UM Australia took out Agency of the Year at the Festival of Media Global awards in Rome on Tuesday night.

UM Australia also nabbed the Festival of Media Global’s Campaign of the Year for its work on the Australian Government’s campaign, Cross the Line (XTL).

The campaign was a youth-focused initiative promoting respectful relationships and the responsible use of social media.

It goes without saying that UM Australia were absolutely thrilled with the result, however this achievement now places the benchmark of where UM Australia aim to stay.

“The sign of a truly great agency is continuity and sustainability and actually being able to protect and maintain and grow on that standard,” Mat Baxter, CEO of UM Australia, said.

UM Australia’s internal aims is to be viewed as world-class, not just Australian class, and the awards are a “pretty big acknowledgement and recognition of the hard work going on at the agency”.

“For a market of our size, Australia is producing the best work in the world,” Baxter said. “It’s a really good sign of the health of the market.

“Have a pretty fierce reputation as a country and Australia is the force to be reckoned with in the other markets.”

The XTL campaign won gold for Best Social Media Strategy, silver in the Utility/Public Service category and bronze for the Best Targeted Campaign.

UM Australia also won gold in the Best Entertainment Platform category for work ING Direct’s Spend Your Lunch Well and silver for Best Communications Strategy for the News Corp’s Fast Front Pages.