#TheConnies 2015: Judges find evidence of “agency transformation”

One of the most closely fought categories of the 2015 Connected Consumer Awards was the Connected Agency of the Year – in the end handed to a fully deserving MediaCom UK for the second year running.

Yet looking beyond the winning entry, the entire list of submissions reveals a wider transformation the connected consumer is having on the way agencies now work.

Mark Cross, director of Chartroom and a long-standing judge of the annual awards, said he had originally been looking for client examples of connected solutions across devices and channels, but what the judges actually found was something more interesting and profound: evidence of transformation in the way that agencies now go about their business.

From broader skill-sets and new ways of working, to deeper collaboration with media owners and new approaches to data, the judges unearthed evidence of a sea change in agency operations.

In the short video below, Cross explains this transformation and how new propositions are being “cast from the connected reality”.

Cross told Newsline that MediaCom won because it not only offered an obviously connected proposition of ‘Better Connections’ together with an interesting interconnected system of communications approach, but the agency worked through what it meant for its business and for its people with very impressive outcomes.

“The challenge of driving change across the whole organisation was recognised from the outset and by re-engineering structures, planning approaches and working practices around the proposition, they demonstrated that widespread change had taken place to everyday practice. An outstanding effort.”

For the full list of winners of the 2015 Connected Consumer Awards, click here.