The Campaign Global Agency of the Year awards recognize and celebrate the best agencies worldwide – and the talented people working within them. This celebration is run across four continents – providing a global arena where agencies can compete directly with each other.
Now in their third year, the awards are judged by a select panel of global and regional chief marketing officers; the people in a position to hire shops and authorize budgets. This year’s chair of judges is Aline Santos, chief brand officer and chief equity, diversity & inclusion officer at Unilever.
Championing both the craft of marketing and the diversity within it, Santos is the driving force behind Unilever’s #Unstereotype initiative, working to break outdated stereotypes and harmful social norms. In 2021, she was named Marketing Leader of the Year by the Marketing Society.
Like other Agency of The Year Awards schemes run by Campaign, judging of the Global awards is also audited by PwC to ensure maximum trust and transparency.
Awards like no other
There’s an avalanche of awards that acknowledge creative excellence, or reward effectiveness, or celebrate talent. The Global Agency of the Year awards are different, combining all those qualities plus a range of additional benchmarks, including new business performance, thought-leadership, innovation, culture, and values.
While these are plaudits for the world’s most outstanding shops and brightest talent, agencies don’t need to be global in scale to be world class in stature. These awards allow single independent agencies the same chance as a multi-regional network to claim their achievements are best in the world in a particular field. Of the nominations for 2021’s Campaign’s Global Agency of the Year Awards, 99 came from the EMEA region, 32 from the APAC region, and 38 were from the Americas.
This year, thirty prizes are up for grabs including: Brand Experience Agency, Consultancy, Customer Engagement Agency, Digital Innovation Agency, Independent Agency, In-House Agency, Media Agency, Performance Agency, and PR Agency. Categories for individuals include the opportunity to be named Campaign‘s Global Creative Leader of the Year, and recognition for internal diversity and inclusion initiatives.
What does it take to win?
Last year, Denmark’s &Co was named the Gold winner in the Creative Agency of the Year category. Founded in 2000 and based in Copenhagen, the agency grew by around 25% in 2021, increased its workforce and won new business. It ran the biggest sampling campaign in history for small liquorice brand LBB: “Share it with a hater” invited anyone to sign up to receive a free liquorice sample, if they promised to share it with a liquorice hater. &Co. calculated that in 412 years, this bizarre mission would make 84% of the world love liquorice. Judges said the agency had produced “stunning, well-presented creative, with results and clear client buy-in to punchy ideas, resulting in beautiful work”.
Ogilvy was named Global Network of the Year, having attracted a range of new clients in the previous 12 months, as well as achieving strong organic growth with existing clients. It also invested heavily in diverse talent; in the past year the agency’s global executive leadership team has become more representative of the communities in which its employees live and work. Judges applauded Ogilvy for a “great roster of work” for current and new clients, and said it had done “all the right things for the industry and its people”.
See the full list of last year’s winners here: Campaign Global Agency of the Year Awards
Request entry guidelines for this year here: Home – Aoy Global Awards
Campaign is curating a Canadian jury pool comprised of top marketers, and is offering strategy’s audience the opportunity to enter AOTYG this year at a special rate of $733 per entry, discounted from the standard price of $966; simply use the code AOYGCANADA when entering to claim the introductory discount by Feb 6.
