What a fantastic night of celebration! Yesterday evening at the Gotham City Hall in New York, Microsoft hosted the inaugural edition of the Bing Agency Awards. Over 400 industry experts gathered in honor of the individuals and teams behind some of the most impactful, creative and performance-driven work from Bing Ads’ agency partners. The winners of the 12 awards are revealed below.
We offer our huge congratulations to the winners and thanks to all agencies who took part in these awards.
Search is a growing and increasingly competitive industry and the underlying intelligence it offers marketers to succeed across the digital marketing mix is enabling the emergence of a new and critical skillset within advertising agencies. Bing Ads, whose Bing Network today powers nearly one third of all PC searches in the US, wanted to make sure this was recognized. Our agency partners play a critical role in shaping the future of search and bringing to life the opportunities search offers marketers to both better understand consumer intent and drive impactful and measurable digital engagement.
Our host Colin Jost, live performance from Bebe Rexha, the video tributes to the winners and sheer enthusiasm from the community that assembled, made the Bing Agency Awards 2016 an occasion that will not easily be forgotten. We are already looking forward to 2017!
And the winners, in order of presentation, are:
Executive of the Year Award: Jared Belsky, President of 360i
Awarded to an agency leader with national influence who excels in championing the search practice and shows a true commitment to partnering with and investing in Bing Ads.
Bing Ads Trailblazer of the Year Award: David Gordon, Marketing Associate, Red Ventures
Awarded to an individual who finds innovative and engaging ways to evangelize Bing Ads, and who drives Bing Ads brand awareness and affinity both internally, and industry-wide.
Account Team of the Year Award: TIE iProspect, Beeby Clark & Meyler
Awarded to an exemplary account team that partners, engages, and uses Bing Ads insights and recommendations as feedback to optimize. They test and adopt new features, and submit case studies with transparency in the spirit of partnership.
Partner of the Year Award: Resolution Media
Awarded to the agency that engages with Bing Ads in true outstanding partnership
Philanthropist of the Year Award: Performics
Awarded to the agency demonstrating the strongest commitment to charitable organizations, both in the day-to-day, as well as through specific activities and donations.
Independent Agency of the Year Award: TIE y Marketing, Elite SEM
Awarded to an independent Bing Ads partner agency that grows its Bing Ads spend and product adoption, and exhibits ingenuity and creativity around product application and optimization.
Featurist of the Year Award: MediaVest/Spark
Awarded to an agency with not only high growth in adoption but also most innovative thinking around feature/product application.
Optimizer of the Year Award: Carat
Awarded to the agency leveraging Bing Ads tools and insights for smart, innovative optimization solutions.
Accreditation Champ of the Year Award: Razorfish
Based on the Bing Ads March Match Up contest, we are recognizing the hard work required to study for and take the Bing Ads Accreditation test.
Growth Agency of the Year: Horizon Media
Awarded to the agency with the largest growth of its Bing Ads spend and product adoption since July 2015.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Misty Locke, Global CMO & President of Americas, iProspect
This special award recognizes Misty Locke as a leader in the search marketing industry since its infancy. Misty co-founded Range Online Media in 2001, and as President, let the company to be recognized in Inc. Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies. She led the company through its acquisition in 2009 by Aegis Media and guided the integration into iProspect. Misty now leads iProspect’s strategic direction, instilling a unified global vision across 84 offices in 52 countries.
Bing Ads Agency of the Year 2016 Award: Resolution Media
Awarded to an agency that performs the strongest across all categories: engages with Bing Ads in partnership, grows its Bing Ads spend and product adoption, and exhibits ingenuity and creativity around product application and optimization.
For more information on the Bing Agency Awards, visit http://www.bingagencyawards2016.com/ or follow the event at #bingagencyawards.