That’s a wrap! For the first time since 2019, Talking Influence hosted the Influencer Marketing Awards in person at London’s Sheraton Grand, and it went off without a hitch.
Following last year’s virtual ceremony, it was great for key players to come together under one roof and celebrate the effective, creative and inclusive collaborations that were awarded last night, and raise a glass to the winners.
Who took home the trophies?
Setting the pace, and keeping the crown for the most awarded influencer marketing agency for another year, was Ogilvy, who took home four awards at the ceremony. Ogilvy’s global teams secured the trophies for the Best Sport and Fitness Campaign, Best Telecoms Campaign, Best Automotive Campaign, and the prestigious Rising Star Award.
Olivia Prendergast, Social Strategist at Ogilvy secured the Rising Star accolade, solidifying her position as Ogilvy’s ‘secret weapon’ – according to her team.
THE FIFTH’s collaborative campaign with YouTube for Pride month in 2021 secured two gold awards – one for Best Cause-Led Campaign, and the other for Best Use of YouTube. Judges were astounded with how THE FIFTH managed to incorporate fun and celebrations into their campaign that ultimately aimed to raise funds for LGBTQIA+ charity, akt.
Securing two gold awards, one for Best Influencer Marketing Technology and one for Industry Choice of SAAS or Tech, was ThisThat. This was ThisThat’s first time entering the Influencer Marketing Awards, so to take home two gold awards is a true testament to their success.
Success in brand new categories
For the first time this year, we presented awards for Best Use of Affiliate Marketing – awarded to gen.video for its work with Hewlett-Packard, and Best Long Term Partnership – awarded to Collectively for its work with QuickBooks. These brand new categories were introduced to acknowledge how influencer activations are successfully solidifying themselves under the umbrella of partnership marketing.
On September, 7th this year, Talking Influence will be co-hosting the inaugural US Partnership Awards in New York to recognise this success even further. Be sure to save the date! Entries for the USPAs are now open, explore the entry kit to learn more…
Download the Book of the Night
The Book of the Night is now available to download. All winning entries are detailed here, as well as comments from judges who shared why the winners deserved to take home their accolades. This is the perfect tool for those who want to see what makes an outstanding entry, helping to shape your submissions for ceremonies to come.
Zara Waqar, Global Senior Influencer Marketing Manager at 2K, and a member of our esteemed judging panel, says that judging the Influencer Marketing Awards was a highlight of her year so far. She said, “I was honoured to be included amongst such a fantastic list of judges. The quality and breadth of entries across all categories were great to see and were a good reminder of how much the landscape has evolved over the last 12 months.
“Huge congratulations to all our winners this year! You definitely didn’t make it easy on us as judges, some categories were really tight but made for lively debate during the judging process. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing how the influencer marketing landscape continues to grow and how next year’s entries can top this year!”
Vik Khagram, Senior Account Director of Social and Influence at Ketchum, also judged the awards and joined us at the Sheraton Grand last night. He said, “It was truly an honour to judge the awards again this year. What I noticed was a real increase in sophistication of the campaigns, from creative, and strategy all the way through to measurement, which was fantastic to see and shows how influencer marketing is becoming a really well-rounded discipline in the Marcomms matrix.
“Judging the entries was genuinely a pleasure and it was increasingly difficult to pick a winner in the categories I was judging, which just goes to show the standards that are being set year on year. A big well done to all the winners for having that little extra to push yourselves onto the podium and I cannot wait to do this all again next year.”
Finally, Talking Influence and the IMA team want to say a huge thank you to all of those who entered, partnered with, and attended this year’s ceremony. We hope to see you all again next year!
