Agency of The Year Global deadline fast approaching
With the final entry deadline for Agency of the Year Global fast approaching on Tuesday 18 February, we spoke to judges who shared their views on the biggest opportunities and challenges for 2025, and what they hope to see in the winning entries.
Now in their fifth year, Campaign's Global Agency of the Year Awards operate across four continents, providing a multinational arena where agencies big and small can compete directly with each other.
For the fifth iteration of these renowned awards, the leader of the judges will be Trix van der Vleuten, chief marketing officer at The Social Hub, with previous roles at Versuni (formerly Philips Consumer Lifestyle), KFC, Kraft Heinz, SABMiller and PepsiCo. She leads a select panel of judges comprised of global and regional chief marketing officers; the people in a position to hire shops and direct budgets.
Here, a selection of Campaign's Global Agency of the Year Awards judges share their hopes and fears for the industry on a global basis.
What will be the biggest opportunities and challenges for global marketers and their agencies in 2025, and how will they affect brands?
'The traditional reliance on objective data and factual representation in marketing has taken a backseat to narratives and messages that resonate emotionally with audiences. Consumers are increasingly driven by beliefs and feelings that align with their own experiences and worldviews, often regardless of empirical evidence.
'The blurring of fact and fiction has led to a proliferation of misinformation and skepticism. Consumers, bombarded with conflicting messages and often dubious claims, have become more cynical and less trusting of brand communications.
'In response, we must work harder to establish and maintain credibility. This involves not just stating facts but weaving them into relatable narratives that resonate personally with their target audience.
'As marketers, we must rethink our strategies, focusing more on creating emotional connections and less on highlighting the objective merits of their products or services. This demands a strategic blend of authenticity, empathy, and ethical storytelling, ensuring that the emotional resonance of our messaging does not come at the expense of truth and integrity. The goal is to create a brand narrative that appeals to the consumer's emotions and earns their trust through consistency, transparency, and genuine engagement.'
What are you most looking forward to about judging Campaign's Global Agency of the Year Awards?
'Conversations with a brilliant group of talented leaders and judges from across the globe as we review the global agencies' business performance, innovation, culture, values and thought leadership.'
What are you looking for in the winning entries?
'It's all about the consumer, and how the agencies deliver and exceed consumers' expectations – both in that moment and how the agencies bring consumers the next exciting thing that they can look forward to. How might the agency modernise a marketer's approach to provide the best experience for consumers and elevate brand value?'
To what extent do you think global awards schemes like this act as an enabler for increased international collaboration?
'The global awards scheme serves as a platform for celebrating excellence and driving progress within the global agency community. It's crucial for agencies to embrace the international and global mindset as they support global brands. These awards also help to promote and facilitate the sharing of best practices and set benchmarks within the industry, encouraging agencies to strive for higher quality in their outputs and deliverables.'
What will be the biggest opportunities and challenges for global marketers and their agencies in 2025, and how will they affect brands?
'Enough time to get it right will be the greatest challenge. Marketers and their agencies will be asked to hit the mark, and show results, long before an idea, plan or campaign has had time to mature. Those who nodded politely while we waxed about long-term brand building are increasingly measuring those efforts with short-term metrics. Marketing plans not immediately delivering results will be challenged to explain why.
'With so little time to play with, it's our chance to focus the mind and create less waste: less time spent on fantasy ideas in the pitch deck; fewer pet projects that take up the organisation's time.'
What are you looking for in winning entries?
'True partnerships that drive commercial growth, built on care for its people. I'd like to see evidence that the agency's business growth is driven by a depth of trust and shared ambition with its clients.
'I'd also like to see evidence that this growth is underpinned by a level of care for its people and break the misconception that an agency has to be run like a sweatshop to be profitable or creatively award-winning. The winning agencies should also show how they have harnessed the power of elevating underrepresented groups to key leadership positions, demonstrating the impact of including these groups in shaping more impactful creative work.'
What will be the biggest opportunities and challenges for global marketers and their agencies in 2025, and how will they affect brands?
'The next digital gold-rush will be on in 2025 for marketers to harness AI and move from tolerated random-acts-of-AI today to mainstream demand generation tomorrow (with awareness coming in as the proverbial second prize). For agencies – particularly those on global accounts – they will face their own race to determine how AI's power can be mastered to deliver relevant campaigns for all local markets at breakneck speed. But AI doesn't change the 4P fundamentals of marketing. Conversely, the traditional marketing model provides a framework for AI to broaden opportunities, refine data and identify new markets.
'For smart marketing department managers and agencies, it's agile marketing that will be the operational facilitator of the AI era. As the change and demands continue apace – agile frameworks, and agile ways of working will be the enablers to deliver change at speed, losing none of the quality, empowering teams and in the process driving marketing engagement and happiness.
'All the above will play out against the tightest political and economic backdrop ever, played on a Trumpian Monopoly board. Those who invest and master will see great gains and wins for their brands – that at least is predictable.'
What are you most looking forward to about judging Campaign's Global Agency of the Year Awards?
'Going through the creative is the ultimate privilege for judges and a personal indulgence. While performance and creative are top of the list – I'll be looking forward to seeing what peoplepower the agencies have: I don't mean power suits and moody creatives. Instead, I mean those submissions where I can make the connection between people seriously loving their work, and the consequent great output in campaigns. As judges, we can tell the difference between a mechanical submission, and those where passion drives the work – the correlation is unmistakable.'
What are you looking for in the entries?
'I'm a sucker for a submission that combines creativity with business nous, which has turned around a brand's fortunes, turned its nose up at the accepted, beaten the market – and is likely to be found in a business school case study of the future. Whether it's digging into the data, discovering an untapped customer segment, or an unseen twist on the media buy – that's what does it for me – that's true agency kapow.'
To what extent do you think global awards schemes like Campaign's Global AOTY Awards act as an enabler for increased international collaboration?
'I'm a champion for the Asia-Pacific region and the amazing work coming from our end of the globe. Sydney, Auckland, Singapore, Shanghai – they definitely give London & New York a run for their money these days. Campaign's Global AOTY Awards rightfully put them on the platform for global consideration, and yes, collaboration. Time zones and distance are no longer barriers for entry for agencies in Asia-Pacific – and what customers will find here is that the agencies work harder, and really push the technology edge for their customers.'
Join us before Cannes Lions at the London award ceremony
Winners will be revealed at Campaign's Agency of the Year Global Awards ceremony at London's Carlton Tower Jumeirah on 12 June; ideal timing for a pre-Cannes Lions Festival warm-up en route to the sunny Promenade de la Croisette.
The black-tie event will bring together judges and the world's top agencies, with a sparkling drinks reception followed by a three-course dinner, before the unveiling of the 2024 winners, with time to network and celebrate.
Entries are now open see entry form here, the final deadline on Tuesday 18 February 2025.
See the full list of last year's winners here: Campaign Agency of the Year Global Awards.
By Jennifer Small
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