The Advertising Age A-List is the premier annual advertising agency honor. Each year the editorial staff at Advertising Age combs through hundreds of entries trying to determine which agencies are building the best businesses for themselves and their marketing clients. Agencies are judged on revenue growth, client wins and client relationships, creativity, effective work, results, thought leadership, culture and more.

A-LIST CATEGORIES

Honorees will be named in the following categories.
AGENCY of the Year (INCLUDING AGENCY A-LIST, AGENCIES TO WATCH AND STANDOUTS)
MEDIA AGENCY of the Year
B-TO-B AGENCY of the Year
MULTICULTURAL AGENCY of the Year
INTERNATIONAL AGENCY of the Year
IN-HOUSE AGENCY of the Year
CREATIVITY AGENCY of the Year (INCLUDING AGENCY INNOVATORS LIST)
PRODUCTION COMPANY of the Year (INCLUDING PRODUCTION COMPANY A-LIST)
EXECUTIVE of the Year
 

New this year, the Ad Age Creativity Awards celebrate the future of marketing leadership and establish a growing community of like-minded leaders who are positioned to shape what’s next.

Honorees will be named in the following categories.

CREATIVITY AWARDS CATEGORIES

PEOPLE

CREATIVE DIRECTOR of the Year
CREATIVE of the Year
STRATEGIC PLANNER of the Year
MEDIA PLANNER of the Year
DIRECTOR of the Year

WORK

CAMPAIGN of the Year
BEST EXPERIENTIAL
BEST CONTENT MARKETING
BEST HUMANITARIAN/SUSTAINABILITY EFFORT
BEST USE OF NEW MEDIA/PLATFORM

COMPANIES

STARTUP to Watch
INNOVATION/PRODUCTS to Watch
AD TECH/MARKETING TECH/FINANCIAL TECH to Watch
APP/MOBILE TECHNOLOGY to Watch
 

A few entry details are below. Review the RULES tab for more information.

WHO CAN APPLY?

Agency of the Year, Media Agency of the Year, BtoB Agency of the Year and Multicultural Agency of the Year are open to U.S.-based advertising agencies or agency networks of any size. Those entering Media Agency of the Year, BtoB Agency of the Year and Multicultural Agency of the Year will automatically be considered for Agency of the Year and A-List. The A-List itself is open to agencies representing any advertising discipline. For the purposes of these categories, please do NOT enter offices in separate cities as distinct entries.

International Agency of the Year is open to independent shops based outside the U.S. as well as an agency network’s operations in a specific country outside the U.S. Each international entry should cover one country only, however many offices you have there. If you’re entering from Australia, for example, you don’t need separate entries from Sydney or Melbourne.

Creativity Agency of the Year (and Creativity Innovators) is open to individual agency offices (so San Francisco can enter separately from New York, for example) inside and outside the U.S. who feel they’ve delivered the most innovative, forward-thinking ideas of the year.

Production Company of the Year / Production Company A-List is open to all production companies (traditional/digital/experiential). Companies, even those with multiple offices, should submit a single entry comprising the best work of all offices. If you have separate digital or film practices, you are free to submit those separately but at your discretion. A more well-rounded package that includes a variety of production could work in your favor, but if you feel your digital offering, for example, stands strong on its own, you are welcome to submit that on its own.

Executive of the Year is open to CEOs, Chief Creative Officers, Chief Strategy Officers and other top level executives from any level of any agency, regardless of location. Each entry must pertain to only one executive.

Creative Director of the Year is open to any level of creative director (CD/ACD/ECD etc.). Note: It is NOT open to Chief Creative Officers. CCOs should be entered in the A-List Executive of the Year category.

Creative of the Year is open to copywriters, art directors and other creative positions. Do you make things? Then you’re likely a creative. Note: This category excludes creative directors, group creative directors, exec creative directors, associate creative directors. For those entrants, please see Creative Director of the Year.

Strategic Planner of the Year is open to strategic planners at advertising, media and PR agencies.

Media Planner of the Year is open to media planners at advertising, media and PR agencies.

Director of the Year is open to traditional film, digital, new-media and experiential directors.

Campaign of the Year is open to fully integrated campaigns that ran anywhere in the world between January 1, 2016 and November 1, 2016.

Best Experiential is open to an experiential effort staged anywhere in the world between January 1, 2016 and November 1, 2016.

Best Content Marketing is open to content-marketing efforts that ran, were launched or were published anywhere in the world between January 1, 2016 and November 1, 2016.

Best Humanitarian/Sustainability Efffort is open to creative work with a humanitarian or sustainability bent that ran anywhere in the world between January 1, 2016 and November 1, 2016. Work for paying clients and work done pro bono are eligible.

Best Use of New Media Platform is open to any campaign that ran on platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Periscope, WeChat, Weibo, Twitter or others anywhere in the world between January 1, 2016 and November 1, 2016.

Startup to Watch, Innovation/Products to Watch, Ad Tech/Marketing Tech/Financial Tech to Watch, App/Mobile Technology to Watch These categories are open to agencies, vendors, tech companies, startups and marketers who have an offering that they should win.

A special note about time frame. For the purposes of this category, we will consider startups, products, apps, etc. that were introduced to the market between January 1, 2015 and November 1, 2016. (In other words, this is closer to a 2-year period than a 1-year period.)