted by e-mail and asked to visit a secure voting Web site.
* Upon visiting the site, each executive listed, then rated, agencies they interacted with in the past year on a scale of 1 to 10.
* The scores for each operation were based on three factors:
* General attributes: Is the company well organized? Does it have professional personnel? Is it up-to-date in its attitudes, data and techniques? Is it imaginative in its general approach to media? Is it responsive to new ideas and recommendations?
* Planning attributes: Does the company show a strong understanding of your particular medium? Does it develop a strategic approach to looking at problems and opportunities?
* Buying attributes: Is the company likely to get the best efficiencies for the client’s dollar? Does it excel at negotiating the best all-round value for advertisers?
* We then averaged the numerical scores from the sellers, and the operation with the highest overall score won.
* The same process was used to determine the Quebec Media Agency of the Year.
Media Director of the Year
* Each seller we surveyed was also asked to nominate an individual for the Best Media Director award.
* When rating the nominees, sellers were asked to consider such criteria as knowledge of the media industry, creativity in coming up with innovative media solutions and openness to new ideas.
* The media director or president who received the most nominations won.
Negotiators of the Year
* One of this year’s new categories, the process was similar to finding the Media Director of the Year. We asked sellers to nominate the individual they felt was supremely informed about the media environment and able to offer the best value to the client.
