Winners announced for AdMedia Agency of the Year

Winners announced for Fairfax Media AdMedia Agency of the Year

The winners in the Fairfax Media AdMedia Advertising Agency of the Year – held in association with the Communication Agencies Association (CAANZ) – were unveiled last night at Libertine in the Victoria Park Quarter. They were:

ADVERTISING AGENCY OF THE YEAR – OVER 50 STAFF: Colenso BBDO

ADVERTISINGAGENCY OF THE YEAR – 21-50 STAFF: Barnes, Catmur & Friends

ADVERTISING AGENCY OF THE YEAR – UNDER 20 STAFF: justONE

MEDIA AGENCY OF THE YEAR – OVER 15 STAFF: Spark PHD

MEDIA AGENCY OF THE YEAR – UNDER 15 STAFF: No winner

ACTIVATION/PR AGENCY OF THE YEAR: No winner

CEO/MD OF THE YEAR: Bryan Crawford (DraftFCB)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – MEDIA: Ying Yu (Spark PHD)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – CREATIVE: Eloise Jack (Colenso BBDO).

The judges said:
• Colenso BBDO’s ability to stay at top of its game despite a large account loss, and to continue to grow and innovate while increasing profitability made theirs the winning entry. At the top line, the agency posted a steady-as-she-goes result, maintaining a reasonably consistent but solid revenue and employee base. The judges were impressed with the management of costs, resulting in an increased profit as a percentage of revenue.

• Barnes Catmur & Friends was confidently single-minded in the approach to its business, the judges said. Its growth has been focussed and steadily inclining. Its financial performance was sound and its commitment to its craft resulted in an excellent awards performance. Barnes Catmur & Friends expanded the number of employees and grew its revenue base by an even higher percentage, and managed their costs, to enjoy a strong profit as a percentage of revenue.

• justONE enjoyed strong revenue and profit growth, plus growth in revenue per person. The agency had its best financial year ever, with increased revenue and profits. justONE can be proud of the fact that the profit as a percentage of revenue was well above industry norms.

• Spark PHD recorded a strong financial performance, low staff churn, employed innovative management approaches, and achieved great recognition through industry awards. Spark PHD achieved steady growth on a solid base, through expanding its team and slightly increasing the revenue per employee.

• Bryan Crawford (DraftFCB) showed vision, focus and leadership which was instrumental in the unprecedented growth and success of DraftFCB. His singular focus on winning the Vodafone account was as calculated as it was gutsy. There were few agencies through the process that followed a vision as singlemindedly as Draft FCB with Crawford’s commitment to making Draft FCB ‘The Change Agency’. The judges noted that to be voted Supplier of the Year by a company as large as Mitre 10 with its extensive supplier network is a tribute to the effectiveness of DraftFCB, and the person who leads it.
• Eloise Jack (Colenso BBDO) was an exceptional candidate, with personality and ambition. She started at Colenso as a suit but showed such aptitude for the creative side of the business that she is being fast-tracked into the agency’s creative team. There are many great account people but it’s hard to find a young person that can straddle creativity sufficiently to join one of the greatest creative departments in New Zealand.

• Ying Yu demonstrated great skill working on one of Spark PHD’s biggest clients. This saw her promoted to media buyer just three months after starting at the agency. The Rookie category judges described her as a most impressive candidate, with a personality to match. They said they expect her to go much higher up the ranks as her career progresses.

ENDS

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