The 90TEN Award for Communications Consultancy of the Year

Summary of work

2021 represented a new start for Aurora after a period where the agency lost its edge. Our internal change programme to build an Impact Culture was bearing fruit and our new home-grown MD led the development and delivery of a new strategic plan with a manifesto to be brave, bold and brilliant and a single-minded objective to grow from a £3m to a £4.5m agency within the new This is Avalon Group company structure.

Key achievements in 2021 included a refined service offer for clients, supported by bold new positioning and branding, a new agency leadership model, a dramatically improved pitch conversion rate, strong organic growth and a much healthier profit margin. We also moved to an office that can accommodate our planned growth.

Successful remote working through the pandemic led to us introducing fully flexible hybrid working for all employees which is working well for the business and the team, as shown by the results of client and anonymous team surveys.

Regular talent-mapping and the introduction of continuous performance management resulted in 12 promotions and high retention rates, especially between AM-SAD, as well as the retention of all our clients, apart from where specific projects had concluded.

Judges' comments

The judges really loved the Aurora story, which was courageous and honest, and they look forward to seeing more around the changes made. They had an excellent set of well thought through strategies to address issues and solid achievements to date. Well thought through and re-invigorated.