Effectiveness Accreditation

New for the 2025 submissions, we have introduced a criteria addressing 'Impact', requiring agencies to demonstrate and evidence measurable outcomes from establishing a culture of effectiveness. We've also streamlined the entry process: submissions now consist solely of a written essay, with the previous part two component removed.

 

Key information

The IPA is dedicated to helping UK agencies and their clients succeed by providing practical support through initiatives like CPD Gold, specialised training, and thought-provoking leadership events. With a clear focus on what drives measurable success, the IPA is uniquely equipped to guide agencies in building a culture of effectiveness—backed by cutting-edge research, valuable events, and hands-on resources.

UK agencies are globally recognised as leaders in effectiveness, with their strong presence in the IPA Effectiveness Awards as clear evidence of this standard. Building an effectiveness-driven culture is essential not only for producing award-winning work but also for achieving the powerful results that clients seek. The IPA commitment to fostering this culture empowers agencies to lead, deliver, and set the global benchmark for impactful, results-focused work.

Launched in 2021, the IPA Effectiveness Accreditation is a mark of distinction for agencies in an increasingly competitive market. It recognises agencies that understand marketing as a strategic investment with measurable returns—not just a cost. Agencies with the IPA Effectiveness Accreditation have proven they have the tools, insights and framework to make effectiveness a core part of their culture, which is delivering value to their clients.

Who can apply?

The IPA Effectiveness Accreditation is available to all IPA member agencies regardless of discipline or size.

Why apply?

• It helps the industry to create a culture in which effectiveness is not only a goal, but, nowadays, a basic requirement - an expectation between brand marketers and agencies.
• It can help clients justify their choice of agency, the working processes and, potentially, the work itself to their organisation.
• The Accreditation is size and location agnostic. It provides validation of your processes and culture, whatever the size or location or speciailism of the agency.
• It provides support to enable agencies to have robust conversations regarding access to data to demonstrate effectiveness.
• It helps agencies to position themselves as true business partners to clients.
• For smaller agencies, or those who work in narrower or specialist disciplines, it offers a recognition of their approach, and/or contribution to a wider process. These agencies sometimes do not have the resource to submit an Effectiveness Awards paper.
• The Accreditation is unique in the market, and although the criteria are not the same as those for the IPA Effectiveness Awards, entries are evaluated by clients who are looking for rigorous effectiveness processes and evidence of outcomes. Achieving the accreditation is a proven testament to your agency's commitment to an effectiveness-driven culture.

How do successful agencies use their IPA Accreditation day-to-day?

• "Gaining the IPA Effectiveness Accreditation was a huge boost for our agency. We thought it encapsulated what we were about, and so to gain the accreditation was extremely gratifying. It’s helped us win and retain business and continue to grow the agency, but really it has changed the conversation and relationship we have with clients to one where we’re even closer than we were before." Running Total Media

Effectiveness is often (wrongly) seen as something that inhibits creativity. In contrast, the IPA Accreditation helps liberate creativity by demonstrating that we know how to use it profitably.

• Working towards and getting the IPA Accreditation has really helped establish a culture of effectiveness within the agency. It has also helped demonstrate our commitment to and expertise in creating and measuring effective work to prospective and existing clients. The Corner
• "The accreditation was a great way to externally validate our client-centric business model, measurement capabilities across research and analytics, our internal training and our bank of client case studies. The IPA kitemark carries great weight due to the high bar of its bi-annual Effectiveness awards and track record of supporting high impact effectiveness research." The7stars
• "As ever with the IPA, the details were very clear on how to enter and what it meant for businesses. I enjoyed the process, and it was great to encourage all areas of the business to really think about their effectiveness framework and the impact this has on our culture, clients and work." Talon Outdoor

Being awarded with the IPA Effectiveness Accreditation has been a key support in helping us really embed more of a culture of effectiveness within the agency. It’s also helped give us more credibility when engaging with prospective clients.

• "Being one of just a handful of creative agencies to be awarded IPA Effectiveness Accreditation in 2021 has definitely been helpful for us. Clients increasingly expect us to have rigorous frameworks in place to demonstrate the flow of effects they should expect from our work, and this accreditation along with effectiveness award wins shows that we have substance to back up the spin." Leo Burnett

Is there a fee?

No, the accreditation is offered free of charge to all IPA member agencies.

Entry requirements

Access to the online submission portal will be available from March 2025. The submission should detail the organisation’s philosophy and approach to effectiveness and demonstrate why it’s important to their business. Agencies must demonstrate what actions they are taking to promote effectiveness culture and what impact these actions have had.

Whilst effectiveness culture can be built over a sustained period of time, accreditation is valid for two years, so submissions should include activities and evidence from 2023/2024.

Agencies will also be asked for some details on the organisation within the submission, including number of employees, year of establishment and a brief description of the agency and clients. Prior to submitting, it is expected that you will have obtained sign-off from your agency’s leadership team.

Submission Details

A written description of 2000 - 2500 words, explaining the agency’s philosophy and approach to effectiveness and why it’s important to your business.

In addition to the criteria below, you should use your submission to bring to life your effectiveness culture in action. You may consider including your clients, who may be able to help demonstrate that effectiveness is on your agenda day-to-day, or show how you engage and educate colleagues and new recruits. But neither of these is essential. Be creative.

You are invited to attach an Appendix with evidence of your agency’s effectiveness culture, as referenced in your submission for judges to refer to. This will not be included in the word count but please keep this material to a reasonable volume, appendices should be no more than 5 pages and be directly referenced within the main submission.

Part Two Submission from previous years has been removed and is no longer required.

IPA use of materials

After submission, the IPA will own copyright on the entry. Our objective is to pull together elements of successful practices for publication, to promote the adoption of a better effectiveness culture industry-wide. However, you will be able to indicate which elements of your written submission you wish to redact and not include in any external promotion. We have no wish to negatively affect any competitive advantage that an agency believes they possess.

Any client outcomes incuded in the submission wil be treated sensitively and always kept confidential.

Assessment

Who will assess applications?

Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of industry experts comprising client marketers, marketing academics and former agency leaders, led by the Chair. Previous chairs include Jo Royce, former Global Marketing Capabilities Director, Unilever and Margaret Jobling, Chief Marketing Officer, Nat West Group.

Due to the potentially sensitive nature of submissions, the panel will not contain anyone currently working for an agency.

Judging criteria

What is marketing effectiveness and how do you create a strong effectiveness culture?

We define this as “The business value added from the process of improving business performance from marketing activities, made easier and more impactful by people, process, data technology, and a strong and clear focus.”

How well brands and agencies perform against this definition, sets their effectiveness culture and their level of positive business impact.

Entries will be judged against the following criteria, with the weighting for each criteria indicated. Please note that these differ from those in 2021 and 2023. We have added a new criteria for 'Impact' and criteria weightings changing accordingly.

• Focus (10%)
• People (20%)
• Process (20%)
• Data, Tools and Measurement (20%)
• Impact (30%)

For each criteria, judges will be looking to understand how agencies are approaching challenges within the business, why this is important, and any resulting outcome. Merit will be granted for providing context and showing progress. Effectiveness culture is a journey, and we are interested in seeing what agencies are doing on a day-to-day basis to continuously improve, with evidence of its impact.  

Each criteria is described below with some thoughts around each topic. This criteria list and the questions and comments around each are included only to provide stimulation and inspiration for your response, rather than a rigid structure for your entry, or a list of points to be addressed.

Focus (10%)

A clear vision to marketing effectiveness and how it creates business value, organisational alignment and effectiveness culture.

• What does marketing effectiveness mean to your agency? How is it defined?
• Does the agency have a clear roadmap for delivering effectiveness?
• Does the agency challenge clients who have a lack of focus or poor effectiveness processes?
• What difference does your effectiveness focus make in your relationship with clients?

People (20%)

Defining roles and responsibilities, effectiveness training and continuous learning.

• Where is the effectiveness agenda being driven from? Do you have buy-in across the organisation?
• How are teams empowered to have better effectiveness conversations with clients?
• To what extent are people commercially or financially literate and how does this help?
• How is any learning implemented day to day and how are agency skills kept up-to-date and relevant?

Process (20%)

The cycle of increased marketing intelligence, to decision making, activation of marketing activities, measurement, and improved business results. 

• Do you have a clearly defined planning process? If not, how do you approach client briefs?
• How significant is 'experimentation' in you work, given the increasing importance of this across the marketing landscape? 
• Is there depth and breadth in the agency effectiveness culture? How is it used internally and externally?
• To what extent do you collaborate with other agencies and communication partners? What part does your agency play in the wider effectiveness ecosystem for the client?
• Have you influenced clients in any aspect of marketing planning and effectiveness process? Have they influenced you?
• Has there been a change in the relationship with your clients due to an improved effectiveness approach?

Data Tools and Measurement (20%)

An effectiveness capabilities ecosystem creating increasingly relevant and impactful marketing intelligence, and being fed by quality, accurate and timely data.

• What data, systems and tools are in place either within the agency or with companies you work with, to create marketing intelligence and meaningful measurement on the agency’s activities? 
• How do you intend to show the value (short and long term) created from marketing investment and increase the impact on marketing decision making with this evidence?
• Are data points and metrics being used and understood for the value they represent, by both agency and client? If not what steps are being taken to address this?
• How is the collection, sharing and dissemination of effectiveness data managed?

It is important to stress that the IPA and the judging panel are aware that a successful effectiveness culture is not easy to create. And the data that demonstrates that effectiveness is not always accessible. Judges will not be expecting flawless execution in all areas, rather a proven, focussed effort and mindset to drive and achieve a successful return – whatever the client perceives as “success”. It should be remembered that even the creation of a submission itself can deliver huge insight and reward for agencies.

Impact (30%)

Successful agencies in 2023 submissions not only demonstated where the agency had been working to build a stronger effectiveness culture within the agency, and with their clients, but also included evidence of how this impacted the agencies work and client business. Many entries in 2021 stated “Effectiveness is at the heart of everything we do”, or a similar statement. Judges will be looking for proof, not just a list of claims. Those who were unable, or neglected to demonstrate the impact of their frameworks, processes and culture, were unsuccessful in receiving the accreditation. The IPA introduce the ‘Impact’ criteria to ensure agencies were including vital evidence within their submissions.

When stating that you have a process or belief about advertising, strategy, communication or other marketing practice, remember to demonstrate how they are used in practice, and how those beliefs and processes are creating value for your clients. Just as in the assessment of the IPA Effectiveness Awards, judges will be looking for proof that cultures and practices are being actioned and that they deliver on objectives.

Including recent client examples and case studies in your submission can be very useful in bringing evidence of your culture to life.

• What benefits have you seen – commercial or otherwise? How have your clients benefitted? What are the outcomes to their business? Your entry is not an IPA Effectiveness Award entry, but we do need to see evidence of the effectiveness of your work. Examples of benefits to client need not only be market share, direct sales, or price increases. Other examples could include:
• Customer Behaviour: eg. churn reduction or loyalty improvements
• Brand: Positive changes in brand perception, familiarity, consideration, awareness etc. Does your client have evidence this translates into commercial value or other mental availability metrics?
• Client Organisation Behaviour: Evidence of meaningful change towards effectiveness measurement: eg new modelling, increases in robust experimentation, change in strategy etc. as direct result of measurement.
• Other Commercial: This could include reduction in sales promotion or discounting, distribution increases, improvement in conversions and product trial.
• Change in client culture outside marketing: Increased agency access to commercial data and financials due to increase in trust in delivering value. Increase in board level discussions of briefs, progress, modelling, scenario planning, results etc.
• How has the agency benefitted? This could be related to increased business development success, additional work from existing clients, regular access to more senior executives at client side or access to different brands within a group, colleagues wanting to work on accounts that are considered the most ‘effective’? etc. The focus of the impacts included should be on client outcomes.
• What learning processes are in place from the effectiveness culture you have developed? How have these helped either/both agency and clients?

Assessment outcome

If successful, your agency will receive an effectiveness kitemark and certificate to use in communications. The selection of accredited agencies will be celebrated by the IPA in press and online.

Once achieved, the Accreditation will last for 2 years. Agencies will then have to reapply in 2027 to retain their status.

What happens if my agency is unsuccessful?

Those agencies who put forward a submission and are not awarded Accreditation will receive feedback from the Assessment Panel on which areas did not meet the necessary level and/or additional comments on their submission content. The names of these agencies will be kept confidential.

Key dates

• April 2025: Submissions due
• Summer 2025: Panel review
• September 2025: Successful agencies announced

Contact

Please get in touch if you need any help or more information.

Alexandra Green, Head of Effectiveness Programme | 0207 201 8270 | Alexandra.green@ipa.co.uk