JohnXHannes, the creative collective founded by Executive Creative Directors John McKelvey and Hannes Ciatti, was named Small Agency of the Year tonight at the Ad Age Small Agency Conference & Awards, held at The Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans. The 12-person shop created an interactive Super Bowl ad, as well as a short film that won the Health and Wellness Grand Prix at Cannes Lions.
Ten years since its inception, the Small Agency Awards have grown into an institution, honoring independent and small-scale shops with fewer than 150 employees that punch above their weight. At this year’s two-day conference, more than 300 industry attendees heard conversations with Procter & Gamble and Pereira & O'Dell and presentations from Sunday Dinner, Badger & Winters and a keynote from David Droga.
DCX Growth Accelerator took Silver for Agency of the Year on the strength of its spoof pop-up shop “Palessi” for Payless ShoeSource, which fooled influencers across the country into thinking fast fashion was haute couture.
Opinionated’s works for Allbirds and Seventh Generation won it the Agency of the Year Gold for shops with fewer than 10 employees, and Interesting Development (formerly Office of Baby) took the Silver for campaigns for brands like StreetEasy and Fi.
In the 11-75 employees category, TDA, Boulder came back from some major client losses to take Gold and Noble People and Badger & Winters tied for Silver.
The Gold for the 76-150 employees category went to Via, a bittersweet win after the suicide of Chief Creative Officer Greg Smith earlier this year, whose work was much of the reason the agency won. The Escape Pod took Silver for work like its art installation for The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
B-Reel took the Gold for the Northeast region, and Swellshark took Silver. In the Northwest, the Gold went to Borders Perrin Norrander and Silver went to Copacino & Fujikado. Highdive won the Midwest Gold, and Mono took Midwest Silver, while Erich & Kallman won the West Gold, and Siltanen & Partners took West Silver.
Preacher won Southwest Gold, followed by Bandolier Media with the Southwest Silver, and Creative Energy Group took Southeast Gold. Peter Mayer Advertising took Southeast Silver.
The Gold for International Agency of the Year went to We Are Pi in Amsterdam. No Silver was awarded in the category. The Experiential Agency of the Year Award went to Imprint Projects, an agency that began life as a bookstore. The shop also won the Gold for Best Agency Culture. The Silver for Experiential Agency of the Year went to IW, which created a fashion show for “Crazy Rich Asians,” and the Silver for Culture went to Orci.
The Gold for Campaign of Year, B2B went to the Association of Registered Graphic Designers for “Speak the Truth” by Zulu Alpha Kilo, which trolled the association’s own conference. Silver went to “The Operation: A Data Lifecycle Story” by Admirable Devil, a crime film for cybersecurity company Infolock.
The Gold for Campaign of the Year, Digital was awarded to “Burger King Traffic Jam” by We Believers, which delivered burgers to gridlocked commuters in Mexico City. Silver went to “The Public Toast by” No Fixed Address, which turned private toasts into a full ad campaign.
JohnXHannes’ Grand Prix-winning “Corazón,” a short film for Montefiore Hospital, won Gold for Campaign of the Year, Integrated, and Avrio Health’s tongue-in-cheek “Feats of Middle Age” campaign by Walrus took Silver.
The Gold for Pro Bono Campaign of the Year went to Casey House’s “The Healing House” by Bensimon Byrne, which helped correct misperceptions with a pop-up spa run by HIV-positive massage therapists. March for Our Lives’ “Bulletproof Schools” by DCX Growth Accelerator took Silver.
And DCX’s “Palessi” took the Gold for Experiential Campaign of the Year. Zulu Alpha Kilo’s “The Away Game” for Tim Horton’s, which flew Kenya’ only ice hockey team to Canada for a real match, took Silver.
For a closer look at the winners and their campaigns go here.
