Agency | Marketer Partnership Awards open: Here’s five past winners

Campaign Asia-Pacific, in association with The Observatory International, is calling for entries for the 2016 Agency | Marketer Partnership Awards.  

Now in its third year, the Agency | Marketer Partnership Awards sets out to recognise Asia-Pacific’s most effective client-agency relationships. The early deadline for entries is 20 June, and the final deadline is 29 June. The awards will take place on 18 August.

Everyone knows that speed, efficiency and effectiveness have become even more critical for brands to succeed in these challenging times, but none of that is possible without a strong client-agency relationship to produce the most creative work and bring a new level of insight and intelligence to brand strategy.

To give you an idea of the calibre of work that judges are looking for, here we showcase five recipients of an AMP award from the past two years.

Iris Worldwide and Philips: Gold award 2015

Iris Worldwide and Philips worked together to launch the Philips Digital Command Centre (PADCC) in Singapore with plans to scale it across the region. The goal for Philips was to become a modern brand with a culturally relevant voice. In July 2015, Iris began working on PADCC with a 12-member team, collaborating closely with media parters Carat, Havas and analytics firm Concise. The team says it exceeded all KPIs and the command centre was critical to the launch of new products.


 

Philips daCunha Communications P. Ltd and AMUL: Gold award 2015

daCunha Communications P. Ltd and AMUL have worked together since 1965 on what is believed to be the longest-running billboard campaign in the world. The campaign features the Amul Girl, who remains contemporary, humourous and loveable even after nearly 50 years. Over the decades, the campaign has expanded from billboards to print, then TV, and to social and digital media today. There have been over 4,000 Amul topicals, and they have managed to maintain the same theme and style while being witty, thought-provoking and humorous. This campaign is an example of a client putting complete trust in an agency to take all creative decisions.

Isobar and Coke: Gold award 2014

Isobar and Coke were able to display a working relationship that went far beyond the traditional agency and brand link up. Despite agency reviews and formal agency pitches, and no matter how fast the digital media landscape has been changing to require new capabilities and topnotch talent, Isobar always managed to come out on top.

As Darryl D Juinio, director for connections and operation, IMC Marketing, Coca-Cola, said at the time, "Isobar has been a fantastic partner for us in China. It has become ridiculous to simply refer to them as our digital agency. We now involve them very early in business planning and we have reaped the benefits.”




Wunderman Shanghai and Land Rover China: Silver award 2014

Like Coke and Isobar, this relationship stretched back almost a decade. Lily Song, VP of marketing communications, Land Rover China, said in 2014, “From our humble beginnings 10 years ago as a small import business selling a few hundred vehicles, to reaching the world's largest Land Rover market peaking at 100,000 cars in 2014, we have always recognized the contributions from our agency partners in helping us get there, and Wunderman is no exception. They have been with is from the beginning delivering a unique brand of communication that is tailored for the auto industry. But's it's never been just about communications, but a true business partnership. We simply wouldn't be where we are today without them.”

Indeed, what started as a small adaptations shop has now become a marketing business machine that delivers single-source integrated communications with the tools to track every potential customer lead.



Lowe Asia Pacific and Dirt is Good

Shared ambition and shared growth sowed the seeds of success for this partnership. Vikas Gupta, global brand vice president for Dirt is Good with Unilever Singapore, said at the time: “Lowe’s relationship on Dirt is Good is that of a brand steward, not an agency partner. It is one of genuine brand ownership, where we have a shared ambition of brand growth and recognition. It is with this shared ambition that we have added over US$1 billion, taking the brand to over US$2.2 billion in Asia. None of this would ever have been possible without Lowe. They have been our partners through each and every challenge and every victory.”

It is little wonder, then, that Lowe went on to win the entire global business of the brand.


 

If you think your brand or agency has a relationship to rival these past winners, then now is the time to submit your entry.

This year, the Agency | Marketer Partnership Awards continues to call for entries for two categories: Single Agency / Discipline, and Multiple Agencies / Disciplines.

These awards aim to showcase the global and regional partnerships that have delivered outstanding work and sustainable ROI over time, and ultimately to bring the importance of the client-agency relationship to the forefront.