The Oystercatchers Awards 23

The winners of the Oystercatchers Awards 23 were revealed last night (Wednesday 7th February) at an awards evening, with Oystercatchers Club member agencies and a host of CMO judges in attendance. A total of 21 agencies were shortlisted, recognising the brilliant people and work that go into building great client relationships.

VCCP scooped the famous orange trophy for Best Agency Credentials, wowing judges with their range of work and strong evidence of performance and longevity with clients.

Agency of the Year honours were given to Pablo London (150 staff or less) and adam&eveddb (more than 150 staff) respectively, while Allison (150 staff or less) and Rocketmill (more than 150 staff) took home Best Agency Culture.

Notably, St Luke’s and VCCP received ‘Highly Commended’ across these categories.

New for this year

This year’s awards introduce 4 new categories, including Best New Partnership (1 year) and Best Longstanding Partnership (3+ years), which recognise the exceptional collaboration and dedication that underpins strong and successful relationships with brands. Winning Best New Partnership was Wieden + Kennedy London for their work with Amazon Prime, impressing judges with their smart execution and relationship management. Ogilvy won Highly Commended for their work with Dove for the Best Longstanding Partnership award, demonstrating how they’ve helped the brand remain relevant over time, while Havas Media’s partnership with Dominos made an impression on the judges by combining a compelling brand story with fresh thinking to keep up with changes and challenges.

A standout addition to this year’s line-up was the Rising Star award, shining a spotlight on Marketing, Growth and New Business individuals. This new award celebrates their accomplishments within their role at their agency and the wider industry, showcasing their potential to shape the future of marketing and new business. Clementine Cuthbertson, Communications Director at McCann London was crowned Oystercatchers’ first Rising Star.

The Suki Thompson Award for Championing Change

Also new for this year was the inaugural Suki Thompson Award for Championing Change, presented by Oystercatchers Managing Director Richard Robinson, and Suki’s son Sam Thompson. As Suki did throughout her career, the Champion for Change Award paid tribute to agency individuals who have gone above and beyond to champion new initiatives in the marketing industry and move it forward.

Michael Brown, Managing Partner Insights & Research at UM UK and EMEA, and Steph Marques, Head of UX at Bernadette (VCCP), were celebrated for their extraordinary contributions, transcending their roles to effect positive change on a broader scale, not only within their agencies, but across the industry and wider-reaching society.

Michael has led the industry in creating partnerships and content to deliver a positive impact, including CALM – Campaign Against Living Miserably and launching a ‘Home Truths’ podcast series exploring mental health and wellbeing. Earlier in 2023, he was also named a Fellow at both the IPA and the Market Research Society, the youngest person yet to be awarded these titles.

Starting with a subtle change to O2’s online colour palette in 2019, Steph realised the impact small changes could make in design accesibility and has made strides in driving progress since. Having established the Accessibility Collective, a team dedicated to delivering accessibility, Steph has now embedded international WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards across over 50 of VCCP’s client’s websites and apps. She is also a member of the BIMA Inclusive Design Council – helping to improve awareness across the industry.

Gill Huber, Managing Partner at Oystercatchers said, “The Oystercatchers Awards showcase how the best agencies are evolving with their clients to deliver growth, creativity, and excellence that builds long term brand success. I’d like to extend a massive thank you to all our agencies who entered their brilliant work, and to our brand judges for taking the time to recognise and reward these submissions. Well done to everyone who was shortlisted and congratulations to our winners.”

The full list of winners for the Oystercatchers Awards 23 can be seen below.

BEST AGENCY CREDENTIALS

VCCP (Winner)

AGENCY OF THE YEAR (150 STAFF OR LESS)

Pablo London (Winner)

St Luke’s (Highly Commended)

AGENCY OF THE YEAR (150+ STAFF )

adam&eve DDB (Winner)

VCCP (Highly Commended)

BEST AGENCY CULTURE (150 STAFF OR LESS)

Allison (Winner)

St Luke’s (Highly Commended)

BEST AGENCY CULTURE (150+ STAFF)

Rocketmill (Winner)

BEST LONGSTANDING PARTNERSHIP (3+ YEARS)

Havas Media / Domino’s (Winner)

Ogilvy UK / Dove (Highly Commended)

BEST NEW PARTNERSHIP (1 YEAR)

W+K London / Amazon Prime (Winner)

THE RISING STAR AWARD

Clementine Cuthbertson, Communications Director, McCann London

THE SUKI THOMPSON AWARD FOR CHAMPIONING CHANGE

Michael Brown / Managing Partner, Insights & Research /UM UK and EMEA

Steph Marques / Head of UX / Bernadette (VCCP)