Agencies, senior marketers and industry partners came together this week for the Oystercatchers Awards 2025 Presentation Evening, our annual celebration of the agencies shaping the marketing and communications industry. The Oystercatchers Awards exist to recognise what sits behind long-term success. Partnership is at the heart of everything we do, but great partnerships don’t exist in […]
It’s finally time to announce the winners of the Oystercatchers Awards 2025. This year we received a record-breaking number of entries. Our judges have spent weeks reviewing the work, both online and in person, challenging each other, debating the detail, and celebrating the quality on show. Reaching agreement was no small task, but we are […]
After much deliberation from our panel of expert judges, we are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Oystercatchers Awards 2025. The winners will be revealed at the Awards Presentation Evening on Wednesday 4th February 2026. Thank you to all our agency partners who took the time to enter and best of luck to our […]
2025 started off relatively sedately. But there were already some indications of the seismic shifts that lay ahead. Speculation on one of the biggest mergers in this industry’s history had started, Donald Trump’s imminent return to office was upon us and NASA confirmed that 2024 had been the warmest year in history. But what has […]
At our final Oystercatchers Club of the year, we brought together three leaders who operate in environments where trust is not abstract, but essential: Jane Callingham (BBC), Stuart Maister (Choose Trust), and Avi Wolfson (Cytiva). Across media, life sciences and strategic communications, the conversation reinforced a truth we see every day as an intermediary: trust […]
What it comes to pitching, if you’ve been around the block, you will have trodden the well-worn path of traditional pitch processes many times. You know, the one that starts with a chemistry session, moves onto a briefing with Q&A, followed by a tissue session, and ultimately a pitch meeting. At the most basic level, […]
Most marketing leaders recognise when a plan should be working. A clear objective, smart channel choices, sufficient budgets. Yet often work still moves too slowly, teams feel stretched and spend doesn’t convert into momentum and business impact. In our experience, the gap isn’t always the plan. It’s the operating system that turns intent into […]
At our recent Oystercatchers Club, we were joined by Gareth Mercer, Founding Partner, Pablo, Nicola Wardell, Managing Director Creative, Specsavers and Richard Atkinson-Toal, VP Brand and Experience, American Express to explore one of the industry’s most enduring questions: should brands seek integrated creative and media partners under one roof, or rely on best-in-class specialists? Why […]
A critical step in most – if not all – pitch processes is the chemistry meeting. It’s the first opportunity for brand and agency side marketers to meet. It’s when clients start making their assessment about whether they want to spend their time and money with your agency. Equally, it’s when agencies get to meet […]
At first glance, the world of marketing intermediaries might seem straightforward. After all, how many ways can you run a pitch process? And while that’s partly true, the real differences, beyond expertise, lie in the business models underpinning intermediaries. That’s where things get interesting, and where transparency becomes essential. Introducing the new ISBA Guide to […]