INTRODUCTION
What a peculiar year it’s been. Almost everything in reality has been overshadowed by regional woe, or at least by the spectre of recession and political upheaval. In such circumstances it has been interesting to see how well some agencies have performed, although most have not been so lucky.
Thankfully there have been many bright spots throughout the year, particularly in the shape of work from Egypt and Lebanon, but sometimes it has been hard to notice if anything has actually changed – despite talk about fundamental shifts in the way the industry operates. Which is why agencies that have innovated and changed the way they work the most have been rewarded in The Annual.
For the fifth year we’ve chosen our agencies and networks of the year. We’ve picked media and advertising networks of the year, as well as advertising agency of the year. For the latter, it wasn’t easy, with only a few points separating four or five different agencies. However, decisions had to be made and points added up, with the results laid out in full in the following pages.
The process of picking our winning agencies remains quite simple. It started with a shortlist and a vote based on agency performance. This was followed by analysis of each shortlisted agency based on certain criteria. For media agencies, that criteria was business growth, media innovation, non-media growth, awards and recognition, talent and culture initiatives, and each agency’s industry contribution and CSR initiatives. For creative agencies the criteria were the work, business growth, strategic business initiatives and innovation, awards and recognition, talent and culture initiatives, and, as with media networks, each agency’s industry contribution and CSR initiatives. Appraisal of work is obviously down to personal appreciation to some degree, with the final ingredient our own view of each agency’s performance during the year.
So congratulations to the winners. As the holidays are upon us already, our next issue will be out on 17 January, from when we will resume our fortnightly cycle. Happy New Year, and here’s to a joyful and successful 2016.