As agencies vie for coveted awards, including Cannes Lions Agency of the Year, AdAge’s A-List, Adweek’s Fastest Growing Agencies, and 4A’s Agency of the Year, agency awards are top of mind for many. 

Basking (or watching others bask) in the limelight of awards recognition, agency leaders are thinking about their opportunities to win awards — and generate new business from them. 

What questions and considerations should your team factor into its awards planning? First, ask which awards are most relevant, attainable, and valuable to your agency. Then, ask how do they translate into value for prospective clients?

How to Choose Awards Programs

Unsure where to start? There’s an overwhelming variety and depth of opportunities to win. Pinpointing which ones to target can be as crucial as the work you submit.

TIP: Try a tool like Adspur to browse hundreds of global awards and create a free custom calendar for your target awards. (We found this tool online and have no affiliation with Adspur).

Selecting awards requires a strategic approach. Focus on those that match your agency's strengths, market positioning, and audience resonance. Let’s explore what this selection process could look like:

• Client and Prospect Focus: Aim for awards in areas where your current clients or prospects are active. Winning these awards confirms you're good at what you do, increasing your appeal and relevance.

• Strengths Alignment: Select awards that match your agency’s core competencies, whether in visual creativity, technical innovation, or a specific sector expertise. Opt for awards that honor measurable success, underlining your agency’s results-driven approach.

• Niche Targeting: For specialized services, niche awards can highlight your agency’s unique capabilities in a crowded market. High specificity can also help to break into new spaces. For example, your social animations for a DTC beauty brand could catch the eye of other DTC verticals.

• Geographic Relevance: Regional awards can boost your reputation and visibility in those areas, attracting more local businesses.

• Entry Requirements Analysis: Balance the cost and effort of entry against the potential for recognition and reward. Identify programs with several tiers to increase the possibility of winning.

• Past Winners and Impact Assessment: Review profiles of past winners to determine if your agency meets the caliber of those awarded. Consider the number of agencies competing each year. Research may also provide insight into how winning has influenced new client acquisition.

Rigorous evaluation will help you manage precious agency resources. How much time and money will it cost your agency to enter? Does the likelihood of winning justify the cost? 

We recommend choosing awards that support strategic growth, centering new business impact. However, agencies also pursue awards to gain peer recognition, boost team morale, and support talent acquisition. Be clear on your hierarchy of goals because their pursuit may take different paths.

Pursuing the Most Coveted Agency Awards

The value of every award is not equal for your agency. Pursuing the most prestigious awards when they’re unwinnable is a waste of time for your agency. So is time spent pursuing easily winnable awards with little value. 

Are any of these high-value awards a fit for your agency?

The Clio Awards recognize creative excellence across an extensive array of professional mediums with dozens of sub-categories: audio as sonic branding; adaptive, real-time use of data; business transformation through product reinvention; a single static social post; typography technique in print or OOH. They also offer separate specialty programs in sports, music, entertainment, and more.

The Webby Awards honor the best of the internet. From websites to videos, apps or games, social media, and podcasts, digital expression has endless depth. Your effortlessly navigable, creatively interactive, inclusively designed website for a new local restaurant? It could make you a winner, nominee, or honoree — all noteworthy accolades.

If niche is your thing, check out Effie Worldwide, which awards “ideas that work” in marketing. Do you help clients promote immersive concert festivals, parse through regulations for a DTC prescription drug campaign, or make aftermarket windshield wipers interesting? If so, Effie has you covered.

Or stand out in one of five global regions with The WARC Awards. With judges seeking “robust proof” of increased sales or “clear evidence” of brand impact, these wins offer compelling outcomes for your future clients. You could be known for instant impact or long-term growth campaigns in North America.

Awards that consider proof of results are most valuable for new business. The most prestigious awards factor in effectiveness for some or all categories (Effie, The WARC Awards, Cannes Lions, and Clio, among them).

Leverage Awards for Maximum New Biz Impact

Often, it's not the award itself that wins new business. It’s about using the recognition to set your agency apart and validate its results and expertise. 

At a basic level, when you talk about your win, center your prospects and what it means for them. What does that look like? If you’ve been recognized for effectiveness, you can give prospects confidence that you will deliver results for them, too. That news is worthy of attention.

Although it is more relevant for recruiting than new business, you can still leverage a “Best Place to Work” recognition for new business. Talk about how it translates to retention and quality of hires. It follows that clients can expect less interruption due to turnover and consistent delivery from a motivated, productive team. That explanation can take an award from irrelevant to resonant for a prospect.

How else can you leverage awards for maximum impact on prospective clients? Consider these approaches:

• Strategic PR Campaigns: Amplify the win beyond program announcements with your own targeted press releases and campaigns. Include testimonials from the client involved, further showcasing satisfaction and results.

• Engaging Social Content and Email Comms: Share your victory on social media and tag key clients to boost engagement. Send emails explaining the award's significance to reinforce value to current and prospective clients. Feature the award in staff signatures and newsletters.

• Client-Centric Case Studies: Update and expand case studies to focus on the awarded work’s outcomes. Use these stories to start new conversations with existing clients. And remember to update pre-existing cases to include the award recognition!

• Sales and Marketing Integration: Display the award on your website, pitch materials, and more to establish trust and credibility. 

• Networking and Talent Attraction: Use the award to spark conversations while networking. Advertise the award during recruitment to attract industry-leading talent eager to join a winning team.

Leveraging your awards effectively with these strategies can affirm your position as a leader. Besides supporting existing relationships, it can help you attract new clients and top talent.

Awards Are a Stepping Stone, Not a Destination

Agency awards can be tools for illustrating value and driving your business forward. But winning awards is not a new business strategy — and is not requisite for your agency's success.

Yes, an award may open doors, but it’s your results that invite clients in. Awards that center creative value may not compel the C-suite at a prospect company. Within advertising, we exalt creativity, but creativity doesn't always equal effectiveness or commercial success (Ipsos). And we serve businesses outside of advertising, which shapes our messages to them.

Awards are also no substitute for a new business program. Regardless of awards, your agency should consistently connect with a select group of targets. That group should intersect with the direction of your future growth and where you have a right to win. 

In that context, awards are an important trust signal for potential prospects who arrive at your website to learn more. Or to support credibility in your pitch decks. Above all, awards should signal your agency's unique ability to drive client success. 

Read more:

• Do Creative Awards Matter for Agency New Business?
• How the Rise of Creative Effectiveness Affects Agency New Business
• Agency Case Studies: Upgrade Your Case Studies for New Business
• 10 Mistakes Agencies Make That Hurt New Business Efforts

Image credits: Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash; Photo by KAL VISUALS on Unsplash