The Drum's New Year Honours 2015: Top agencies, deals, startups and innovators
As the year draws to a close The Drum has been taking stock of the past 12 months and celebrating the best agencies, brands and people in the industry through its annual New Year Honours list.
From mammoth acquisitions to 'shaker-uppers', 2015 has been a big one for agencies and startups alike.
Here we take a look at what some of ad land's greatest innovators have been up to this year.
The Drum's New Year Honours will be teased out each day over the Christmas period, with the list revealed in full in our first issue of 2016, published on 13 January.
Deal of the year: Publicis Sapient
The French holding giant finally sealed its $3.7bn takeover of Boston-based digital network Sapient Corp at the start of the year. Described by Publicis boss Maurice Lévy as a “one of a kind company born in the technology space”, the agency put his business back on track with its digital acquisitions following its failed merger with Omnicom in 2014.
With proven e-commerce and retail technology expertise, Sapient will try to open up new revenue streams, particularly under the Groupe’s revamped structure to make it easier to put digital at its heart. Rather than pursue the creative expertise it thought it would get from Omnicom, Publicis’ Sapient deal shows it’s sticking to what it does as it looks to ward off attempts by management consultants like Accenture to muscle in on advertising budgets.
Acquisitions of the year: Verizon Wireless’ purchase of AOL and AOL’s purchase of Millennial Media
Combined with the recent acquisition by Verizon and partnership with Microsoft, Millennial Media further strengthens AOL’s mobile capabilities and underlines its ambitions to be the number one global mobile media technology company.
AOL has continued to invest in its platforms and technology, ensuring it is well-positioned as consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices, and as advertisers, agencies and publishers become more reliant on programmatic tools.
Agency talking point: Creative agencies aren’t up to speed when it comes to digital
It’s not necessarily a new, or particularly surprising, talking point; clients have long bemoaned a need for speed from their agencies in the digital landscape, digital agencies have set their stalls on ‘doing digital’ best, while traditional advertising shops have been maligned as failing to keep up.
What was surprising was Heineken’s recent revelation that TubeMogul – its DSP (demand-side platform) provider – had come up with more ‘fit for purpose’ creative work in 2015 than its creative agency. It sent shockwaves through the industry and reignited the debate, with many agencies later telling The Drum that they are investing heavily in bringing in the right talent to see them through the shift to programmatic. Stay tuned.
Startup of the year: Vollebak
Steve and Nick Tidball’s work over the years has been nothing if not experimental, from floating a house down the river Thames for Airbnb to giving away free basketball shoes for Adidas (to anyone that could jump the 10 feet to reach them).
As the twin brothers wave goodbye to the ad industry where they spent the past 13 years at outfits including AMV, Grey, Fallon, Dentsu and TBWA, it’s a streak that shows no sign of abating with the launch of “the world’s most experimental adventure brand”.
Vollebak (Flemish for ‘all out’) makes highly technical products that fuse psychology, physiology and material technology to help athletes perform and survive. Its Baker Miller Pink Hoodie helps adventure athletes relax before and after sport and is designed to reduce the wearer’s heart rate, slow their breathing and minimise oxygen consumption. The Condition Black Jacket meanwhile is designed to help athletes survive in the mountains, tolerating falls of up to 120kmph across any surface, tough enough to scar rock, and coming with its own training program to enhance sensory perception during life and death moments.
Startup of the year: Sharpend
As connected devices become more ubiquitous, entrepreneurs, agencies and developers are rushing to cash in. One agency at the forefront of this in the UK is SharpEnd, which has built its offering around identifying how to create a genuine value exchange of customer data for services. 2015 saw it look to focus the internet of things agenda on exploring how to resolve the agitation between business goals and peoples’ attitudes toward their personal data.
And with pilots set to go global in 2016 for Pernod Ricard and companies including Estee Lauder and Beiersdorf also on its books, the agency founder’s Cameron Worth has made it one of the go-to places for building growth through trust.
Shaker-upper of the year: Mofilm
If one company had the ability to send content agencies running for cover in 2015, it would be Mofilm. Launched in 2006, the video production company operates a crowdsourcing model for brands, allowing clients to work directly with its network of filmmakers across the globe. The approach cuts costs and puts brands into direct contact with a diverse set of content creators, often removing the need for a traditional ad agency.
Its low-cost creative model had already attracted brands including Diageo, Unilever, Chevrolet and Coca-Cola when Mofilm caught the eye of David Jones. The former Havas chief was looking to snap up a content player for his ‘brand tech’ startup. Following the acquisition in June, Mofilm’s global network becomes a core part of New York-based You & Mr Jones – launched after Jones secured a hefty £220m.
The company’s proposition? Reinvent the way brands are built, helping them to leverage technology more effectively. For Mofilm, that means bigger, better opportunities and potentially even more scope to disrupt established creative models.
Innovator of the year: Made by Many
From Skype in the Classroom to School in the Cloud, innovation consultancy Made By Many has form when it comes to enriching the lives of students through technology, and 2015 was no different, the company turning programming into play with a hackable ball.
Rated alongside Google Cardboard and the Tesla Model X as one of Time magazine’s best inventions of 2015, Hackaball went from prototype to Kickstarter to launch this year, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Syncing with a mobile app and allowing users to program colours, light patterns, vibrations and sounds, the toy senses motion and can be kicked, thrown, bounced and rolled, encouraging children to create their own games and achieving the admirable feat of helping kids learn about technology while simultaneously playing together and being physically active.