Kivvit has been chosen as a finalist for North America Digital Agency of the Year as part of PRovoke Media’s annual Agencies of the Year review – an exhaustive research process involving more than 150 submissions and 50 meetings with agencies across the U.S. and Canada.
In announcing the recognition, PRovoke praised Kivvit for “bringing the tenacity—and results-orientation—of political campaigns” into its work with partners across sectors and for its “outstanding digital operations—including an investment in proprietary data and analytics that powers its campaigns and enables it to demonstrate real business impact.”
PRovoke unveiled its 2022 agencies of the year and awards short list ahead of its SABRE North America gala, which will be held in New York City on May 4th. Kivvit has been among PRovoke’s North American agencies of the year for the past 5 years and previously won Digital Agency of the Year in 2020.
In the lead up to SABRE, PRovoke has also named Kivvit partner Anheuser-Busch the Diamond SABRE award winner for Company of the Year, pointing to the company’s innovative data-driven corporate reputation campaign, which Kivvit is proud to support. This prestigious award recognizes an organization that has embraced public relations as a key management discipline and can demonstrate that public relations has made a significant contribution over the course of the year to its overall performance.
Additionally, Kivvit’s industry-leading work earned finalist recognition in several other SABRE award categories, including:
- The Diamond SABRE Award for Superior Achievement in Research and Planning, which recognizes public relations campaigns that draw on original research and modern data and analytics to develop critical insights into the client and its audience, and use formal planning techniques to devise the most appropriate strategic approach to address a challenge or seize and opportunity;
- The Diamond SABRE Award for Superior Achievement in Measurement and Evaluation, which recognizes campaigns focused on specific metrics to achieve a meaningful and measurable contribution to an organization’s bottom-line results;
- Educational & Cultural Institutions, which recognizes leading work on behalf of schools, universities, museums, and art galleries; and
- Issues Management, which recognizes advocacy campaigns that effectively shape attitudes and outcomes related to public policy.
You can find the full list of this year’s finalists here.
DIGITAL AGENCY OF THE YEAR PROFILE
Below is an excerpt from PRovoke’s profile of Kivvit as an Agency of the Year finalist:
BACKSTORY
Kivvit was created in October of 2015 through the merger of ASGK Public Strategies and M Public Affairs, with the goal of bringing the tenacity—and results-orientation—of political campaigns into corporate and nonprofit sectors to corporate clients. It is best known for public affairs and issues management work, as well as for its outstanding digital operations—including an investment in proprietary data and analytics that powers its campaigns and enables it to demonstrate real business impact.
LOCATIONS
Kivvit has operations across the United States, with offices in Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC.
PERFORMANCE
Kivvit reported a very respectable 13% increase in revenues in 2021, ending the year just a little short of the $40 million mark and consolidating its position as one of the largest independent public affairs firms in the US. Driving the growth was the doubling of the firm’s advertising and research and insights revenue. Kivvit continued its work for blue-chip brands like Abbott, Anheuser-Busch, Google, the New York League of Conservation Voters, Tesla, The Nature Conservancy and the University of Chicago, while adding new assignments from the American Library Association, the Asian American Federation, the National Brain Tumor Society, and Similarweb.
PEOPLE & CULTURE
Kivvit expanded its management team and increased the diversity of its leadership corps in 2021, most notably with the addition of four new managing directors: Arielle Goren, an executive and crisis communications expert who previously headed her own firm; Aaron Mays, who also led his own business; Terri Sanders, who joined from HIMSS, where she was chief marketing and communications officer; and Jalisa Washington-Price, a veteran of iHeartMedia and the Biden presidential campaign. The firm also doubled the size of its digital and insights teams. And the firm partnered with consultant Ivy Planning Group and talent firm Offor to ensure that it remained on the leading edge in terms of inclusion.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & WORK
Kivvit’s best work is driven by insights derived from data—an area in which it excels. This includes a Covid-19 vaccination effort for New Jersey’s Department of Health that included a survey examining all the reasons for vaccine hesitancy and then produced highly targeted messaging that helped the state achieve one of the highest vaccination levels in the country. On the corporate front, meanwhile, Kivvit helped Anheuser-Bush rethink its reputation strategy, focusing on its major economic investments, game-changing commitments to sustainability, and product innovation to maximize favorable opinions. But Kivvit also works on big issues, expanding harm reduction services in New Jersey and securing investment in New York’s disabilities sector. And the firm’s interest in the most critical progressive issues of the day also extends to its own thought leadership, highlighted by research into corporate support for Black Lives Matter.
– Paul Holmes