Last night saw over 700 marketers gather at one of London’s most prestigious venues, the Grosvenor House Hotel, for the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)’s ninth annual Marketing Excellence Awards.

Household-name brands such as Facebook, Marks & Spencer, BT and Honda fought to be crowned leaders in the fields of creativity, digital innovation and, of course, the agency of the year.

On the night B&Q, PwC, Caffè Nero and Vision Express were among the winners, who were judged by an esteemed panel of experts, including marketing leaders from global firms TSB, Mondelēz International, Universal Pictures and the London Stock Exchange Group.

In true marketing fashion, the event was a glamourous affair, hosted by TV’s Katherine Ryan. A 30-foot-high social media wall on the night displayed photos and posts from the evening, with the awards (#CIMAwards) trending in London throughout the night and into the following morning. Subsequently, posts from the award winners and attendees gained over 8 million impressions.

Stephen King of Go North East was recognised as ‘Marketer of the Year’, whilst Brand & Deliver scooped the prestigious ‘Agency of the Year’ title for its unrivalled performance in delivering marketing excellence for clients. Star campaigns also included the British Lung Foundation’s ‘Listen to your lungs’ and Drinkaware’s ‘Have a little less’.

On the night, CIM chief executive Chris Daly said, “It’s clear we live in a customer-centric world and, as such, there is an added impetus for marketers to be recognised as the people who really understand the customer to guide the business to success. If one thing is for certain, judging by the entries we had this year, it’s that marketing has stepped up the challenge.”

CIM’s PR team was impressed by the levels of innovation of the entries: “It was great to see a not-for-profit such as Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water scoop three awards on the night. Their campaign, “For Wales. Not for Profit”, showcased the importance of their water services in people’s daily lives. This also served to emphasise the company’s not-for-profit status – with no shareholders – meaning it can prioritise listening to its customers, which is of increasing importance to organisations across the sector.”

CIM would like to thank the finalists for their entries, the judges for giving of their time and expertise in assessing these entries and our sponsors, including our founding partner The Marketing Trust who, all combined, help make the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards possible.

Full list of 2018 winners:

• Brand & Deliver – Agency of the Year
• Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water – Best Advertising Campaign; Best Brand Building Campaign Large; Innovation - Not-for-profit/Public sector
• British Lung Foundation – Marketing Campaign of the Year SME
• Centurion Safety Products – Best Brand Building Campaign SME
• PwC – Best Integrated Campaign Large; Innovation – New Product/Service Large
• MediaVision – Best Content Marketing Campaign
• Yoyo in partnership with Caffè Nero – Best Customer Experience Strategy
• Vision Express – Best Corporate Social Responsibility
• Smarts Communicate – Best Integrated Campaign SME
• B&Q – Marketing Team of the Year (client side) Large; Chair’s Award
• M Partners Ltd – Best Partnership Marketing Campaign
• Saddington Baynes in partnership with DigitasLBi – Best use of Data and Insight Large
• Bayer in partnership with Accretio – Best use of Data and Insight SME
• ThoughtShift in partnership with Marine Super Store – Best use of Digital Marketing
• intu in partnership with The Academy – Best use of PR
• JBH - The Content Agency in partnership with Reed in Partnership – Best use of Social Media
• Brisant Secure in partnership with MRA Marketing – Innovation – New Product/Service SME
• Stephen King, Go North East – Marketer of the Year
• Northumbrian Water – Marketing Campaign of the Year Large
• The JORVIK Group of Attractions – Marketing Team of the Year (client side) SME