Last year, Baldwin&, based in Raleigh, N.C., won Campaign of the Year for its "Find Your Burt" effort for Burt's Bees.
Previous overall winners include Via, in Portland, Maine; Pereira & O'Dell in San Francisco; and Rockfish Interactive, based in Rogers, Ark., which is now owned by WPP.
"The creative ideas and the strategic thinking we are seeing out of the small agency community is highly impressive," said Ad Age Agency Editor Rupal Parekh, one of the judges. "The work these shops are doing is original, unexpected and above all has a huge impact on their clients' bottom lines. I'd stack up any of the shops on our list this year against big agencies in terms of quality of output. They are really leveling the playing field."
This year saw an increase in entries from minority-owned shops and what are typically described as "multicultural" shops. A number of such shops took home awards based on results they're garnering not just for ethnic marketing, but for general-market marketing as well.
"This is our fourth Small Agency Awards and we continue to be impressed by the quality of entries, proving that size has no bearing on the ability to offer effective marketing ideas," said Editor Abbey Klaassen. "I can confidently say that our winners exemplify creativity, entrepreneurialism and ingenuity -- there's a lot to be learned from them, no matter what your size."
To learn more about these agencies, look out for the August 6 issue of Ad Age , which will feature profiles on each of the award-winners.
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR
GOLD: Baldwin&, Raleigh, N.C.SILVER: Sub Rosa, New York
CAMPAIGN OF THE YEAR
GOLD: Mono, Minneapolis: BlueCross BlueShield's "The Human Doing"SILVER: Johannes Leonardo, New York: Google's "Project Re: Brief"
INTERNATIONAL AGENCY OF THE YEAR
GOLD: Akestam Holst, Stockholm, Sweden
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: CULTURE
Glass Agency, Sacramento, Calif.
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: 1-10 EMPLOYEES
GOLD: Manifold, San FranciscoSILVER: The Distillery Project, Chicago
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: 11-75 EMPLOYEES
GOLD: Commonground, ChicagoSILVER: Mekanism, San Francisco
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: 76-150 EMPLOYEES
GOLD: LatinWorks, Austin, TexasSILVER: Walton Isaacson, Los Angeles
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: NORTHEAST REGION
GOLD: Walrus, New YorkSILVER: Cross Media, New York
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: MIDWEST REGION
GOLD: Bailey Lauerman, Lincoln, Neb.SILVER: Modern Climate, Minneapolis
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: SOUTHEAST REGION
GOLD: JESS3, Washington, D.C.SILVER: La Comunidad, Miami
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: SOUTHWEST REGION
GOLD: Rain, American Fork, UtahSILVER: Proof Advertising, Austin, Texas
SMALL AGENCY OF THE YEAR: WEST REGION
GOLD: Magner Sanborn, Spokane, Wash.SILVER: Muh-Tay-Zik Hof-fer, San Francisco