What Does It Take To Make It As A B&T PR Agency Of The Year Finalist?

We’re counting down to our freakin’ amazing B&T Awards next Friday, and as we creep closer to go-time, we’re showcasing the last few finalists in the major categories to show you what you’re up against/what it takes to make it in the awards.

Today we’re checking out the PR Agency of the Year candidates Atomic 212, Klick Communications, One Green Bean and Red Agency.

Eat your heart out.

Klick Communications

Recruitment

We’re a lean operation that works on some of the world’s biggest brands; from Red Bull to Havaianas, Sunglass Hut to Contiki, Hilton Sydney to Woolmark, and even the retail arm of an AU$73 billion investment group. Why do these brands trust Klick with their future?

It’s pretty simple – we are a nimble and passionate team based in three time zones who can do the basics brilliantly, embrace change, leave egos at the front door and we put people first.

We’ve had our best year to date; we managed to open a third international office, co-found an influencer measurement and discovery platform, casually branded a plane with our client’s ambassadors, product and logo, launched an SVOD service (that has already outlived at least one competitor so far) and delivered a 60 per cent increase in web traffic from a single execution for just one of our partners.

Body of Work

Golden Door – Our campaign achieved a 60 per cent increase in web traffic and a clickthrough rate that is 22 per cent higher than industry average, helping The Golden Door beat its previous highest sales month by 22 per cent.

Eastland – Coverage appeared on Channel 7 and Nine and the news repeatedly featured online, in print and on the radio. Impressions are estimated to have exceeded 56 million, with the launch appearing on the front page of the local paper as well as in The Age and Herald Sun.

Agency Culture

We put people first. We spend 5 per cent of profits on team development, have no traditional performance reviews but instead have a coaching and development schedule that covers personal and professional goals for the year. Each year we win, we go to Hawaii…We’ve been every year since opening.

Commercial Success

We’ve expanded our client roster by 88 per cent and made seven new hires across three time zones.

Red Agency

Delivering some of the most disruptive and iconic PR campaigns in the market, returning a phenomenal run on new business and smashing commercial targets, the last year was the most successful to date for Red Agency.

The agency’s vision to create Australia’s most ground-breaking and inspirational campaigns is proven through the recognition it receives by its industry, in trade media and at award shows.  Over the past 12 months the agency won some 30+ international and domestic awards.

The success has been down to the talent, obsession and passion of its high-performing teams to gain the trust of their client to do the type of work that gets noticed, talked about and makes you proud. Red Agency is redefining the meaning of PR and its value through the creation of campaigns that are designed to be ‘deliberately shareable’ and outcome focused.

The team is constantly looking to challenge how things are done and it the agency has heavily invested social, experiential and in influencer engagement to further improve the creative product and work produced.

A great example is the PR and social content work undertaken for Chandon to announce its global sponsorship of McLaren-Honda F1 team earlier this year that featured two world champion drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button and surpassed all KPIs. View the film here:

Media relations remains a crucial part of the agency’s business and the campaign undertaken in partnership with Destination NSW for Vivid Sydney 2016 is a great example, helping to deliver the Festival’s most successful year ever. Vivid saw more than 2.3m visitors (up 35 per cent), 34 per cent more hotel rooms sold and 14,400+ earned media items, including more than 2,000 TV items.

Despite a major storm in the middle of the Festival that forced it to close for two days, the Festival pumped a record $110m into the NSW economy.

In September 2016 Red Agency opened its first international office in Singapore, showcasing the confidence parent company, Havas, has in the Red Agency brand.

Atomic 212

We are an independent, technology-driven, full service media and advertising agency. We opened our doors in early 2014. In two years, client billings have grown from a base of $20m to $250m. All wins have been independently earned with no global alignments. We have worked hard to grow.

AGENCY OF THE FUTURE:

Atomic 212° is a streamlined network of three core creative media companies, ring-fenced by a central communication advisory and management business (CCAMB).

The creative media companies are not silos. The creative media companies are divisions de ned by broad territory of expertise, with no room for media verticals:

CCAMB: Client service/management. Strategy: Pioneering thinking, problem solving Performance media: Driving retail outcomes Brands: Driving brand outcomes

Clients want a service that is reliable, on brand and relevant at that given moment in time. They want one platform to make that happen for them. The CCAMB is the glue that integrates all divisions and capabilities, and has driven considerable commercial growth since Atomic 212° opened its doors in Q1 2014.

Future models and data-centric competitors would lack human connections, become distanced from core company values and create barriers to insight collaboration. This was a space we could thrive in.

TURNOVER: 97.5 per cent STAFF RETENTION STAFF GROWTH: 21 TO 100 IN TWO YEARS

CULTURAL FOCUS:

Atomic 212° was conceptualised with the philosophy that we could do good without doing bad. We call it corporate karma and it extends beyond the bottom line.

The agency is implementing small changes and experimenting with unique ways of working in order to create a flexible work environment to foster creativity. 2016 has been marked by reinvention, innovation and cultural evolution. To deliver on our goals for 2016, our values were redefined and realised by our people.

• Integrity, transparency, shared education, respect, and 
teamwork
• A belief that the good customers are king
• Self-motivation, zest, collaboration, and the courage to 
lead
• Build relationships based on doing the right thing
• Innovate, investigate and articulate through imagination

KEY CULTURAL PROGRAMS:

Phase one ‘Talk First’ Initiative

• Face-to-face interaction and ban on internal emails.
• Co-determination: Staff sit on board and have personal vested interest in our success and culture.
• The CEO presents monthly ‘Cultural Achievement Awards’:

1. a) The Golden James Cook Award: employee of the month b) The Golden Heart for helpful employees
c) The Golden Shark’s Tooth: the hardest worker

Phase two ‘The Fresh Air Project’

• Flexible outdoor work environment, standing desks, remote office strategies and hot-desking.

Phase three ‘Health and fexibility’

• Employees utilize office Double Robotics telepresence robot to attend meetings and workshops from their home and abroad.
• ‘Yoga on the Wharf’: Complimentary yoga for the community and industry members every Tuesday morning.

Other programs:
a) Subsidised gym membership and health insurance b) CEO for a Day

Phase four ‘Tangible, real diversity’

• Gender equality: Female board members, over 50 per cent 
senior female sta
• Cultural diversity quota
• Charity: UNLTD, Ride to conquer cancer and CEO Jason 
Dooris personally drove in Variety Bash. 
These cultural initiatives have led to agency wins including a silver gong in the Cool Company Awards 2015.

ONE GREEN BEAN

“For me, this is one year in, in the hot seat.

What a year it’s been. Grasping the speed at which we work. The pace at which we think, create and propagate.  It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced.

12 months ago it was a step into the unknown, taking the helm of a modern creative agency that excels in unlocking the potential of owned and earned channels.

A business that is nine years young – founded by Kat Thomas & Anthony Freedman. Last year we focused on evolution and transition. This year we reflect on the outcomes and achievements of that journey.

This was the year we experienced a level of commercial growth that we haven’t experienced for a long time. Winning new clients from Uber to Maurice Blackburn. From Bang & Olufsen to HCF.

This was the year we launched new IP in the form of our social influence product, Crowd Atlas, and our trend hunter, Beagle.

This was the year we hired more specialists, than ever before. We hired more publicists than ever before too.  We launched a new measurement approach and we tackled the shackle of over servicing too.

We kept our secret sauce: our creative appetite. And launched new rituals like Curry Club and Sidewalk Cricket.

I saw the extraordinary in our collective grit. And fell in love with a team of 70 Beans.  Beans who are keen to do good work and to give back.  The Sony Foundation provided an outlet for many, who are now actively involved with a local soup kitchen.

Marketing experts exclaim that change will never be this slow again.  At One Green Bean we are adopting the future. Not – simply – adapting to it.”

Carl Ratcliff CEO