The Independent Agency Awards – Winners 2022

What stood out to the judges was the breadth of their achievements; they’ve got a very clear vision for the business and what it can do for brands…

Summary

PrettyGreen is a privately owned business of 45 people, £9million turnover & 13 years old. Founded by Mark Stringer (now Chair), our leadership team is proudly 88% female, led by Co-CEO’s Emma Grace, whose expertise has driven our Less Ordinary creative & strategy and Jessica Hargreaves, whose focus on people, place & performance ensures our agency culture is the heart of our business. We work with brands that want out of their comfort zone & pride ourselves on delivering Less Ordinary Creativity for Less Ordinary Returns.

Our Less Ordinary communications incite meaningful campaigns for brands, so that they better connect with their audience for commercial return. ‘Less Ordinary’ is a north star to creatively & strategically approach our work differently.

We have long-lasting client relationships because we work as part of their teams (Nando’s – 13 years, Audible – 5 years) & our client retention rate in the period was 90%. We promise ALL our team will work on ‘Less Ordinary’ campaigns & take this into account in our new business approach & client mix regarding their business ethics, Less Ordinary work & commercial delivery. Our lens of being ‘Less Ordinary’ has seen us:

1. Become 100% Carbon Neutral
2. Grow by 30%+ through sharpened offerings
3. Become a Blueprint recognized consultancy & PRWeek top 50 D&I employer.
4. Promote 33% of the agency & retain 46% of the agency for 3+ years
5. Win Campaign Independent Agency of the Year (bronze) and PR agency of the Year (silver)

PrettyGreen

Pretty Green

AgencyUK

Cirkle

This opportunities come up really frequently but are rarely as expertly delivered

Campaign Summary

“JUST BRILLIANT”

“this is the greatest thing going on Twitter right now!”

“Whoever came up with this deserves a pay rise…”

Looking to transcend ‘Caterpillargate’ and the Christmas ‘Gin War’, we offered a mistletoe ‘Olive Branch’ of peace from Aldi to Marks & Spencer.

Unveiled a 10ft mistletoe branch, with an invitation to ‘kiss and make up’ between neighbouring M&S and Aldi Skegness stores.
Creating a stocking load of coverage and social love, at a key shopping period. Helping the discount supermarket have its best Christmas ever, and come out looking the bigger brand.

Cirkle
Mistletoe & Whine for Aldi

Kate Gibson
Chris Grabowski
Jenny Mcmonagle
Olivia Moore
Ella McDonald

Accomplice

Unwanted Sexual Behaviour for National Rail

Cirkle

Mistletoe & Whine for Aldi

PrettyGreen

Miracles Silky & Glowing for Pantene

Great innovation, beautiful strategy and the creative which led shoppers to really engage on-shelf with the product

Campaign Summary

The standard vodka was suffering from a lack of distinctiveness in this cluttered, price-driven category. Smirnoff needed an innovative and experience-led hook to ensure consumers picked up Smirnoff over competitors, whilst maintaining a clear link to the brand’s ‘Infamous’ platform.

RPM created 21 Diamonds, an innovate and experiential TTL retail campaign with visually impactful, exciting LTO packaging proposition, offering shoppers the chance to win 1 of 21 hidden diamonds via a freeze reveal promotion.

This campaign truly encapsulated Smirnoff’s brand platform of ‘Infamy’ via an engaging mechanic and visually disruptive pack design. A unique, modern and premium feel for the brand further helped drive distinctiveness from competitors.

The Smirnoff 21 Diamonds campaign offered two compelling, added-value, incentives for shoppers: a standout limited-edition bottle, plus the chance to win a high value prize (worth £4000).

RPM
21 Diamonds for Smirnoff

Nick Evans
Sarah Geldart
Kim Briggs
Jeremie Ducret
Campbell Haig
Paul Denham
Greg Bennett
Sergio Beggiato
Carl Smith
Rosa Chapman
Tom Atkinson
Teresa Humphreys
Esther Hadley
Tammy Rodriguez
Eftihia Spyropoulou
Nicky Hughes

RPM
21 Diamonds for Smirnoff

Savvy Marketing
Fruit Shoot to the Moon for Robinsons

N2O
Cookalong for Garden Gourmet

N2O
#meatlessmondays for Garden Gourmet

Really impactful, emotive experience that brings to life the brand values of sustainability

Campaign Summary

Discarded Spirits Co. is a zero-waste start-up spirits brand. Their product range re-uses conventionally ‘wasted’ food ingredients to create the best-tasting liquids whilst championing the circular economy.

Their identity is built around the beautiful potential of waste and, as they rapidly scale up, they wanted to bring this purpose to life by pioneering a new kind of sustainability.

Introducing ‘The World’s Most Rubbish Bar’- an immersive and endlessly creative cocktail experience that reframes how people perceive waste. Leveraging London Cocktail Week, Discarded offered an original approach to a luxury experience whilst road testing their concept ‘The Discarded Circular Cocktail Economy’.

A fully immersive event, no detail was spared to demonstrate the beauty of a circular economy. Cocktails were crafted from local waste and furniture was sourced from the trash. Menus, uniforms, a bar made from recycled pub floorboards, and entire art installations were created from what others had perceived beyond use.

The whole experience was a cultural study of their ambition to pioneer a sustainable
future for the UK drinks sector and quickly sold out. Beyond the experience, supplementary social and PR campaigns drove 20 million social impressions. Commercially, the experience generated a staggering 380% YOY growth for the brand – verifying their sustainable blueprint and endorsing their rapid growth plans.

SPACE
The World’s Most Rubbish Bar for Discarded Spirits Co.

Greg McAlinden
Cameron Black
Liam Nicholson
Rosie Palmer
Aaron McFeely
Daisy Hampton
Sean Kelly
Hattie Fieber
Sasha Filimonov
James O’Connor

BBD Perfect Storm
Rosé Lumière – The World’s Smallest Cinema for Moët Hennessy UK

Space
The World’s Most Rubbish Bar for Discarded Spirits Co.

The Park
Upliftford for Asics

Pretty Green
Upload for Nerf

Exposure
Project Plant for Samsung

The Park
Upliftford for ASICS

A brilliant job of responding to a challenging brief… really strong use of different social elements… delivering really strong results

Campaign Summary

Most Brits think of Chewits sweets fondly; from the classic 70s Godzilla-style TV ads, to the high-impact ‘I like to chew it chew it’ animation of the 90s.

But when we were appointed in 2019, Chewits’ advertising had been dormant for a decade.

The challenge was to wake Chewie from his slumber, launch new flavours, formats and pack designs and improve brand awareness and preference. The HFSS ban on advertising to children meant we needed to target millennials, now with their own families.

Rich family-friendly content was the key to engaging this demographic. We evolved Chewits ‘unleash the taste adventure’ brand promise into ongoing ‘bite-sized adventures’ – reflecting our research on how families like to spend time: outdoors, playing, discovering and creating.

We brought bite-sized adventures to life with chewtastic animation, seasonal content, games and competitions. We encouraged people to share UGC, with parenting influencers amplifying activity.

Results were outstanding for a small non-broadcast budget: 3% increase in brand awareness, 7% increase in positive sentiment overall with 20% increase among Millennials, overtaking Fruitella and Haribo.

With this activity we showed brands with latent positive feeling can succeed using only social and influencer marketing – shoring up against further advertising restrictions ahead.

AGENCYUK
Bite Size Adventures for Chewits

Sammy Mansourpour
Amy Stobie
Nicole Boulton
Shannon Jones
Bex Fitzhenry

PrettyGreen
Hidden Black Stories for Snapchat

Redtorch
WeDontPlay for International Federation of Equestrian Sports

AgencyUK
Bite Size Adventures for Chewits

Redtorch
#WeDontPlay for International Equestrian Federation

Thinking differently about how they delivered their strategy… really thought outside the box

Campaign Summary

In 2021, PrettyLittleThing, the UK based women’s fashion retailer, tasked Croud with finding new customers at a lower cost-per-acquisition through paid search. With tens of thousands of products offered to consumers and multiple new product lines being launched each week, PLT needed support in maximising their paid search strategy and shopping campaigns.

Using Google Smart Shopping Campaigns, Croud identified the products not being shown to consumers via existing campaigns. This allowed the team to set up smart, automated processes to maximise existing reach while reaching more customers and uncovering incremental revenue opportunities. The team’s strategy – informally known as zombie shopping – took a new approach to SKUs that were laying dormant in Smart Shopping campaigns. The end goal was to get those ‘zombie SKUs’ working for us, by providing the bidding algorithms a chance to learn from them.

The campaign was an overwhelming success for Croud and PrettyLittleThing. Not only did the campaign succeed in driving clicks, they also drove impressive incremental revenue in their respective categories. Of the original list of 32,000 SKUs, 60% (19,458) shifted away from being dormant, driving significant additional revenue in the first 30 days alone.

The Croud team demonstrated their PPC expertise and ability to push the boundaries of paid search, and as a result, the retailer expanded their relationship with Croud to also encompass paid search management in the US.

CROUD
Zombie shopping for PrettyLittleThing

Ruby Young
Lydia Wigley

Croud
Google Smart Shopping Campaigns for PrettyLittleThing

Incubeta
Results That Are Anything but Marginal for Superdrug

Core
Google Search Saves Black Friday for Samsung

Jellyfish
Innovative Creative for Supercharged App Campaigns for Experian

RocketMill
Turbocharged Profitable Growth for Freedom Finance

100% standout, intriguing, premium, exclusive and had that extra ‘wow’ factor

Campaign Summary

In a cluttered, tired category of whisky lookalikes – embodying the same-old dark wood and brooding Scottish landscapes – we were tasked with developing a new brand world that would firmly establish Speyside single malt The Glenrothes within the global luxury market.

A prestige, yet relatively unknown name in the world of whisky, their optimum target audience was Ultra High Net Worth 35-45-year-old connoisseurs, seeking more than just flash and status – but craving the reward of the lesser known.

So we set to work creating a fresh new look & feel, that would not only creatively challenge the fusty norms that the category had become accustomed to, but ignite real intrigue and interest amongst our wealthy target market.

INITIALS
Look Beyond for The Glenrothes

Imogen Venn
Sadie Majer
Chris Perowne
Matt Hopkinson
Cal Jenkins
Dan Clark
Josh Tilley
Eunica Ma
Paul Ferry

AgencyUK
Bring Your A Game for Amdaris

Initials
Look Beyond for The Glenrothes

The Behaviours Agency
Life is lived on these floors for Karndean Design Flooring

Bulletproof
25th Anniversary for Booking.com

The Behaviours Agency
Life is lived on these floors Karndean

Amazing results and brilliant strategy

Campaign Summary

In November 2021, iconic Single Malt Scotch Whisky brand Glenfiddich launched its largest marketing push to date through a fully integrated campaign across the UK.

Combining OOH sites in London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow – with a cinematic brand film, luxury print, digital and social activations – the campaign sought to return Glenfiddich to the UK’s No.1 Single Malt Scotch Whisky brand by engaging a younger, ambitious, and luxury audience.

Historically, Glenfiddich has built its brand on the idea that growth can only come from risk. A brand film centralises the campaign under the new global platform ‘Where Next?’, telling the story of Glenfiddich’s iconic Stag and its journey in embracing the unknown to grow stronger. Reframing this philosophy for a new audience, we took inspiration from the visual world of luxury fashion across OOH, digital, print and social – all the while posing a bold question to our UK audience; what risks are they going to take in order to grow. In other words; Where Next?

The driving force behind rising above the sea of Glens was building salience around The Stag across a creative series of integrated executions. The centrepiece was a two-week 3D activation at London’s Piccadilly Lights, powerfully showcasing the The Stag’s journey and connected the brand icon with the brand idea.

SPACE
Where Next? for Glenfiddich

Ethan Kennedy
Greg McAlinden
Rosie Palmer
Paul Owen
Yasmine Mael
Anna Teemant
Samantha Hardy
Sean Kelly
Production Agency:
The Mill
Production Agency:
Global Street Art
Media Planning and Buying:
Dentsu

 The campaign was really grounded in insight, it was strategic, it was thoughtful. The creative was memorable

Campaign Summary

Jellybean was tasked with waking a sleeping giant in the B2B market, when Philadelphia Professional owner Mondelez International decided that it wanted to reconnect with a chef audience. Previous campaigns with other agencies had seen the product arguably mis-targeted at high end, restaurant focused chefs, yielding disappointing results.

Mondelez was keen to differentiate its iconic cream cheese against cheaper own label alternatives by showcasing its superior taste, quality and versatility. So, with an innate 35-year understanding of the foodservice market, Jellybean set about creating a campaign to work across five key sectors: education, healthcare, pubs and restaurants, hotels and food to go (identified through sales out data) reconnecting with authentic chef users and built on a core piece of insight that was to define the entire campaign.

Scores of initial chef interviews revealed that aside from cheesecakes and bagels, almost all chefs were short on inspiration around how to use Philadelphia, and so the ‘You Don’t Know Philly’ campaign was born – a tongue in cheek line to explode myths, challenge, educate and inspire chefs on why they should be using the product more often.

The fully integrated campaign spanned insight, influencer marketing, PR, marcomms, social media, video and bespoke sales support and achieved unprecedented results, doubling foodservice sales and recruiting a new audience of chefs across five sectors.

JELLYBEAN
You Don’t Know Philly for Philadelphia

Nick Clancy
Susan Wickes
Cass Clanachan
Andy Wickes
Laura Ness
Clare Freeman
Emma Langley
Ellie Murrell
Luca Cicero
Steve Skilton
Vanesa Segura Juarez

AgencyUK
Bring Your A Game for Amdaris

Bulletproof
Traveller Review Awards for Booking.com

Jellybean
You Don’t Know Philly for Philadelphia

We really loved the ‘E, D & I (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) aspect to it, weaving in the Paralympics and the activation that you you did at Brixton Finishing School

Campaign Summary

To ensure equestrianism became one of the “most engaged with” sports at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, our #WeDontPlay campaign aimed to dispel myths that the sport was elitist, boring, and hard-to-understand.

These misconceptions were discovered in a pre-Tokyo survey we carried out, suggesting this social and digital campaign for the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) would be no easy task.

As a small independent agency, we had worked with this client for four years, but this was our first Olympic campaign for them; we had been tasked with improving on its previous social media performance at Rio 2016.

So, when #WeDontPlay launched in August 2021, it was fuelled by the message that equestrians aren’t “playing”, instead they jump, fly and dance according to their discipline. This was the foundation of the launch film we created.

When the campaign ended in mid-September, we had delivered 3000 pieces of content and ensured equestrianism was one of the most engaged sports at Tokyo 2020, according to CrowdTangle, a third-party meta tool.

Content was delivered through owned, earned, and paid tactics across YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Giphy, FEI’s website, Reddit, Weibo, and WeChat, as well as via athlete and fan social accounts.

And with this we smashed our target of 2m engagements and 160,000 new social media followers, achieving 9.7m and 260,000 respectively, and even managed to win over Snoop Dogg as the sport’s most unlikely new fan!

REDTORCH
#WeDontPlay for International Federation for Equestrian Sports

Johnny Murch
Alex Ross
Chris Argyle
Matt Weiner
Jacqueline Darby
Jess Reus
Kirby O’Donnell
Ollie Davis
Emma Shadbolt
Ziad Koulailat
Tom Kirkland
Tom Lloyd Evans

Redtorch
WeDontPlay for International Federation for Equestrian Sports

The Park
Upliftford for Asics

Accomplice
Rail Recovery Let’s Get Back on Track for National Rail

Accord Marketing
New Beginning for Ambassador Cruise Line

It got all the TikTok building blocks right and combined them to make a massive campaign platform

Campaign Summary

As one of the world’s leading haircare brands, Pantene is on a mission to give more great hair days to everyone. From owned research with Yale University, Pantene knows that hair is key to self-esteem and self-expression. Which is why the brand uses 75 years of hair health expertise to help create advanced hair care products that cater for all hair types and give people more good hair days.

Pantene’s premium haircare range, Miracles, is specifically designed to help address the biggest pain points consumers have with their hair through a range of regimes. Whether that’s hair loss, lack of volume, over-processing, or frizzy hair.

In January 2022, Pantene was set to launch the latest Miracles line into the portfolio titled Miracles Hydra Glow. Designed to tackle the problem of persistent dry hair (a need for 35% of UK consumers), the new range was set to debut exclusively in Boots with a specific focus on two hero treatments: revolutionary new day and night hair serums, with the Overnight Beauty Reset Serum giving 7 days of repair in just 8 hours.

However, in the beauty sector, new hair care launches happen week-in week-out, so we needed to develop a below-the-line NPD launch plan that would build hype and anticipation around the new Hydra Glow Miracles range. Convincing both beauty media and UK consumers that the Miracles day and night serums are the must-try haircare product of 2022 to transform dry hair.

PRETTYGREEN
Dream Hair #OverNightReset for Pantene Miracles Hydra Glow

Emma Grace
Lucy Porter
Lucy Mart
Catherine Smiles
Lucy Williams
Emily Grigg
Edward Micah
Maya Abbassi
Jessica McMillan
Kit Wilson

Motive Agency
Amplifying TikTok for Guide Dogs

PrettyGreen
Dream Hair #OverNightReset for Pantene Miracles Hydra Glow

AgencyUK
Chewiemas for Chewits

Nonsensical
Launching TikTok for Young Driver

Flow Communications
#ElegantTikTokSquad for Elegant Fuel

Motive Agency
Amplifying TikTok for Guide Dogs

An incredible campaign of collaboration… positive, emotional, encouraging execution with very high production values… strong, clear commercial objectives

Campaign Summary

Even before the COVID19 crisis, Rail travel was undervalued. More often maligned than celebrated, disparate rail networks competed with the ease of travelling by car, or the speed of regional air flight, for each journey, against a backdrop of complaint about delays, prices and comfort. Then the arrival of the coronavirus in the UK created 18 months of fear about any public transport, with £100m of government adspend urging us to avoid it where possible.

So, in August 2021, when restrictions were lifted, the Rail Delivery Group knew it would take more than some free hand sanitiser on the platform to coax passengers back into their carriages.

It would take a highly visible campaign, uniting all the networks for the first time in decades, to appeal to the Nation’s happiest memories of rail journeys and to promise to connect them to those they had been missing so long. It would take a focus on what mattered most to different types of rail user to find moments to prompt a new journey. It would take personal stories of reunions and releases, with new ways to join in and it would take a relentless drive to convert online ticket sales as soon as the urge had been created. And to do that we would need to create a campaign vehicle that all 24 train operators could get behind.

So that’s what we did.

In doing so, we created one of 2021’s best loved campaigns, put rail travel at the heart of Britain’s return to real life and created a new model for rail communications for the future.

ACCOMPLICE
Rail Recovery Let’s Get Back on Track for National Rail

Ryan Lietaer
Mark Hunter
Julia Taylor
Adam Brewster
Alicia Piper
Joe Durow
Julia Methold
Max Fisher
Dan Ross
Ed Lecorgne
Phil Lecorgne

Space
Where Next for Glenfiddich

The Park
Upliftford for Asics

Accomplice
Rail Recovery Let’s Get Back on Track for National Rail

Space
Where Next for Glenfiddich

We were looking for a business problem that was solved by customer interaction inspired and facilitated by technology – Rufus Leonard did that in spades

Campaign Summary

We’re the first generation that knows we’re destroying the world and the last that can do anything about it. As the world’s leading independent conservation organisation, WWF-UK has a very real objective to set the agenda on environmental issues and drive real change, fast. Understanding that people needed and wanted guidance on making a difference, WWF-UK partnered with Rufus Leonard and Pocket App to develop My Footprint – a challenge-based app to engage supporters and non-supporters through tangible action and social sharing.

Engagement has been high since launch, with 126,100 downloads. More than 126,000 challenges have been completed to date – an encouraging indication of change. My Footprint revolves around the concept of challenges that inspire users to make micro behavioural changes. Co-creation has been an important pillar for success – ensuring the app is inclusive, accessible and relevant to the times of living. ‘Test and learn’ was mindfully baked into our design process. Challenge concepts are responsive to user feedback, to maintain and grow engagement. Following feedback (via usage data and the in-app feedback function), challenges are optimised to reflect entry-level behavioural change and longer-term commitment.

The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was fast to market and a second release followed swiftly after, in June 2021. High levels of engagement since, strongly indicate My Footprint is achieving its goals and building momentum to bend the 2030 climate curve.

RUFUS LEONARD
My Footprint App for WWF

Vanita Tanna
Andy Grose
Sandro Petterle
Ali Wiser
Ross Timms
Phillippa Todhunter
Claudia Guida
Lindsey Prudence
Alessandra Cabra
Ella Doltis

Rufus Leonard
My Footprint App for WWF

Wasserman
Virtual Hill: Creating Tennis’ First Metaverse at The Championships for Wimbledon

Digital Rewards Group
Very Me Rewards Adventure Days Powered by Kids Pass for Vodafone

Commercially led, very strategic in it’s approach, well written and did a great job to revive the brand

Campaign Summary

Most Brits think of Chewits sweets fondly; from the classic 70s Godzilla-style TV ads, to the high-impact ‘I like to chew it chew it’ animation of the 90s.

But when we were appointed in 2019, Chewits’ advertising had been dormant for a decade.

The challenge was to wake Chewie from his slumber, launch new flavours, formats and pack designs and improve brand awareness and preference. The HFSS ban on advertising to children meant we needed to target millennials, now with their own families.

Rich family-friendly content was the key to engaging this demographic. We evolved Chewits ‘unleash the taste adventure’ brand promise into ongoing ‘bite-sized adventures’ – reflecting our research on how families like to spend time: outdoors, playing, discovering and creating.

We brought bite-sized adventures to life with chewtastic animation, seasonal content, games and competitions. We encouraged people to share UGC, with parenting influencers amplifying activity.

Results were outstanding for a small non-broadcast budget: 3% increase in brand awareness, 7% increase in positive sentiment overall with 20% increase among Millennials, overtaking Fruitella and Haribo.

With this activity we showed brands with latent positive feeling can succeed using only social and influencer marketing – shoring up against further advertising restrictions ahead.

AGENCYUK
Bite Size Adventures for Chewits

Sammy Mansourpour
Amy Stobie
Nicole Boulton
Shannon Jones
Bex Fitzhenry

Space
Don’t Hold Back Projekt for Häagen-Dazs

AgencyUK
Bite Size Adventures for Chewits

Promoveritas
Free Range Humans for Corona

Done very emotively, it reached a huge audience and they got an incredible amount of media as a result of it

Campaign Summary

On 11 February 2022, we launched Hidden Black Stories – a suite of new AR experiences in Trafalgar Square as part of Snap’s ongoing commitment to lend its platform to underrepresented communities and showcase the power of AR as an advocacy tool. This date also marked the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from Robben Island; a historic figure who features in Snap’s Hidden Black Stories lens.

Snapchat’s Hidden Black Stories campaign shone a light on under-appreciated histories and generated wide-reaching coverage across a variety of media platforms, generating valuable awareness of the Black Cultural Archives (BCA).

We partnered with Tukwini Mandela, granddaughter of Nelson Mandela, to raise awareness of the need for accessible education on Black History and provide media with a credible spokesperson for interview. Snap’s Hidden Black Stories lens was covered 66 media outlets including Good Morning Britain, Sky News, BBC Radio 4, Women’s Hour, ITV News, The Guardian, Metro, Independent, GQ, Stylist and Grazia reaching 1.25BN people.

Since launch there have been 55K+ uses of Snap’s Hidden Black Stories lens and engagement of content on BCA’s website has been 58% higher than average, therefore encouraging audiences to learn more about Black British history – and appreciate why Black history is British history.

Ultimately this Snap campaign set out on a mission to turn AR, augmented reality, into BR, black reality.

PRETTYGREEN
Hidden Black Stories for Snapchat

Snap:
Michael Levaggi
Sheeraz Gulsher
Tobi Ruth Adebekun
Valentina Omotoso

PrettyGreen:
Emma Grace
Lucy Porter
Lucy Williams
Mark Byford
Esme Heller
Aman Basi
Maya Abbassi

Broadcast Revolution:
Phil Caplin
Charlotte McCarthy
Sarah Cann
Shelley Cukier
Rebecca McAree
George Westaway

The Park
Upliftford for Asics

PrettyGreen
Hidden Black Stories for Snapchat

SEEN Connects
Authentication Guaranteed for Ebay

Exposure
Project Plant for Samsung

Redtorch
#WeDontPlay for International Federation of Equestrian Sports

The Park
Upliftford for Asics

We were really impressed by the results for the campaign… small incremental improvements that created a large final impact

Campaign Summary

Q: What does an Olympic athlete & car insurance have in common?
Leading up to 2012, Team GB made changes that drove minimal growth individually but combined to drive huge performance improvements. Eg, cycling teams removing their wedding rings to reduce drag and increase aerodynamics. We executed a similar strategy for Aviva Irl on Paid Search. Generic ‘Car Insurance’ keywords are extremely competitive, but we hypothesized that if we made enough small improvements of 1% each, they would combine to drive strong results. Once we executed the first part of Team GB’s plan, our next step was to focus on improving generic PPC by 1% increments.

A: The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.

Many verticals reaped benefits from the acceleration to eComm over the last 18 mths. However, this was not the case for car insurance.

• Post-pandemic with fewer people driving & switching insurers, generic query volume was down 11% for 2021.
• 70% of generic car insurance searches are across just 2 keywords – “car insurance” and “car insurance Ireland”
• 15+ advertisers compete on key generic queries, driving CPC inflation each year.

Brand keywords were our top converters. Up to 10 competitors bidding on Aviva terms looking to steal our potential customers.

We overcame these challenges, but it was tough. By switching off brand search, freeing up budget to re-invest into the valuable Generic keywords, we managed to drive great results.

CORE
Going for gold: Backing winners, not losers for Aviva

Katy Naughten
Kevin Keating
Emma Boyne

Core
Going for gold: Backing winners, not losers

Big Group
Street Hubs for BT

AgencyUK
Bite Size Adventures for Chewits

Real craft… the copy and the art direction really fused together to create a brand world that was really quite convincing

Campaign Summary

Small yet mighty Knotty’s isn’t like other nut butter brands. Enthusiastic purveyors of deliciously natural yet marvellously creative inventions, their nutty Wonka-esque flavours include the likes of popping candy, crispy rice, gingerbread and hot cross buns – and are as big in personality as they are in taste.

With the simple aim to colourfully cut through the beige-washed peanut butter category boredom, they absolutely had the edge their competitors didn’t, but with one simple problem. People hardly knew who they were.

So armed with a limited budget and plenty to say, we set out to spread the joyful word of Knotty’s far and wide.

INITIALS
Eat Wonderful for Knotty’s

Imogen Venn
Eunice Ma
Josh Tilley
Sadie Majer
Chris Perowne
Matt Hopkinson
Paul Ferry

Initials
Eat Wonderful for Knotty’s

Big Group Limited
RingCentral The Office Works for BT

Fundamentally a very well rounded piece executed excellently

Campaign Summary

Certitude is London’s leading adult social care provider, working across 17 London boroughs to support people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health support needs. Certitude’s mission is to offer support where it is most needed, helping people to develop new skills, meet new friends and ultimately live the life they want.

Certitude relies on the commitment and skills of its dedicated support workers but in 2021 new recruits were in short supply. That prompted the launch of a three-month campaign beginning in October 2021 to boost support worker recruitment.

‘London Calling’ – a creative of the spoken word – was born from the thought that Certitude is a London charity: it’s for Londoners and powered by Londoners. London is a beautiful, vibrant and diverse city to which people flock to pursue their dreams.

The campaign successfully delivered 453 applications at the time of writing – more than double the original target. The integrated TV, social and search activity led to a 271% increase in weekly sign ups, from an average of 21 per week to 78 during the campaign period. There has also been a hugely positive reception to the campaign from London’s support worker community.

NETWORK
London Calling for Certitude

Network:
Graeme Gillett
Kate Denman
Tom Blackwood

Spindle:
Louise Gagen

John Ayling & Associates:
James Cable
Oli Pointer
Hollie Blaxill

Accomplice
Mission Unstoppable for Unicef

Network
London Calling for Certitude

Distillery
Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal for DEC – see note

Stand
Safer Internet Day 2022 for UK Safer Internet Centre

Such great intention and really set out to drive change in such an important space

Campaign Summary

Fewer than 1% of young people in England study a book by a Black, Asian or minority ethnic author at GCSE. This does not represent the rich diversity of contemporary publishing or the makeup of our society, with 34% of school-age students identifying as Black, Asian or minority ethnic.

Lit in Colour is a partnership between publisher Penguin and race equality think-tank The Runnymede Trust aiming to make the English literature curriculum more inclusive. Central to the campaign was research looking at the current state of play in English literature education, making practical recommendations and highlighting the urgent need for change.

The campaign is a long-term project building a national conversation about why books create belonging and the lack of representation in English lessons. Since launch it has received a huge amount of news coverage and was shared far and wide on social media.

More importantly, Lit in Colour has provided practical support for schools, including free books, teaching resources and training. Penguin has acted as a convener, bringing together organisations across the education and publishing sectors, to create a holistic, sustainable and strategic approach. And it’s working;

• A partnership with Pearson has reached 12,000 students – doubling the number of students studying a book by a writer of colour at GCSE overnight
• It generated interest from policy-makers, leading to meetings with representatives from the DfE, No10, OFSTED and the Welsh Gov

FORSTER COMMUNICATIONS
Lit In Colour for Penguin

Georgie Smith
Harry Day
George Ames

BBD Perfect Storm
Dad Time Stories for Dove Men+Care

Forster Communications
Lit In Colour for Penguin

Accomplice
Unwanted Sexual Behavior for National Rail

Space
The World’s Most Rubbish Bar for Discarded Spirits Co.

The Park
Upliftford for Asics

Accomplice
Unwanted Sexual Behavior for National Rail

Space
The World’s Most Rubbish Bar for Discarded Spirits Co.

Set themselves very clear objectives and actually measured their performance… a really great winner

Campaign Summary

Across our 40-year history, we have always been dedicated to our staff as proven by our Gold IIP Accreditation and our investment in training, which has been awarded IPA CPD Platinum every year since its inception. More recently, we have become further committed to fostering a culture that goes beyond just its “perks”, focusing on what truly matters to people to deliver our vision of creating a thriving agency culture, built around the real influences of what delivers a happy and purposeful company.

One of our people rightly said, “You’ll spend most of your week at work – why not try and create the kind of company you want to work for?”, which is why after a rigorous 2 year process, and in one of the proudest moments of our company’s history, we were elated to become the first UK independent media agency to attain B Corp accreditation and one of only two media agencies to have achieved this status. A status awarded to companies that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, and an achievement that clearly demonstrates the values of sustainability, local community and focusing beyond profit, run at the heart of Total Media.

TOTAL MEDIA

Becca Rawlings
Lemeece Shepherd
Kitty Munro
Emmy Greener
Pedro Martins
Bhavin Ladd
Jess Huntrods
Hannah Moody
Gemma Quelch
Madeleine Ware
Katie Sofokelous
Jacon Bellworthy
Guy Sellers
Claire Baker

AgencyUK

Spike Digital

Total Media

AgencyUK

What a piece of work! Absolutely blown away. A perfect marriage between brand, story, placement; brilliant fun

Campaign Summary

In 2020, MINI released a new Countryman, providing an opportunity to bring the car to the forefront of their marketing in an effort to overcome the ‘size’ challenge and continue building the brand to epitomise adventure and optimism.

To support the launch of the national ‘Journey Big’ campaign and retailer test drives, MINI needed an experiential activation to get families back behind the wheel and convince them the new MINI Countryman is suitable for them.

Longleat was identified as the perfect ‘adventure’ partner to help challenge the size perception, showcase capability and give families the ultimate experience behind the wheel.

Big Days Out at Longleat with the new MINI Countryman was created and families were invited to adventure Big in the new MINI Countryman in the biggest, boldest and most adventure-ready safari driving experience they would never forget!

The event ran for 11-days, with a fleet of 16 x MINI Countryman Plug-In Hybrid’s (PHEV). PHEV’s were chosen to help reduce vehicle immersions onsite which is a big focus of the partnership, reducing noise when driving close to animals and gave MINI the opportunity to talk to consumers about the benefits of ownership.

The 2-hour long test drive experience was for ticketed guests only but we also built a separate ‘Big Days Out Area’ complete with MINI Countryman displays, roof tent photo opportunities, MINI Adventure Trial competition and a MINI Lifestyle Shop for the 6,000 general admission daily visitors.

WASSERMAN
Big Days Out at Longleat for MINI Countryman

Harry Compton
Louise Phillips
Chris Timms
Adrian Roodenburg
Stephen Wood
Sam Pepper
Ben Walker
Sunny Patel
Paul Bray
Conor Field
Alfie Tapper
Steve Scott
Ben Knight
Charley Bailey

This agency has got closer and closer to understanding the nuances of the clients business and it’s reporting

Campaign Summary

As one of the biggest Health and Beauty retailers in the UK, Superdrug stock hundreds of brands within a crowded market. With increased competition over ad space within the SERP and challenges around the marginal value of well performing products, Superdrug needed a way to maintain market share and simultaneously increase profitability across multiple key categories, whilst continuing to use Paid Search as a performance-driven channel.

To achieve this, Incubeta and Superdrug decided to deviate from the standard Google Search set-up, reevaluating how to take it to the next level. We found that, although some campaigns performed well based on a ROAS basis, the margin on these products was low, therefore, these were not the strongest areas to invest in. Products with a higher margin were a better candidate for investment, but how could we identify those and measure the effectiveness of this strategy shift?

We collaborated with our tech team to build a system that measured the profit of every order made through a PPC ad. We were then able to track the margin and profitability of our activity on a daily basis, and make optimisation decisions, which then led to the profitability of our activity increasing month on month, with some categories such as skincare reaching profit increase of over 18,000% in only one month.

INCUBETA
Results That Are Anything but Marginal for Superdrug

Ellie Howell
James Wilkinson
Antoan Stamov
Alastair Poole
Harry Hughes
Anna Jorysz
Rupert Coltman

Hard not to love this piece of work – its execution, importance, strategy and its speed

Campaign Summary

In response to the conflict in Ukraine the DEC launched its campaign appeal for donations. Throughout March the campaign’s aim was to provide humanitarian aid to refugees and displaced people in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

The Ukrainian appeal was on an unprecedented scale and required an unprecedented response. distillery’s task was to produce all the social and digital assets for the campaign. This included creating scripts, creative treatments, design and craft content that cut through on social media and resonated with the public. The campaign culminated with a takeover of the giant billboard screen in Piccadilly Circus. The film was a carefully crafted amalgamation of the messaging, activities and work of the DEC and repurposed a lot of the powerful imagery from the conflict, some of which has become iconic.

Our work also served to tell the story of the Ukrainian people through this tragic moment in history.

DISTILLERY
Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal for DEC

Alexia Merrington
Jonah Werth
Rebecca Groves
Hannah Burns
George Cheng
Steve Wheen
Geoff Li
Jim Friend
Alex Kyrou
Serhat Sensoy
Will Brown
Ben Smith
Daniel Kallberg
Lauren Havard
Giles Hepworth
Ian Edwards

Very brave to flip the strategy… respect for the execution, the bravery of the language and the creativity of the design

Campaign Summary

We have a societal problem with sexual harassment. 71% of women in the UK have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour (USB) in public spaces. It’s a problem compounded by a lack of recognition of what constitutes harassment, meaning that lines are not clearly drawn and many incidents go unreported. The Railway creates a uniquely threatening context for this behaviour – with those experiencing USB simultaneously vulnerable, on-show and trapped. Whilst we all know that putting your feet on the seat is wrong, staring, wolf whistling, cat calling, sexual comments, exposure, airdrop messages and physical contact seem to be a grey area for too many.

The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) decided to change that in 2021, briefing us to give the victims more confidence to speak up as well as the information about how to. We launched a campaign which would establish beyond doubt the behaviours that are not tolerated on the railway, enabling both witnesses and victims to recognise and address public harassment and to give potential perpetrators an education in what USB is, for the avoidance of all doubt (and excuse).

The campaign was designed to be simple and unmissable. The conversation that resulted was high profile and set new standards for public understanding of sexual harassment. The result was that rail users know where the lines are drawn and are empowered to collectively uphold them. Because a societal problem requires a collective understanding of right and wrong before we can fix it.

ACCOMPLICE
Unwanted Sexual Behavior for National Rail

Ryan Lietaer
Mark Hunter
Julia Taylor
Adam Brewster
Alicia Piper

Looked brilliant. Delivered on its ambition. Relevant to the brand. Absolutely brilliant piece of work

Campaign Summary

“Discarded Spirits Co. is a zero-waste start-up spirits brand. Their product range re-uses conventionally ‘wasted’ food ingredients to create the best-tasting liquids whilst championing the circular economy.

Their identity is built around the beautiful potential of waste and, as they rapidly scale up, they wanted to bring this purpose to life by pioneering a new kind of sustainability.

Introducing ‘The World’s Most Rubbish Bar’- an immersive and endlessly creative cocktail experience that reframes how people perceive waste. Leveraging London Cocktail Week, Discarded offered an original approach to a luxury experience whilst road testing their concept ‘The Discarded Circular Cocktail Economy’.

A fully immersive event, no detail was spared to demonstrate the beauty of a circular economy. Cocktails were crafted from local waste and furniture was sourced from the trash. Menus, uniforms, a bar made from recycled pub floorboards, and entire art installations were created from what others had perceived beyond use.

The whole experience was a cultural study of their ambition to pioneer a sustainable future for the UK drinks sector and quickly sold out. Beyond the experience, supplementary social and PR campaigns drove 20 million social impressions. Commercially, the experience generated a staggering 380% YOY growth for the brand – verifying their sustainable blueprint and endorsing their rapid growth plans.”

SPACE
The World’s Most Rubbish Bar for Discarded Spirits Co.

Greg McAlinden
Cameron Black
Liam Nicholson
Rosie Palmer
Aaron McFeely
Daisy Hampton
Sean Kelly
Hattie Fieber
Sasha Filimonov
James O’Connor