Against Ordinary is “ecstatic” to be shortlisted for New Agency Award

Against Ordinary is a new agency based in Colchester, Essex that has started to raise eyebrows very quickly. 

Boosting an international client roster from the UK, EU, US and Australia, the agency is delivering on its promise to be a new kind of force in the agency sector, breaking traditional norms and tackling brand and creative problems in a new way. 

With a very fast 12 months in business, the team of 5 excelled on its first year’s financial targets, winning key clients, with a few notable pieces of work. The team talked us through a few of their early wins and what they believe has prompted the judging panel to announce them as a finalist. 

Key Campaigns 

“Because ordinary gets ignored, no matter what industry you’re in. That’s why we’re Against Ordinary, for everyone.” – claims Jordan, Strategy Director. It’s this mission that has enable the creative agency to work across industries including B2B, B2C, D2C and third sector.

One client, Revving, is a new FinTech brand that is speeding up payments, Across Ad-Tech. With some payments taking well over 160 days for publishers to get their revenues back, Revving is solving a real problem by offering pre-invoice money to these companies for better cashflow and growth.

Due to the complexity of the problem, Against Ordinary needed to think creatively about their unique message. Their latest campaign ‘Frozen in time’ depicts cash, frozen in a giant block of ice, which is waiting to thaw before you can access it. Opening up the imagination and a visual way of showing that businesses are waiting around for money they have, waiting to be unfrozen. 

Discover the campaign here

Another key client was Suffolk Rape Crisis (SRC). After a sexist billboard was displayed with a women laying flooring in a short dress and heels alongside the copy “It’s so easy to lay”, SRC, a Suffolk charity, wrote an open letter to the flooring company. The story quickly made local and national press: with The Times, BBC News, ITV, The Telegraph and The Daily Mail. Within 24 hours, the company removed the advert.

The space was gifted to SRC as an apology, who reached out to Against Ordinary for a creative billboard to clap-back to the previous ad. Sexism is often brushed over as being “just a joke” so this was the angle we took, but with grafiti to call it out for exactly what it was. Not only did this debunk an awful phrase just to justify sexism but it shows that words matter – a nod to the fact that the words on the previous billboard should have been considered more. 

The new billboard made news once more but this time for all the right reasons all while gaining national and international press as a result. 

Discover the campaign here

Marketing meetup events

The founders also said another crucial aspect for starting Against Ordinary was education. 

“We both came from higher education and LOVE helping people, so it was a no-brainer for us to host events where we could get a crowd together and knowledge share.” mentions Be Peters, Creative Director. 

 The team partnered with the Marketing Meetup, which has a community of 46,440+ marketers to become the exclusive hosts of their local marketing event in Suffolk. They’ve since had a consistent attendance of 60+ people bi-monthly and have had speakers from Bumble, SURREAL and PerfectTed, to give a behind the scenes of creative marketing from challenger brands.

Discover Against Ordinary events here.

Jordan Bambridge, Co-Founder and Strategy Director says:

“To be shortlisted for a Best New Agency Award has really been the cherry on top of a fantastic first year for us. From delivering brilliant work that has hit the national press, to generating results for our clients we couldn’t have asked for a better first year, the team is ecstatic with the news.“

Be Peters, Co-Founder and Creative Director says:

“It’s really encouraging to know that our hard work over the last 18 months has paid off – we’ve been so focussed on doing what we love and what we think is right, to have such a highly valued award body recognise us is beyond motivating for the future.“

Against Ordinary posts much of their creative work on their Linkedin page. 

Find more information about Against Ordinary on their website.