It has been a year of ups and downs for Palmer Jarvis DDB. But it’s ending on a high note.

For the second year in a row, the Vancouver-based agency has captured Strategy’s Agency of the Year title, earning top marks from a 13-member panel of senior marketing executives and advertising creatives. Toronto-based agencies TAXI Advertising & Design and MacLaren McCann took second and third place.

This news comes just two weeks after PJDDB lost out to Cossette Communication-Marketing in a bid for the McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada national English-language account.

That’s the latest in a string of frustrations that also includes the loss of Compaq Canada, and a failed attempt to land the CIBC business. To say nothing of the difficult transitional period that followed the much-discussed departure of national creative director Chris Staples late last year.

Through it all, however, the agency has continued to deliver outstanding work for its clients, earning kudos for campaigns on behalf of Bud Light, Telus, St. John Ambulance, Pine-Sol and Degree, among others.

In addition to the Agency of the Year title, PJDDB has also earned top spot for the fourth year running in Strategy’s Creative Report Card, an annual feature charting the results of the year’s major advertising award shows.

The Media Edge, meanwhile, has been named Strategy’s Best Media Operation in a confidential poll of media sellers.

For full coverage of the 2000 Agency of the Year and Best Media Operation competitions, see the magazine inserted in this issue of Strategy. You can also check out the Agency of the Year online gallery (www.strategymag.com/aoy) to see more examples of the creative work submitted for this year’s competition.