The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

By Eleanor Lim, Event Producer

July 30, 2021 | 3 min read

The Drum Awards for Agency Business celebrates the agencies that excel through strong workplace culture, effective management and excellent performance. The jury this year is led by Vanessa Romann, chief growth officer and managing director at Havas New York. In this series, she gives insight into the agency’s culture and outlines her hopes for this year’s awards.

If you work for a special agency, there’s still time to enter and be recognized for its great work and culture. You can apply for an extension here. You can also check out last year’s winners for inspiration.

‘This is a time to recognize the people doing incredible things’

As the chair of this year‘s jury, Romann wants the agencies entering to start by investigating, and then taking the creative transformation beyond the obvious. “If you really dig into people‘s lives, what matters to them, what‘s important to them, their values, attitudes, behaviors, there‘s real creative freedom in those insights.“

“There‘s always one guiding insight that creates tension, or one piece of data that makes you say, oh gosh!“ She adds it‘s important to approach it strategically, but to take it further. “How is that taken even further? Going against the obvious is something I‘d be looking for.“

What does she look for in a winner? “Lots of smiles. Lots of enthusiasm about potential.“ The importance of joy is even keener as the industry emerges from a difficult time. “Right now there‘s a lot of energy being exerted, and not a lot of inspiration coming back in. So I think this is a time to recognize the people doing incredible things this year, and we‘re so grateful to be honoring them.“

Finally, a winning entry should stand the test of time, with a lasting impact. “I want to find inspiration not only in the entry, but how the team shares with others what they learned, how they got to the solution, and how that continues [to develop]. It‘s not just about a moment in time, but about an idea that continues to be a winning idea.“

You can watch the full interview with Vanessa Romann on our YouTube channel.

Find out more about The Drum Awards for Agency Business here.

The Drum Awards Agencies Agency Culture

More from The Drum Awards

View all