Gold: Mother London
Mother triumphed in a hotly contested category by demonstrating how it tackled head-on the challenges brought on by the pandemic.
It vowed to put its people before profits through a range of initiatives, such as introducing a four-day week to help employees manage lockdown stress and by pausing all its pitches in August.
It was an approach that paid off. The agency recorded its highest-ever revenues and had one of its best years for new-business wins, picking up 16 accounts, including Doritos, Gousto and Bumble. The agency also made no redundancies and significantly grew its headcount, with 99 new joiners.
北京赛车pk10s spanned a range of brands, from Uber to KFC to Greenpeace to Ikea, and often resonated during the pandemic, such as Ikea鈥檚 focus on getting a good night鈥檚 sleep and KFC temporarily removing its 鈥淔inger lickin鈥 good鈥 slogan.
Mother also put a greater focus on fostering diversity and inclusion. It ran a diversity audit of activities, processes and behaviours, ensured every employee underwent unconscious bias training and created more opportunities for underrepresented groups through its 鈥淗omestay鈥 placement scheme.
At the end of 2020, Mother returned the money it received from the government for furloughed staff after ending the year at a profit.
Judges said it had an outstanding year, with 鈥渧ery clear objectives aligned to the agency values, resulting in impressive creativity, record revenues, and team wellbeing and belonging at the forefront鈥.
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VCCP enjoyed a record-breaking 2020 in more ways than one. It won the high-profile Walkers account after a competitive pitch, replacing 22-year incumbent Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, doubled its global client roster and added 65 new clients across the group.
It recognised early on the pressure faced by its employees during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, and supported its teams through different circumstances, such as family pressures, home-schooling, illness and isolation.
北京赛车pk10 highlights included Meerkat Music, a platform for Comparethemarket.com created during the Covid lockdown, which reunited Take That and Robbie Williams for a virtual gig. Judges said the agency had a very strong year 鈥渁cross commercials, creative and innovation while ensuring team and talent support through a robust approach to 鈥楥ovid at home working鈥欌.
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Pablo鈥檚 achievements in 2020 included several pitch wins, doubling the size of its creative department and setting up industry initiatives such as the 鈥淐MO to CMO network鈥, which provides support for senior marketing leaders. Notable campaigns over the past 12 months included work for the NHS, Sport Relief, NatWest and ITV.聽
The agency also achieved its goal of zero staff layoffs during the crisis, with judges saying the shop had an 鈥渋mpressive approach to talent management and care鈥.
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Amplify
In 2020, Amplify helped deliver the global launch of the hotly-anticipated PlayStation 5, with a campaign that spanned 25 territories and combined experience, out of home, content and digital. The agency won 22 new clients, 16 of which were added after the first lockdown, and it continued to support underrepresented groups entering the creative industries.
Goodstuff Communications
Over 2020, Goodstuff pledged to protect its people, launching a new mental health and wellbeing group called Space. The agency also instigated the 鈥淟and of independents" campaign, aimed at promoting the indie sector as the destination of choice for progressive brands. 北京赛车pk10 highlights include work for Ecover, Eve Sleep, Habito and ITV.聽
Impero
The agency won a slew of new business in 2020 鈥 its strongest financial year ever, with 15 new clients coming on board, including multinationals such as ABInBev and Est茅e Lauder. Impero was also able to grow its team significantly off the back of client wins.
Uncommon Creative Studio
Creative highlights in 2020 include the most recognised mental health campaign in the UK with ITV鈥檚 鈥淏ritain get talking鈥, creating a fund with Ecover to support sustainable new businesses, and making over 100,000 units of hand sanitiser with BrewDog. The agency also brought the RA Summer Exhibition to tens of millions of people virtually and championed black voices in football with Beats by Dre.
Wonderhood Studios
The agency helped grow the business of existing clients such as Starling Bank, and also had some notable wins, including Branston pickle owner Mizkan and the hotly contested Three account, following a competitive virtual pitch. Over the course of 2020, it created a new brand platform for Branston, a documentary for Waitrose and Three鈥檚 Christmas ad. It also grew its team with promotions in every department and adding senior roles, including the agency鈥檚 first head of account management.聽