Zambezi Takes Gold At 2016 Ad Age Small Agency Awards
Win follows Gold at One Show, Cannes Lions, and Sports Clios for indie LA-based agency
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., July 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent creative agency Zambezi has won a top award at the 2016 Ad Age Small Agency Awards in Miami Beach last night, taking the Gold medal for an agency with 11-75 employees. The agency also won the Silver medal for Digital Campaign of the Year for STANCE, Shop With the Force.
Presented by Ad Age, the leading global source of news and intelligence for the marketing and media community, the Small Agency Awards are the premier honors saluting outstanding work created by independent shops with 150 or fewer employees. The Small Agency Awards were launched eight years ago to ensure that the groundbreaking campaigns and innovative brand ideas generated by smaller companies receive the recognition they deserve. The August 1 issue of Ad Age will feature a special section on the Small Agency Awards winners.
Zambezi is arguably one of the most admired midsize agencies on both coasts. The agency's theory and practice of "putting the extraordinary into culture" has helped attract Fortune 500 clients, which is rare for an agency of its size. The agency recently reorganized its experienced management team of partners, with Founder + CEO Chris Raih, ECD Josh DiMarcantonio, Chief Operating Officer Jean Freeman; Managing Director Pete Brown, Creative Director Kevin Buth and Head of Content Alex Cohn. And the latest arrivals, Chief Strategy Officer Kristina Jenkins, Executive Director of Marketing & Business Development Josie Brown and Executive Director of Technology Justice Erolin.
In 2015, Zambezi achieved an 85% new business scorecard, welcoming a diverse range of new clients including FanDuel, The Honest Company, Honest Beauty, Stance Socks, Focus Features and Zynga. In December 2015 they won the Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book AOR account in a showdown against top agencies many times their size. Zambezi is projecting a 60% increase in revenue for 2016.
The Ad Age Silver award winning campaign The Uncommon Force for STANCE™, Star Wars limited-edition collection, also won a One Show Gold Pencil and a Gold Lion at the 2016 Cannes International Festival of Creativity. The agency's standout recent work includes TaylorMade's The Wait, which was recently honored with a Sports Clio, Autotrader's millennial-themed campaign featuring the spots The Journey, One Search and Concert. Also #HopeForOurDaughters for the Focus Features film Suffragette, which leaned into women's issues, creating a powerful docu-film exploring modern day injustices against women.
"This recognition proves without a doubt that amazing work does not only come from large agencies, and that the caliber of creative from small shops is rising every year," said Ad Age Editor Ken Wheaton. "We had a flood of really excellent entries from many corners of the world and the judging was extremely difficult."
"The Ad Age wins – and the recent string of creative awards – are all honors we share as a group," said Raih. "Zambezi is on a crusade to help great brands become extraordinary, and we are fortunate to work with some of the most admired brands on the planet. But it starts at home, with our staff of wild, creative, inventive, stubborn, collaborative people – our army of smiling warriors. This is for them."
The Small Agency Awards were presented during the annual Ad Age Small Agency Conference, which brings together hundreds of marketing, advertising, design, media, and brand professionals from around the nation to explore trends and issues impacting the nation's small advertising agencies.
About Zambezi
Zambezi, LLC is an independent creative agency working with clients to put extraordinary into culture. Founded in 2006, Zambezi is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. It was named to Inc. Magazine's list of 500/500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and recognized an Advertising Age Small Agency of the Year in 2011. Zambezi also made the list of 100 Largest Woman-Owned Business in Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2016 and 2015. The agency works with Fortune 50 brands including The TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Footlocker Inc., The Honest Company, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Cox Automotive. To learn more about Zambezi, visit www.zambezi-la.com
About Advertising Age
Advertising Age is the leading global source of news, intelligence and conversation for the marketing and media community. Ongoing, in-depth coverage of CMO Strategy, brand leadership, digital, social media, mobile, data-driven marketing and more is complemented by breaking news. The 86-year-old media brand also produces industry rankings including the 200 Leading National Advertisers report, Agency A-List and the annual Agency Report.
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