OLIVER dominates at the Agency of the Year Awards with six finalist spots, including Digital Innovation and Customer Engagement Agency of the Year.

The rise and rise of in-housing  

OLIVER – the only company in the world to exclusively design, build and run in-house agencies and marketing ecosystems for brands – is celebrating being shortlisted for six categories at this year’s UK Agency of the Year Awards.  

The world’s leading in-house agency provider – crowned Campaign’s Digital Network of the Year in 2020 – is competing among a strong line-up; securing two spots in the In-House Agency of the Year category (a new category for the ceremony), in addition to being shortlisted for the coveted Digital Innovation and Customer Engagement titles.
 

A full house 

In all entries it competed for, OLIVER secured six shortlists across five groups: 

• Digital Innovation Agency of the Year 
• Customer Engagement Agency of the Year 
• Two spots in the In-house Agency of the Year category for U-Studio and The Guardian 
• Creative Leader of the Year, Rod Sobral, Global Chief Creative Officer for OLIVER and the Inside Ideas Group 
• Creative Team of the Year, Sam Jacobs and Rae Stones at OLIVER for The Guardian 

OLIVER’s stand-out people 

The in-house teams at Unilever’s U-Studio and The Guardian enjoyed elevated success during a difficult year. U-Studio (one of the largest in-house teams in the world with 21 sites and over 500 people) was named Campaign’s Global In-House Agency of the Year, and The Guardian was one of the most awarded brands in the company’s roster of over 300.  

Sam Jacobs and Rae Stones were behind The Guardian’s DMA shortlists for ‘Best Writing’ and ‘Best Design / Art Direction’ for the ‘200 Years, A Work In Progress’ campaign, receiving silver in each. Similarly, U-Studio won over 50 honours in 2021, including 20 creative and effectiveness awards and a Gold DMA for its Lynx Africa work (Best Retail and E-commerce category).  

Rod Sobral, Global Chief Creative Officer, has led the creative direction of every global account and campaign while inspiring a growing team of 3000+ brand experts. Since joining OLIVER in 2019, he has helped the business win over 100 creative accolades. 
 

Growth in 2022 

OLIVER has seen growth of 35% over the last year. In both 2020 and 2021, it was named Adweek’s Fastest Growing Large Agency in North America.  

Sharon Whale, CEO of Global Markets and Operations, said: “The OLIVER model is designed to help amp-up clients’ marketing ecosystems. At the heart of it all is our people. From the teams that live at the centre of a brand and the offshore hubs and tech experts that support these teams, I believe that we’ve shown how our model can deliver creativity that drives tangibly better results and growth unlike any other. Thank you to Campaign for this wonderful news and acknowledgement. A huge ‘good luck’ to all those shortlisted.”