In the first of 14 reviews of the awards on offer at the recent How-Do Awards, the first category up is advertising/media agency of the year.
Over the coming weeks, we will be reviewing the shortlisted entrants and winners of the other 13 categories. Almost 200 entries were submitted in the awards inaugural year and over 550 guests attended the dinner on 24 April.
The advertising/media agency category was sponsored by MEN Media. There were seven shortlisted entrants and this proved to be the only category with joint winners: ICE Communications and Mediaedge:cia.
The other shortlisted entrants were: And Partners, BJL, Gyro International, MediaVest and speake2.
Rix
Mark Rix, managing director of MEN Media, described the awards dinner as a “superb evening. It was a good opportunity for MEN Media to support the media planning and buying talent in the North West and to reinforce the fact that London isn’t the be and end all in UK advertising. Advertisers and agencies don’t need to head down the M6 and the enormous wealth of expertise that was showcased at the dinner simply confirmed this.”
All submitted material in the entries related to activities from 2007.
This five year old agency enjoyed a rise in turnover of 34% against 2006 and staff numbers rose from eight to 14. Work for Warrington borough transport and the Golden Square shopping centre resulted in – respectively – an additional one million bums on seats and a doubling of footfall. In October a dedicated public sector/social marketing unit was launched.
The agency which will be 21 years old in 2008 saw staff numbers rise from 60 to 70 during the year. This increase included some big hitters poached from McCanns, BBH and 26 Leeds. New clients included Regus, Morphy Richards, Premierline Direct, Government Office for Yorkshire and the Belgian tourist office. Profits rose 14% and the agency retained its place in Campaign’s Top 50 agencies for the second year running.
A year of big change when John Gatcliffe and co sold Cicero (promoted as the largest B2B agency in the north) to Gyro International. Contrary to market suggestions, the agency finished the year with staff numbers up by almost 20%. The ‘enhanced’ agency has added media planning and events to its service offering and new clients gained included HSS Hire, Paddy Power and Omgeo.
Wirral-based creative agency Ice relocated into new offices overlooking Liverpool’s waterfront. The doubling of space to almost 10,000 sq ft was prompted by an increase in staff from 22 to 35 on turnover which rose from £1m to over £2.3m. New clients included Camden council, Spar Group and Merseyside Fire & Rescue. During the year, 13 staff were funded through external training courses.
The agency underwent a challenging year when its largest single account Morrisons, which accounted for over 40% of the agency’s total billings, moved to London. The agency restructured itself, primarily involving senior management changes, but still finished the year with staff numbers up from 35 to 43. A record year for new account gains included Princes Foods, Brown Paints, Nandos, Nationwide and the Canaries Islands tourist board.
Following a year (2006) of only modest growth and some substantial restructuring, MediaVest faced a ‘challenging 2007’ made more difficult when it lost two key clients early in the year. However the UK’s largest regionally-based media buying agency managed to finish the year with £57m in new business (total billings above £200m) and staff numbers up by 14%.
The agency moved from desk space in “rural Wales” to an office in Chester and increased staff from four to seven on turnover up by 20%. New business included CityJobs.com and LetJoKnow while existing clients such as J&B and FindaProperty.com commissioned major new national campaigns. The agency’s client base is almost entirely national and international rather than local to Chester.
The next award category review will be Daily Newspaper of the Year.
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