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By The Drum Team, Editorial

January 29, 2025 | 24 min read

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To coincide with our Predictions event on thedrum.com, throughout this week we have been celebrating the agencies that we believe will make the biggest mark on marketing in 2025.

In part one, we put the spotlight on the likes of Coolr, Seen Presents and Ledger Bennett. In yesterday’s part two, it was the turn of David&Goliath, Golin, Manifest and more. Today, we bring you 10 more brilliant agencies, spanning big networks and intrepid indies, and representing territories from Manhattan to Madrid.

What they all have in common is that they have earned The Drum Recommends status on the strength of their recent performance.

So now, it’s over to our next 10 Agencies to Watch to learn about the secrets of their success so far and what makes them believe 2025 will be their year.

Want to go deeper? Ask The Drum

Area 23

In 2023, the IPG healthcare specialist became the most awarded agency on the planet. In 2024, it followed up with standout work such as Magnetic Stories, which won the President's Award at The Drum Awards for Design. In 2025...?

What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

At Area 23, we believe the defining trend for 2025 will be the integration of creativity with cutting-edge technology to create more meaningful and human connections in healthcare. While advancements in AI – such as agentic frameworks – are exciting, the real power lies in how these tools amplify creativity to produce emotionally resonant campaigns. The future isn’t just about automating processes or delivering hyper-personalized messaging. It’s about finding the moments that matter most to patients and healthcare professionals, then delivering ideas that connect across platforms in innovative ways.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

We’re incredibly excited about the potential of our Infectious Ideas methodology, which redefines how we approach creativity in healthcare marketing. The heart of this initiative is the belief that today’s big ideas must thrive in the ‘Peso’ environment – paid, earned, shared and owned media. Campaigns can no longer rely on a single channel to succeed; they must be adaptable, flexible, and designed to live across all touchpoints. This methodology ensures that every idea we create has the power to connect, engage, and spread across platforms in ways that feel organic and authentic.

Additionally, leaning into the interconnected IPG Health ecosystem, the successful integration of McCann Health NY into the Area 23 master brand marks a significant milestone for us. This merger brought on seven new clients, 15 new brands, and over 300 talented team members, enabling us to deliver even greater impact at scale.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

Area 23’s excellence in creativity and innovation was exemplified through several standout campaigns in 2024:’ Magnetic Stories’ for Siemens Healthineers used audio storytelling to help children overcome their fear of MRIs, blending emotional storytelling with practical utility.’ In Transit’ for Callen-Lorde saw us partner with the NYC MTA, the campaign celebrating transgender visibility through bold, city-wide subway activations. The Impossible Journey’ for Aster Care and SaveArose Foundation was a visually stunning animated film that brought attention to Black maternal health disparities and drove advocacy for legislative action.

Edelman Canada

The Toronto arm of the public relations giant is coming off a stellar year creatively, which saw it pick up the President’s Award at The Drum Awards for Social Media.

What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

All campaigns will be PR campaigns. At its core, public relations is about connecting with the public meaningfully on behalf of brands. Every successful campaign today, no matter what tools across the marketing and communications mix are deployed, considers the cultural context and conversations it will be part of. The best work will earn, not demand, attention.

Moving at the speed of culture. It is imperative to move at the speed of culture. This ensures that all brand communications remain both contextually safe and contextually relevant. This requires true human insight, sound data and powerful unity across the full agency and client team.

Brand-safe (powerful) creator work. It’s more important than ever for brands to ensure proper vetting of creators and, similarly, creators will need to be more vigilant about the accuracy and credibility of their content. With fewer guardrails in place, the responsibility falls on creators and brands to ensure their content is trustworthy and not misleading and they are entering partnerships that are transparent, authentic and aligned with brand values.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

Continued focus on earned creative and strong digital execution. We’ve recently added Richard Scott, the former strategist from Rethink and Leo Burnett, Mike Lo Nam and Abeer Verma, formerly at Citizen, and Ivana Musich as head of digital, previously with Publicis and NFA. Anthony Chelvanathan has been promoted to global creative partner in addition to his Canada CCO role as we continue to bet on Canada for amazing talent. Strategy, creative and excellent account leadership are part of every project, representing the future of PR, with earned creativity at the core.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

2024 was a standout year for us. Some highlights include Ikea ‘SHT’ (we sparked a national discussion, raising awareness on unfair double taxation on second-hand items), Advil ‘Head Settings’ (we tackled gamers’ headaches caused by in-game lighting and sparked widespread conversation), Allegra Airways (at the height of allergy season, Edelman Canada helped allergy sufferers in real-time with Allegra Airways, the world’s first digital navigation tool to help users navigate routes with better air quality), Knorr Yummy K’s (we inspired families to explore healthy, delicious recipes by transforming a residential home into a takeout joint called Yummy K’s).

Zulu Alpha Kilo

Making good on its promise to “fight sameness” in advertising, the North American shop has firmly established itself as a flagbearer for independent agencies.

What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

We can all agree that 2024 had a lot of changing dynamics. From political shifts to economic pressures and the rapid evolution of technology, it has been a time of adaptation for many industries, including advertising. Amid these changes, one common concern we’ve heard from marketers is a sense of confusion about the shifts and consolidations in our market. Specifically, many are questioning whether these agency transformations truly prioritize the client. In 2025, this uncertainty will likely prompt many clients to reassess their agency relationships, exploring partnerships that are grounded in shared goals and a strong commitment to helping them navigate the complexities of this evolving landscape.

With that said, we predict that this period of change will represent an exciting opportunity for the independents in the advertising industry to rise to the occasion.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

We’ve always believed that success isn’t about what you do occasionally; it’s about what you do consistently. As we look ahead to the coming year, we’re most excited about staying true to that principle. For us, that means sticking to our values, our convictions and prioritizing what’s best for our people and clients. While many have pulled back on DEI, we’re pushing forward. Amid a wave of industry consolidation and contraction, we’re excited about growth and expansion through our offices in New York, Toronto and Vancouver. And as others revert to rigid, office-first policies and downsizing, we’re taking a different path – one that puts collaboration, flexibility and talent above all else.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

Sameness is the enemy of creativity and innovation and there’s no greater risk than putting work into the world that’s more of the same. In 2024, fighting sameness delivered the Super Bowl’s most-watched and most effective ad for Booking.com (‘Book Whoever You Want To Be’), unveiled an immersive car wash in Germany showcasing Canada’s beauty (‘Wasche of the Wild’ for Destination BC), redefined engagement for an art gallery (‘Art Rate Monitor’ for Art Gallery of Ontario) and brought unity in divided times with Pizza Pizza ‘Bipartisan Wings,’ which was also was named one of the Drum’s ads of the year.

Here Be Dragons

From hard-hitting subjects such as the Justice for Grenfell campaign to Fashion Week levity with Greggs, the versatile UK agency brings comms into the real world.

What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

Paul McEntee, founder: A return to lols. After a heavy 2024, brands will realize if they aren’t serving up essential utility, they had better just entertain. Put the fun back. Hard purpose could suffer as a result.

After the January 19 TikTok scare, brands and creators will be looking for new ways of diversifying their outputs so they aren’t so reliant on one channel. Expect YouTube Shorts to benefit.

Conversely, social shopping will take off mainstream in 2025 and, along with Meta aligning with the Trump administration and making its platforms a less safe place to exist, will ensure that TikTok is the platform to be on.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

McEntee: Here Be Dragons will be rolling out an exciting new influencer offering to give clients something different in this congested space. It’s become too transactional and quite boring, so we’re going to offer a different viewpoint on how to stand out.

We’ll also be expanding our Studio offering, rolling out a new range of creative services that clients are in need of – from web design and illustration to creative media solutions.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

McEntee: Three campaigns have really stood out for us. Our first campaign with Greggs, creating a range of jewelry to help it reconnect with Gen Z. We took its core range products and made it into 22 carat jewelry, launched in time for London Fashion Week. Think sausage roll earrings and jammy biscuit pendants.

Our work with Beavertown and mental health charity Calm (Campaign Against Living Miserably), making a packet of crisps called ‘Open Up’ which, once split open on a pub table, had conversation prompts inside that helped men open up about their mental health struggles.

Our continued work with Justice4Grenfell, on behalf of the Grenfell community. In 2024, we hijacked the general election using yellow ‘wet floor’ signs, reminding people on polling day to watch out for ’slippery politicians’ who make promises about housing safety while thousands continue to reside in unsafe accommodation with cladding.

Tangerine

With campaigns such as the acclaimed ‘Best Worst Team’ for Specsavers, the indie agency has demonstrated its ability to open new eyes even for well-loved brands.

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What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

Mary Harding, co-CEO: Attention, AI and the role of PR ascending within the wider comms mix. These points are all intertwined and equally important. The value of PR and social is increasing YOY and 2025 will be no exception. AI is providing more enhanced evaluation, proving the value of PR in capturing and holding audience attention, of which there is a proven correlation between purchase intent and brand salience. Human creativity is obviously at the heart of how we capture attention, but through AI, we are armed with stronger insights informing how we craft content, target it and how and, importantly, when we distribute it.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

Harding: Our investments are very much aligned with the trends we foresee for 2025. Attention will continue to be an area of investment. By proving the link between attention and business impact, we’re giving CMOs the evidence to prove the value of their work with key stakeholders. 

In 2024, we set up Project Spark, a £1.2m investment to identify, test and implement AI technologies across key areas of the business. In 2025, we will roll out the top-performing initiatives across the agency, ensuring we’re maximizing the time we spend on creativity for our clients.

Additionally, as networked agencies grow, we’ll continue to spotlight the strength and agility of independent agencies, with a number of initiatives underway that further work towards fostering a more inclusive environment for all. 

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

Harding: Our recent work with Specsavers on the Best Worst Team evidences the extreme power of attention strategies in driving more measurable outcomes for clients. Specsavers needed to make themselves relevant to a younger, socially savvy audience saturated with content. So, we delivered an eight-part YouTube content series, supported by full-scale social and PR activations, that focused on a universal passion point – grassroots football – and documented the nation’s worst team on their journey from rags to riches with the help of Specsavers.

David Madrid

Grand Prix winner at The Drum Awards for B2B and President’s Award winner at The Drum Awards for Advertising with its ‘Meet Marina Prieto’ campaign for JCDecaux, the Ogilvy agency creates work that would make its founding father proud.

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What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

As we approach 2025, it’s impossible to discuss creativity without acknowledging the profound impact of artificial intelligence. The exponential rise in AI-generated creative works, spurred by the desire for efficiency and short-term goals, may challenge brands’ ability to resonate deeply with consumers. This creates a significant risk of producing content at scale that lacks emotional depth, leading to average campaigns that fail to engage.

Nevertheless, the ‘human elements’ – such as humor, quirkiness, imperfections, contradictions and empathy – celebrated in 2024 campaigns will continue to be essential for discerning advertisers and the visionary ones who prioritize long-term engagement.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

As an agency that is engaged in global, regional and local projects for clients like Coca-Cola, Burger King, MDLZ, Heinz, Unilever, our energy this year will be focused on the EMEA market, leveraging the extensive senior and international talent within our Madrid team. With positive but modest economic growth anticipated in Europe, clients will definitely require bolder strategies and innovative ideas to thrive – exactly where David excels.

Internally, we continue to be energized by our initiatives that support women in creativity, which are gaining traction annually. Our current projects include an experimental mentorship program that connects young female creatives to experienced female leaders at the agency and the ‘Big Sister’ project in which the newly hired creative woman has the support of another creative ‘sister’ at the agency.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

We can mention campaigns such as ‘Meet Marina Prieto’ that not only generated amazing results to JCDecaux but was also highly awarded in many festivals, reinventing the way B2B campaigns are done. From Netflix, we could mention ‘Alcaraz Signs,’ which brilliantly promoted the brand’s new journey into sports entertainment, and ‘Who’s Watching,’ which drinks from people’s contradictions with honesty and truth to leverage the amazing variety of content available at the streamer. Halls also had its fame with the ‘Breathe Through It’ campaign in such a competitive market. Finally, Tingly Ted’s (Ed Sheeran’s sauce brand in partnership with Heinz) ‘Sauceographs’ campaign moved thousands of people to try the product, generating remarkable growth in penetration.

Nomint

With an enviable roster of directors on its books, the animation studio has established itself as a go-to partner for a diverse range of global brands.

What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

Craft is having a moment again (if it ever really left). The rise of high-quality AI-generated content has created a wave of sameness, making people and brands crave work that feels truly unique. The industry is increasingly splitting into two paths: one dominated by quick, sleek and uninspired output and the other celebrating the tactile, the imperfect and the meticulously crafted. These are the elements that will drive the most emotional stories and boldest ideas in 2025. Grit and graft will reign supreme.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

We’re thrilled to be expanding our roster with even more stop-motion talent. By the time this feature goes live, we’ll have announced the signing of Hoji Tsuchiya, the brilliant Japanese animation director who picked up a Yellow Pencil last year for his stunning project ‘The Scuffing Song’ for Pocari Sweat. Hoji’s work embodies the kind of creativity and craft we’re all about and we can’t wait to see what we create together.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

Our ongoing partnership with WWF has been a defining chapter for us, spanning five years and resulting in four films. 2024’s installment, ‘In Hot Water,’ was perhaps the most ambitious yet – a stop-motion film shot entirely on a thermal camera. The project was a huge success, going viral during Cop29 and reaching over 8 million people in just two weeks. Other highlights from 2024 include our ongoing campaigns with Discord and YouTube, as well as a stop-motion Christmas film we produced for the Kansas City Chiefs. Lastly, our heartbreaking work for the European Human Rights Advocacy Center was a really special project. It was a year of fascinating projects, bold ideas and big results.

Momentum Worldwide

The experience agency lives by the belief that that it’s not what brands say, it’s what they do that matters. With recent work for the likes of Coke Spiced, Verizon and Bupa, it has put its money where its mouth is.

What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

Donnalyn Smith, global CEO: The pace of innovation in 2025 will accelerate, challenging brands and their agency partners to adapt strategically. A great example is the impact of platforms such as TikTok and RedNote.

Leveraging advancements in new technologies and data, navigating economic trends and addressing the complexities of media fragmentation will drive industry success. Equally critical is cultivating genuine connections with consumers, who increasingly demand authentic interactions and live experiences that truly matter.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

Smith: We are proud to announce Nuance Matters, a new initiative designed to help brands foster authentic cultural connections and drive growth through meaningful resonance. Additionally, we’ve transformed our B2B practice into a B2H (business to human) focused approach, reflecting consumer needs that empower clients to leverage more emotional, consumer-oriented marketing strategies.

Our commitment to innovation continues as we harness the power of data and technology such as AI to create personalized, impactful brand experiences – enhancing fan engagement in stadium stands, elevating shopping journeys on store shelves or creating virtual worlds.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

James Robinson, chief creative officer for North America: Our work in 2024 was more incredibly varied and innovative than we could have imagined. We used AI to let people turn the indescribable flavor of Coke Spiced into amazing artwork, created the first ever, truly permanent pet-friendly seating section in an MLS Stadium for Purina and St Louis FC, hijacked the MLB Allstar game broadcast with 7,000 giant blue Get More Gloves for Geico, helped Verizon build real-life, full-sized, fully-connected Barbie ‘Stream House’ in the middle of Manhattan and worked with differently abled creators to develop the most accessible outdoor campaign yet for the Paralympics and Bupa. All of that led to 47 industry awards – our best year ever. We could not ask for braver clients or better teams and can’t wait for 2025.

Hope and Glory

Having worked with Pepsi on the showpiece Champions League final in 2024, the PR agency is ready to battle it out with social and creative counterparts for some of the biggest briefs of 2025.

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What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

We’ll see an intensified battle for the ‘big earned idea.’ Expect to see more pitches featuring PR agencies alongside creative shops and social agencies in 2025.

Elsewhere, brands will be slightly less earnest about using entertaining content as the means of inserting themselves into culture.

The ‘death of purpose,’ we hope, has been exaggerated and brands will still take a stand on major issues, particularly as in an increasingly polarized world, we’ll want them to.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

We’ll be doubling down on social as we get better than ever at creating ideas that flow seamlessly from social channels to editorial. Our team will be focusing on coming up with ‘big ideas’ that stir up debates online, which media follow, as well as landing editorial stories that provoke social conversation.

It’s also a big year for sport, from the Women’s Euros to Uefa Champions League to World Cricket Championships and Women’s Rugby World Cup, and we expect to see more briefs from brands on how best to extend their sporting sponsorships.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

We were thrilled to exit 2024 as Agency of the Year for Campaign, PR Moment, PR Week, the PRCA and Creative Moment (three times over), as well as Best Agency to Work for according to PR Week, the PRCA and Campaign.

But most of all, we did some really good work, including making Nigella the face of Greggs at Christmas, supporting Calm as it remembers missed birthdays, persuading Brooklyn Beckham to partake in a two-day pop-up on the Uber Eats platform, finding a Gaming Gran for Ikea as we worked with the older gamer as an ambassador for the retailer’s gaming range (the coverage went wild across the media with around 330 pieces of editorial), working with Pepsi to globally promote Lenny Kravitz’s performance at Uefa Champions League Final.

LePub

Fittingly, the Publicis Groupe agency was responsible for one of the most lauded campaigns of last year with its mission with Heineken to preserve pubs. Buoyed by its success, it will undoubtedly have more to toast in 2025.

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What trends will shape the industry in 2025?

In 2025, consumer expectations will be shaped by uncertain times, pressing brands to provide meaningful value. To thrive, brands and agencies should concentrate on four key areas. First, delivering connected, data-driven experiences, which ensure 2.5 times faster growth by offering seamless interactions using integrated data and expertise. Second, maintaining cultural connection, balancing long-term strategies with agile, trend-responsive actions to stay relevant and authentic in a fragmented landscape. Third, leveraging AI for actionable insights, given that 87% of marketers find data underutilized, to anticipate and meet consumer needs. Finally, using AI agents to enhance personalization, providing tailored solutions that build trust and loyalty.

What does the agency have planned for 2025?

After recently inaugurating our New York City office, we’re excited to open three new locations – Bogotá in February, followed by London and Dubai in the first half of the year – bringing a total footprint of 10 hubs (since our launch in 2021). These expansions will bring new talent to the LePub family, enhancing our strategy, creative, data and client service teams.

What work were you most proud of in 2024?

In 2024, LePub launched creative and relevant campaigns, blending innovation, sustainability and cultural relevance, boosting awareness of and engagement with our clients.

Heineken ‘Pub Museums’ preserved Irish history while supporting struggling pubs through tax reductions by transforming them into virtual museums, merging tradition with modernity.

Philips ‘Refurb’ tackled sustainability by creating a virtual store for refurbished products, making sustainable shopping engaging and accessible.

Heineken ‘The Boring Phone’ and ‘The Hidden Message’ addressed smartphone distractions by encouraging social connection through The Boring Phone and The Boring Mode app, promoting presence at events.

Tiger Beer ‘You Never Roar Alone’ celebrated community, highlighting collective strength in achieving progress.

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