THE GRAND PRIX

Special by name, Special by nature. Was that gag a bit obvious? Perhaps. But what is also obvious is how remarkable the last 12 months have been for the New Zealand-born but world-conquering agency.

It took home eight trophies tonight. Five for its campaign work (two of which in partnership with indie media agency Hatched) and three Agency of the Year trophies, including the always hotly contested NSW Agency of the Year, the similarly sought after Independent Agency with More Than 50 Employees and the Advertising Agency of the Year trophies. That’s some haul indeed.

It isn’t hard to see why. Its work across clients including HBO Max, Bonds—which it launched into the US market—Origin Energy, Coopers, Cricket Australia, Kitchen Warehouse, ANZ and Smiths has always been impressive. More impressive still is that its Sydney office is creating and leading work in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and even the US. In fact, its Sydney team even played a significant role in the creation of Uber Eats’ sprawling, season-long Super Bowl campaign. Its work in Australia for Uber Eats continues to set the bar for smart, culture-jacking creativity, too.

Americans, Aussies and everyone in between has been eating up Special’s incredible work. Not least our judges. “Global-standard creative consistency,” said one. “In a VERY tight race, what set Special apart was their ability to consistently deliver brilliant work across all clients, all shapes of work and all budgets,” gushed another. “A real class act,” said a third.

But it isn’t only on the creative work that Special sets the pace for the rest of the industry. As much as we talk about AI, Special is proof that human talent supported by a fantastic culture is what makes one agency better than another. It offers industry-leading psychological safety tools that support inter-agency relationships and those with clients. It offers flexible working arrangements and flexible parental leave. It sends its staff on leading (and expensive) training courses, it has doubled down on its Reconciliation journey with a new RAP and deepened its partnership with Awesome Black. It has made significant new hires and offered the chance for its staff to move to offices around the world should they fancy a taste of teppanyaki in Tokyo, a slice of lemon drizzle in London or, erm, a bagel in New York.

Its model is proving increasingly alluring for clients with the agency notching 30 (yes, 30) new business wins over the last year across different scopes of work. Its push into the world of PR is proving to be a winner, too, winning nine new pieces of business including three retained pieces of work. Its revenue growth across the network was strong, with some offices significantly outperforming the market, too.

Time after time this year, Special raised the bar. Only to raise it again.