±±¾©Èü³µpk10

The senior folk at AnalogFolk were significantly depleted in 2016 after a turbulent 12 months that saw the agency shed an array of talent. The departure of creative partner Dave Bedwood and chief data officer Ben Silcox after just six months suggests AnalogFolk’s culture has started to creak under the strain of its growth.

Other notable departures included managing partner Paolo Nieddu, who joined Copa90 as head of strategy, while Neil Bennett, AnalogFolk’s strategy director, moved to Love.

However, as one of the last independent digital agencies around, AnalogFolk at least remains in charge of its own destiny. Its new-business performance in 2016 was stellar: notably, the agency picked up Booking.com as well as a diverse portfolio of Unilever brands.

Data intelligence arm AnalogFolk DNA also made its presence felt as part of the agency’s compelling offering for brands.

And AnalogFolk continued to produce innovative digital work. As part of Sainsbury’s "The greatest gift" Christmas campaign, it created the first-ever karaoke Snapchat lens for a UK brand. The filter turned users into a "Dave-a-like" (after the animated protagonist from the TV spot) and allowed them to share their festive singing skills. It was also the first time a Snapchat lens featured a song created specifically for a brand.

Against the backdrop of some significant personnel departures, AnalogFolk delivered a decent 2016. A solid new-business year and a 21% improvement in declared income show an agency in good shape.

How the agency describes its performance this year, in 75 words or less

Our continued success has meant greater creative product, resulting in several awards including a Silver Cannes Lion. We also enjoyed big new business wins including Booking.com, Unilever and Dyson with whom we’re testing and optimising media investment through intelligent data.

We have made our work more effective and innovative, from disrupting the decorating market for Dulux, redesigning a major global bank's customer experience, or reaching 13 million people for our social work for Sainsbury's.

How the agency describes its year in a tweet

A year of transmogrification; focused on sustainable scalability, continued growth and awards in innovation, creativity and effectiveness.

Score key: 9 Outstanding 8 Excellent 7 Good 6 Satisfactory 5 Adequate 4 Below average 3 Poor 2 A year to forget 1 Survival in question