Brand Impact Awards 2023: Top 16 Agencies of the Decade
The Brand Impact Awards is now in its 10th consecutive year. To celebrate, we've been looking back at some of the best-performing entrants over the years.
Alongside our regular trophies, we have presented two special Decade Awards – Client of the Decade and Small Studio of the Decade – but the panel thought it amiss not to celebrate the other agencies who have won over 150 Gold, Silver and Best of Show trophies between them over the last decade.
To create our list, we awarded five points for a Best of Show, three points for a Gold Award (formerly Winner), and one point for a Silver Award (formerly Highly Commended). Bronze Awards were left out as these did not exist pre-2020.
So without further ado, here are our best-performing agencies at the BIAs...
01. The Partners
Best of Show: x2 (2015, 2017)
Gold: x10 (2015, 2016, 2017)
Silver: x9 (2015, 2016, 2017)
The Partners (which became Superunion, and then Design Bridge and Partners) has won the most trophies over the years. It won Best of Show in 2015 for its work on Tusk Conservation Awards and again in 2017 for its London Symphony Orchestra campaign. When The Partners became Superunion in 2018, the gongs didn't stop, as we'll see below...
02. Johnson Banks
Best of Show: x2 (2015, 2016)
Gold: x9 (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020)
Silver: x5 (2015, 2017, 2020, 2023)
Johnson Banks has won 16 BIA trophies overall, including two Best of Shows. Its work for Unicef won the triple crown of Gold in Not-for-Profit, the Social Impact Award, and the Best of Show in 2015. The next year, Dear World, Yours Cambridge also won big with a Gold in Education plus the Best of Show.
03. Superunion
Best of Show: x2 (2018, 2019)
Gold: x8 (2018, 2019, 2022)
Silver: x7 (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)
Superunion (now Design Bridge and Partners) is third on our list, with 17 trophies. In 2018, it was awarded Best of Show for Elliptic and in 2019, it was its work with BBC Two that bagged the agency its second Best of Show.
04. NB Studio
Gold: x7 (2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021)
Silver: x4 (2017, 2018, 2019, 2023)
NB Studio has won 11 Gold and Silver BIAs in 10 years, starting with Gold awards for Almeida Theatre and Zhuck back in 2015. Its most recent awards include a Silver for its work for Vineyard Theatre in 2023, and a Gold in 2021 for The Kraken Rum.
05. R/GA
Gold: x7 (2014, 2015)
Silver: x2 (2014, 2015)
R/GA stormed the early years of the Brand Impact Awards, racking up seven Gold trophies in just two years. That includes a Gold in the Publishing category, plus the Collaboration Award, for The Feed by Getty Images in 2014.
Of the agency's three Golds in 2015, one was for Google (Google World Cup), and two were for Beats By Dre. That includes the campaign shown above: The Game Before The Game, featuring Neymar.
06. Jack Renwick Studio
Best of Show: x1 (2023)
Gold: x4 (2014, 2017, 2023)
Silver: x3 (2014, 2018, 2020)
Rocketing up the top-performing agencies list after its double-Gold and Best of Show wins for Veg NI in 2023, Jack Renwick Studio has taken home two other Gold Awards over the years, both in the Property category – for The Orchard way back in 2014, and Carpenters Wharf in 2017.
Set up by the eponymous Jack – a former creative director at The Partners – in 2012, this small but mighty studio really shone at this year's awards.
=07. Turner Duckworth
Gold: x4 (2016, 2019, 2021)
Silver: x7 (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2023)
Turner Duckworth has won 11 Gold and Silver Brand Impact Awards over the years. Its most recent Gold-winning project was Tres Generaciones in 2021, and this year it bagged a Silver for its Sprite rebrand.
With 19 points, TD is tied in sixth place with hat-trick...
=07. hat-trick design
Gold: x4 (2014, 2018)
Silver: x7 (2014, 2015, 2019)
Helmed by co-founders Jim Sutherland and Gareth Howat, hat-trick design cleaned up at the inaugural BIAs in 2014, taking home three Gold and three Silver Awards – including Social Impact for Action on Hearing Loss.
Sutherland left the studio later that year, going on to found Studio Sutherl& (which makes the list in joint tenth place). hat-trick went on to pick up three more awards between 2015–2019; its most recent Gold was Centre Point London in 2018, a long-running project that Sutherland had initiated while still at the studio.
=09. Magpie Studio
Best of Show: x1 (2022)
Gold: x2 (2020, 2022)
Silver: x5 (2021, 2022, 2023)
Magpie Studio won the Best of Show last year with its work for Seed Library, which also bagged a Gold award in Bars & Restaurants. This year, its identities for Woven and SleepyTV won Silver awards.
Magpie has received eight trophies and 16 points since 2020, which means it's tied in eighth place with COLLINS...
=09. COLLINS
Best of Show: x1 (2021)
Gold: x3 (2021)
Silver: x2 (2020, 2022)
COLLINS is tied in eighth place with Magpie Studio and, like Magpie, has collected an impressive number of trophies in just a few years. Its standout Best of Show win was for San Francisco Symphony in 2021, which also won two Golds in the Typography and Culture categories.
=11. Studio Sutherl&
Gold: x2 (2020, 2021)
Silver: x8 (2020, 2021, 2023)
Studio Sutherl& has won two Gold trophies and eight Silver over the years. Its most recent Gold was for Pencil Box in 2021 – in the Self Branding category – and the same project won Silver in the Illustration category. This year, Studio Sutherl& won three Silvers for The Running Towards, in collaboration with Tom Sharp; plus two Silvers for Snap!Gammon and another for De.Coded.
The studio received 14 points for its trophies, and so is tied in tenth place with ManvsMachine...
=11. ManvsMachine
Gold: x3 (2021, 2023)
Silver: x5 (2022, 2023)
ManvsMachine is tied with Studio Sutherl&, and has won eight BIAs in just three years. This year, its campaign for Squarespace – Make the Next, won two Golds in the Technology & Telecoms and Motion categories. It also won two Silvers for its campaign for Reese's and its work for Meta Quest Pro.
=13. For The People
Gold: x3 (2021, 2022)
Silver: x4 (2021, 2022, 2023)
For The People has won three Golds and three Silvers, which means we have a three-way tie for twelfth place with Taxi Studio and Purpose. Its most recent Gold-winning project was Tech Central in 2022, and this year, it won two Silvers for Mux and NSW Government.
=13. Taxi Studio
Gold: x3 (2017, 2019)
Silver: x4 (2017, 2019, 2023)
Taxi Studio has also won three Golds and four Silvers. Its most recent Gold was in 2019, when it won in the Self-Branding category with Creative Discomforts. This year, it won a Silver for Byron Words, in collaboration with Reed Words, plus a Silver for Carlsberg & LFC – Walking Together.
=13. Purpose
Gold: x4 (2014, 2015, 2016)
Silver: x1 (2014)
Purpose was a regular fixture on stage in the early years of the BIAs, picking up at least one Gold every year in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The studio has since closed its doors, but its legacy endures. Its most recent Gold Awards were for Society for Experimental Biology and Birmingham Hippodrome.
16. Design Bridge and Partners
Gold: x2 (2023)
Silver: x6 (2023)
Design Bridge and Partners launched in 2023, and has wasted no time in gathering trophies. This year it won two Golds for Eurovision and Aston Martin, plus three Silvers for Aston Martin, and three more for Taikoo Li, Thredd and The Land of Warriors.
Other Best of Show winners
Six of our nine Best of Show winners made the Top 16: The Partners (2015 and 2017), Johnson Banks (2015 and 2016), Superunion (2018 and 2019), COLLINS (2021), Magpie (2022), and Jack Renwick Studio (2023). The others are: Rose (2014), Coast (2014), and Uncommon Creative Studio (2020).
For more about the Brand Impact Awards, view the winners showcase or see the Brand Impact Awards 2023 winners list.
