Whybin\TBWA has triumphed as B&T’s Agency of the Year, with the Omnicom-owned agency also taking out the award for Advertising Agency of the Year.
With complete client retention, billings exceeding $160m, major new client wins including Medibank, Tourism New Zealand, EA Games and Luxbet, and highly successful campaigns for MJ Bale, NRMA Insurance and Nissan, the judges described the agency’s portfolio of work as “fantastic”.
UM won the coveted title of Media Agency of the Year, after some stellar work for McDonalds (‘McDonalds Gets Grilled’), Meat & Livestock Australia and an anti-smoking project for the Australian Government.
M&C Saatchi took the gong for NSW Agency of the Year, praised by the judging panel for “an amazing turnaround story” with exemplary ‘Can’ work for new client, The Commonwealth Bank, and innovative work for Google with the Lego ‘Build with Chrome’ campaign. It also retained major client Optus after a pitch and won Etihad globally.
CumminsRoss was awarded Victorian Agency of the Year over Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, George Patts and Leo Burnett, commended for adding 14 new clients to its books in the past 12 months, and growing from a staff of 22 to 70.
Queensland Agency went to Pusher, with judges praising the agency’s staff engagement initiatives and innovative work in the digital space, including an exercise app for Lorna Jane and an integrated experiential campaign for Big Bash League cricket team, Brisbane Heat.
The competition in Marketing Team of the Year was tough with big name brands and well known campaigns such as Commonwealth Bank, Telstra and Tourism Australia put under the microscope.
But it was the Taylors Wines team of five and their modest marketing budget that was triumphant in the hotly contested category with their ‘Bringing Great Wines to Life’ campaign.
The judges said it was “brilliant to see a manufacturer using marketing to drive growth in a tough environment”.
The Employer of the Year gong was handed to MediaCom for its “people come first attitude” with the judges describing the agency as a “standout”. The Group M agency has boasted a staff retention rate of 82% for the second year running with its $1.3m investment in staff training a key to its staff’s contentment.
Chris Howatson, who is managing partner of CHE Proximity at just 27 years of age, took home the Young Achiever honour.
The judges described Howatson, who is the former managing partner of Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and general manager of Clemenger Proximity Melbourne, as a “true leader of the future”.
The Best Ad Campaign trophy went to Naked Communications for the Coca-Cola ‘Share a Coke’ work which re-introduced social currency to an iconic brand that had somewhat fallen out of touch with its youth target market.
The Media Campaign of the Year gong went to MEC for its ‘Top That’ work for Arnott’s Vita-Weat brand.
The campaign set out to breathe new life into the brand which hadn’t changed since the ‘70s. The judges said the “insight was great” and “whoever came up with this idea really understands today’s world.” MEC was also shortlisted for its ‘Truly Madly Tim Tam’ Arnott’s campaign.
PR Agency of the Year went to One Green Bean which delivered cut-through work for Virgin Mobile with its ‘Fair go bro’ Doug Pitt campaign created in association with Havas Worldwide Australia. The agency posted a 50% profit hike over the last 12 months and had a 90% pitch strike rate.
PR Campaign of the Year went to Whybin\TBWA Sydney and Eleven PR for their M.J. Bale ‘Grazed on Greatness’ campaign.
The unique campaign, which saw grass from the SCG pitch planted for the brand’s merino sheep to graze on, was conducted on a shoe-string budget. The judges said the campaign was “very Australian”, “brilliant” and “to get sales into DJs is an amazing outcome and result”.
The success of the ‘Grazed on Greatness’ campaign also saw Whybin\TBWA Sydney and Eleven PR claim victory in the Best Use of Sponsorship category.
Interactive Agency of the Year went to Lavender which saw a 100% spike in digital revenue this year – a total of $6.9m – added four new clients to its books and created stand-out work for Jack Daniels and EB Games.
Lavender also won Direct Marketing Agency of the Year on account of its work for Coles’ new loyalty scheme, Flybuys.
WeAreDigital took out the title of Specialist Agency of the Year, commended for winning 18 new clients and throwing resources into staff development programs. The judges said they admired the agency’s “entrepreneurial spirit”.
Emerging Agency went to AnalogFolk, which judges said had achieved magnificent momentum in its short 10 months, securing big name clients like MTV, Foxtel and Sumo Salad.
Experiential Agency of the Year was awarded to Wonder for an innovative campaign for Qantas called ‘The great crusade’ which linked the airline unofficially to the Wallabies rugby team, generating more than 42 million media impressions.
Integer took out Promotional Agency of the Year with the judges describing the agency’s marketing as “inspired”.
DM Agency of the Year went to Lavender with the success of the refreshed Flybuys program driving the agency’s claim to the title.
The judges appreciated the “different” way Lavender approaches its projects and said its digital marketing know-how helped it to “pull away from other agencies”
In a flat media sales environment, Multi Channel Network boasted an 8% increase in revenue to bring its TV takings to an $343m in the last year.
The achievement did not go unregistered with MCN taking home the Media Sales Team of The Year award.
Seven year old site Kidspot.com.au won Media Brand of the Year, beating Adshel and the REA Group to the award.
Mark’s ‘Lego Built with Chrome’ campaign claimed Digital Campaign of the Year against competition including GPY&R’s Defence University Scholarships and the Carlton Draught ‘Draught Pick’.
Big Mobile stole the show in the Digital Services Company of the Year category with staggering revenue growth and a strong commitment to developing the industry winning the judges over.
