Welcome to the 2026 Agency of the Year
Entry Deadlines
- U.S. and Canada Deadline: March 23
- UK, Continental Europe, Middle East, and Africa deadline: April 6
- Asia: TBD
- Latin America: TBD
- Australia/New Zealand: TBD
- India/South Asia: TBD
Submission Guidelines
We prefer to give agencies wide latitude to tell us about themselves. It’s your story, and you know how to tell it in the most compelling way. Having said that, agencies should understand that we will be evaluating submissions on five broad criteria:
Some agencies will be included on our list because of their performance over the past year, in terms of new business success (with specific examples) and growth relative to their peers. Submissions to our Global Agency Rankings, which include revenue numbers, will be taken into account for these agencies.
Some agencies will be included because of the quality of their creative work. Entries to our annual SABRE Awards competition will be taken into account, as will success in other awards competitions, or examples of successful campaigns submitted as part of the Agency of the Year process.
Some agencies will be on the list because of a great workplace environment. In most cases, these will be firms participating in our Best Agencies to Work For research, though recognition in other employer-of-choice research will be taken into consideration.
Some agencies will be on the list because of their demonstrated leadership in their market (whether that market is a practice area, industry sector, or geographic region). For these agencies, evidence of thought leadership, stature in the marketplace, local recognition, and/or client endorsement will be key factors.
Some agencies will be considered based a track record of innovation. This may include but is not limited to the development of new products and services including underpinned by artificial intelligence or other emerging technologies.
And some agencies will be on the list for some combination of the above factors.
In addition to a story that explains why your agency’s growth, work, culture or market leadership is deserving of recognition, you should provide us with some general information about your agency.
First, it would be helpful for you to start with a summary of those factors you think makes your firm an Agency of the Year contender, i.e. business performance, work quality, workplace environment, thought leadership, and/or innovation.
Second, while we have eliminated practice area and industry sector categories, we will provide some indication of agency expertise in the write-ups so please indicate which of the following are relevant to your agency: consumer; corporate; digital; financial; public affairs; technology (please indicate all that apply).
In addition, we will require a narrative submission which should include as much of the following as possible:
- Introduction (detailing your firm’s foundation and/or evolution in recent years)
- Mission and vision
- Specialist capabilities
- Some indication of size/growth/performance (headcount, financial numbers, etc.)
- Clients (existing and new)
- Senior executives and/or important new hires (with brief biographical information)
- Client endorsements/quotes
- Work of which you are particularly proud
We do not necessarily need all of the above in order to include your agency but the more information you can provide, the better your chances of inclusion.
We recognize that many agencies are restricted in the amount of information they can provide by parent companies or by clients. If you mark information within your submission is confidential it will not be published as part of our review.
However, it is extremely difficult to provide a narrative without at least client names and at least some idea of your firm’s recent performance. Therefore, we would ask that you provide us with as much information as possible around which to tell your story.
Why Enter?