Adam & Eve/DDB will face off against seven other top creative agencies in the battle to retain its title as Campaign’s UK Advertising Agency of the Year.

The Omnicom agency, which won the accolade last year for a record sixth time, is competing against Droga5 London, McCann UK, Mother London, Pablo, The Brooklyn Brothers, Uncommon Creative Studio and VCCP.

Manning Gottlieb OMD will also be aiming to repeat its success last year when it was named Media Agency of the Year. The shop is up against Omnicom stablemates OMD UK and PHD UK, as well as Essence, Goodstuff, M/SIX, MediaCom UK and Zenith.

This year’s awards cover a turbulent 12 months when the fall-out from the coronavirus pandemic rocked the ad industry. In each category, the shortlist has been chosen by a panel of top marketers, with a second round of judging chaired by Benjamin Braun, chief marketing officer of Samsung in Europe.

For Digital Innovation Agency of the Year, last year’s winner AnalogFolk is competing with Gravity Road, MediaMonks, Oliver, R/GA London and We Are Social.

In the Customer Engagement Agency of the Year, Wunderman Thompson is defending its title against Merkle, MRM, Oliver and Rapp.

Lively Worldwide, Momentum Worldwide, Smyle, XYZ and last year’s winner, Amplify, have been shortlisted for the Brand Experience Agency of the Year category.

There are eight agencies in the Independent Agency of the Year shortlist: Amplify, Goodstuff, Impero, Mother London, Pablo, Uncommon Creative Studio (the 2020 winner), VCCP and Wonderhood Studios.

For Integrated Marketing Agency of the Year, Manifest, Merkle, Ogilvy UK, Stein IAS, The & Partnership UK and VCCP have been shortlisted.

Croud and Merkle will go head-to-head in the final round of judging for the Performance Marketing Agency category; while the judges have shortlisted Hill & Knowlton Strategies, Taylor Herring, The Romans, Tin Man and W Communications for PR Agency of the Year.

Campaign also runs Agency of the Year in Asia-Pacific and the United States and entries are open for its expanded global scheme, the Global Agency of the Year Awards, which takes place later this spring.
Shortlists for people categories

Advertising Agency Head of the Year
Helen Calcraft (Lucky Generals)
Tammy Einav and Mat Goff (Adam & Eve/DDB)
Sarah Golding (The & Partnership UK)
Sam Hawkey (Saatchi & Saatchi)
Xavier Rees (Havas London)
Sara Tate (TBWA\London)

Media Agency Head of the Year
Tim Irwin (Essence EMEA)
Nadine Young (Starcom)

Creative Person of the Year
Darren Bailes (VCCP)
Richard Brim (Adam & Eve/DDB)
George Bryant (The Brooklyn Brothers)
David Kolbusz (Droga5 London)
Vicki Maguire (Havas London)
Laurent Simon (VMLY&R)

Strategic Planner of the Year
Martin Beverley (Adam & Eve/DDB)
Richard Huntington (Saatchi & Saatchi)
Gen Kobayashi (Engine Creative)
Michael Lee (VCCP)
Andy Nairn (Lucky Generals)
Dylan Williams (Droga5 London)

Account Person of the Year
Carly Avener (Leo Burnett)
Jennifer Black (Havas London)
Peter Grenfell (VCCP Kin)
Sarah Jenkins (Saatchi & Saatchi)
Katie McCambley (MullenLowe London)
Karim Slim (MRM)

Media Planner of the Year
Vicky Fox (OMD UK)
Paul Gayfer (Goodstuff)
Simon Jenkins (VCCP Media)

New Business Development Team of the Year
Michael Butler, Essence
Unlimited

Talent Management Person/Team of the Year
Adam & Eve/DDB
MullenLowe Group UK
Ogilvy UK

The shortlists for the Head of Agency of the Year across customer engagement, experience and digital will be announced on 10 March.

Shortlists for EMEA categories

EMEA Agency of the Year
Distillery
Essence Germany
ForwardPMX
Imagination
MediaMonks
UM EMEA
We Are Social

EMEA Creative Network of the Year
DDB EMEA
McCann Worldgroup Europe
The & Partnership
TBWA

EMEA Media Network of the Year
OMD EMEA
MediaCom
PHD

EMEA Creative Person of the Year
Adrian Botan (McCann Worldgroup Europe)
Sam Hepburn (Distillery)

EMEA Head of Agency
Andrew Dimitriou (VMLY&R)
Mark Lund (McCann Worldgroup)
Gareth Mercer (Pablo)

EMEA PR Network
Edelman EMEA
Hill & Knowlton Strategies

The finalists for the EMEA Strategic Planner and Digital Network of the Year will also be announced on 10 March.