Check Out The Brilliant Finalists From B&T Awards Branding/Design Agency Of The Year

As the date for the fabulous B&T Awards creeps closer, we’re bringing you a cheeky insight into the incredibly talented finalists for each of the award categories, because let’s face it, this industry is pretty bloody clever.

Last week we got a glimpse at the entries for Advertising Agency of the Year – featuring Colenso, The Monkeys and TBWA, and today we’re diving headfirst into the finalists from Branding & Design Agency of the Year who chose to participate in this showcase.

More than 800 people are expected to attend this year’s awards, which will be held at Sydney Town Hall on Friday 18 November, with VERY LIMITED tickets left. Also, we’d like to point out that while the judges’ scores are being aggregated to choose your B&T Awards winners as we speak, the People’s Choice is still up for grabs.

Vote for your agency right here – and for those of you with less than five votes to their name – shame on you, we know how many staff you all have!

Let’s meet your Branding & Design Agency of the Year finalists:

Block

Hi. We’re Block and we’re building something.

Something that is very difficult to define. It’s collaborative and based on the strength of partnerships.

Smart, versatile and nimble, it’s fuelled by passion, commitment and ethics.

We’re not an advertising agency nor a design studio nor a media company – although we can be all of those things from time-to-time.

We are a group of dreamers and pragmatists, lovers and fighters. We think big before we get down and dirty. We work hard to craft tailored communications that fit our clients perfectly.

Because the media, business and social landscapes are in a constant state of flux, so too are we.
We seek clients who are dealing with transformation and change.

We are building something – and we always will be.

We believe that insightful strategy, world-class creativity, thoughtful tactics expressed through the smart use of media will deliver results for our clients’ brands and their business.

We are Block, and we’re building something.

Thirteen years ago, we started with two people, one client and a big dream to do great work with good folk.

From our inception we have sought to create an agency that challenges the pre-conceived notions of what a traditional advertising and graphic design businesses should be and how they should operate and broke away from the limitations of convention.

Everyone says they are different and, in that respect, we are no different. But we are different, honestly.

But different for the sake of being different serves no purpose. So whilst our industry continues to experience constant change and uncertainty, we have experienced steady growth without compromising quality and this is reflected in the creative work produced by the agency, as well as, on the balance sheet.

We’re Block and we are building something special so they will come, and come they have.

Frost*collective

Frost*collective is a dynamic, strategic full service communications agency offering three core areas of expertise – Frost* (branding and strategy), Nest (digital/VR) and Urbanite (environmental branding). We work across a broad industry base in both the public and private sectors helping our clients with their business challenges by creating successful and award winning solutions.

Along with the diversity of client work across the business which plays a large role in defining what makes us different, Frost*collective’s collaborative and friendly environment helps us to produce great work. The ongoing development of employees has proven successful in recruiting and retaining staff. By making personal development a focus, both the business and clients benefit from the delivery of a higher quality of work.

Monthly deFrost* talks feature speakers from a broad network of leading local and international thinkers and achievers. deFrost* offers informal debate and discussion giving the audience the opportunity to participate in the development of ideas pertinent to commercial creativity.

Culture at work must include a social element. The Social Team organises regular lunches, sports days and culturally creative outings. Tuesday Breakfasts allow the agency to reconnect, celebrate wins and catch up on projects; Friday Drinks are a given. We also know it’s the little things that count, so nobody works on their birthday.

There are no offices, and teams are clustered. Staff autonomy grooms proactive team players, encouraging a strong migration of ideas across business units resulting in enriched design outcomes. Over the last two years we have seen clients take advantage of the breadth of our cross sector expertise all under one roof.

“We are diligently focused on outcomes – designing behaviours, journeys and connections – and indulge in the discovery of new and different ways to design success for ourselves and our clients,” said Vince Frost, CEO, Frost*collective.

Re

We live in a world that is changing at an astonishing rate. Technology is redefining the nature of experience, consumers have become creators and businesses are disappearing faster than ever. Re builds brands that are able to thrive in this new world.

We’re a strategic brand consultancy with offices in Sydney and London. As part of the M&C Saatchi network, we have defined and designed brands for some of the largest organisations in the Asia Pacific.

Re believes that in order to succeed, today’s brands need to have the flex to be surprising, to be responsive and, most importantly, to stay relevant to people. ‘Re’ comes from the Latin meaning again and again. We use a process of ongoing iteration to enable our clients’ brands to constantly evolve with the world around them.

We build brands to be like David Bowie. They have the innate ability to adapt in response to cultural change, all while remaining unmistakably themselves. We call this building brands that move at the speed of culture.

Over the course of 2016, we’ve developed significant IP to enable us to diagnose and deliver cultural relevance to a broad spectrum of clients. We’ve also shared our approach in a national series of talks.

Our own culture is strongly focused on learning and development. We seek out people who are fascinated by how the world is changing, and the things these changes make possible. People who take the work seriously but themselves, not so much. We encourage our people to continually explore new ways that creativity can solve problems, and share their findings with the rest of us.

The next step for Re is to get further upstream in the creative process. Not just applying the graphics at the end, but helping to shape products and experiences that people genuinely want. We believe this is the best way to ensure our clients’ brands stay relevant, and their businesses thrive into the future.