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The 14 Most Influential Agencies Of 2014

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Maturing marketing channels are increasingly challenging agencies these days. The best of them are abandoning traditional, narrow definitions and adopting an integrated model that allows specialization while offering total marketing solutions. The agencies I have selected have a clear sense of how much is changing, including the new role of the consumer, the migration away from interruptive messages, and the technologies and platforms that make listening more important than talking. They embrace what’s coming, not what has been.

The most influential agencies of 2014 represent a diverse group of high performing and forward thinking firms that are reinventing their business model as technology facilitates a newly complex marketing ecosystem.

Arguably, the single most innovative agency in America: 360i.

Started as a search agency less than a decade ago, 360i evolved into a digitally centric agency model that effectively integrates earned, paid and owned media under one roof. It is known for its disciplined approach to fundamentals like strategy and its entrepreneurial culture. 360i’s breakthrough moment came at Super Bowl LVII in 2013 when the lights went out in the third quarter. Within a few moments 360i tweeted its “Dunk in the dark” ad from its specially set newsroom for client Oreo, and real-time marketing reached celebrity news cycle of sorts. This year, for another brand of the same client, Oscar Mayer, 360i captured the euphoric, multisensory experience of bacon with an app connected to an alarm clock that lets users wake up to the smell and sounds of crackling bacon. This effort was supported by video and a website and, to build buzz, selling a limited the number of the devices which took 360i 9 months to develop in their R&D lab.

The next big thing: Pereira & O’Dell and Barton F. Graf 9000.

Pereira & O'Dell is known for its integrated campaigns, effortlessly combining digital, social, and heart tugging brand storytelling. While influenced by digital advertising, Pereira & O'Dell has a more integrated, idea-first approach. That philosophy has been manifest in the wide array of work coming out of the shop. The agency has created tear-jerking, award-winning long-form ads for Skype, depicting its ability to connect people over great distance.

Barton F. Graf 9000 and its founder Gerry Graf are known for their signature style, creating wacky advertising that sets them apart in an often commoditized industry. Graf is responsible for some of the ad world's most eccentric and funny commercials, from Mars bars to Fedex to Skittles. The shop works now with Kayak, GoDaddy, Ragú and Unilever, and its breakthrough moment was a clever video which went viral last year for an environmental group Climate Name Change, suggesting tongue-in-cheek to name hurricanes and other weather catastrophes after climate-change denying politicians.

Reinventing public relations: Edelman and Weber Shandwick.

Edelman, fiercely independent, its focus is on innovating its capabilities outside traditional public relations like branded entertainment, creative newsroom and clean technology. The firm added creative directors on a number of accounts and expanded its resources beyond its traditional offerings and made its largest non-PR investment yet with the acquisition of Stockholm-based creative shop Deportivo.

Weber Shandwick too is transforming itself with an aggressive dive into the crowded content space that catapults it beyond traditional PR. Last year, the shop created a publishing group to capitalize on content marketing demands from clients. This year it revamped its advocacy group Sawyer Miller into a full-service ad agency named Sawmill. It will be expanding well beyond the point that Sawyer Miller traditionally played in the advocacy world.

Media rising: MediaCom and Carat.

MediaCom develops and optimizes the use of content to drive high-performing engagements through its “Content + Connections” philosophy. It provides end-to-end creation, distribution and monitoring of all content and communication activities, from social media to SEO to branded content, while optimizing each individual channel and the connections between them. MediaCom is transforming its media agency model from being media-facing to consumer facing.

Carat too is redefining the role of a media agency in this new digital world. It understands how media can drive business value better than anyone else. Carat is moving beyond the provision of media savings and exploits the new era of media to deliver greater business value to its clients. With its proprietary survey tool, CCS, it provides an impressive level of consumer insight that helps support future-forward initiatives.

Mainstreaming multicultural: LatinWorks and Alma.

LatinWorks has long believed in taking multicultural to the mainstream, and their brand messaging reflects this. Their work, includes a range of clever multicultural campaigns for Lowe’s, Domino’s, Starburst, and is grounded in strong insights and sophistication, but the shop also has a flair for winning general market assignments, like it did a few years back when it ran a Super Bowl spot for Bud Light. Last year Jamba Juice named LatinWorks as their general market agency for a large campaign to reposition the brand.

Alma is one of the top award winners among multicultural agencies, including Cannes Lions, Effies, Clios, and D&AD, creating multi-lingual campaigns for clients like McDonald's, State Farm, Clorox, and Tobacco Free Florida. Alma, which last year created a social media lab, recently formed a strategic partnership with Rokk3r Labs, an innovative platform for entrepreneurs to create and launch companies through proven methodology and co-building.

Digital disruptors: ROKKAN and R/GA.

ROKKAN focuses its expertise on creating innovative campaigns with strong cross-platform appeal in e-commerce, loyalty programs, digital marketing, mobile and social media. ROKKAN's core services include Visual Design, Technology, 3D and Motion Graphics, Game/App Development and Emerging Media. This creative shop was among the first to anticipate and develop solutions for the changing needs of clients in a socially connected world.

R/GA envisions a connected world made of functionally integrated companies that have products and services that tie together into a platform and then into an ecosystem — one building on the other, like Nike+Fuel. The new model is fused in order that the consumer would buy multiples rather than just one product or service. In another area of innovation, R/GA has created an accelerator program focused on startups that are creating connected devices and applications.

Setting the bar: Droga5, Wieden+Kennedy, 72andSunny.

Droga5 makes ads you can’t ignore: That something can be a hilarious piece of content, a fun videogame or a useful app, or it can be an invitation to support a worthwhile cause. This year it created strong work for Under Armour, Newcastle Brown Ale and Prudential. It also launched De-De, a separate business aimed at designing and developing tech products.

Wieden+Kennedy, arguably the most consistently inspired agency of the last 35 years, continues to do high-profile work for the likes of Nike, Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice, Chrysler and Coca-Cola. W+K’s unambiguous commitment to the mantra of creativity results in standout work. With only 8 international offices, W+K introduced the concept of a “mini network”, and effectively competes with traditional ad networks that have hundreds of offices

72andSunny made waiting in line for an iPhone look uncool, suggested Jay Z pre-release his latest album on Samsung Galaxy phones, and drafted Kevin Spacey for an appearance on Call of Duty. Strategically sound, it continues its impressive mastery of the cultural conversation. 72andSunny is an agency that takes big swings, creating memorable ads that blend celebrities and brands in unexpected ways.

Of note, even as the communications industry is undergoing extensive consolidation, almost half of the agencies on this list, 6 out of 14, happen to be Independents and are not owned by any of the top-5 holding companies, WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, IPG or Dentsu.

Perhaps it’s an indication that creativity, not size or distribution, is what still matters most in advertising and communications.

Avi Dan is founder of Avidan Strategies, a leading agency search and compensation consultant

 

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