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