Research Live Best New Agency award – reasons to enter

When we first launched our business, winning ‘Best New Agency Award’ seemed like a pipe dream. A year later, feeling brave and ambitious, we decided it must be worth a try. We started to imagine how amazing it would be if we could achieve this type of industry recognition – the ultimate new business conversation starter.

As you sit down to apply, it can feel rather daunting. You’re not sure what you are up against or how your perceived success might stack up against the competition. You soon realise that having gone to the effort of launching a business in the first place, you may as well go for it and it’s a great way to reflect on what your agency has achieved.

Looking back now, winning the award was really just the start. While stepping onto the stage at the awards ceremony was an incredibly exciting and proud moment for us all, it’s been the subsequent impact that has been so important in making us the successful agency we are today.

As a small, new agency, the toughest part is not just getting your name out there but establishing client trust and confidence in your new thinking and approaches.  This award gives you an immediate authority and credibility that even the best PR initiatives would struggle to achieve.  The momentum of our business following receipt of the award is a testament to its power and reach. 

Our new business strategy started to change as clients were suddenly contacting us, curious to find out more about what made us ‘Best New Agency’. We began to realise that during their annual agency reviews, many clients use these awards as a heuristic (short cut) for finding new agencies. Invitations to new agency days came our way; credentials meetings and new briefs proliferated and the year kicked off to a flying start.

The award has also helped to strengthen our culture and team.  Those already with us felt an incredible sense of pride and recognition, reinforcing that they really were part of an agency doing things differently. CVs began to fill up our inboxes and our team quickly grew; it feels so much less risky taking a job at an agency that is industry recognised.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the impact will only be short-lived. Far from it, the Best New Agency Award is a lasting reminder of your agency’s achievements. It lives on via mail signatures, websites, credentials presentations and proposals. More than that, it acts as a powerful signal that you are an agency both worth working with AND working for.  Now that’s positive priming!

In the absence of knowing much about an agency, it can really tip the balance.

As the saying goes, there is nothing like success to breed success. So, if you were in any doubt as to whether to enter, don’t think twice. You’ve got everything to gain.

Sarah Davies is founder of The Behavioural Architects