Shortlist 2025

AGENCY

BRANDING AGENCY

Manifest Group

In 2025, Manifest redefined what it means to be a modern branding agency. As branding became our fastest-growing discipline, it evolved into the organising force behind our business. We moved upstream from communications-led delivery into brand strategy, articulation and transformation, meeting a growing client demand for coherence, cu...

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Otherway

In 2024, Otherway became part of the Common Interest Group, joining company TwentyFirstCenturyBrand as the group’s second acquisition. By 2025, we proudly welcomed Amplify, CultureLab and Babyteeth as sister agencies. Being part of the Common Interest family has unlocked larger opportunities for our studio across the UK and US. A...

BRAND EXPERIENCE AGENCY

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Amplify

Amplify is the global creative agency building brand experiences that define what culture does next. As CMOs broaden 'brand experience' to cover campaigns live, digital, film, and social, Amplify has evolved beyond traditional experiential marketing. Founded on youth-focused brands like Nike and PlayStation—still clients today—we...

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Bearded Kitten - Part of Havas Play

Bearded Kitten is an experience agency designing, building and delivering work across every corner of experiential, from flagship B2B conferences and culture-led sampling, to immersive, fan activations and permanent attractions. In one of the toughest climates our industry has faced, we delivered our strongest performance to date...

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Havas Play UK

2025 was a defining year for Havas Play. We transformed from a business over-reliant on one client into a fast-growing, culturally fluent creative agency delivering work that brands and audiences love. Under new leadership, we simplified our offering, sharpened our creative edge and set a bold vision: The Future is Play. The results sp...

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Imagination

In 2025, as brands faced tighter budgets and a world of algorithmic sameness, Imagination doubled down on a simple belief: originality wins. By turning originality into a filter for how we work, we ensured every idea worked harder and every budget went further. The results were clear. We delivered 10 new client wins, drove organic grow...

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Raptor

Raptor was born from one belief, that brands don’t own culture, young people do. In a world where youth marketing is often surface deep, we built an agency that listens first. Ten years in, Raptor stands at the intersection of youth, culture and creativity. 2025 has been the agency’s most transformative year yet with 66%...

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Seen Presents

In just 3 years, our female-led team grew from a standing start – no revenue and no clients – into one of the UK’s most exciting experiential agencies. Testament to that? We won Creative Experience Agency of the Year 2025 at the Campaign Experience Awards. After relaunching our proposition, making ‘the intangible, tangible’, and...

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St Marks Studios

St Marks Studios is the Brand Experience agency of Publicis Groupe specialising in experiential, COOH, special builds, retail activations, events and sampling for consumer brand such as Samsung, Kelloggs, Apple, Sky and McVities We’re team born from over a decade of producing the PR industry’s most famous, fearless and culture-sh...

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Verve The Live Agency

Verve is an experiential agency built on a clear belief: when everything competes for attention, the most effective experiences do less, better, reducing friction, creating clarity and giving people a reason to care. In 2025, that belief delivered creative, cultural and commercial impact. Working with Guinness, Smirnoff and Google, V...

CREATIVE AGENCY

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BBH

"In a landscape defined by short-term thinking and efficiency over effectiveness, BBH London delivered difference. We didn't just create ads; we repositioned entire brands, drove cultural moments, and achieved massive business outcomes for clients. Crucially, our commitment to future-proofing the industry remains non-negotiable,...

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Leo UK

2025 has been demanding, but it has also been our most creatively awarded year yet. Our work travelled further and connected more widely than ever before. And that creative momentum has carried through everything else: welcoming seven new CMOs, retaining every client for a fourth year, delivering 20% growth and expanding a team that is...

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Lucky Generals

In 2025, Lucky Generals entered its 13th year of business. And let’s face it, the economic and industry omens were not good. But despite these gloomy portents, the agency recorded its best year ever: • Revenues grew by 39%, to an all-time high • Within this, average revenue per client went up by 60%, showing the import...

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Mother

Since 1996, Mother has operated by a simple Trinity: make the best work we possibly can, have fun, and make a living not a killing. In 2025, that belief made us Marketing Week's Agency of the Year, Creative Review's Advertising Agency of the Year, Campaign's Global Creative Agency of the Year and The Sunday Times Best Place to Wo...

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Uncommon Creative Studio

Heading into 2025, the creative industry was told to expect a tough year: consolidation, AI, irrelevance, disruption, stagnant growth, ghost pitches - to name just a few. Instead, Uncommon had an unprecedented year of growth - not just financially (with revenue increasing 40%), but in our work, our people and our impact. A year t...

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VCCP

VCCP was born twenty-three years ago around a kitchen table, fuelled by a single, defiant purpose: to challenge the bad habits of the advertising industry. Today, that same restless spirit remains our backbone and it’s why we have always been integrated. We break down silos to become true business partners to our clients. We challenge ...

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Wieden+Kennedy London

In 2025, Wieden+Kennedy London’s independent spirit has never been more vital. It keeps us focused on the work, the needs of clients and the needs of our people. As the industry becomes more automated, we will stay human with all the wonderful weirdness that comes from that. We are the company that helps other companies find the...

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AGENCY

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Ogilvy One

2025 was a challenging year, marked by agency mergers, widespread AI anxiety, and tough market conditions. While many agencies adopted defensive stances, Ogilvy One made a profoundly different choice, opting for dynamic action. Where others were tested by AI, we put AI to the test. We scaled up instead of back, choosing to lead publicl...

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OLIVER

OLIVER is the world’s leading AI marketing company. It is the only company that specialises in designing, building, and running bespoke marketing solutions inside clients' organisations to help them grow. In the last decade OLIVER have delivered over $1bn in value by turning marketing into a growth engine that’s both effective ...

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RAPP UK

2025: Built to lead 2025 was a year of relentless change and client challenge. Many agencies spun. RAPP thrived. We were never fazed. Because Precision & Empathy are hardwired into our DNA, enabling us to deliver solutions that empower clients to lead. We seized 2025 with clarity and confidence: investing in future-ready talent, p...

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TMW, part of Accenture Song

Driven by our Ideas That Move People proposition, TMW entered 2025 off the back of our biggest and best year to date. With the added power of our integration into the Accenture Song family, we were ready to reach even greater heights, bringing unrivalled tech and data capabilities together with our trademark creativity and human ...

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AGENCY

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Apadmi

Experts in everything mobile; Apadmi designs, develops and optimises mobile apps for leading brands. We unlock new value through strategy, platforms, middleware and systems integrations that transform the way they work. We deliver digital transformation for the likes of Domino’s, Co-op, Greene King, iD Mobile, Unite Students, Charles S...

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Bernadette (a VCCP company)

Bernadette is the digital experience agency within the VCCP Group. We believe the best brands are defined by their digital experiences – the services, platforms and technology people rely on in their everyday lives. Rooted in VCCP’s challenger legacy, we help brands push harder and stay relevant as technology, culture and custome...

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Hookflash

Delivering an exceptional customer experience online has never been more important…but also rarely been as difficult. Expectations are high whilst organisations often suffer from a lack of trust in their data. Fuelled by the fact that the GA4 is still not well understood by marketing teams and that cookie consent continues to be a comp...

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OLIVER

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Open Partners

Open Partners, The Agency of Next, is an independent agency delivering digital transformation by design. Founded in 2017, Open Partners' mission, model, and values system has been built to enable innovation, experimentation, and growth for its people, partners, and clients. Their integrated model, combining Media, Data, ...

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R/GA UK

In a year defined by collapsing holding companies, AI anxiety, and global political uncertainty, one optimistic story rose above the chaos — not about who won the latest pitch or the newest Cannes darling — but who would survive and lead the industry forward. This is the story of an unbelievable escape. For years, the hol...

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RAPP UK

INDEPENDENT PR AGENCY

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Hope&Glory

Our greatest challenge has been laurels. And never resting on them. We’ve adorned the shelves of Hope&Glory with many awards over the years. We remain the most-awarded independent agency of the year (a title we’ve held for three years) and are the most-awarded agency of the last five years We think we lead the way in our workplac...

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The Romans

The past 12 months at The Romans have seen… 44 new hires join us, 30 new clients won by us and a stunning 42% YoY revenue growth. A 93% client retention rate, a 92% staff retention rate and a creative department that almost tripled from 9 to 26. The creation of a ‘beer-proof’ parka-style Lidl jacket to celebrate...

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Tin Man

In 2025, the headlines for Tin Man have really shone. We’ve been named Agency of the Year three times in the last twelve months, won 19 out of 21 pitches, added some phenomenal brands to our portfolio (hello… Tesco, Dunelm, Innocent, Cafédirect, Philips Hue, LELO, Three UK and Sue Ryder to name a few), grown 12% and made double digit p...

INDEPENDENT MEDIA AGENCY

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Bicycle London

Independent, integrated, and sustainable: we’re proving that values and performance can coexist. We’re beating bigger rivals, scaling with integrity, and delivering work that drives substantial business growth for our clients. From Greater Anglia to zooplus, Papa Johns to MOJU, our results show what happens when creativity, data, an...

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Croud

Croud is redefining what it means to be a modern independent agency by investing in intelligence. In 2025, the business accelerated its transformation into a full-service media, creative and data agency, fusing human expertise, AI-driven technology and proprietary insight to deliver measurable impact for clients and growth for the busi...

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Impression

We're a performance marketing agency setting the new standard of excellence through our people, our performance and our technology, with offices in Manchester, Nottingham, London and New York. We turn evidence into action and brands’ ambition into results. In the current marketing landscape, brands aren't getting the res...

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Medialab Group

Medialab is the UK’s leading independent media agency, known for ‘data-driven success’. Established in 2005, we’ve spent 20 years redefining the possibilities of media planning, buying, and effectiveness. In March, Medialab was proud to be named Campaign’s Independent Agency of the Year for the first time. At the end of our 20th ...

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Open Partners

Open Partners is an independent media agency built to be different. Founded in 2017 by former network leaders, the agency was designed around true integration, accountability and a people-first culture, allowing teams to move faster, think more creatively, and deliver stronger outcomes for clients. Over the past year, Open Partne...

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PMG

PMG is a global independent marketing and technology company redefining the modern agency model. Delivering 15 years of record-breaking growth, 2025 marked a step-change for our UK operations with the full integration of RocketMill. The union fused local expertise with global scale, creating a seamless full-service powerhouse across me...

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Talon

We grew, we won, we delivered, and we did it by putting people first. We strengthened our position as the UK’s leading independent OOH specialist, delivering nationally recognised work that seamlessly integrates into wider media strategies. We increased market share, had strong year on year growth, and continued to champion OOH as th...

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The Kite Factory

2025 was the year The Kite Factory proved that independence isn’t a limitation, it’s a competitive edge. While the industry navigated budget cuts, consolidation and widespread contraction, we moved forward with intention, delivering our fifth consecutive year of growth: +6% billings, +17% profit, 15 new clients bringing +£26m billings,...

INDEPENDENT CREATIVE AGENCY

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House of Oddities

House of Oddities is not the biggest indie agency in the UK right now... but we've got the biggest ambition to be the differentest... and we've been putting that to work every day this year with a massive 480% growth while also delivering more profitability and transforming the opportunities for the most underrepresented people in our ...

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Manifest Group

Manifest Group is an independent integrated marketing agency with a clear ambition: to build brands that change the world. Born in the UK, we’ve grown into a global proposition with a renowned creative reputation and an international team of entrepreneurial talent. Our 24-hour creative operation spans London, Manchester, New York...

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Pablo

In 2025 we proved that Action Works; delivering another year of market-beating growth with a 10% revenue uplift to £20.1m, a 93% pitch-win rate, 100% client retention, and top-ten client relationships now averaging seven years, over twice the industry benchmark. We welcomed 12 new clients and a staggering 20 new brands, including major...

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VCCP

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Wieden+Kennedy London

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Wiser

Wiser is an employer brand and early talent agency built to change the way people think about work. Over the last 12 months, we’ve grown through challenge, not despite it. When the market dipped and budgets were cut, we held our nerve, protected every job and focused on what we do best: building brands people want to work for. We grew ...

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Wonderhood Studios

2025 was the year Wonderhood Studios proved the power of true captivation. As the only independent creative company where entertainment-makers and brand-builders work alongside, we set out to create work people choose to watch - not content that interrupts, but ideas that earn attention. Our positioning around Captivating Audienc...

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ZEAL

In 2025, ZEAL delivered 30%+ YoY growth and expanded headcount by 6%, with 14% growth in London. We secured six new business wins; Kimberly Clark (Andrex, Kleenex), Heinz (Beanz, Soups and Sauces), Revlon (Mitchum), Edgewell (Wilkinson Sword), and Young’s Seafood and KP Snacks, both appointed without a pitch. We expanded c...

IN-HOUSE AGENCY

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BBC Creative

2025 was a defining year for the BBC - marked by intense scrutiny, fierce competition and unprecedented pressure. With Charter Renewal approaching and global streamers surging, BBC Creative doubled down on what matters most: creativity with purpose. Our 130-strong in-house team delivered over 500 campaigns and 5,000 assets, provi...

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Sips & Bites

Hello, we’re Sips & Bites, PepsiCo’s in-house creative studio. A tightly-knit, vibrant and diverse team of 27, who cultivate human-centric and subculture first approach which lead to ideas that grow our business and brands. Led by our CCO, Matt Watson, our talented European team develops impactful, fame-driving ideas rooted in human in...

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U-Studio/OLIVER

Marketing for the age of Intelligent Connection. Audiences, brands and agencies are facing fragmented content, commerce and channels. U-Studio is Unilever’s answer to how to build brands faster, more consistently and more cost effectively. It has built AI into a fast, agile, silo free in-house model. Planners and creatives sit ...

INTEGRATED MARKETING AGENCY

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M+C Saatchi Group UK

M+C Saatchi Group UK has had a standout year, building on and proving the effectiveness of our integrated, culturally driven model for growth. As a creative solutions company founded on Brutal Simplicity of Thought, we focus on solving complexity with clarity and unlocking creativity through diversity of thinking. Guided by three prior...

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VCCP

VCCP was born twenty-three years ago around a kitchen table, fuelled by a single, defiant purpose: to challenge the bad habits of the advertising industry. Today, that same restless spirit remains our backbone and it’s why we have always been integrated – breaking down silos to become true business partners to our clients. We challenge...

MEDIA AGENCY

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EssenceMediacom, WPP Media

As the biggest agency in the UK, more clients choose to work with us than anyone else - by a large margin. Behind being the most chosen is a client obsession that we live every day. We provably solve age-old problems and knotty issues that clients have been grappling with for years, through new tools and research projects. We deliver m...

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Havas Media Network UK

2025 was HMN’s strongest year to date – a year defined by strong leadership, tangible transformation and meaningful impact. In a rapidly changing industry shaped by automation, AI and economic pressure, we chose a distinctive and different path to our competitors: bespoke, human-centred marketing solutions built around each client’s co...

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Hearts & Science

Hearts & Science has consistently outperformed the market and was crowned 2024’s fastest-growing agency, delivering +74% year-on-year billings growth. But growth alone was not the goal. Our focus was simple: ensuring Hearts became not just bigger, but better, by delivering work that truly works. Work that drives growth for client...

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iProspect

In 2025, iProspect UK proved that brand building and performance aren’t opposing forces, they’re unstoppable together. Our philosophy of “brand building with a performance mindset” powered a year of record-breaking growth, award-winning work, and industry leadership. We delivered transformative results for clients: NEXT surpassed...

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Medialab Group

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MG OMD

MG OMD delivers what the industry needs: consistency in an unpredictable world. In 2025, we made history with unprecedented Agency of the Year wins, landmark client renewals and category‑defining new business, while producing globally recognised and culturally resonant work - from Cannes‑winning campaigns to nationwide innovation for b...

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OMD UK

In a year that demanded leadership beyond excellence, we learned how to not just show up, but show off. We turned setbacks into springboards, transformed our agency into a stage for our exceptional cast of 459, and delivered show-stopping work that turned customer heads, stole industry headlines, and drove business bottom lines. We’ve ...

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PHD UK

2024 for PHD was all about RESILIENCE – a year where we had to defend 48% of our billings through incumbent reviews. We successfully retained ALL of those clients, but it was a tiring year where we were forced to ‘play not to lose’. In 2025, we were able to actively move into a ‘play to win’ mindset, creating a year of RESURGANCE...

PERFORMANCE MARKETING AGENCY

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Assembly Europe

Assembly is world famous for making brands perform. We believe the better the brand experience, the better a brand performs. Our clients span diverse sectors united by our belief that all media is performance media, and this philosophy drives exceptional results across both media and business outcomes. From driving footfall to Ralph...

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Brave Bison Performance

2025 has been Brave Bison’s boldest, brightest year yet. Our Performance team has fused creativity with cutting-edge proprietary tech to launch game-changing new tools, help our clients thrive across new channels, and grown our client base through our most ambitious work to date. From smashing ROAS records to our CEO Hannah Kimuy...

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Havas Market UK

In 2025, Havas Market UK transformed performance marketing by merging Search Laboratory’s data expertise with its connected commerce team, creating a full-funnel agency under Havas Media Network. Our Limitless Performance proposition combines human insight, meaningful metrics and applied technology to deliver end-to-end growth. This ye...

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Impression

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Journey Further

2025 was a pivotal year for Journey Further, where we strengthened our capabilities, deepened our client partnerships, and built the foundations for long-term growth. Welcoming Saulderson Media into the Journey Further team was a defining moment. Their creator and influencer expertise, especially across gaming and tech, expanded ...

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RAPP UK

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ROAST

Over the past decade, ROAST has transformed from an SEO start-up to an award-winning full-service performance marketing agency. ROAST launched in February 2015. And what began as an ambitious start-up has grown into a fiercely independent powerhouse, expanding across continents, disciplines, and industries, without ever compromising...

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Summit

Summit is a performance marketing agency built on a simple belief: great performance comes from clear strategy, continuous testing, deep retail expertise and people. As an independent specialist, Summit exists to create measurable value for clients, deliver industry-leading ROI and build long-term partnerships based on trust and result...

PR AGENCY

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Golin

At Golin London, we create change that matters - in our culture, our industry-leading work, and the impact we deliver for clients. 2025 marked our fourth year of record growth with 100% client retention and a 9-year average tenure. Fast Company named us Most Innovative. We won Cannes Lions for creativity and effectiveness. Contagious c...

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Hope&Glory

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Taylor Herring

In a year defined by economic headwinds and shifting media landscapes, Taylor Herring didn’t just survive – we soared. We achieved record-breaking revenue, launched standout creative campaigns, unveiled a bold new Brand Experience division, and led the charge in social news innovation. We also welcomed major new clients, delivered cult...

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The Romans

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Tin Man

START-UP AGENCY

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ARK

2025 was the year ARK moved from "newcomer" to "industry force." In our first full calendar year, we delivered outsized impact across every metric. Commercially, we scaled start-ups and grew household brands; in new business, we were relentless—winning 10 competitive pitches against some of the biggest and best agencies in the country....

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Block Report

Block Report was launched in January 2025 with the ambition of creating and selling a product rather than another time-based services agency. Within 10 months we have gained an incredible list of clients including itsu, National Express, KFC, Riverford, Wingstop, Pentland Brands (Berghaus, Canterbury and Endura), and Mark Ritson’s Mini...

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Go Places

Launched in April 2024, Go Places has rapidly redefined what a start-up agency can achieve. Founded by Sam Jacobs and Jack Finger, the agency leads the UK’s social commerce revolution, helping global brands turn TikTok engagement into measurable sales. Their proprietary technology, OnePlace, integrates real-time analytics, AI insights ...

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House of Oddities

House of Oddities launched two years ago with £200 in the bank, four cats and a strong sense that the creative industry was talking a lot about diversity while doing very little about it. Four groups remain wildly underrepresented: women, people of colour, people from working-class backgrounds and people living with disabilities. Our C...

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Piqniq

Piqniq is a refreshingly independent, start up media agency built for what’s next. Founded in 2024 by Bee Pearson, Katy Sharpe and Mitchell Cocker, Piqniq was created to challenge the conventions of the agency model, blending intelligence, creativity and human instinct to deliver work that truly moves people. In under two years, the ag...

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Uncharted

Uncharted is a creative agency built for a changing world — helping brands set out with confidence — and without fear. Founded in 2024 by three industry leaders with experience across brand creative, digital, and innovation, Uncharted brings big-brand thinking together with tech-driven agility and future-focused invention. The a...

SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY

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Coolr

Coolr’s on a mission to be the best social media agency in the world. We’re redefining what a social-first agency looks like by blending big agency thinking with the speed and creativity of a digital publisher. We operate at the heart of culture, creating work that delivers real growth, sparks cultural moments and consistently earns ...

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Tangerine

We’re Tangerine, an independent, female-led powerhouse PR and social agency. Born in PR and raised in social, we build Superbrands through the power of Attention. We unite earned storytelling and community engagement with paid effectiveness to add measurable value to our clients’ businesses and ensure social and PR is valued as ...

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The Goat Agency

In 2025, The Goat Agency led the influencer marketing industry with our "Influence Everywhere" approach, taking creator content off social media and into the real world. From our work with Unilever Homecare on the Comfort Heaven Scent x Molly-Mae Hague partnership (which saw our produced content placed across OOH, TV, digital and point...

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Uncovered

2025 was the year Uncovered brought social first creativity to the top tables in marketing. We won the largest UK social pitch of 2025, a FTSE 100 tech giant and one of the high-street’s leading banks. Alongside this, we deepened relationships with KFC, expanded global platform partnerships across TikTok, Meta and Google, and de...

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We Are Social

In today’s media landscape, brands are won and lost on social. As the OG and only truly global social agency, driving cultural relevance for the world’s biggest and best brands, we understand this better than most. At We Are Social, we help our clients master social media by creating Ideas Worth Talking About. These punch above ...

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WE CREATE POPULAR

We Create Popular (WCP) is a UK-based, social-first creative company operating as a creator-led IP engine. W believe that creators are the most powerful media owners of our generation; WCP exists to help them build lasting formats, brands and businesses, not just short-term content. WCP delivered trailblazing work that redefined ...

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Whalar UK

In a year when everyone was throwing it all at the wall to see what stuck, we did more than ever to earn the trust and confidence of clients, Creators and the industry. We started the year flying the flag for Creators and the Creator Economy at 10 Downing Street, presenting our “Creator Britannia” keynote to the Prime Minister. ...

ACCOUNT PERSON

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Arena Media UK

Ashley Bolt

Ashley Bolt has transformed Arena Media’s gaming division into a multimillion-pound global powerhouse operating across 21 markets. As Group Managing Partner, Gaming, he delivered +60% YoY billings growth, a 100% pitch win-rate and 96% client retention during one of the most turbulent years for the gaming industry. His leadership combin...

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Lucky Generals

Vickie Ridley

Vickie Ridley is Lucky Generals’ MD and has been with the agency for 10 years. Insiders say she’s a ray of light, colour and positivity. In fact, they describe her using Maya Angelou’s words, as “a rainbow in someone else’s clouds”. This year, the industry has had plenty of dark clouds but Vickie has been rainbowier than ever, an...

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MG OMD

Geraldine Ridgway

Geraldine Ridgway is a transformative leader who redefines client partnerships through expertise, honesty, and care. With two decades of experience the last year alone has seen her deliver industry-shaping campaigns, build resilient teams, and driven innovation that elevates brands and agencies alike. From pioneering creative media str...

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TMW, part of Accenture Song

Karen Morris

As Chief Client Officer at TMW in 2025, Karen Morris led one of the most commercially successful and operationally complex years in the agency’s history. Amid ongoing industry uncertainty and significant organisational change, Karen was responsible for ensuring that increased scale translated into clearer ways of working, stronge...

AGENCY PRODUCER

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BBH

BBH Production

The team successfully secured and managed collaborations with world-renowned creative talent, including director Jeff Low (Tesco Christmas) and photographer/director Alex Prager (F&F: Style It Out). Internally, the team supported its homegrown talent by promoting Georgina Kent to Head of Production. It also invested in crucial tr...

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Girl&Bear (a VCCP company)

We are Girl&Bear. Some people call us the Makers of everything, which is actually true – except for time machines. We’re still scratching our heads over that one. Girl&Bear is the amazing production team at VCCP, and we wanted to share our ode to the value of production at Girl&Bear and our many achievements this year! We are d...

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS/MARKETING TEAM

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Havas Media Network UK

Michael Phillips and Jessica Porter - HMN Comms Team

2025 was a breakthrough year for Havas Media Network – and our communications team made it happen. We transformed reputation into record-breaking growth, turning HMN from a challenger into one of the UK’s most talked-about media networks. We made clients famous at pivotal moments, from onboarding new wins to securing flagship profiles ...

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R/GA UK

George Griffiths & R/GA MarComms team

In a year when marquee agency brands collapsed, R/GA faced its biggest communications challenge in two decades: the transition from 23 years of IPG ownership to independent status. Our MarComm’s team’s objective was clear: control the narrative. We didn’t just announce a sale; we launched a movement we called ‘Un/Held’, and re-position...

CREATIVE LEADER

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BBH

Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes

Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, ECD at BBH London, is an architect of difference both at BBH and across the wider industry. In an industry increasingly choked by AI slop, short-term thinking, and suffocating ‘sameness’, Felipe’s non-negotiable principle is that creativity is the single most reliable engine of growth. His ...

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Saatchi & Saatchi

Franki Goodwin

Franki Goodwin was named Campaign’s Creative Leader of the Year for 2024, acknowledging a year of outstanding creative output. In 2025, not a single laurel has been rested on: Saatchi & Saatchi revitalised its famous belief that Nothing Is Impossible with fresh new meaning, and it’s been a year of doubling down on integrated creative e...

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VCCP

Chris Birch and Jonny Parker

Both born and bred in Doncaster, together Jonny and Chris are VCCP’s CCO team, leading the agency’s London-based creative department to deliver work that populates culture. Guided by a philosophy of creating ideas that endure, they have elevated brands like Cadbury and Virgin Media O2 with culturally impactful campaigns that connect de...

HEAD OF AGENCY - CREATIVE/ADVERTISING

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BBH

Karen Martin

Karen Martin is the CEO leading the charge in restoring creativity to the centre of the industry’s future. As leader of both BBH and President of the IPA, she has spent the past year on a mission to champion creativity as the industry’s most powerful engine for commercial growth. This vision was introduced through the film The Wo...

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Lucky Generals

Cressida Holmes-Smith

In 2025, Cressida-Holmes Smith was named Chair of the IPA’s Effectiveness Leadership Group. She was chosen because of her long-held passion for this subject and in her inaugural address, she said that: “Effectiveness is the most important conversation we can have as an industry. It’s not a side hustle; it’s the main event.” ...

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Neverland

Josh Harris

Josh is that rare agency leader who has decided to make the agency a success through the values he believes in, as much as the skills he has to deliver them; who has decided to put himself to the biggest test of a creative agency CEO, by not accepting the human shortcuts we so often exploit in this industry or to lean on the experience...

HEAD OF AGENCY - DIGITAL

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R/GA UK

Ryan Wareham

In a year when marquee agency brands collapsed, Ryan led R/GA in EMEA as we reclaimed our independence—becoming Unheld after 23 years with IPG. Backed by Truelink Capital, a $50M innovation fund, and investment from our own leadership team, Ryan has been leading the agency in the EMEA region as we redefine R/GA as the creative innovati...

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We Are Social

Jim Coleman

Over a 15-year tenure leading We Are Social in the UK, Jim has driven significant commercial growth and strategic evolution. The agency has cultivated an impressive roster of long-term global partners including Adidas, Activision, and Amazon. By evolving the agency’s services to include multi-market global engagements and board-leve...

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Whalar

Emma Harman

As a flag-bearer for the power of the Creator Economy, Emma was invited to 10 Downing Street to present her keynote to the government's New Media Unit. And then again for the Prime Minister. It was another example of the standout year Creators have had in the creative industries and beyond. But for Whalar, under Emma’s leadership...

HEAD OF AGENCY - INTEGRATED MARKETING

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Anything is Possible

Sam Fenton-Elstone

In 2025, Sam Fenton-Elstone steered Anything is Possible to a staggering 20% year-on-year growth , extending an unbroken seven-year streak of double-digit expansion. Realising his ambitious Double-Double strategic vision, Sam restructured the business into the Anything Is Possible Group, launching specialist divisions Jagged ...

shortlist

TMW, part of Accenture Song

Chris Mellish

In 2024, TMW reached new heights under Chris’s leadership. It was a year of landmark moments spanning history-making new business wins, boundary-pushing creative work, and consistently high staff satisfaction. It was also a year of change, with Accenture Song acquiring UNLIMITED, including TMW. Playing a key role throughout the a...

HEAD OF AGENCY - MEDIA

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Havas Media Network UK

Patrick Affleck

In 2025, Paddy redefined agency leadership, transforming Havas Media Network UK into a full-service marketing powerhouse and one of Campaign’s Agencies to Watch. Under his vision, HMN delivered record-breaking growth: £600m billings (+36% YoY), £100m income (+15%), and 40% of revenue from diversified services, with retention at 7.5 yea...

shortlist

Medialab Group

Marcus Orme

Marcus Orme is CEO and Co-Founder of Medialab, Media Week’s Independent Media Agency of the Year and a Sunday Times Best Place to Work. For 20 years, he has shaped the agency with a simple principle: purposeful, people-first leadership. This year, that philosophy culminated in one of the most defining moments of his career - Medialab b...

shortlist

OMD UK

Suzy Ryder

When the judging period began, Suzy had been CEO of OMD UK for one year, having stepped up from a specialist background to lead 459 people through a defining chapter. What initially appeared an unconventional path became her point of difference. From the outset, she set a clear vision for an agency built to win in the modern media land...

shortlist

PHD UK

Paul Knight

The year that Knighty has delivered for PHD would be a phenomenal achievement in any year. To do it in his first year of leadership, having only joined in early 2025 makes it even more remarkable. Within 12 months of taking on the PHD UK CEO role, he’s created new benchmarks of success for PHD and the industry to chase, giving th...

shortlist

WPP Media

Kate Rowlinson

Leadership isn’t a theory; it’s a practice forged through experience – and sometimes, through fire. For Kate Rowlinson, UK CEO of WPP Media, 2025 was that fire. The year began with profound personal loss following the death of her father and unfolded into the most professionally challenging period of her career. The business underwent ...

HEAD OF AGENCY - PR

shortlist

HAVAS Red

Rachael Sansom

Under the leadership of Rachael Sansom, CEO UK & Europe, HAVAS Red has evolved from an ambitious start-up in 2019 into one of the UK and Europe’s most dynamic earned-first agencies. The agency boasts a stellar client roster including American Express, NBA, Reckitt, Jaguar Land Rover, UNICEF, and more. Rachael’s approach combines stra...

shortlist

Tangerine

Sam Gregory & Mary Harding

Sam Gregory and Mary Harding are the Co-CEOs of Tangerine, an independent, employee-owned PR and social agency, headquartered in Manchester, with a national and international client roster. Their incredibly successful 13-year partnership naturally evolved behind a shared vision to redefine PR and social media through creativity and inn...

MEDIA PLANNING LEADER

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Havas Media Network UK

Emma Withington

In January 2025, Emma joined Havas Media Network as its first Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, marking a pivotal moment for the business. Bringing award-winning credentials and a future-focused mindset, she rapidly unlocked HMN’s latent potential, driving its most successful year on record. Emma elevated strategic excellence across...

shortlist

Hearts & Science

Tessa LeGassick

For eight years, Tess LeGassick has been the planning force behind Hearts, shaping it into an agency where planning is central to success. As a founding member, she identified a critical gap and built the Connections Planning team from scratch, establishing planning excellence as a core discipline. In Hearts’ formative years, Tes...

shortlist

PHD UK

Rebecca Burchnall

From playing a pivotal role in the agency’s biggest pitch win of the year (the £90m Entain account) to the agency delivering its most awarded year of work ever, Bex was at the heart of so many of the big moments in PHD’s record-breaking 2025. Bex thrives on creating practical improvements to make everyone at PHD a better planner ...

NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TEAM/PERSON

shortlist

Havas Media Network UK

Kim James and the HMN Growth Team

In 2025, Havas Media Network’s Growth Team, led by Kim James, delivered record-breaking results by reimagining the agency’s approach to sustainable growth. Against industry volatility, the team achieved unprecedented growth across billings, income, diversified services and retention, winning landmark accounts including LVMH, Emirates, ...

shortlist

Lucky Generals

Vickie Ridley, Alice Lindsay, Trinity Taylor and Ganna Agwa

Lucky Generals has a tiny new business team. It’s composed of just three people (Vickie Ridley, Alice Lindsay and Ganna Agwa) and all of them have other jobs. On top of this, 2025 was a year when the agency’s leadership team emphasised the need to prioritise existing clients, rather than new business. And yet despite all ...

shortlist

PHD UK

PHD UK New Business team

2025 was the year PHD shifted from resilience to resurgence – and this extraordinary New Business team has been pivotal to driving this change. After a year spent defending £225m of business, they re-energised the agency and redefined growth: by putting people first, playing to win and making every pitch unmistakably PHD. This t...

shortlist

TMW, part of Accenture Song

TMW's New Business & Marketing Team

The TMW New Business & Marketing Team is made up of Steve Garside (Chief Growth Officer), Kerry Gibson (New Business Director), Henry Joyce (PR & Marketing Lead) and Mimi Fullerton (New Business & Marketing Manager). Together, the team is responsible for setting TMW’s growth strategy, leading all major pitches, embedding new bus...

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Whalar UK

Alex Elton-Allisett

It's been a landmark year for Alex who has helped Whalar achieve our best ever year in terms of revenue, increased new business growth by 208%, and crushed his personal target by 185%. He grew attention and demand through thought leadership at major European industry forums, Masterclassing for top marketers, and presenting for t...

STRATEGIC LEADER

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BBH

Will Lion

Will Lion’s mission is to make BBH the home of 'Zag Strategy' in the AI era. He believes that, in order to build iconic and highly effective brands, the modern CSO must be highly skilled at navigating the tension between humanity and technology. His mandate to the agency is simple: create bold, original strategies “that AI...

shortlist

Hearts & Science

Simon Carr

Simon Carr’s journey from a working-class childhood in Yorkshire to Chief Strategy Officer at Hearts & Science shapes how he leads, thinks and inspires. Growing up outside the industry’s traditional centres of influence sharpened his instinct to look to the cultural margins and to listen to voices often overlooked. That perspecti...

shortlist

MG OMD

Rob Beevers

Rob Beevers has redefined strategic leadership by fusing creativity with commercial clarity. His innovations like the Advertising Commercial Value Scorecard, Knowledge Hub, and 4Ds framework have transformed how clients plan, measure, and invest. Championing inclusivity through his “Difference Is Not a Deviance” platform, Rob is reshap...

shortlist

RAPP UK

Jon Pollard

Jon Pollard: Strategic Leadership, Redefined When RAPP's Chief Strategy Officer departed in 2024, Head of Strategy Jon Pollard proposed something counterintuitive: don't replace them. Instead, he introduced the "Superteam model", elevating the entire senior strategy group into distributed leaders across specific disciplines, challeng...

shortlist

VCCP

Michael Lee

Michael Lee is the Group Chief Strategy Officer at VCCP. Since joining in 2003, he has played a major role in its dramatic growth to become one of the world’s most successful independent networks, creating multiple award-winning campaigns for brands including easyJet, comparethemarket and O2. Michael oversees all of VCCP’s strat...

STRATEGIST

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BBH

Saskia Jones

Saskia Jones, Deputy CSO at BBH, has driven creative and strategic excellence for BBH and its clients for over a decade. Starting her career in the data and analytics team, she quickly rose through the ranks to Head of Strategy last year and then getting promoted to Deputy CSO in 2025. Her innovative thinking and strategic vision has s...

shortlist

Hearts & Science

Frith Hofmeester

Frith is driven by work that demands transformative thinking, extending beyond paid media into wider marketing and business strategy; blending media science with creative instinct to drive growth, combining evidence-based planning with empathy and strong relationships. This balance enables her to act as a trusted extension of clients’ ...

shortlist

PHD UK

Eva Grimmett

Eva leads Strategy, Marketing Science and Insight at PHD UK - a thriving, mixed discipline team that leverages the intersections of each of these strategic craft skills. 2025 has been a great year for Eva. In January, she launched a new PHD cultural thought leadership platform called ‘Culture Currents’, with the inaugural study –...

shortlist

TMW, part of Accenture Song

Paul Dazeley

Since becoming part of Accenture Song, TMW has gained access to a world of possibilities. New technology. New capabilities. New clients. We’ve made a mark on our industry, winning opportunities to work on some of the most exciting briefs in the market – all powered by smarts from our Human Understanding Lab and EQX, our emotionally ...

shortlist

VCCP

Andy Nicholls

Last Christmas Eve, I was doom scrolling in my girlfriend’s childhood bedroom. And really, really, really feeling a sense of impending doom. There was a bit of yuletide ‘AI is going to take my job’ going on, but it was mainly the seemingly yawning divisions in society that were getting to me.Not the most festive scene I’ll admit. ...

TALENT MANAGEMENT TEAM OR PERSON

shortlist

OMD UK

OMD UK's People Team

At OMD UK, our talent are our superpower. Home to 459 talented OMDers, our ambition is simple: to make OMD UK the best place in the industry to build a career and to create an agency that truly reflects Real Britain. Our inclusive, people-first culture is consistently recognised by clients and is reflected in exceptional retention, wit...

shortlist

VCCP

DE&I Collective at VCCP

Hi, we’re VCCP’s DE&I Collective. This is our entry for Talent Management Team of the Year. While others have retreated, we continue to see diversity as our superpower and have leaned harder than ever into what we believe is fair and right. That’s why we’ve gone bigger on DE&I than ever before. We expanded our DE&I Collective from 15 t...