Best Agency above £20m and Best Place to Work: C Space

C Space took the award for Best Agency above £20m for the second year in a row following continued growth and strong client retention.

Part of Omnicom, C Space acquired 62 new clients in 2018 and grew for the 14th consecutive year, with 96% of clients in 2017 spending with the agency again this year. 

According to the agency, half of its work ( 50%) now consists of insight plus new services including customer experience, analytics, experiential, prototyping and change programmes.

Recent projects include insight work and an above-the-line campaign for US grocery brand Stop & Shop. C Space conducted research with an online community of Stop & Shop customers to develop a series of documentary-style adverts featuring real customers and inform changes to the company’s store design.

In other developments this year, C Space chief executive Charles Trevail became chief executive of Interbrand, with C Space joining the Interbrand Group; the company’s podcast reached 50 episodes; and it launched a report on online customer communities with MRS and client-side insight professionals. 

C Space was also awarded Best Place to Work this year, following a number of changes introduced to the agency’s HR and employee policies as part of wider inclusion efforts.

On the recruitment front, job applicants no longer require a degree to work at the agency and CVs are now blind. The agency also launched an apprentice programme, appointing four new apprentices in 2018, and a paid internship scheme.

C Space created a new parental leave policy with extended maternity cover and doubled paternity leave to four weeks of full pay for new fathers. Secondary care-givers have been encouraged to take shared parental leave of one month at full salary at any time during the first 12 months if they are taking on childcare when their partner returns to work.

Additionally, the company introduced peer group listening sessions designed to involve more junior members in staff decision-making. A learning and development programme, C Space U, has also been launched to offer training including line management, presenting, feedback and resilience, while staff have an annual personal wellbeing fund they can use to put towards a skill they would like to develop.

The Research Live awards judges were impressed by C Space’s “impressive” growth and “strong client retention”, as well as its “forward-thinking approach to staff diversity and inclusivity both in recruitment and retention”.

Felix Koch, regional chief executive, EMEA and APAC at C Space, said: “I’m proud of the dedicated and inspiring team who shaped our culture and who create the conditions for great work, and our clients who trust us and who have become partners over the years. Relationships are the source of results: nothing has convinced me more that our belief of investing in trust, truth and relationships is the right one than being on stage again last night.”

Zoe Cotter-Morton, HR director, added: “We have a saying here that ‘diversity breeds creativity’ and needed to live that ourselves. We stopped talking about diversity and did something about it. From blinding CVs to launching an apprenticeship programme, everything we’ve done in the last year makes this award win all the more special.”

The full list of 2018 MRS Awards winners can be found here.