Adweek’s 2023 US Midsize Agency of the Year Finalists

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: Building a Better Agency. We asked each finalist across all seven categories to explain how it is building a better agency for the future.

Last year, Mischief took home the title of Adweek’s U.S. Midsize 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 U.S. Midsize Agency of the Year.

Colle McVoy

This Midwestern shop is closing in on its 90th birthday but has the look of a modern agency thanks to a transformation in the past few years. Colle McVoy attained B Corp status earlier this year and redesigned how its teams work together in order to be a more attractive agency to the next generation of talent.

After losing the Land O’Lakes account in 2021, the agency rebounded to make up for that revenue and then some thanks to a string of client wins like Stanley Black & Decker, Craftsman, La-Z-Boy and DeWalt. While the agency’s work speaks to similar audiences for many of those brands, it’s produced a variety of campaigns that use rock anthems for Craftsman, Luke Bryan-grown corn for tractor brand Fendt and custom sneaker drops for Cub Cadet to catch the attention of consumers.

How it’s building a better agency: “We are staying true to who we are. Becoming B Corp certified has connected our longstanding values to the future and gives our employees a greater sense of purpose and belonging. We know being a better employer attracts the best talent and having a people-first culture yields the best work,” said Christine Fruechte, CEO. “We’re built differently, we work differently, we’re wired differently, and we’ve future-proofed our model to unite teams to get to outsized results. We set the bar high for our people, which in turn does the same for our clients.”

FCB NY

Over the past year, FCB New York has added AOR duties for Budweiser, the New York Mets and QuickBooks. That’s on top of a roster that already includes Michelob Ultra, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Spotify and Flonase. FCB produced “McEnroe vs. McEnroe” in 2022, but raised the bar for integrating technology into its work for Michelob with “Dreamcaster,” which used a tech-enabled suit to allow a blind person to call an NBA game.

The agency also tackled inequity at the BRIT Awards for Budweiser, created the second installment of its hit “A Song for Every CMO” B2B campaign and celebrated motherhood for Centrum by reimagining a beloved lullaby.

How it’s building a better agency: “I’m very bullish on the future of agencies. We’re at an inflection point where so much of marketing has become commoditized, yet the need for great brand building that translates into measurable business growth has never been more essential,” said Emma Armstrong, CEO FCB New York. “We fundamentally believe that when you use creativity to solve real business challenges, it becomes an economic multiplier. We’re building a better agency by doubling down and delivering on that belief at every turn for our clients, and by becoming an essential partner—not just to the CMO, but the CEO and all involved in shaping the present and future of the business.”

Highdive

Between its Super Bowl work and consistently strong spots for brands such as Jersey Mike’s, Jeep, Ram and the NHL, it’s clear Highdive in its seven years of existence has become one of the best U.S. shops to call if a brand needs a 30- or 60-second spot. In 2023, the 100-person agency added State Farm, Lay’s (as AOR) and Dollar Shave Club (also as AOR) to its roster.

For Lay’s, the agency supersized a relatable science fair project, using 6,000 potatoes to power a music recording with superstar Anitta. And for Mentos, Highdive trained raccoons to recycle Mentos containers as a tongue-in-cheek reminder for gum chewers to recycle. Some of its most visible work has been for Jersey Mike’s, which has filmed endless spots with Danny DeVito, who at this point must live, breathe and eat Jersey Mike’s.

How it’s building a better agency: “Building a better agency starts with having the healthiest client relationships. At Highdive we do this by treating our clients’ business problems as our own and telling it like it is… even when it’s hard. When we have relationships free from ego, fear and negativity, the creative parts of our brains flourish. This leads to powerful creative, more motivated teams and better business results all around,” said Megan Lally, CEO of Highdive.

Mother

Mother’s mission is clear: Make our children proud. It does so through its work, but also its benefits. Mother has some of the strongest benefits in the industry with six months of paid parental leave, up to $50,000 in reimbursement for IVF, support for parents through BenefitBump, sabbaticals and other mix-and-match perks for employees.

As for the work, Mother pushed Paid Leave for All with a series of children’s books titled Get Your Sh*t Together, Baby and promoted them through celebrity readings. Meanwhile, it designed a couch that can float to raise awareness about rising sea levels, and it created The Gay Blood Collection line of products to spotlight the fact that the U.S. is one of only a few nations that bans gay men from donating blood.

How it’s building a better agency: “We believe we’re building a truly creative company. Mother was founded around a kitchen table, with a seat for everyone: creatives, account, strategists, producers and the client. It created a culture of collaboration and accountability,” said Peter Ravailhe, partner and CEO for Mother U.S.

“We’re relentlessly seeking how we can continue growing, to solve bigger problems, collaborate with next generation talent and express our work through a greater variety of canvases. That’s why we’ve extended our kitchen table to include design, media, modern production, PR, ventures and more to come. The aim has never been ‘to get more scope’ or ‘what’s going to drive greater margin contribution’ but rather to simply be more creative and entrepreneurial in the problems we are solving.”

Translation

Translation gets culture. Or maybe more appropriately, Translation makes culture. The agency consistently creates stellar work to open the NBA season—and celebrate it as the season goes on. In the past year, Translation has also tapped NBA stars like LeBron James for an emotional spot about fatherhood for Beats and Giannis Antetokounmpo for a game of horse with comedian Hasan Minhaj for WhatsApp.

Last year, Adweek named Translation our 2022 Multicultural Agency of the Year. The agency remains one of the most diverse shops in the U.S. and has more than 400 relationships with diverse or minority-owned organizations.

How it’s building a better agency: “Our legacy, along with our future, is rooted in our conviction that the correlation between financial capital and cultural capital is stabilizing, and as such, the modern marketer and the modern creator have better-aligned incentives today than ever,” said Chaucer Barnes, chief marketing officer of Translation + UnitedMasters.

“So Translation engineers creative solutions for our brand partners in lockstep with the very authors of global youth culture. The moat around our business is the gravitational pull of a fair, transparent marketplace in which to exchange financial and cultural currency: one that attracts the world’s best brand stewards, prospective employees and creators alike. This is why our work resonates, our brands grow, and our company reflects the consumers we seek to persuade.”