The BD100 – 2021 winners announced

The annual BD100 Awards were held on Thursday 18th of November, alongside Winning Together. This event explored how business developers and agencies can successfully navigate the new business landscape. 

The day featured over thirty speakers, with seven separate sessions held. The topics of these were:

  • What does it take to be a successful agency leader?
  • Tough truths for new business
  • Soundbites from The BD100
  • Interactive workshops and training sessions
  • How to make your agency shine
  • How to attract and keep your best new business talent
  • Building resilience

The all-day event was hosted by Jody Osman and Rich McHardy – co-founders of The BD100 – and was attended by over 300 industry professionals. Winning Together’s sponsors were ALF Insight, jfdi, Making Moves, Tanba, Kulea, DNA, and Propeller Group

The BD100 2021 list featured the UK’s top 100 business developers, coming from network and independent agencies alike. The nominations were recognition for their hard work and success over the past 12 months – the full list is available here

There are 4 awards available for those nominated on The BD100, which are: The Business Developer of the Year; Rising Star; Business Development Team of the Year; and New Business Win of the Year. 

This year’s winners were:  

The BD100 Team of the year, supported by DNA Recruit, was awarded to Karmarama

The team is led by an agency stalwart who is a huge champion of diversity in the workplace. This ethos has translated into a haul of 10 new account wins over the past 12 months, including a place on the much coveted Crown Commercial Services roster.”

The BD100 Win of the Year, supported by ALF Insight, was awarded to Ogilvy for winning the Sainsbury’s account

This win typified agency team spirit and togetherness because the pitch itself was lengthy, multi-faceted – including a test brief thrown in for good measure!

The BD100 Rising Star, supported by jdfi, was awarded to Isabella Gelston from Karmarama

Isabella was the definition of rising talent, and will definitely keep rising!”

The BD100 Business Developer, supported by The Drum, was awarded to Tracey Barber from The Brooklyn Brothers

Tracey’s entry was comprehensive, creatively put together, oozing with evidence of BD success and other achievements, and gave a very clear view on why excellent BD is the lifeblood of agencies.”

This day represented a wonderful opportunity for agencies to get together, share knowledge, experience and insights, as well as celebrate. 

We will be sharing the great content from Winning Together over the coming weeks – watch this space!