Bailey Lauerman Takes Top Honor at 2013 Ad Age Small Agency Awards

Bailey Lauerman has been named the national Advertising Age 2013 Small Agency of the Year. The award, presented by Advertising Age and Creativity, recognizes privately held agencies with less than 150 employees. The agency earned the 2012 Small Agency of the Year for the Midwest Region, which included creative hotbed markets like Minneapolis, Chicago, Kansas City and Dallas.

“Man are we proud,” said Andy Fletcher, chief executive officer. “We keep telling ourselves we have a great product. And we know our clients seem to love it. But to have this type of recognition is actually pretty humbling. How great for our people and our state. We sure hope more clients start searching for ‘that creative shop in Nebraska.'”

“As a small agency, our biggest advantage is how flexible we can be in our approach to developing work,” said Carter Weitz, chairman and chief creative officer. “Our clients appreciate the fact that we aim to be the best listeners in the room. It’s what’s led to our success and theirs. We like to think of this recognition as just further proof that what we’re doing out here is really special.”

The 2013 Small Agency Conference and Awards ceremony was held in Portland, Ore., July 24-25. Home to the global independent advertising giant Wieden + Kennedy, the conference featured a keynote address from co-founder Dan Wieden, touting the power of small agencies.

In its fifth year, the annual competition selects winners from hundreds of U.S. and international agencies that are majority-independently owned, or at least 51 percent privately-held. At an awards ceremony July 25, Advertising Age presented gold and silver awards in the following categories: Agency of the Year—Overall; Agency of the Year—By Size (one to 10 people; 11-75; 76-150); Agency of the Year—By Region (Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, West and Northeast); Best Agency Culture; Agency of the Year—International; Campaign of the Year and Pro-bono Campaign of the Year.