Introducing the 2024 Small Agency of the Year Awards winners

Ad Age named the winners of its 16th annual Small Agency Awards in Boston on July 24. The program recognizes independent shops that stand out for their solid business results and strong creative ideas that move the needle for clients’ sales. This year’s winners were culled from a list of hundreds of entries from the U.S. and globally, representing some of the best and brightest independent agencies and executives, along with their most creative and effective campaigns. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here “The work and talent that comes from these indie agencies never ceases to amaze our judges,” said Judann Pollack, Ad Age executive editor. “Their growth strategies, smart expansion of capabilities and new-business acumen prove that these agencies are adapting and thriving in a world of projects, in-housing and fractional marketing leadership at clients.” Below, we’ve put together a fact sheet on the awards, the judging and the process. What are the Ad Age Small Agency Awards? The Ad Age Small Agency Awards recognize standout independent agencies with fewer than 150 employees that are producing both noteworthy creative work and strong business results. The awards program is run in tandem with the Small Agency Conference, a two-day event that offers hands-on business advice tailored to the needs of small agencies on topics such as how to compete for new business, how to win at recruiting, how to deal with client procurement departments and more. Where are the awards held? The awards travel from city to city each year. In past years it has been held in places including New Orleans; Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles; and Miami. This year’s event was held in Boston on July 23-24. What awards categories are included? The awards have three components: Best Agencies of the Year, Campaigns of the Year and People Awards. New in recent years are PR Agency of the Year, Design Agency of the Year, Experiential Agency of the Year, Purpose-Based Agency of the Year, Data & Insights Agency of the Year and Health Care Campaign of the Year. What are the judging criteria for the best agency awards? The Agency of the Year awards are chosen by the Ad Age editorial staff and are based on several factors. One is business momentum, which takes into account factors including new business wins, revenue growth and the number of new hires. Another is creative prowess based upon the quality of campaigns submitted, along with the breadth of its work—for example, is the agency proficient in all forms of creative including social, digital, out-of-home and PR? Judges also take into strong consideration the effectiveness of the work and the specific results it has produced for its clients. Another consideration is how an agency is approaching future growth—is it looking to break into new disciplines or partner with others to master health care, gaming, AI, media and the like? Judges also take into account an agency’s culture, how it is engaging existing employees, its employee benefit and enrichment programs, current diversity stats and how it is working to diversify its talent base. How are campaigns of the year chosen? The Campaigns of the Year awards are judged by an outside panel of judges composed of creative directors from ad agencies; judges rotate every year. (For a full list of the 2024 campaign judges click here.) The campaign awards are separated into seven categories: B2B, Digital, Pro Bono, Integrated, Health Care, Experiential and Media. How are the People Awards chosen? Based on the entries, Ad Age staffers make the selections for the People Awards, which currently encompass these categories: Strategic Planner of the Year, Producer of the Year, Account Manager of the Year, Media Planner of the Year, Executive of the Year and Creative Directors of the Year. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here How does Ad Age define a small agency? For the purposes of the awards, a small agency is classified as one with fewer than 150 full-time employees. But to put shops on an even playing field, the awards are divided into several categories. There are gold and silver awards given in three size categories—agencies with 1-10 employees; agencies with 11-75 employees; and agencies with 76-150 employees. In addition, there are gold and silver awards given by region—Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, West and International. There are also two top awards: Agency of the Year silver and gold, given to the best of the best small shops among all the entrants as judged by the editors. Why is it called the Small Agency Awards rather than independent awards? The purpose of the awards is to recognize agencies doing striking work despite having fewer employees and resources than sprawling shops supported by the deep pockets of major holding companies. So while our winners are majority-owned independents, by definition they have vastly fewer staffers than “big” independents such as Wieden+Kennedy which also have global offices. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here Who won the 2023 Small Agency Awards? The Agency of the Year in 2023 was Slap Global. To read about the 2024 Agency of the Year and our other winners, click here. How can I enter the Small Agency Awards next year? Ad Age issues a call for entries on its website in mid-February.

Introducing the 2024 Small Agency of the Year Awards winners

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