The category on every agency’s radar, Best Agency Credentials offers a rare opportunity to submit your agency’s creds presentation to showcase your unique capabilities and proposition to a jury of over 25 top brand CMOs.

Judges will be looking to answer the ultimate question – would I want this agency working on my business? Successful agencies will showcase their value through a strong agency proposition, clear evidence of collaborative partnerships, and great team chemistry – all of which will be brought to life through your creds.

After an initial round of online judging, three shortlisted agencies will be invited back to present their creds in-person to our 25 CMO judges to decide the winning agency. 

Please note: The Best Agency Credentials is open to Oystercatchers Club Agency members only. To enter Best Agency Credentials, agencies must have also entered at least ONE other category. All submissions are confidential and for judges’ eyes only. 

Judges will want to see:

• A compelling agency proposition, who knows what they stand for and how they deliver value.
• Clear evidence of how they nurture, build and maintain partnerships, including a combination of both a solid strategy and creative examples 
• Culture which demonstrates a commitment to their people 
• Examples of team fit and chemistry when working together

This award celebrates the impressive work that goes into creating an outstanding agency culture which supports employee happiness, growth and learning. These could be a single initiative or a whole set of practices, both formal and informal, and may include: flexible working, wellbeing, training and development, charity schemes and CSR, diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives, environmental initiatives, or any other innovative approach designed to create a positive agency culture to achieve business success.

Judges will want to see:

• Summary of your agency, and its culture
• How your agency’s initiatives to support staff embody its core values 
• Both quantitative and qualitative evidence on how you’ve developed and improved your agency culture (Staff survey and NPS score results, quotes from employees). 
• How your agency is ensuring fair and continuous employee feedback and how your leadership team responds to this.

This award celebrates the impressive work that goes into creating an outstanding agency culture which supports employee happiness, growth and learning. These could be a single initiative or a whole set of practices, both formal and informal, and may include: flexible working, wellbeing, training and development, charity schemes and CSR, diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives, environmental initiatives, or any other innovative approach designed to create a positive agency culture to achieve business success.

Judges will want to see:

• Summary of your agency, and its culture 
• How your agency’s initiatives to support staff embody its core values
• Both quantitative and qualitative evidence on how you’ve developed and improved your agency culture (Staff survey and NPS score results, quotes from employees). 
• How your agency is ensuring fair and continuous employee feedback and how your leadership team responds to this.

This winner of Agency of the Year will be a true role model agency. They will continuously be delivering great work for existing clients while driving new business initiatives, have a clear strategic vision that is reflected in the day-to-day, and be focussed on their people and values to deliver a working culture from which we can all learn.

They will be able to clearly demonstrate their agency’s influence not only as a forward-thinker in the industry, but also with their impact on the wider world.

Judges will want to see:

• At least one example of how your agency has innovated or challenged the industry in the past year, including evidence of wider reach
• Up to three examples of outstanding work or initiatives that embody best practice. Judges are not simply looking for work that answered the client brief and delivered excellent ROI, examples could also include great creative work, great thinking, powerful influence in the industry or a fantastic initiative, that challenged the norm and moved the industry forward in some way.
• Employee and client testimonials to support your narrative.

This winner of Agency of the Year will be a true role model agency. They will continuously be delivering great work for existing clients while driving new business initiatives, have a clear strategic vision that is reflected in the day-to-day, and be focussed on their people and values to deliver a working culture from which we can all learn.

They will be able to clearly demonstrate their agency’s influence not only as a forward-thinker in the industry, but also with their impact on the wider world. 

Judges will want to see:

• At least one example of how your agency has innovated or challenged the industry in the past year, including evidence of wider reach 
• Up to three examples of outstanding work or initiatives that embody best practice. Judges are not simply looking for work that answered the client brief and delivered excellent ROI, examples could also include great creative work, great thinking, powerful influence in the industry or a fantastic initiative, that challenged the norm and moved the industry forward in some way.
• Employee and client testimonials to support your narrative.

This category recognises an agency's inclusive and diverse efforts to create a positive impact for their clients or their agency/ industry as a whole. Exceptional agencies here will be championing DE&I to ensure representation and authentically reaching diverse groups. 

• Supporting ethnic, gender, disability and age diversity, or mental health awareness initiatives with fresh thinking and approaches to genuinely challenge the status quo of how we as an industry do business 
• Agency who has made a commitment to anyone who wants to join their agency.

Judges will want to see:

• At least one example of how your agency has innovated or challenged the industry on DE&I in the past year, including evidence of wider reach. 
• Evidence of how your DE&I policy is embedded in the agency culture.
• A breakdown of agency's trends in diversity and gender make up: initiatives could include but are not limited to race, gender, sexuality, disability, mental health awareness, neurodiversity and or socioeconmic status. 
•  Up to 2 examples of outstanding work or initiatives that embody best practice in DE&I . 
• Employee and or client testimonials to support your narrative. 

The winner of Growth Team of the Year will be able to demonstrate excellence in agency marketing and business development. They will be able to show how the growth team has supported the agency leadership team in delivering new business opportunities and wins across the year utilising a clear value proposition, well defined audience targeting and outstanding communications. It will also be able to evidence how it has impacted organic growth through collaborating with client service teams to identify new revenue opportunities.

The winning team will also evidence how it is investing in business development talent at all levels of the agency.  

Judges will want to see: 

• Evidence of clearly defined growth KPIs and performance delivery. 
• Examples of investments in learning and development at all levels in the growth team.
• Evidence of partnerships with client services teams to drive existing account growth. 
• Employee and senior leadership testimonials to support the narrative. 

This award is for the agency individual who has gone above and beyond to champion new initiatives in the marketing industry and move it forward. Examples of these could include: 

• Making a difference to working practices, whether enabling their people to be happier or more productive
• Pioneering innovation – such as launching a new model, platform, programme or tech-enabled initiative that challenges convention and introduces new thinking to the industry.
• Driving thought leadership or research, a tool or product or collaboration initiative designed to share knowledge, insight, solutions and/or shared resources to benefit the wider industry

We want to champion someone who is, over and above, driving change for good – both for their agency, the whole industry and wider reaching into society.

Judges will want to see: 

• Who the candidate is as a person, what values drive them, and what they stand for.
• Tangible examples of instigating authentic and original industry-leading initiatives that have driven results and have moved the industry forwards.
• Demonstration of wide-reaching advocation for sustainable change, and driving positive influence
• Evidence of collaboration with others, including benefits and value driven to both internal employees at their agency, and the wider industry and society externally
• Pushing innovative practices and introducing new approaches to deliver marketing results. 

This awards recognises the contribution client service leaders make to the creation of successful agency and client relationships, demonstrated by measurable client satisfaction, account profitability and growth. The best marketing is achieved when clients and agencies work together as partners and client services professionals are the glue that binds the two together. Nominations can be made by those in client service roles, but must be supported by one client reference.

Judges will want to see:

• Evidence of client satisfaction over a prolonged period (more than 12 months)
• A consistent approach to measuring client satisfaction levels e.g. NPS
• 1x client reference about the individual nominee and outlining their contribution to building a successful partnership

This award recognises the exceptional collaboration and achievements in a client:agency partnership, where the agency can clearly demonstrate how they have already helped to transform their client’s business within the first year. Successful entrants will be able to articulate what won them the business, what they understood better than anyone else, how they have worked collaboratively with their client, and what initial results or promises they’ve already delivered on in the first year.

Please note: The eligibility period for this category runs from July 2024 – June 2025. An agency may have been appointed prior to July 2024, but all work detailed in the entry must fall within the eligibility period.

Judges will want to see:

• Alignment of shared strategic vision and goals, and what initiatives you’ve implemented to ensure a positive start to the partnership
• Evidence of the initial innovative and impactful campaigns that have been created together within the first year 
•  An ongoing commitment to long-term collaboration and relationship building, allowing for substantial growth, development and even greater results in the future

This award is to acknowledge the years of dedication and collaboration that underpins a successful partnership, and celebrates strong relationships which have remained resilient during periods of rapid change and uncertainty. Judges will want to see how the most effective partnerships have consistently demonstrated brilliant and creative outputs with tangible results, whilst fostering harmonious working processes throughout the years. They will also want to see how the client and agency have worked together over this time to adapt to change, refine their processes and motivate themselves to continuously strive towards common goals.

Please note: Partnerships must be ongoing as of July 2022. The work entered or referenced must show substantial and measurable progress over the last 3 + years. Agencies must co-enter with their client by providing a client testimonial to support their entry.

Judges will want to see:

• Evidence of a truly collaborative partnership which has evolved over time, with exceptional creative and strategic outputs that have driven results for both client and agency
• Details of the processes and initiatives in place to nurture a healthy and productive working relationship
• Examples of a unified approach, where collaboration and teamwork has delivered ongoing and growing success, including in response to changing needs 
• How the mettle of this partnership has been tested, and proven in times of rapid change

The Grand Pearl is the judges' choice award, reserved for an agency whose collective performance across multiple categories sets a new standard for excellence in the industry. It is not about size or specialism, instead it recognises consistency, ambition and influence and showcasing excellence in strategy, culture, client service and impact. It celebrates the totality of an agency's contribution to the industry and a recognition of sustained excellence.

This category is not open for direct entry. Instead, it is awarded based on the strength and breadth of an agency's submissions across at least two or more categories, excluding those focused on individual performance.

Judges will be looking for:

• A clear and compelling agency identity, reflected consistently across multiple entries
• Evidence of leadership and innovation, with influence that extends beyond client work into the wider industry
• A strong internal culture, including people development, inclusive practices and values-led leadership
• Strategic clarity and commercial impact, showing how the agency is driving growth and shaping the future
• Creative and operational excellence, with examples that demonstrate originality, effectiveness and ambition

This is the award for agencies that are defining what great looks like and setting a benchmark for the industry to follow.