How Unlimited Group became Agency of the Year, months after acquisition by Accenture
Winning Gold at The Drum Awards for Agency Business in the Agency of the Year (250+ people) category is Unlimited. Here's how, in the agency's own words, it landed the gong in its first year under the Accenture Song banner.
How Unlimited won Agency of the Year at The Drum Awards / Giorgio Trovato via Unsplash
Unlimited is an integrated, insight-driven agency group comprised of TMW, TMW Business, TMW Tomorrow, Sport Unlimited, Walnut, Health Unlimited, and Nelson Bostock. Founded on a unique understanding of human behaviour and decision-making, we move our audiences to think, feel, and act differently.
Our connected capabilities span the entire customer journey. Underpinned by insights from our Human Understanding Lab, our specialists create award-winning work across marketing, communications, digital, insight and analytics.
Unlimited is part of the Accenture Song family, the world’s largest tech-powered creative group.
Unlimited has demonstrated exceptional growth and innovation that has positioned our agency as a powerhouse of innovation, growth, and success. It achieved unparalleled success in client retention, new business and talent development, the success of which culminated in the acquisition of Unlimited by Accenture in early 2024, a gateway to the next stage of our growth.
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The Group’s visionary approach, combined with an unwavering commitment to human understanding, has positioned Unlimited as a leader in the industry, ready to shape the future of marketing.
The numbers speak for themselves: an independent client audit against 1,000 other agencies revealed we’re ranked in the top quartile for every single measure. The overall score was 8.3 out of 10, 14% above the industry average. 85% of clients agreed to provide a referral to colleagues and peers.
Elsewhere, employee tenure is 4x the industry average, and 85% would recommend us as a good place to work (up 5% from last year). Our top 25 clients have an average tenure of 13 years (4x industry average), and our top 10 increased spend by 50% over the last two years. We achieved 100% client retention and a 71% increase in average value of deals won.
Our vision and strategy has led to an agency group that’s genuinely collaborating and working towards a single bottom line, while harnessing a unique scientific approach. And it’s delivering superb agency performance, and driving industry-leading client engagement scores.
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Our Human Understanding Lab (HUL) sets us apart. It’s at the heart of everything we do, and it’s won us some of the UK’s biggest contracts. Our 120 neuro-, behavioural, and data science experts use cutting-edge tools to deliver unique, accurate insight, which is used to define strategy and drive performance across increasingly complex customer journeys.
This unique approach to modern marketing is delivering huge benefits for Unlimited’s agencies and clients – from boosting client satisfaction to helping drive new business successes and advancing clients’ strategic agendas.
To empower our teams to work smarter, we created a Group-wide planning framework that embeds insight products and solutions across Unlimited.
This is proving to be a valuable approach. The latest figures indicate that Unlimited’s pitch-to-win rate is 67% more successful when the Human Understanding Lab is front-and-center. This represents a year-on-year increase of 12% and shows how both clients and our industry is recognising it as a tool for competitive advantage.
More importantly, this unique fusion of science, creativity and strategic thinking means we can solve business problems for brands like no-one else.
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