The Drum – New Year’s Honours

Design agency of the year: Brand Opus

2011 started well for Brand Opus; the agency picked up two Design Effectiveness Awards from the DBA in February. And things just got better from there. Named in the top 10 packaging design companies in the UK, client wins include Pizza Express, McCain and MasterCard with creative work reaching beyond the UK and into global markets. The agency was also briefed on Belvedere, Rowse and Barefoot SOS. As if that wasn’t enough, Brand Opus will pick up three more Design Effectiveness awards this year, ensuring 2012 starts with a bang.

Advertising agency of the year: Adam & Eve

Describing itself as a ‘young’ communications agency, Adam & Eve is an agency capable of bringing the best out of mature brands. Creative work for Phones4U and especially Fosters caught the eye in 2011 but the agency’s commercials for John Lewis are what earned Adam & Eve its New Year’s Honours for 2011. The classic TV ads are just the right side of schmaltzy, capturing the British retailer’s brand heritage perfectly.

Digital agency of the year: SapientNitro

2011 was another strong year for SapientNitro: Its Sneakerpedia campaign for Footlocker – creating the world’s largest sneaker archive and first visual wiki – earned the agency 16 awards last year, including a Gold Cyber Lion at Cannes and Gold at Eurobest. Add in campaigns for Ladbrokes, AR Lungs and EnjoyEngland.com, the latter winning ‘Best Tourist Board Website’ at the British Travel Awards, and 2011 has been a success for the digital powerhouse.

Media agency of the year: Carat

Carat’s partnership of Nivea and Asos last year demonstrated why the agency continues to be a global player. To have the clout to bring together two international brands is one thing, to engineer a campaign that works across bought, owned and earned media is quite another. Social media, newsletters, personalized emails, advertorials and magazines were all utilised to promote the joint Asos/ Nivea competition, creating a buzz around both brands. This year The Drum will work with Carat to explore the future of retail and the role of media.

Social Media agency of the year: We are Social

The name says it all. If one agency is synonymous with consistently innovating in the social space, it’s We Are Social. The stand-out campaign from the past year has to be Heinz ‘Get Well’ soup - personalised cans of soup available to be ordered for ill friends on the brand’s Facebook page. With offices in seven countries and premium brands like Moet & Chandon coming on board, it’s hard to believe the agency is still only three years old. The year ended with the agency being appointed by Heineken for the UK social media account for Jacques and Bulmer’s.

Integrated agency of the year: Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

The merger of Kitcatt Nohr and Digitas early last year proved effortless, or so it seems. There are plenty of highlights from Kitcatt Nohr Digitas in 2011, the recent integrated campaign for National Book Tokens just one that caught our eye. The agency picked up new business from the likes of Nationwide and Aviva Investors, and rounded the year off with Gold at the DMA Awards for best use of copy in its WaterAid Diarrhoea TV ad. New business included global integrated advertising for Aviva Investors and Asus/Intel, Nationwide DM, and the global digital hub for Samsung’s Olympic Games Activity. Awards included Gold for Best Use of Copy at DMA Awards for its WaterAid campaign and Best Integrated Marketing Campaign at the Revolution Awards for its Snickers campaign.

PR agency of the year: Man Bites Dog

2011 saw the PR consultancy for the service economy continue to focus on its core offering, despite a temptation to diversify in a tough marketplace, growing its free income by 63% and generating a profit margin of 36%, picking up accounts with Yell, KPMG, ABN, AMRO and Hay Group EMEA. The social team also picked up digital clients MakeitCheaper.Com and Rufus Leonard.

One to watch: 23 Red

23 Red appeared on the radar last year with smart, ethical campaigns for Change4Life and Bacardi. Bacardi in particular made great use of social media and male role models such as Michael Schumacher to drive home the brand’s ‘drink responsibly’ message without preaching. The only festive blues at the end of 2011 its campaign for Bluewater switching up traditional Christmas colour schemes. 23 red – a safe bet for 2012.

SOUTH WEST

Advertising agency of the year: Bray Leino

Bray Leino was tasked with overseeing the campaign to promote the 2011 Census across England, while the agency also picked up business with BACS, Norwegian Fish and Smokefree SouthWest. Freederm also released a new marketing campaign and idents around its sponsorship of the revived Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, and continued to work with Superdry, L&G and BP. 2011 also saw the recruitment of Alistair Bryan as managing director of the agency’s Direct Response Business and Julie Lewis as head of performance and talent, alongside the launch of Bray Leino Vivactis, and the acquisition of Yucca Media, strengthening its e-commerce offer.

Design agency of the year: Duttons

The past year has seen Duttons pick up accounts with Lafarge, Organic Centre Wales, Hemsley Fraser and d&b audiotechnik as it strengthened its portfolio in two key areas – food and healthcare – with the acquisition of design agency Gravity. The healthcare sector has been another area of growth, as the agency picked up work from GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, The Meningitis Research Foundation, the journal of Bone & Joint surgery, and Fortius Clinic, a specialist orthopaedic and sports medicine group.

Digital agency of the year: Strange

Strange picked up work with Superdry, Cult and Avery Dennison and also saw strong account growth for Brittany Ferries and thehealthcounter. com, while picking up Gold for Campaign of the Year for Brittany Ferries at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Travel Awards and being a finalist in award categories for Marketing Services Company of the Year at The Drum Marketing Awards, Finalist for Digital Agency of the Year at the Blades Awards and Gold at this year’s Travel Marketing Awards. Working together with Walker Agency, the agency also designed, built and launched the new corporate identity and website for the Lefktro fine foods brand.

Integrated agency of the year: Thinking Juice

The big news for Thinking Juice was the agency’s merging with Aylesworth Fleming to create the Emerge Group in September, while it also picked up awards such as Best in Creative and Best in Effectiveness at the 2011 RAR Awards. Creatively the agency was also behind a print ad campaign for Wyke Farm and was appointed lead creative agency for sports brand Mizuno. A pan-European B2B campaign for Amdocs was also developed Thinking Juice has been appointed to handle the creative and advertising business of DPAS, one of the UK’s leading providers of dental practice administration services.

PR agency of the year: JBP

Bristol and London based public affairs and PR agency JBP expanded into Birmingham which brought in new clients and strengthen ties with companies that it already worked with in the Midlands. National accounts were picked up including Neal’s Yard, Veolia, Reuben Power, RSG, LeisureDome, British International Helicopters, MCD Properties, The Private Clinic and Teleperformance. Award winning campaign work was also developed for Bath & West Show (winner of CIPR PRide Gold Award) and the launch of Knowaste.

Social Media agency of the year: Rubber Republic

Creatively, Rubber Republic has said that it has had one of its strongest years; having produced Marvel’s most viewed viral for summer blockbuster ‘Thor’. The agency has also developed a flash game, ‘Love Struck’, for HIV charity Body & Soul, ‘2050’ a fun app with a very serious message for DECC and an interactive digital experience for C4’s ‘Life After Death’. Rubber has also continued to seed online content alongside producing partners including Paramount, BBC, JWT, Fallon, Tailor of Shoreditch and GlassEye Inc.

One to Watch: Strawberrysoup

In 2011 Strawberrysoup rebranded and hired highly respected creative John McFaul. The agency saw its client roster swell with brands such as American Express, L’Oreal, Orange and Wiley & Sons all hand over briefs, while projects included a branding, design and digital project for Arts Bournemouth, an identity for price comparison website Jenzoo and the design of a number of identities for UK cycling events across the UK.

MIDLANDS

Advertising agency of the year: Cogent

In the past year, Cogent has launched its first TV campaign for redspottedhanky.com, as well as devising projects for Ranger Rover Evoque and AGA while also winning accounts with Hozelock, AIG and London Midland. The agency also launched the new e-commerce website for Calor. Last year also saw the appointment of marketer Alan Gilmour, former director of insight and marketing for the Identity & Passport Service, as brand, PR and customer insight director, and the hiring of communications consultant for both Lloyds Banking Group and The Department for Children, Schools and Families, Louise Brucknall to its PR division. The agency also came out top of a YouGov reputation survey, voted for by senior marketers, while creative team Casey Hennessy and Jenny Barton picked up the print prize at the UK Cannes Young Lions Award.

Design agency of the year: Michon

2011 was a busy year for Michon in terms of work, which included creating online and direct mail communications for E.ON’s move to allow its customers to use Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay towards energy bills. Other work saw it develop a range of ‘How To’ videos for Ronseal’s YouTube channel, the redevelopment of the brand and website for London Array, a new undergraduate campaign for the University of Greenwich, as well as a Christmas Facebook app for Thorntons.

Digital agency of the year: Freestyle Interactive

Being named Digital Agency of the Year at last year’s MiNetwork Awards, was just one of several major awards picked up by Freestyle Interactive at the ceremony, as well as the Grand Prix, Midlands Marketing Business of the Year and the Best Mobile Strategy or Campaign for its Arriva M-Ticket campaign. Managing director, Suzanne Linton was also nominated for the Vitalise Business Woman of the Year Award, while the agency opened an office in Paris as it aims for growth across the UK and France.

Integrated agency of the year: McCann Erickson Birmingham

McCann’s Birmingham continued its success in 2010 right into 2011, with the hiring of executive creative director Vince McSweeney at the beginning of the creative revolution that led to it publicly naming (in an ad in The Drum) the creative teams they wished to poach from elsewhere. A bold move, but it worked. The agency also created its highest profile campaign to date for GM Vauxhall’s sponsorship of the England football team, which won an Epica Award for Media Innovation. The agency also picked up 38 pieces of business including Hitachi Europe, Bentley, National Express, Vauxhall and Reed Digital and experienced a year-on-year growth of 20%. Other awards included the Chairman’s Award, as well as eight Golds and one Silver, at this year’s Cream Midlands Awards, and eight Golds, one silver and one Bronze at the Fresh Awards, as well as three gold and two Silver trophies at the Midland’s CIPR Pride Awards.

Media agency of the year: Brilliant (Now MediaCom)

See Yorkshire entry.

PR agency of the year: Willoughby PR

New business for the agency was plentiful, picking up contracts with companies such as Wacky Warehouse, Flaming Grill, Fayre & Square, Taylor Walker, Chef & Brewer, Karndean Flooring, Lakeside shopping centre and Regis hair salons. Meanwhile, B2B clients included Bosch Rexroth, Yamazaki Mazak, multi-utility service provider and asset manager Energetics. The agency also picked up four awards at the Fresh awards, including the Grand Prix for the Warwick Castle Christmas at the Castle campaign, and give Awards at the CIPR PRide Award Midlands for Outstanding Midlands Consultancy.

Management Team of the Year: Mike Rose, Martin Heffernan & Ian Boulter of Chapter

In 2009 Rose, Heffernan and Boulter set out to reinvent the agency model. Two and a half years later they have proven that their model of smaller, closer and better can and does work after doubling the size of the agency in 2011. They have continued to carefully piece together their first 15-strong chapter, which saw Lambie Nairn client services director Mark Baxter installed as the agency’s first chapter head. In January they also appointed cofounder of Big Communications, Phil Wright, as chairman of the agency, went on a new business romp attracting clients such as Nissan Cared4, Biffa, Bentley Pre-Owned, See Saw, Christies Bedrooms and Christies Bedrooms. So, the team is now poised to realise their agency vision in 2012 as they begin to construct the agency’s second and final chapter.

One to Watch: Clusta

The Birmingham digital creative agency has continued to create some impressive content for media platforms such as E4, developed a Facebook game to promote new series Beaver Falls and Channel 4 Weather while developing a linked touchscreen aquarium, website and iPhone app for Selfridges ‘Project Ocean’ and a Microsoft surface application for Chanel’s Blue de Chanel. The agency was also involved in the launch of the Toyota Camry in the US, working alongside above-the- line agency Conill, developing mobile Facebook app Camry Commute, which allows users to record their daily commute. Another app ‘Fish Fight’ was created to promote the Channel 4 series featuring Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, while another Facebook app was created, featuring facial recognition, as part of the j20 glitterberry campaign ahead of Christmas.

YORKSHIRE

Advertising agency of the year: Golley Retail

Last year saw the team grow to 25, hiring 12 new members within the year, with some moving through to the Golley Retail office that was opened in London. Former Samsung UK marketing manager Stacey Kenward was hired from Delta’s Asda House team. The retail marketing division was officially launched in April as a result of the amount of work the Leeds office was undertaking within retail. This has seen it pick up work with Nestle, General Mills and Heinz.

Design agency of the year: Elmwood

In the year in which its founder Jonathan Sands was handed an OBE for his services to the design community, Elmwood also found itself at the top of the DBA Design Effectiveness league table for the third year running. The agency also picked up several awards at both the Cream Yorkshire and Roses Design Awards. Meanwhile, after 18 years with the agency Andrew Lawrence was promoted to creative director. The agency has also designed a new logo for Asda’s Smart Price range of products, rolling out in early 2012.

Digital agency of the year: Twentysix

Picking up 15 new clients in 2011, Twentysix, the Media Square owned agency, is certainly on the rise, with new work being produced for the likes of Sony PlayStation, RIAS, Bennetts, ECA, Cartoon Network, Adams, Morrison Bowmore, NHS Blood & Transplant, cosmetic surgery group Transform, Skandia, Talk Talks Business, The Retired Greyhound Trust and the Design Museum. A new website and digital strategy was developed by the agency for Brighthouse, while it also picked up the Chairman’s Award at this year’s Cream Yorkshire Awards for the ‘Mo’s Wanted’ campaign. As a result of this year’s success, the agency has grown in scale from 70 to 90 members of staff, whilst also opening up an office in New York.

Integrated agency of the year: Home

2011 saw Home open offices in London and Gibraltar while doubling the size of its digital proposition, and also acquiring a pharmaceutical digital agency. Client work included working with hairdresser Gary Sunderland to launch its Doll brand internationally, and new business through Jet2.com, Victor Chandler and Mira Showers, as well as digital briefs from Screwfix, Thorntons and Asda. New packaging designs were also created for McVities, Butterkist and Wensleydale.

Marketing agency of the year: Savvy

In its fifth year, Savvy started the year with the hiring of Graham Wall and Paul Reading joining the team as executive creative director and head of art respectively. The agency was also the recipient of several awards throughout the year, including two are the UK Event Awards; with the campaign for Soreen Squidgy Energy which won in the Best Small Event Category and another in the Best Experiential Event Category with its campaign for Dove Damage Haircare ASDA Launch Activity. The Cream Yorkshire Awards saw the agency picked up the Grand Prix for the Soreen ‘Deliciously Squidgy Energy campaign’ as well as the Outdoor Advertising Award and Four shopper marketing wins at the IPM Awards, three bronze and one silver.

Media agency of the year: Brilliant (Now MediaCom)

It’s been quite a year for this agency, and The Drum decided to name it as Media Buying Agency for both Yorkshire and the Midlands as it managed to survive a period when others would have happily waved the white flag and gone to ground (we’re referring to the loss of DFS and Asda, two huge media accounts.) Of course, things didn’t quite happen like that, and the last major independent media buyer in the regions was swallowed up by WPP’s MediaCom whole, easily one of the most significant developments of the year.

PR agency of the year: Finn

Finn has picked up a number of clients this year, including Quorn, Plum Baby, Fox’s Christmas Pudding, Vion Food Group and Leeds College of Music, while having fun along the way arranging for its client Nouvelle toilet tissue to be the official recycling partner at Glastonbury Festival and creating the world’s first crowd sourced beer for Leeds Brewery. On the awards front it’s been fairly successful too, picking up a number of awards at this year’s CIPR PRide Awards for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, inkling Outstanding Consultancy and Best Use of Media Relations. The MiAwards also recognised the agency’s work with Baxters, awarding it Best FMCG Campaign.

Social Media agency of the year: Umpf

Umpf has worked on a number of social media projects this year, including the promotion of the world’s shortest Recipe Book, Tweet Pie, made up of 140-character recipes crowdsourced through Twitter. This saw Umpf win Best Social Media Campaign and the CIPR PRide Awards, as well as garnering a nod at the Social Buzz Awards too. Other work included campaigns for Lec, Congregational & General, Markel UK, Stoves and Engage Mutual Assurance for its sponsorship of the Engage Super League. Another honour picked up by the agency this year was the Best Financial Services Award for its social media Ouch Map campaign for Health 365.com.

One to Watch: Branded3 This year, Branded3 saw its Dadi Award Grand Prix winning Twitter app Twitition reach its millionth follower by September, having started the year with 400,000 followers and becoming one of the 500 most popular Twitter accounts in the world. The agency also re-launched another application, Competwition, which has amassed 20,000 followers since June. Another of its eight awards wins this year awards for 2011 were In-house website, as well as the award for use of social media at the Dadi Awards.

NORTH EAST

Advertising agency of the year: Drummond Central

The North East of England has been hard hit, especially its advertising sector, yet Drummond continues to create some excellent work for its client Bet365, including the continued Bingoheads ads, and the continued use of Ray Winstone (although we’re not sure we’d like his floating head hanging around our local pub or living rooms.) The agency worked on a parking poster campaign for Metro and an illustrated book for Newcastle Building Society’s new Big Little Saver account too.

Design agency of the year: Keltie Cochrane

Keltie Cochrane enjoyed a great 2011 working with a range of new clients including BBC Education, DraftFCB New York, Gateshead College, Sand and B EPS and The Gates Shopping Centre. It’s a year that’s seen the agency begin to create TV ads while continuing to develop websites, print design and full marketing campaigns as its staff numbers grew. KC also relocated into a new studio in the Toffee Factory at the end of 2011, while also developing an online trailer for a forthcoming Star Wars novel.

Digital agency of the year: TH _NK

The agency that developed Pottermore, one of the highest profile launches of the year, has come back from a fairly tough period to become a big player on the UK digital front, with real growth in London, although it’s the North East office that continues to provide its core strength. Founder Tarek Nseir also got to sit next to JK Rowling during the press conference for its official announcement, which will probably rate just below this honour in his list of achievements. Other highlights of 2011 included a website for CBBC called ‘Crack a Joke’ its appointment by the Formica Group to review their existing digital services, its work with Research In Motion to help develop an online offering to promote the Blackberry PlayBook and its redesign of Northern Rock’s savings website.

PR agency of the year: Gardiner Richardson

Winner of the CIPR PRide Award as 2011’s Outstanding PR Consultancy in the region, and who are we to argue? Projects for the PR division at the agency included a media relations campaign for North East Alcohol Office, Balance, a promoting a number of events at Carlisle Castle and Belsay Hall for English Heritage around Halloween, as well as events and activities at Castles, Priories, Roman Forts and Country Houses across the North East and Cumbria over the summer. Penn State also tasked the agency with promoting the launch of its new popcorn and pretzel flavours range, including a launch event in London, while for the second year, GR promoted the 2011 Tesco Great School Run, and worked with the School Food Trust to promote its Let’s Get Cooking BIG Cookathon across the country. Both campaigns also picked up awards at the CIPR North East ceremony for the agency too.

One to Watch: Shout

A digital agency on the rise for sure, Shout, launched by MD Gary Boon two years ago, has grown at a quick pace, and this year saw former Sage CEO Paul Walker come on board as an investor and advisor to its board. As well as being named North East Marketing Company of the Year at this year’s MiAwards, the agency has said that it is also on target to exceed £1m turnover. The agency has also agreed a deal with printing giant Elanders to develop the company’s UK digital division, and developed smartphone apps for OK!, luxury international tour operator Exsus.com and law firm Dickinson Dees.

NORTH WEST

Advertising agency of the year: TBWA\Manchester

While continuing to service the above-the-line advertising account for The Co-Operative, the agency also won accolades to be named MiNetwork Agency of the Year and developed TV campaigns for Seven Seas, JJB Sports and Westland’s bird food brand Peckish, among others. The agency also saw the departure of Dani Briers to PHD North, where he took the role of managing director and disruption director, Lorna Hawtin won the first Sir John Hegarty Berlin School Scholarship.

Design agency of the year: Love

After a troublesome couple of years, one of the region’s most respected creative agencies has bounced back in 2011, and won plaudits for its work with Diageo brand Johnnie Walker in Asia and other international projects including, in collaboration with Nike China’s design team, the creation of a special edition shoebox to celebrate Nike’s new global range for Liu Xiang, the LX collection. The agency has also continued to produce some impressive work for Umbro throughout the year, not least its campaign featuring Aston Villa striker Darren Bent promoting the Elite Training Range. Oh, and the agency also designed the branding for One Direction… but we didn’t hold that against them.

Digital agency of the year: Matmi

Winner of the Dadi Digital Agency of the Year Award, while also sweeping the board at this year’s Big Chip Awards too. The online game agency came up with many new titles that whittled away the hours at The Drum’s offices, including Facebook game Cute Pinball, Knead for Speed, Cosmic Clean, Momentos for Closeness for Nivea, and Feed Breaker for Twix (working alongside TBWA\New York).

Integrated agency of the year: BJL

The agency picked up clients such as Silent Night, BetFred, Yorkshire Building Society, Provident Personal Credit, Eurocamp and Subaru UK as well as picking up the consumer PR contract for Crown, for which it already handles the advertising creating its new ‘It’s Personal’ positioning this year where the agency handled the integrated campaign including social media, the development of its ecommerce website and more. MD Nicky Unsworth was also part of an IPA task force that visited creative companies such as Pixar and Twentieth Century Fox.

Media agency of the year: Media Edge CIA

The agency, which moved into a new office next door to their previous abode in March, won over £21m worth of new business billings in 2011, with new launch work for Paramount Farms and Geberit, as well as Leeds University and Bangor University. MEC also continued to drive its digital services and won SEO projects for the likes of Orange, Nintendo, as well as new products from Lloyds Banking Group. This year also saw MEC named MiNetwork’s Media Agency of the Year for the third year in a row at the MiAwards.

PR agency of the year: Tangerine

Winning the main prize in London at this year’s CIPR Excellence Awards was a huge achievement for the Manchester PR agency, which has had a tremendous year overall. While resigning the PR account for Makro, the agency has picked up work consistently throughout the year, including a store roll out programme for Cartridge World, and briefs from Mars Drinks, Manchester Central, Roos Burgers, FT Finley, Zinnia Hotel Group and Holiday Inn Express in Manchester and legal firm DWF, for which it operates as a national, regional and trade press office. Other briefs came from Johnson Cleaners, AGA Cookshop, Notalie and Dalepak Foods. Sam Gregory also joined from IAS B2B Marketing as managing director of B2B.

Social Media agency of the year: Tokyo Digital

Having taken up new office space in Liverpool, Tokyo has also picked up some high profile work with the Guinness World Records, developing a bespoke video channel on Google’s Chrome Web store, while also launching an online gaming website for Oakley Europe and being added to the digital roster of Turner Broadcasting. This saw it deliver several projects for the company’s Cartoon Network and Adult Swim brands across web, mobile and multiplatform. Tokyo has also been named on the digital roster for biopharmaceutical company Shire, working on a number of mobile and web projects that have yet to go live, and handled the online promotion of Studio Canal thriller Kill List. In January the agency also plans to open up a presence in London as it embarks on its growth plans for 2012.

One to Watch: Retrofuzz

Manchester digital company Retrofuzz has carved a niche in developing websites for high profile music artists, and they don’t come any more high profile than Lady Gaga, for whom it worked alongside as well as Noel Gallagher’s new band Beady Eye, Take That, The Stone Roses, Arctic Monkeys, Eastpak, Lee Jeans, Warehouse, a Facebook app for U2, Pixie Lott, Levi’s Def Jam UK, Paul Simon, Noah and the Whale, Beverley Knight and R.E.M. Not bad going in 12 months!

SCOTLAND

Advertising agency of the year: Leith Agency

In the past year, Leith has picked up a decent number of accounts and briefs, while retaining its reputation as a creative agency of note across the UK, bringing the Baxters ad account back from London, developing probably its stronger summer campaign for IRN-BRU in some years as well as launching its own beer brand to boot. The agency also picked up numerous accolades, including prizes at The Scottish Creative Awards and The Marketing Society Scotland’s Star Awards. The agency was also behind a new advertising campaign promoting the city of Dundee as a destination.

Design agency of the year: Studio LR

The Edinburgh design outfit had a fine year creatively, with its brand identity design for Mary Rose Museum winning it both a D&AD award and a Scottish Design Award too. Studio LR also developed a brand identity and animated presentation for the Retail Support Desk, for department store retailer John Lewis, for which it worked on two projects this year. The agency also set up a new student placement scheme with Edinburgh Napier University. Other projects were also completed for Natural Retreats, Jupiter Artland, The Mary Rose, National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish Child Care and Protection Network (SCCPN), Portavadie Marina, Water Industry Commission for Scotland and Isobel Mair School.

Digital agency of the year: Equator

Glasgow digital agency Equator put considerable time and resource behind sponsoring and supporting Social Media Week 2011, the first time the global event was held in Scotland, and saw it host a number of interesting seminars as a result. The agency has developed a new website for De Vere Village Hotels as well as a new site for global accounting network PKF International following an international pitch process. New websites were also designed for BP’s first stand-alone gas site, Medical Protection Society, The Health Insurance Group, Michelin Starred chef Andrew Fairlie and work for AXA and SEE, including upgrades to its main website.

Integrated agency of the year: Story

Having picked up a number of Scottish Government framework contracts in 2010, Story brought in its former marketing manager Karen Kneale in March and rolled out a number of public sector campaigns too. Add to this the addition of Highland Spring’s advertising account and that of Saracen Fund Managers. The agency has also been developing marketing collateral for the Quartermile development in the heart of Edinburgh. The expansion of the HSBC network into Scotland also saw the agency create a series of local awareness campaigns while the agency won 12 awards overall, eight from the DMA Effectiveness awards.

PR agency of the year: Stripe

Leith’s sister PR agency, Stripe won several high profile accounts last year including Glasgow Loves Christmas, the Mobo awards, Scottish Wildlife Trust and Nairn’s Oatcakes, while continuing its work on several Scottish Government accounts. The agency also picked up the Consumer Relations campaign prize at this year’s CIPR PRide Awards Scotland for its Summer campaign for Sourz.

Social Media agency of the year: Yomego

In 2011, specialist social media agency Yomego launched its Social Media Reputation service that monitors and measures brand reputation across social channels, and indexed the social media reputations of the top 50 brands in the world; created social media campaigns for Tesco, Bowmore, Durex, Scholl and Pearson (among others); designed, created and launched Horrible Histories World for Scholastic; and opened a London office.

One to Watch: Axis

The Glasgow animation studio has truly gone global with high profile video game trailers being developed for the likes of Spiderman, Age of Empires and its Scottish Creative Awards Grand Prix winner Dead Island trailer, which did truly blow the room away on the evening and was much talked about long afterwards. The agency looks likely to continue to develop an already heady reputation in 2012.

Images of New Year's Honours agencies can be seen in the 6 January issue of The Drum