The last 12 months have been a hard year for marketing agencies. Budgets have been cut while staff have been marooned at home. But it’s also been a time of opportunity, as companies across the country began their own digital transformation campaigns. And the UK’s digital agencies have risen to the challenge.

At The Drum, we publish the voices and stories of digital marketers every day. But we wanted to grasp the impact of this year on the digital agency sector as a whole – and understand the state of the digital marketing nation. So, over the last few months, we’ve undertaken a new sector-wide research project: The Drum UK Digital Census. Our expert research team has polled digital agencies, clients and staff, in a comprehensive survey of the UK’s digital agency sector.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be revealing our findings – revealing which of the UK’s digital agencies have the best client relationships, the best reputation among rivals and the best creative performance, as well as a best-of-the-best reflecting performance across all three categories – and investigating how the UK’s digital agencies have adapted during this last year in a series of special reports.

cameron clarke – editor

Top 50 digital agencies by peers UK 2021
Top 50 best award winning digital agencies UK 2021
Top 50 best client rated digital agencies UK 2021

Top 50 UK client rated digital agencies

It’s been a tough year for marketers across the world. Budgets have been cut and partner relationships strained, with all the usual methods for smoothing over differences and keeping allies on-side unavailable amid the pandemic. The agencies which have kept their creative output high and serviced clients in an affordable, consistent and transparent way – despite the difficulties of the pandemic – must be impressive outfits indeed. And who better to ask for proof of those achievements than the ones footing the bill – the clients themselves?

To find out what brands thought of their UK digital agency partners, we polled hundreds of advertisers up and down the country and asked them to rate their agencies on measures including; overall satisfaction; whether they’d recommend their agency to another; the effectiveness of their work; value for money; their teamwork and collaboration; the quality of their creative output; and the quality of their relationship management. We received over 700 recommendations from clients right across the country.

The ranked list below shows the agencies that scored the highest across the board.

1 Soap Media

North West

North West logo
2 Brave Spark

Greater London

Greater London logo
3 Adtrak

East Midlands

East Midlands logo
4 Push Group

Greater London

Greater London logo
5 Kyan

South East

South East logo
1 Soap Media

North West

North West logo
2 Brave Spark

Greater London

Greater London logo
3 Adtrak

East Midlands

East Midlands logo
4 Push Group

Greater London

Greater London logo
5 Kyan

South East

South East logo
6 Transcend Marketing

South West

South West logo
7 Crunch Digital Media

Wales

Wales logo
8 ClickThrough Marketing

West Midlands

West Midlands logo
=9 Crafted

East of England

East of England logo
=9 The Tree

Greater London

Greater London logo
11 AffiliateINSIDER

South West

South West logo
12 Optix Solutions

South West

South West logo
13 Qumin

Greater London

Greater London logo
14 Box UK

Wales

Wales logo
15 Bravand

Greater London

Greater London logo
16 TwentySix

Yorkshire & The Humber

Yorkshire & The Humber logo
17 Snack Media

Greater London

Greater London logo
18 Studio24

East of England

East of England logo
19 Mediablaze

Greater London

Greater London logo
20 This Place

Greater London

Greater London logo
21 WPNC

Greater London

Greater London logo
=22 Complex Creative

Greater London

Greater London logo
=22 Velo

Greater London

Greater London logo
24 Manifesto Digital

Greater London

Greater London logo
25 Torpedo

South East

South East logo
26 Yoyo Design

South East

South East logo
27 Delineo

North West

North West logo
28 Supercharge

Greater London

Greater London logo
29 Fifteen

East Midlands

East Midlands logo
30 Clicky Media

North West

North West logo
31 Sleeping Giant Media

South East

South East logo
32 Tangerine Comms

North West

North West logo
33 Impression

East Midlands

East Midlands logo
34 Brave Bison

Greater London

Greater London logo
35 Curated Digital

Greater London

Greater London logo
36 Cuckoo Design

North West

North West logo
=37 Catch Digital

Greater London

Greater London logo
=37 Hallam

East Midlands

East Midlands logo
39 Zone

Greater London

Greater London logo
40 Reload Digital

Greater London

Greater London logo
41 Altair Media

Greater London

Greater London logo
42 1000heads

Greater London

Greater London logo
=43 Greenwood Campbell

South West

South West logo
=43 Stickyeyes

Yorkshire & The Humber

Yorkshire & The Humber logo
45 Click Consult

North West

North West logo
46 In the company of huskies

Greater London

Greater London logo
47 383

West Midlands

West Midlands logo
48 Sagittarius

South East

South East logo
49 Wilderness Agency

Greater London

Greater London logo
50 Liberty Marketing

Wales

Wales logo