Setup Agency Partners Continue to Shine Through a Cloudy 2020
At Setup, we work with a number of outstanding and award-winning marketing agencies. Despite 2020 throwing hurdles at the world, our partners still managed to shine. Working with such impressive companies motivates us to continue to make connections, and they truly got us through the year.
Although there are many highlights from this year, here are a few special moments and awards we wanted to celebrate from some of our established agency partners:
Dagger
Dagger is an agency all about insightful strategy that leads to breakthrough creative.
“We give brands their place in the zeitgeist, and we employ the mindset of a media company to help our clients move faster, hit harder and lead smarter.”
As they continued to grow and make waves within the advertising industry, 2020 was an exciting year for the marketing agency. Their nimble and reputable work was recognized locally and nationally, even scoring them a Silver Award for Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year - Southeast.
Among the list of achievements, Dagger was recognized several times by Adweek for their growth:
Adweek Fastest-Growing Agencies - #68 out of 100
Adweek Fastest-Growing Agencies - Top 10 in the Southeast
In Atlanta, Dagger was locally recognized for their growth, culture, and CEO leadership:
Atlanta Business Chronicle 2020 Pacesetter Award
Atlanta Business Chronicle Best Places to Work 2020 - No. 4 in the Medium-Sized Businesses category (50-99 employees)
Atlanta Business Chronicle 2020 Most Admired CEOs
Dagger’s work was also recognized at the local level by marketing associations AMA and the Atlanta Ad Club.
2020 American Marketing Association Awards - AMY awards
Non-Profit Marketing Campaign: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, "What It Takes" campaign
2020 American Advertising Awards - ADDY awards
Sound Design: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, “Listen”
Advertising – Regional/National: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, “Listen”
Social Media: Aflac, “Aflac Open Enrollment Campaign”
Social Media: Aflac, “Aflac College Football Campaign”
Other notable accolades include Dagger’s “Atlannapedia” work as a WEBBY honoree. Granted to only the top 20% of all work entered in the 24th Annual Webby Awards, earning the distinction of Webby Honoree, as recognized by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, is a significant achievement.
Modo Modo Agency
Modo Modo is known for putting the market and consumers before marketing. A frequent award winner, 2020 was no exception.
“Solving business problems in practical ways with marketing.”
This year, Modo Modo brought home several awards:
Chief Marketer | Top Marketing Agencies of 2021
2020 American Marketing Association Awards - AMY awards
B2B Integrated Marketing
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Top 50 Largest Advertising & Marketing Firms Atlanta
Agency Spotter
Response Media
Response Media, a marketing agency that focuses on creating value in relationships and integrating data through their email, digital media, social CRM offerings, ranked multiple times on Agency Spotter throughout 2020.
Read their cases and client testimonials for the following:
The Shipyard
The Shipyard is composed of talented individuals who deem themselves “Marketing Engineers” for their work in data science and creativity.
Vanguard Award + Adweek - Podcasts of the Year 2020
For their efforts to change and expand the conversation around mental health, The Shipyard’s Voices of Resilience podcast was recognized by Vanguard Award and Adweek. Alongside other podcasts using audio to amplify important conversations surrounding race, economic turmoil and adaptation, Adweek, America’s leading marketing and communications publication, listed The Shipyard as the “Best Podcast Launched in the Pandemic” and “Best Podcast Hosted by an Agency.”
“Only a few short months ago we launched this series to highlight personal journeys of navigating trauma and adversity to find resilience and hope. We are so grateful and encouraged by the response.”
The Shipyard Founder and CEO Rick Milenthal shares, “I am humbled by this accolade and grateful to our partners at The Elevate Group and CAS for helping us bring WonderBus to life. “None of this would have been possible without their commitment to mental health awareness. In these never-ending stressful and unsettling times, protecting and serving our mental health has never been more important.”
ANA Echo Award
The Shipyard received an “Echo Award” from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) for "Best Use of Data-Driven Technology" for their work on Weleda. The International ECHO Awards are considered by many the leading global award for today’s data-driven storytellers.
Read more about the award winning case study here.
Ad Exchangers The 2020 Programmatic Power Players
Hundreds of digital marketing agencies were evaluated for Ad Echangers’ 2020 Programmatic Power Players based on their offerings, case studies, and client references to determine a definitive list of top marketing agencies and strategic partners.
The Variable
The Variable, which prides itself on being a people-friendly business, combines the thinking of an innovation consultancy and the doing of an advertising agency. Notable awards from 2020 include:
Fast Company 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators
The list of Best Workplaces for Innovators celebrates organizations that have fostered innovative thinking by investing in technology, research and development and their employees. The Variable’s culture is centered around innovation, believing that innovation can come from anywhere and turning out developments rapidly - including the creation of nine companies in the last three years.
AdAge Small Agency of the Year
Winning AdAge’s Small Agency of the Year for the third time in addition to winning Fast Company’s 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators is no easy feat. In fact, The Variable is one of two companies to ever win both. Fast Company 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators
“It’s validation that we’re doing something pretty special and proof that mid-market companies can punch above their weight, big time. Our success is due to our crazy-talented people and to the fact that we’ve been able to lean on innovation to get ahead of most of the advertising industry curveballs.”
Read how The Variable won these awards by having a motto that centers around offering customized, cutting-edge, and affordable solutions here.
Xpedition
With a mission to tell the most authentic, unique, and diverse stories around the globe, Xpedition created some groundbreaking work during the pandemic with their Google Small Business Campaign. In an effort to highlight small businesses that were impacted at this time and the people who make up the businesses that spice up our communities and lives, Xpedition teamed up with Google to bring stories to life.
“We are committed to making the world a better, more interesting place through stories that inspire and uplift.”
Similarly, for Transgender Awareness Week, Xpedition celebrated the excellence of the trans community and trans-owned businesses in a heartfelt campaign.
Looking back at 2020, we are proud and honored to work with esteemed partners who are driven to provide the utmost excellence to their clients (and the ones above are just a few of our many talented partners)! As 2021 approaches, we are excited to see how their passion will continue to make a dent to drive our ever-changing industry.
According to the 2023 Setup Marketing Relationship Survey, Word-of-mouth and Referrals consistently remain the most frequent methods Clients use to find new Agency Partners.
This has been the case for the last five years of the Marketing Relationship Survey.
What does this mean for Clients + Agencies? How can they optimize their efforts with this knowledge?