This year, Adweek is not only celebrating the best ad agencies in the business but also striving to help other shops understand what makes the best of the best truly stand out.
That’s why, for the first time, Adweek has a theme for its Agency of the Year awards program: Building a Better Agency. Adweek asked each finalist across all seven categories to explain how it is building a better agency for the future.
Last year, FCB India took home the title of Adweek’s International Agency of the Year.
How we got here
Adweek invited any agency to enter (without a fee) its yearly Agency of the Year awards program by providing information about its past year and best work.
A team of Adweek editors and reporters combed through the entries and generated a list of five finalists in each category. Adweek’s internal jury deliberated over these finalists, taking into account three main factors:
- Business success (client wins and losses, revenue growth, strategy and use of technology).
- The work (a reel featuring the agency’s 10 best and most effective pieces of creative).
- Talent and ESG (creating an environment for employees to succeed through its culture and benefits, as well as advancing DEI and sustainability).
On Oct. 10, Adweek will reveal the winning agencies. Below, in alphabetical order, are the finalists for International Agency of the Year.
BETC Paris
BETC Paris, an agency of about 1,000 people, won every new client it went after over the past year. It’s not hard to see why when its creative stood out as some of the best across Europe this year, including several pieces of work that would stop consumers in their tracks for Canal+.
BETC Paris made two films, with one winning a Gold Cannes Lion for Film, one of the most coveted awards at the festival. The other—”The Secret of Wakany”—takes viewers on a journey reminiscent of the rise of Game of Thrones fandom, only for fans of the fake show to be let down by a twist ending.
How it’s building a better agency: The agency pointed Adweek to its Sustainability Report, which outlines its corporate social responsibility goals. In it, it shows four pillars focused on designing and producing responsible campaigns, talents for a positive impact, spread an inspiring CSR and improve its environmental and local footprint. “At BETC, we like to reconsider the limits between media, culture, communication and business to renew the connection between brands and the public. We bring together complimentary talents and expertises with the same obsession: creativity,” the report reads.