Each year, the Ad Age A-List and Creativity Awards honor the best advertising agencies and the most creative people, work and companies moving the business forward. We’re thrilled to announce that we shall once again toast winners in person with the return of our annual gala in New York City on April 25, 2022.
We’ve also evolved the program to recognize sectors that have become more crucial to the industry—as well as more companies and individuals that are integral to shaping its future.
The A-List and Creativity Awards have 13 new categories, including those honoring the top agency networks, brand creative chiefs, holding companies, social marketers and more.
See a breakdown of all the new categories below.
A-List
Agency Network of the Year
This award honors a group of agencies under a single network that collectively has done the most outstanding work—in terms of creativity and effectiveness—in 2021.
Holding Company of the Year
This award celebrates a single holding company that has stood out in the eligible year. Judges will consider factors such as client wins across several agencies within the company or a win that results in the formation of a dedicated shop to service a single client. Financial performance, organic growth, business wins, new client capabilities, major moves and hires, acquisitions, dispositions, creative prowess and more will factor into the judges’ decision.
Customer Experience Agency of the Year
This award is bestowed on the agency that has best created new strategies and smart new ideas that have enabled clients to connect more closely with consumers. This could include rethinking product offerings using data or insights, reconfiguring how clients reach customers with new delivery methods or apps or in general finding new ways for clients to make their consumers’ experience more seamless, create new connections to foster loyalty or increase and build their customer base.
Newcomer Agency of the Year
This honor recognizes the most standout agency formed in the past 18 months. Agencies that opened their doors between April 1, 2020 and Oct. 1, 2021 may enter.
Purpose-Led Agency of the Year
This award honors the agency that most successfully assisted marketers in leading their brands on social awareness issues such as sustainability, social justice, community development and more, while also fostering and building similar purpose-led initiatives within their own ranks and/or via pro bono efforts on behalf of outside entities.
Social Media/Influencer Agency of the Year
This award honors agencies doing outstanding work helping clients shine on social media outlets including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Winning agencies will have an established track record in helping identify and connect brands with influencers and social media stars, create attention-getting campaigns and efforts based on social trends for marketers and show via specific and measurable examples of client campaigns that generated attention and sales using social media outlets and/or social media stars.
See full descriptions for all the A-List categories here.
Creativity Awards
THE WORK
Creative Data Campaign of the Year
While data is seen by some as a creativity killer, the smartest advertisers and agencies know how to turn data into creative gold. This category will honor bright ideas that pair data and creative thinking to create powerful, innovative marketing pushes or even products that propel a brand’s business.
Best B-to-B Campaign
B-to-B doesn’t have to mean “boring.” In this category, we will shine a light on the most innovative and creative advertising and marketing ideas tailored to speaking to other businesses, whether in concept, craft, strategy or ideally, all three. The work honored here should be on par with the best consumer-facing pushes.
PEOPLE
Social Lead/Community Manager of the Year
This category celebrates a creative, strategist or executive on the agency or brand side who has demonstrated innovative, groundbreaking thinking in the social media space in the past year.
CREATIVE MARKETING
Brand CCO of the Year
Brands’ in-house marketing and creative teams have proved they can create groundbreaking campaigns on par with those from top agencies. For some, that’s thanks to their own creative leaders who have helped shepherd innovative ideas and new ways of working. This category will honor the brand chief creative officer who has led their team in producing envy-inducing creative ideas that also moved business.
Social Marketer of the Year
The world of social media can be a finicky place, and only a few brands know how to tread the space with authenticity and flair. This category honors the brand that does social best.
Best Rebrand of the Year
The best, most enduring brands know how to preserve the DNA that propelled them to success while modernizing it for new generations. This category will honor the company that in the past year most expertly made its brand feel fresh again while honoring its long-standing legacy.
PRODUCTION
Agency Head of Production of the Year
This category recognizes an agency head of production whose leadership and creativity have steered an agency in creating the year’s most compelling, challenging marketing messages and ideas. A promising submission will illustrate how the executive has both inspired and grown their team and how contributions impacted their agency’s overall creative output this past year.
See full descriptions of all the Creativity Awards categories here.
Enter the A-List and Creativity Awards here
Dates to remember:
DEADLINES AND FEES
There is a tiered entry fee structure for the program. Unlike previous years, the entry deadline for both A-List and Creativity awards is Jan. 11, 2022.
Regular pricing:
$450 per category. Ends Dec. 7, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. ET
Final deadline pricing:
$600 per category. Deadline Jan. 11, 2022, at 5 p.m. ET
There will be no deadline extensions beyond those outlined above.
