Agency

Sarah Crawley-Boevey, mediaweek.co.uk, 29 October 2009, 11:30pm

Media Week Awards: MEC wins UK agency of the year

LONDON - Mediaedge:cia and Viacom Brand Solutions were victorious at the Media Week Awards last night, taking home the two main trophies of the night.

Tom George, chief executive of WPP's Mediaedge:cia

MEC was named Agency of the Year, beating last year’s winner MediaCom to the title. Meanwhile Viacom Brand Solutions was crowned Sales Team of the Year for the second year running.

The awards judges, chaired by Bauer Consumer Media’s chief executive Paul Keenan, rewarded MEC for outperforming the market in a tough economic period. The agency reported a 5% year-on-year increase in billings against a market-wide decline of 12%.

Sales Team of the Year VBS, which has recruited 152 new brands to television in the past year, was triumphant in a shortlist that included Google, Guardian News & Media, IDS and TalkSport.

MediaCom did not go home empty-handed, however, winning the Grand Prix for its Mars Galaxy campaign, which also won the Media Idea Large, a nod to the best campaign over £1m.

After a strong Rajar result earlier today, UTV’s TalkSport was the jubilant winner of the Media Brand of the Year, beating Last.FM to silver and ShortList to bronze.

Meanwhile Ring Ring Media’s founder Harry Dewhirst was named Rising Star of the Year after reaching the shortlist via Media Week’s 30-under-30 competition.