Nielsen billings 2017: £246m (+15%)
Declared income: n/s
Total accounts at year end: 132
Accounts won: 31 (biggest: Ladbrokes Coral)
Accounts lost: 6 (biggest: Trainline)
Number of staff: 190 (+27%)
Key personnel: Jenny Biggam, founding partner; Gareth Jones, managing partner; Liam Mullins, managing partner; Nick Maddison, managing partner
Star player: Florence, happiness ambassador (our office dog)
One word stands out above all others when evaluating the recent performance of the7stars: momentum. The UK’s biggest independent media agency enjoyed what it claims has been its "best year yet", winning £106m-worth of new business, from clients including Ladbrokes Coral, Deliveroo, mytaxi and Laterooms.
On top of being crowned ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s Media Agency of the Year, the7stars took three golds at the Media Week Awards, and a top 20 place in The Sunday Times "Best Companies to Work For" ranking, highlighting its innovative attitude to employee development and wellbeing.
Many envy frontwoman Jenny Biggam’s panache at using key industry debates to promote her agency’s USP, not least the on the issue of transparency. In February, for instance, the7stars became the first agency to publicly sign up to ISBA’s tougher framework contract.
On the work front, the7stars can point to helping Ed Sheeran break a host of chart records, using clever techniques on YouTube and Snapchat to promote his album, ÷. Suzuki’s partnership with ITV’s Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway also bore fruit; the marque boosted sales by 5%.
However, in May, chief strategy officer Dino Myers-Lamptey departed for MullenLowe Mediahub. He was replaced by Simon Harwood, who joined from PHD as head of strategy. In addition, the7stars’ very public bet on Danish AI media company Blackwood Seven proved a dud, after it closed the doors of its UK office in December.
Nevertheless, it would be a brave move to bet against the7stars building yet more momentum in 2018.
SCORE THIS YEAR |
SCORE LAST YEAR |
SELF RATING |
| 9 | 8 | 9 |
Agency's year in a tweet
We only need 42 characters. We smashed it.
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
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*indicates where agencies claim the corporate governance constraints of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation
