As the world around us continues to change at breakneck speed, one thing remains constant; the ability of design to create solutions and reinterpret the challenges into new ways of thinking and shaping the way forward.

The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards are the most rigorous standard for measuring the effectiveness of design, rewarding entries that have demonstrated the value of investing in design to drive business and societal success.

It’s the difference design makes.

Over the coming years, we’ll see the power that design has to help navigate the biggest shifts our society faces – how businesses can remain relevant and competitive as major changes take place to how business itself is done, how societies can manage and thrive in the environmental and technological shifts we stand on the edge of.

Throughout this, the DBA will continue to champion and promote, celebrate and reward the achievements of our industry; an industry which continues to punch above its weight.

Right now, we invite you to celebrate client and agency partnerships that have been shortlisted for this year’s DBA Design Effectiveness Awards. The case studies behind these titles listed below contain a wealth of creative expertise and savvy business insight which have propelled their work from simply delivering on brief, to magnifying what was possible, often from humble beginnings.

It has never been more important for all those that work in design to understand the role they play in shaping a future that matters for us all. This autumn we will be celebrating the winners and revealing who has won Bronze, Silver or Gold, at a live event packed with talks, debates, films and dinner discussions. We want you all to join us; a meeting of the creative and business minds that make our industry shine. We’ll be announcing further details in the next few weeks so gather your valued team and client/agency partners to join us at this inaugural event celebrating effective design in all its guises.

Whether you have won this year, in previous years, or are yet to articulate and prove the measured effectiveness of your work, this event will be for every design team that knows they can make a difference. Keep an eye out for more information in the coming weeks.

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2024: Winners shortlist

Founded in 1989, the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards recognise impactful, wide-ranging examples of design that have had a tangible and measurable impact upon business and societal success. Judged by a broad range of business leaders and entered jointly by client and designer, the Awards draw focus onto the role design plays in enhancing people’s lives and delivering competitive advantage for business. Congratulations to the winning agency and client partnerships and thank you to our fantastic judges who brought their insight and experience to rigorously judge the 2024 entries. Find out more information about the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards and view the 2024 judging panel.

“The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards provide clear evidence of how design drives better business results, and how it has the ability to improve lives and shape a better world.

This year’s entries demonstrated solutions to a truly diverse set of challenges and once again the distinguished groups of judges had to work hard to pick the winners. The judging panels consisted of an incredible cross section of Business, Marketing and Design leadership, ensuring that we had a diverse set of perspectives when evaluating the entries. As Chair of these judging panels, it was truly an honour to witness the quality and depth of the discussions triggered by each entry.

The shortlisted winners provide clear and compelling evidence that design can and does deliver value, improving business results, positively impacting society and improving lives. They can be extremely proud of the recognition they have received.”

Sean Carney, Chair of the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards Judging Panel 

Firstly, we need to consider the context. 86% of clients consider themselves to be working in a more pressurised environment than five years ago.

This often means tighter budgets, smaller client teams, a more ruthless focus on return on investment and the feeling of having to do more with less. Consequently, clients are generally looking for greater levels of proactivity and added value from their agencies. They rely on agencies more and more to be their eyes and ears, monitoring competitors and trends.

36% of clients would like their agency to ‘push boundaries’ more in terms of creativity that differentiates and disrupts. This is an environment where clients are bound to be more demanding of their agencies. Is it any wonder, then, that fewer clients are giving an unqualified ‘Yes’ to the value for money question? However, before we all begin to relax about the issue and simply blame the wider context, there are some specific factors that we should take seriously.

There are a range of issues, regularly raised by clients in our interviews, that negatively impact upon their perceptions of value for money. These fall into three areas. Firstly, those related directly to costs.

Some clients accept that front-end conceptual work is charged at a premium but question why other types of work, more implementation in character, appear to be charged at a similar rate. Other clients complain of a lack of transparency around how long some tasks really take and who is working on them. Clients also comment that the gold standard approach isn’t always necessary. Some tasks are in the ‘just get it done’ category and don’t need a juggernaut process. They talk about the need for greater pragmatism and a demonstration that the agency is ‘on our side.’

Another bugbear is misalignment on the scope of work and disagreement about what is covered in the cost and what isn’t. This often comes down to a lack of adequate up-front discussions and forward planning. Another concern is that the agency’s day-to-day client contacts may feel that their agency represents good value for money, but senior management disagree. There is a failure to show senior management the value of creativity and the return on investment it can bring.

The second area that affects value for money is the quality of client service. No matter how good the end result, if the process of getting there was painful, then perceptions of value for money will suffer. Clients often mention the difference between simply managing a project versus really driving it. ‘Driving it’ means taking ownership, being totally on top of every aspect, excelling at communications and being forceful with the client when necessary. Failing to drive projects in this way results in more client input being needed. Client time is now at a premium, so anything that impinges on that is a negative in clients’ eyes.

Clients are particularly sensitive to any indication that their business is perhaps not quite as valued as it used to be. Clients often mention any sort of drop in responsiveness or proactivity levels. Another indication is when agency leaders are no longer checking in as much with clients and that feeling of strategic oversight has lapsed. Also, if the agency is obviously doing well and winning new clients, but client service is seen to suffer in any way, then clients can be quick to believe that the agency’s attention and effort is going into new clients at the expense of existing ones.

The third area affecting perceptions of value for money concerns final delivery. The most serious client criticisms are around the promise of the original concept not being fully realised. In other words, it all seemed great in the studio but was it really workable? There is a consequent feeling that the agency either weren’t honest enough in their explanation of the original concept or weren’t realistic enough about its practical application. Unforeseen production issues and problems with third parties are all capable of causing strained agency/client relationships and the accusation that the agency is ‘hiding problems’.

Value for money, therefore, is a complex area and in effect, clients are judging the fully rounded client/agency relationship, not just the work and its cost.

Based on 675 in-depth client interviews, the report offers insight into client expectations and concerns, their relationships with agencies, views on agency new business activity, pitches, websites, marketing content and more. 
 
During the meeting, three key themes of the report were explored in more detail:

• A decrease, over the past 10 years, in client’s perception of agency value for money.
• An increase in in-housing design capabilities.
• The distinction between managing projects and driving projects, with clients wanting to see more driving.

Perceptions of value for money
In 2014, 66% of clients considered their agency to be good value for money. In 2024 that has fallen to 45%. The important context behind that change is the more financially and time pressurised environment that clients now consider themselves to be working in.
 
There are three areas that regularly affect these perceptions:

• Costs – clients understand that conceptual, strategic ‘front end’ work comes at a premium (and this is often where clients perceive the value to be), but feel that often implementation work is charged at a similar rate, without transparency about how long tasks take and who’s working on them. Planning well to avoid misalignment of scope and what has been agreed upon in costs is important. Additionally, there is a feeling that the gold standard, full process approach isn’t necessary every time – agencies may feel that this point is debatable – but being a bit more pragmatic and realising where some projects require just ‘good enough’ is a factor for clients. 
• Quality of client service – when clients are more time pressured than ever before, having to spend lots of time managing things impacts perceptions of value. More on that below.
• Final delivery – problems can arise when what was delivered isn’t quite what was promised in the original concept and the agency hasn’t been honest or realistic enough about its practical application. Additionally, sometimes unseen ‘third party’ problems can create strain, and agencies can be seen to be hiding problems.

In-housing
46% of clients have access to some sort of in-house creative resource, and 22% of those who didn’t stated that their company was considering it. This is often motivated by wanting to save costs, and perceived comfort factors such as it being easier to deal with problems internally if work goes wrong, or a brief is disputed. In-house teams also understand the organisation, its culture and politics and how it operates, and potentially the brand and the market a bit better than an agency can.
 
However, the picture here isn’t one of agency vs in-house; 80% of clients would like to see better collaboration and 95% of clients with in-house capabilities still see the value in using agencies for particular challenges.
 
Clients often would like an agency’s fresh perspective and wider reference points, when working on bigger, more strategic projects. Agencies should focus on explaining where their value lies and building experience of dovetailing effectively with in-house teams.
 
Driving rather than managing
The biggest differentiator between agencies in terms of the experience of working with them is the quality of client servicing. No matter how good the end result is, if the process of getting there was too painful, it’s not considered worth it.
 
48% of clients believe that their agency’s client management is too transactional. Design agency account management can lack assertiveness. Clients would like agencies to be bolder – to drive the project, own it, be on top of it, push the client, tell them when they get things wrong and continue to offer opinions and thoughts and be keen to impress. Agencies are thought of as the experts, and clients want them to be! It’s not about being aggressive, it’s about being organised and having a defined approach to client servicing and client development.
 
62% of clients can recall periods where the agency is obviously over-stretched and under-resourced, and these cracks show. This can show up as a drop in responsiveness, a lack of proactivity, or a lack of checking in from senior agency people. Active engagement is vital for both successful project delivery, and for consideration for future, bigger projects.
 
It is worth having a defined approach to client service, based in understanding the client’s journey with you and the interaction points between you, as well as internal guiding principles of how you communicate, what you do, what you don’t do, etc. This can be really helpful in pitches too, as you can present your approach and reassure clients at that stage that you have thought through both their experience with you, and how you take ownership of projects.
 

There was much, much more covered in the hour – you really had to be there. Do make sure you join us in our next DBA Members’ Forum on Tuesday 7 May at 4pm BST, look out for an email from me in a few weeks with more details. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

We’ve captured the conversation highlights from the all the Members’ Forums which have taken place and they can all be found here.

“Produced by Up to the Light, in association with the DBA, the ‘What Clients Think’ report is an indispensable tool for anyone who delivers or commissions design. If you’re agency-side, it will arm you with inside knowledge of what your clients want from you this year. While for those client-side, it’s a unique opportunity to see how your concerns and priorities compare to your peers.

To mark its tenth incarnation, this year’s report also provides a look back across the last decade, covering a time before Covid and even the EU Referendum. Think how much our businesses have been through and changed since then. What trends have unfolded and what can we learn from them to strengthen our client/agency relationships now and in the future?”

Access the report

Watch a recording of the report launch

Watch a snippet from the launch

Further resources for DBA members

The Report’s author Jonathan Kirk also joined us for our April Members’ Forum to discuss how agency/client relationships are evolving, delving further into the report’s findings. You can read a summary of the conversation here. 

 

Get in touch – if you are a DBA member who would like to talk through issues you are facing, or if you are interested in becoming a member to attend monthly Members’ Forum such as this, you can schedule time in the DBA Membership Director’s Adam Fennelow’s diary.