About The Drum Recommends Digital Awards

About The Drum Recommends Digital Awards

The Drum Recommends is The Drum’s service to help brands to choose agencies based on client ratings. 

Each year we download the ratings from the database to identify which agencies are the highest-rated in digital by clients, and recognise those agencies via The Drum Recommends Digital Awards.  

These awards are one of a kind in the industry – there are no entries to submit or papers to write. Winning can only be achieved through the high regard of your clients, demonstrated with ratings on recommendedagencies.com. 

We can then help brands to quickly identify the best agencies in digital.  

To participate in the awards, you must become a member on recommendedagencies.com and request your clients to rate your agency

Key dates

Ratings deadline: 04 August 2021
Nominations announced: 22 September 2021
Virtual Awards Ceremony: 15 October 2021 (during The Drum’s Digital Summit)
 

Why enter?

Winning an award for being most recommended by your clients is a valuable asset for your agency. It’s a credible stamp of approval to communicate to your existing and future clients and is an exciting boost for your agency team.

  • ​Your agency will feature on the awards listing page on The Drum website. 
  • Award winners will have a logo on their The Drum Recommends profile page and search pages, showing clients that their work has been recognised. 
  • ​Finalists and winners get awards logos to use on their marketing.  

How much does it cost?

There are no entry fees. The awards are part of the membership package and included in the cost. Agencies will be considered for all the services they are rated on.  

How to enter?

 

There is no need to enter work, it's all based on client ratings. You must be a member of The Drum Recommends, and a recommended agency until at least 31 December.  

To take a membership or renew your ratings please visit the website.  

Writing your entry report

The good news is that there are no reports to write, no work to submit. Simply collect as many ratings as you can via recommendedagencies.com and check your membership is still valid until at least 31 December. 

Tips for success
  • Ask your clients to rate all the services you provide - then you'll be considered in more categories 
  • Ask your clients to provide comments when leaving a rating as this does effect judging  
  • The awards ratings are weighted, with higher weighting going to agencies with more ratings, so the more ratings you have, the higher your score will be 

How will the results be judged?

After the deadline we download ratings of The Drum Recommends member agencies and use the data to find the top-rated agencies. The awards are split into three sizes of customer group - 0-40 staff, 40-99 staff and 100+ staff. 

Categories are split into service level categories: 

  • Client Service 
    Creativity / Innovation 
    Strategic thinking 
    Effectiveness 
    Service Delivery 

And digital disciplines: 

          Analytics
          ​Content Strategy/Creation
          Digital Animation
          Digital Full Service
          Digital Innovation
          Ecommerce
          eCRM
          Email Marketing
          Immersive
          Mobile
          Online Advertising
          Online Media Buying
          Optimisation/Conversion
          Search
          Social
          Software Development
          Usability
          Web Design
          Web Development

Four key things the judges look for: 

 Overall client score 
A spread of services within that category (view the categories and services here) 
Comments from clients 
Good mix of clients